In this lesson, you create a report from a predefined
BIRT report template. You open the Report Design perspective, and
add the GSDB physical data model as a data source to the report.
In the previous lesson, you connected your database and
you created the data model. Now you can create reports that are based
on that data model. Use the Report Design perspective to create reports
that you or application developers can use to create or enhance business
applications. For example, you can use a BIRT template to create a
report about the tables and columns that contain sales data. Business
managers, developers, and database administrators can use the report
to determine if new tables or columns are needed when updating the
tables to store additional types of sales data.
In this tutorial,
you will create a report that contains the names and data types of
columns. This type of report is useful to application developers who
want to identify the columns that contain data that might be useful
for the applications that they develop. You also can use the Report
Design perspective to design other types of reports that list the
data within your data model.
The BIRT report template, BlankPhysicalModel.rptdesign contains
predefined data sets that are based on the information that is in
a physical design model. The data sets in the report design organize
information from a data model into tables that the Report Designer
perspective can use to create a report. Each data set is like a table
and set of columns. The data source contains the data that populates
the BIRT tables.
You define the GSDB physical data model as
the data source for your report, and you add elements from the data
sets to the report layout. For example, you add elements that represent
the column names and table names in the data model.
When you
run a report, the report lists the column names and table names from
the GSDB model.
To set up the report environment:
- Open the Report Explorer view:
- Click . The Show View window
opens.
- Expand the Reporting node, then
select the Report Explorer option.
The Report Explorer view opens and
lists the groups of report templates. Figure 1. Report Explorer
view
- Copy the Blank physical Data Model Report (BlankPhysicalModel.rptdesign) template
to the Other Files folder:
- In the Report Explorer view, expand
the Physical Data Model node, then right-click Blank
physical Data Model Report (BlankPhysicalModel.rptdesign) and
click Copy.
- In the Data Project Explorer, expand
the IDA-Reports folder, right-click the Other
Files folder and click Paste.
- In the Data Project Explorer, right-click and
click Rename. The Rename
Resource window opens.
- In the Rename Resource window,
specify MyTest for the new resource name and
click OK.
- Open the Report Design perspective.
- From the main menu, click . The Open Perspective window
opens.
- In the Open Perspective window,
select Report Design.
The perspective opens. The default Report Design perspective
contains the following views:- Palette
- Data Explorer
- Resource Explorer
- Navigator
- Outline
- Property Editor
- Problems
The Palette, Data Explorer, Outline,
and Property Editor views are empty until you
open a report design in the Report Editor view.Not all the views
are visible. For example, the Navigator and Outline views
are configured so that only one view is visible. Click the tab to
display the other view.
- Open the MyTest.rptdesign file in
the Report Editor view. In the Navigator view,
expand the IDA-Reports folder and double-click
the MyTest.rptdesign file. The
report opens in the Report Editor.
In this tutorial,
you use the Report Editor Layout and Preview pages.
- Add the GSDB physical data model as a BIRT data source:
- In the Data Explorer, expand the Data
Sources folder, then right-click the Data Source object
and click Edit. The Edit
Data Source - Data Source window opens.
- On the Models page, click Add. The Load Resource window opens.
- In the Load Resource window, click Browse
workspace. The File Selection window
opens.
- Select GSDB.dbm under the IDA-Report node
and click OK.
- Click OK to load the data model
resource.
The GSDB physical data model is listed as an instance
model on the Models page.
You set up your project with a blank report and added the
GSDB physical data model as a data source for the report.
In
the Data Explorer, you see the data sets that
are defined for the report. These data sets are specific to the report.
The data sets require an InfoSphere® Data
Architect physical data model as a data source.
The report templates
that are listed in the Report Explorer are organized
according to the types of data models that the data sets are defined
to use. For example, the report templates in the Logical
Data Model folder have data sets that are designed to
use a logical data model as a data source.
Your report environment is set up. Next, you will start
to edit the report template so that application developers can use
the report.