Pentaho

What is Pentaho Reporting?

Pentaho Reporting is a suite (collection of tools) for creating relational and analytical reporting. Using Pentaho, we can transform
complex data into meaningful reports and draw information out of them. Pentaho supports creating reports in various formats such
as HTML, Excel, PDF, Text, CSV, and xml.
Pentaho can accept data from different data sources including SQL databases, OLAP data sources, and even the Pentaho Data
Integration ETL tool.
Features of Pentaho
Pentaho Reporting primarily includes a Reporting Engine, a Report Designer, a Business Intelligence (BI) Server. It comes loaded
with the following features −
 Report Designer − Used for creating pixel perfect report.
 Metadata Editor − Allows to add user-friendly metadata domain to a data source.
 Report Designer and Design Studio − Used for fine-tuning of reports and ad-hoc reporting.
 Pentaho user console web interface − Used for easily managing reports and analyzing views.
 Ad-Hoc reporting interface − Offers a step-by-step wizard for designing simple reports. Output formats include PDF, RTF,
HTML, and XLS.
 A complex scheduling sub-system − Allows users to execute reports at given intervals.
 Mailing − Users can email a published report to other users.
 Connectivity − Connectivity between the reporting tools and the BI server, which allows to publish the content directly to the
BI server.
Prerequisites
 The Pentaho Reporting engine requires Java environment. Therefore, before installing Pentaho Reporting, make sure you
have Java on your system. Based on the platform you are working on, use a command from the following table to verify
your Java installation.
OS Command Output

Open command prompt: java version "1.7.0_60"

\>java -version Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_60b19)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.60-b09, mixed mode)
Windows

Download Pentaho Reporting

Download the latest versions of Pentaho Reporting Designer using the following links. For this tutorial, we are using version 3.7.0.
OS URL link for download Pentaho Report Designer

Windows Pentaho Report Designer 3.7 for Windows

Install Pentaho Reporting

After downloading the files, you will find an archive file of Pentaho Reporting Designer named prd-ce-3.7.0-stable. That archive should be
extracted as explained in the following table.
OS Installation Instructions

 Extract the downloaded file prd-ce-3.7.0-stable.zip using an Unzip tool.

Windows
 Copy the extracted folder (prd-ce-3.7.0-stable) into c:\ directory.
 Open c:\prd-ce-3.7.0-stable\report-designer directory.
 Start Pentaho Reporting Designer by double-clicking on the reportdesigner.bat file.

Install Database Driver

Pentaho Reporting Designer requires a database connection to generate relational reports, therefore you need to have a JDBC
driver to communicate with the database. By default, Pentaho provides some JDBC drivers of different vendors to support different
databases such as MySQL, H2, HypersonicSQL, Hive, etc.
All the default database drivers are available in the /lib/ directory of the Pentaho Reporting Designer. If you want to use any other
database, then download the respective JDBC driver and copy it into the /lib/ directory of Pentaho Reporting Designer. Otherwise,
you can use ODBC driver via JDBC-ODBC bridge driver that comes with the JDK and this bridge driver (JDBC-ODBC) is suitable
for all database servers.
For this tutorial, we are using MySQL database server and its respective drivers are already downloaded with the Pentaho lib (/lib/
directory of the Pentaho Reporting Designer) files.
Pentaho – Navigation
The Welcome Screen
The welcome screen provides two ways to create reports of different types. Those two options are Report
Wizard and New Report.
 Report Wizard − It provides an easy-to-use four steps process that walk you through creating a new Report.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 1

 Pentaho

 New Report − If you choose this option, then you can create customized reports based on your requirement.
Pentaho has a set of sample reports to help you figure out how to use a certain Report Designer. The following
screenshot shows the welcome page of Pentaho.

The Main Toolbar

The main toolbar is at the top of the window. Take a look at the following screenshot – the maximized box is the main
tollbar. It contains button to carry out the following actions − New File, Open File, Save File, Publish the Report, Add
Data Source, Run the Report, Select Object, Undo, Redo, Cut Element, Copy Element, Paste Element, Delete
Selected Element, and Toggle the Field-Selector Palette.

The Report Workspace

The workspace is the main working area where we can design the reports. Take a look at the following screenshot –
the white area at the center is the workspace. It is divided into five bands − Page Header, Report Header, Details,
Report Footer, and Page Footer.
 Page Header − You can use any type of data here that is suitable to print on top of every report page. It does
not allow any dynamic values or page breaks.
 Report Header − The second band from top is the Report Header. It contains the report elements. It appears
once per report, that is on the first page of the report.
 Details − The Details band is the largest portion of your page because most of the report data is presented in
this area.
 Report Footer − Just like the Report Header, the Report Footer appears just once per report, that is on the last
page of the report.
 Page Footer − The last band is the Page Footer which appears at the absolute bottom of every page in the
report.
You can also create groups for various report elements. Each group has its own Header and Footer bands in the
workspace.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 2

 Pentaho

The Structure Pane

The structure tab shares a pane with the Data tab in the upper right section of the Report Designer. Take a look at the
following screenshot; it shows the exact hierarchy of every element included in a report workspace.

The Data Pane

The Data Pane enables you to add data sources and view individual queries, functions, and parameters in each
report. The three buttons at the top of the pane are meant for adding new data sources, functions, and parameters,
respectively.
 Datasources − All the data sources and queries that you have defined for the current report will be listed here. If
you want to add a new data source, then rightclick on the leftmost button (the yello cylinder) click add.
 Functions − All the functions (mathematical and conditional) elements that you added to a report will be listed in
this category. You can add a function by clicking the (fx) button.
 Parameters − You can add a parameter to your report, which will enable the report readers to customize the
content of the output.
Take a look at the following screenshot.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 3

 Pentaho

The Style Pane

The style pane displays all the visual and positional style options for any given item in the structure pane. Click any
structure element, and the composition of the Style Pane will be adjusted to show all the available style properties
listed by group. Take a look at the following screenshot.

The Attribute Pane

The Attribute Pane displays all the low-level properties, and input and output options for any given item in the
Structure Pane.

The Palette
The palette contains all the elements that you can use to build a report. To add an element, click on a layout band to
select it, then drag and drop an element from the palette to the selected band. We have explained the role of each of
the report elements in the following table.
Element icon Element name Description

Label A static text string. It cannot change dynamically.

Text-Field A Textual report element and changed dynamically based on the

query.

Number-Field Displays dynamic numerical data from a query.

Date-Field Handles date information form a query.

Message An element that combines multiple static and dynamic report

elements.

Resource-label Static text string that maps to a resource bundle

Er.Binay Yadav Page 4

 Pentaho

Resource-Field Dynamic text string that maps to a resource bundle, allowing you to
localize any database field.

Resource - Message Dynamic text string that concatenates data from multiple types, and
dynamically maps to a resource bundle.

Image-Field A reference to an image stored in a database.

Image A static image embedded into a report.

Ellipse A vector graphical element in the shape of eclipse.

Rectangle A vector graphical element in the shape of rectangle.

Horizontal-Line A vector graphical line, drawn horizontally.

Vertical-Line A vector graphical line, drawn vertically.

Survey-Scale A simple sliding scale chart element.

Chart A chart or graph that shows your query results graphically.

Simple-Barcodes A barcode chart element.

Bar-Sparkline A Bar Sparkline chart element.

Line-Sparkline A line Sparkline chart element.

Pie-Sparkline A Pie Sparkline chart element.

Band A method of grouping elements.

Sub-Report An element that references another report.

Table-Of-Content A table of content report element.

Index An Index report element.

Take a look at the following screenshot; the highlighted box on the left side is the palette of reporting elements.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 5

 Pentaho

Pentaho - Data Sources & Queries

we will learn to use the Pentaho Reporting Designer by taking an example. We will create a report on the employee
database to produce a quick overview of every employee. We will create our first report by adding a data source and
passing queries to the Pentaho Designer.
Before using Pentaho Report Designer, create a database named employeedb and in that database, create a table
named employee using the following query.
CREATE TABLE 'employee' (
'id' integer NOT NULL,
'name' varchar(20),
'designation' varchar(20),
'department' varchar(20),
'age' integer,
PRIMARY KEY ('id')
)
Insert the following records into the table.

Id Name Designation Department age

1201 'satish' 'writer' 'Tuto_Write' 24

1202 'krishna' 'writer' 'Tuto_Write' 26

1203 'prasanth' 'php developer' 'Tuto_develop' 28

1204 'khaleel' 'php developer' 'Tuto_develop' 29

1205 'raju' 'HTML developer' 'Tuto_develop' 24

1206 'javed' 'HTML developer' 'Tuto_develop' 22

1207 'kiran' 'Proof Reader' 'Tuto_Reader' 28

1208 'pravenya' 'Proof Reader' 'Tuto_Reader' 30

1209 'mukesh' 'Proof Reader' 'Tuto_Reader' 28

1210 'sai' 'writer' 'Tuto_writer' 25

1211 'sathish' 'graphics designer' 'Tuto_designer' 26

1212 'viswani' 'graphics designer' 'Tuto_designer' 24

1213 'gopal' 'manager' 'Tuto_develop' 29

1214 'omer' 'manager' 'Tuto_writer' 32

1215 'shirjeel' 'manager' 'Tuto_Reader' 32

If you want to manipulate the data contained inside the table, the best choice is to use SQL. But if you want to create a
report based on the data, Pentaho Reporting is the best option. Our task is to pass an SQL query to the Pentaho
Reporting designer tool and select respective fields (which are presented in the report) and present it on the Details of
the report sheet.

Steps to Generate a Report using Pentaho

Follow the steps given below to create a report from scratch without using Report Design Wizard.
Step 1 : Create a New Report
You can create a new report definition file by clicking "new report" on the welcome pane or go to "File → new".

Er.Binay Yadav Page 6

 Pentaho

Step 2 : Add a Data Source

The Structure Pane on the right-hand side provides a view of the visual elements of a report. The definition of the data
source will be on the Data tab; it allows to define where the report data comes from and how this data is processed
during the report processing.
A report generally displays the data that is supplied by a data source in the form of a table, whereas a report definition
defines how the report is to be formatted or printed. As shown in the following screenshot, select the Data
tab from structure pane.

In the Data tab, right-click on the Data Sets and select JDBC to add a data source. Generally, in the list of options, you
can select any other option based on the requirement. It means, if you have an XML file as your data source, then
choose XML option from the list. Take a look at the following screenshot. Here we are selecting the JDBC option to
add a database as data source.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 7

 Pentaho

After having selected the JDBC option as the data source, you will find a dialog box as shown in the following
screenshot.
We have already chosen MySQL database for the data source, therefore we have to select the SampleData
(MySQL) option in the left-side panel of the dialog box (marked as pointer "1") in the given screenshot. Pointer "2" is
meant for editing the connection statement and URL to interact with the database.

The following screenshot shows a dialog box where you can define your connection statement and the URL for the
database. We need to carry out four operations on the following screen (which are highlighted using pointers).
 In the connection type list, select MySQL − We have already chosen MySQL as the database (data source).
 In the Access list, select Native (JDBC) − Through JDBC connection, we can access the database.
 In the Settings section, we must mention the Host Name (localhost), Database name (employeedb), port number
(3306), username (root), and the password (as per you system).
 Test the connection statement by clicking the Test button.
Finally, click the OK button to confirm the database connection.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 8

 Pentaho

Step 3 : Add a Query

Take a look at the following screenshot. The dialog box presents the available saved queries available through the
database connection.
 The Available Queries block on the right side of the dialog box displays a list of all the available queries.
 The Query Name block displays the selected query name which is selected in the above available queries list.
 The Query block displays the query statement. If no queries are available or if you want to create a new query,
click the “+” button which is highlighted as pointer “1” in the following screenshot.

While clicking the “+” button, you can create a query by editing a name on the Query Name block
as select_all_records and use the following query statement in the Query block.
SELECT
employee.id,
employee.name,
employee.designation,
employee.department,
employee.age
FROM
employee
LIMIT
15
After adding the query, you should get the following dialogue box. Click the preview button.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 9

 Pentaho

After clicking the preview button, you will find all the employee table records in a separate dialog box as shown in the
following screenshot. Click the close button.

Then, click the OK button to submit the query. After submitting the query, you will find all the table field names and
their datatypes under the query name on the right-side structure pane, as shown in the following screenshot. Here, the
maximized box is the structure pane which is placed on the right side of the screen.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 10

 Pentaho
We have so far added a data source and a query to the Pentaho Reporting Designer. Now, we have to add elements
into the workspace to create a report. The same example is extended to the next chapter "Reporting Elements".

Pentaho - Reporting Elements

Most reporting elements can easily be added by dragging and dropping them from the Data pane to any of the bands
on the workspace (mostly Details band).
Let us continue with the same example taken from the previous chapter. There we have added a data source and a
query to the Reporting Designer. Here we will design the report based on the output produced by the query.
The resultant query fields are the reporting elements which are highlighted in the following screenshot. Those are
− id, name, designation, department, and age.

Adding Reporting Elements

After adding the query to the Reporting designer, the resultant fields appear in the data pane, as shown in the
following screenshot.

Now, drag the required fields (fields you want to display in the report) from the Structure Pane into the Details Band at
the center of the main workspace.
Take a look at the following screenshot. It shows the direction to drag the age field from the structure pane.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 11

 Pentaho
After arranging all the fields in the Details band, you can see the report view by clicking the view button which is
pointed as “1” in the above screenshot.
After clicking the view button, the result report will be as shown in the following screenshot. In the workspace, you will
find the values of all the fields (which are specified in the Details tab).

Now, if you want to go back to the design mode, then click the Design symbol marked as “1” in the following
screenshot.

Pentaho - Page Footer Fields

Each page of a report contains two special areas. At the top of every page, you will find the page-header area. And at
the bottom of the page, you will find the page-footer area. The remaining page is available for the actual report
content.

Adding Page Footer Fields in Pentaho

The page footer tab is used to present some attributes and functions. For example, you can use the page footer tab
to print the max value of the age field at the bottom of the page. The reporting engine allows these features by
using reporting functions.
Take a look at the following screenshot. Here the Data tab in the structure pane includes a symbol fx (marked as “1”).
It is the add function button. Click this button to add different functions into the report.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 12

 Pentaho

Then, you will find a dialog box with different functions segregated into different groups. To print the maximum age of
an employee at the page footer, we should choose the Maximum function in the Summary group which is marked as
“1” in the following screenshot. Select it and click OK.

Once you click the Ok button, the function will be added to the Functions label in the Structure Pane which is placed at
the right side of the screen.
Once you select the added function (i.e. Maximum), you will find another pane below the structure pane containing the
properties of that function.
Take a look at the following screen. The maximized box contains two pointers (Pointer 1 and Pointer 2).
 Pointer 1 − Select the function in the data tab of the structure pane.
 Pointer 2 − Edit the Field name in the properties section by selecting the age field from the dropdown list. It is
because we have to print the maximum age of an employee.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 13

 Pentaho

Now, the function is ready with the customized properties. Now you can use that function in your report as a page
footer attribute.
Take a look at the following screenshot. Again, it contains two pointers (Pointer 1 and Pointer 2).
 Pointer 1 − Select and drag the Maximum function from the Structure pane to the page footer band in the
workspace, as shown in the following screenshot. Now the design of your report is ready.
 Pointer 2 − Select the Preview button on the left side of the screen.

Take a look at the following screen. It shows the preview of the report. The maximum age of an employee is marked
and shown in a maximized box.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 14

 Pentaho

Pentaho - Groups
Pentaho offers various functionalities and features to convert raw data into meaningful information. Here, we will learn
how to use one such feature Groups. You can use this feature to segregate raw row-set data into groups so that the
user can easily understand the report.
 Grouping is a great way to divide long lists of data along meaningful separators.
 With groups, you can keep similar items together and visually separate these items from other groups of items.
 You will also need groups to perform various aggregations over the data, like printing the number of items in a
group or calculating sums or averages.

Adding Groups in Pentaho

We already have a report based on the employee data. Here the query is to group all employee records according to
"department". Follow the procedure given below to fulfill the given requirement.
First of all, you start the process by clicking the Add group button on the Structure pane. The Add group button is
marked as "1" in the following screenshot.

You will get a list of options by clicking the Add group button. Then, click the Add group option from the list.
After clicking Add Group, you will find a dialogue box using which you can add a group field from the given available
fields.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 15

 Pentaho
Take a look at the following screenshot. The three activities are highlighted in the dialog box which we have marked
as 1, 2, and 3.
 Pointer 1 − Enter a user-defined name for this group.
 Pointer 2 − Select the department field from the available fields list.
 Pointer 3 − Click the arrow (→) button so that the selected field gets copied to the selected Fields list.
Select that department field in the selected fields list and click OK to confirm.

After adding the group, you will find it in the Structure tab of the Structure pane. And you will find the Group
Header and Group Footer bands in the workspace.
Take a look at the following screenshot. Add a static label to your report by dragging the label icon from the palette on
the left side of the Report Designer into the group header (in the screenshot, this activity has been marked as “1”).
By double-clicking the label, you can edit it and change the name to Department. By using the Formatting Toolbar or
the Formatting Palette (marked as "3" and "4" respectively), you can change the format of the label.

Let us now proceed further. Switch the Structure pane to Data tab. Select and drag the department field from the
Structure pane to the Group Header (this activity is marked as “1” in the following screenshot). To see a preview of
your report, click the preview button on the left side of the screen which is highlighted and marked as “2” in the
following screenshot.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 16

 Pentaho

After clicking the preview button, you will find the result report as shown in the following screenshot. You will find the
records have now been grouped together according to department.

The report does not look very appealing at this stage. You can add a touch of color and make the heading more
effective using the Formatting Toolbar or the Formatting Palette.
You are now ready to generate different types of reports using Pentaho. Just follow the steps discussed so far and try
to use all the features and options available in Pentaho.

Pentaho - Chart Report

A chart, also called a graph, is a graphical representation of data. Pentaho Reporting Designer offers a wide variety
of chart types. You can design a chart using the “chart-element” option available in the palette of Pentaho Reporting
Designer.
There are three requirements to create a chart −
 A data-collector to extract the charting-data from the data sources.
 A chart-expression to produce a chart from the collected data.
 A report element to display the resulting chart object.
Let us now take an example and try to understand the process of creating charts in Pentaho.
The following table contains data regarding the features of three car brands. We will depict this data using a bar chart.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 17

 Pentaho

Car Speed User Rating Mileage Safety

Fiat 1 3 5 5

Audi 5 6 10 4

Ford 4 2 3 6

First of all, create a table named car based on the given table data. We are using MySQL database as the data
source. Add that (data source) to the Pentaho Reporting Designer. We have already discussed how to add a data
source and a query to the Pentaho Reporting Designer in the chapter "Pentaho – Data Sources and Queries".

Steps to Create a Chart in Pentaho

Now, follow the steps given below to create a chart based on the given scenario.

Step 1 - Add a Query

The query will retrieve all the records from the table car. Therefore the query should be as follows −
Select
car.id,
car.name,
car.speed,
car.user_rating,
car.millage,
car.safety
From
car
LIMIT
3
The following screenshot shows how to add the given query to the data source.

Step 2 - Add an Image to the Page Header

This is an optional step, however it is important because images play an important role in improving the aesthetics of a
report.
Take a look at the following screenshot. We have highlighted the following five activities here −
 After adding a query, you will find the query fields on the Structure pane. From the Structure pane, select the
respective fields, drag and drop into the Details tab of the report workspace.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 18

 Pentaho

 The Details tab presents only the field values. Add those respective heading Labels to the Report Header tab by
selecting the label field from the palette.
 Add an image taken from the palette and place it on the Page Header Tab. Add another label in the Page
Header for Report Heading and use a suitable heading, for example CAR – CHART, for effective presentation.
Double-click on the image element – you will find a dialogue box called Edit Content.
 You have two options to insert an image. Either link the image URL to the report or embed the image into the
report. We chose to embed the image by selecting the option “Embed in Report”.
 Download some sample car image from the internet to put into the Page Header. Click on the button to locate
the sample car image with the location URL. Click the OK button to confirm.

Step 3 - Add Chart into Report Footer

Add the chart by clicking select and dragging it from the left-side palette to the Report. It is marked as "1" in the
following screenshot. Double-click on the Bar chart element on the Report Footer.

Step 4 - Add Chart Properties

After double-clicking on the chart element, you will find a dialogue box where you have to provide the data collected
details and chart expression details.
Take a look at the following screenshot. The tab Primary Data Source contains two markers −
 Marker “1” is a dropdown list where you have to select the Category Set Data Collector.
 Marker “2” is also a dropdown list of the category-column where you have to select the name field.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 19

 Pentaho

There are three sections in the Primary Data Source − Common, Series, and Group. Here, we don’t require to add
anything on the Groups section because we are not using any Groups in our query.
Common − There are two fields in this section − category-column and value-column. We already filled the
category-column value with the name field in the above section. The second one is value-column.
Click on the empty value; you will find a dialogue box as shown in the following screenshot. There are two activities (1
and 2) marked in it.
 Click the (+) button to add the value fields in the column.
 By clicking on the empty value, you will find a dropdown list from where you need to select the speed field.

Repeat the above two activities to add user_rating, mileage, and safety fields into the column. After adding all these
fields, the screen will appear as shown below. Click OK to confirm.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 20

 Pentaho

The next column in the Primary Data source section is the Series section.
Series − In the Series field, click the series-by-value option. You will find a dialogue box as shown in the following
screenshot. There are two markers (1 and 2) in it.

 Click the (+) button to add a new field in the column.

 By double-clicking on it, you can edit that field.
Repeat these two activities for adding field names such as Speed, User Rating, Mileage, and Safety.
These are the user-defined names to present in the particular section of report chart. But here you have follow the
same order that you have given on the Value-column fields in the Common section. Click OK after adding all the
fields as shown below.

After adding all the sections, you will get the Edit Chart dialogue box as shown in the following screenshot. The Bar
Chart pane contains different properties which are used for changing the chart format.
In the General section of the Bar Chart, we have changed the 3-D value as true (marked as "1"). Click OK to confirm
the chart properties.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 21

 Pentaho

Click on the Preview button on the Formatting Toolbar to see a preview of the report. It will appear as shown in the following
screenshot −

You can implement different types of charts in your report by using different types of data models and by providing
different values to the chart properties. Pentaho provides almost 18 types of charts in the report designer.

Er.Binay Yadav Page 22