Reporting Tales - Pentaho Reporting Tips and Tricks from the Author

Happy Anniversary! To the future of analytics and ...

2012-04-19T23:51:54.183+01:00

Happy Anniversary! To the future of analytics and beyond.....

Jonas, I wrote a short tutorial to show you how to...

2012-03-12T14:55:12.542Z

Jonas, I wrote a short tutorial to show you how to your style of linking in a more efficient way:

http://www.sherito.org/2012/03/linking-to-report-with-same-export-type.html

What I am trying to do is to create links in the r...

2012-03-02T18:39:02.106Z

What I am trying to do is to create links in the report that will open the linked reports in the same format as the current one. Lets say that I open the first report as Excel. Then when I click on a link in that report the next report should also open as Excel. So I want to set the URL to the following
=DRILLDOWN("remote-prpt"; ENV("pentahoBaseURL"); {"solution"; "steel-wheels" | "path"; "reports" | "name"; "Buyer Product Analysis.prpt" | "output-target"; ENV("output-type")}) but I can not get the current output-target. Is that possible? My current solution is a function with a bunch of if statements like ISEXPORTTYPE("table/html") that sets the output-target. It works, but I would like to get the current output-target instead of testing all possible...

If you want to see the value of the parameter, dec...

2012-03-02T15:35:38.437Z

If you want to see the value of the parameter, declare it as parameter. Environment is meant for rather static configuration details that are provided by the runtime system - like your current URL & so on.

Declare your parameter as string, and fill in the list of output types you want to support. For valid values, look over here: http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/Reporting/BI-Server+Reporting+Plugin+Documentation

I am trying to access the output-target parameter ...

2012-03-02T14:32:49.498Z

I am trying to access the output-target parameter by adding org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.env-mapping.output-target=env\:\:output-target but that does not work. Can this be done?

I've tried to create a bug, but it was closed ...

2012-02-08T13:24:03.828Z

I've tried to create a bug, but it was closed as "Not a bug" http://jira.pentaho.com/browse/PRD-3697
How exception can be not a bug :(

It seems to me that the proof of concept failed and there is no way to use pentaho reporting to get reports from MS SSAS cubes :(

Hi, Is there any way to get the report in a EXCEL ...

2012-01-26T09:56:49.689Z

Hi,
Is there any way to get the report in a EXCEL way but having more than one sheet???
I mean, I've got a report with 3 su-reports, and I need that everyone is in a sheet into the excel file.
Thanks,

JESI

Sounds like a bug: We do not handle it gracefully ...

2012-01-20T11:01:22.042Z

Sounds like a bug: We do not handle it gracefully when your datawarehouse produces attributes that are not part of the MDX specification from Microsoft. (BACKGROUND_COLOR is called BACK_COLOR there).

File me a JIRA case at http://jira.pentaho.com/browse/PRD and we can easily fix that so that non-standard properties get ignored or mapped somewhere outside of the standard space where they cannot do any harm.

(For your reference: A link to the MDX documentation about cell-properties)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms145573.aspx

I've created datasource as described here. con...

2012-01-20T10:23:09.600Z

I've created datasource as described here. connection test passed, simple MDX query works. But when I press Ok button datasource creation dialog in Report Designer, I get exception

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No enum const class org.olap4j.metadata.Property$StandardMemberProperty.BACKGROUND_COLOR
at java.lang.Enum.valueOf(Enum.java:196)
at org.olap4j.metadata.Property$StandardMemberProperty.valueOf(Property.java:143)
at org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.extensions.datasources.olap4j.MDXMetaDataMemberAttributes.getMetaAttribute(MDXMetaDataMemberAttributes.java:128)
at org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.extensions.datasources.olap4j.MDXMetaDataMemberAttributes.getMetaAttribute(MDXMetaDataMemberAttributes.java:94)
at org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.wizard.DefaultDataAttributes.merge(DefaultDataAttributes.java:158)
at org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.cache.CachableTableModel.(CachableTableModel.java:65)
at org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.cache.EhCacheDataCache.put(EhCacheDataCache.java:103)
....

I checked - there's no BACKGROUND_COLOR in org.olap4j.metadata.Property$StandardMemberProperty.

Is it possible to work with XMLA datasource in report designer? Please, help me!

thanks Thomas for the response.i will look into it...

2012-01-18T12:57:27.870Z

thanks Thomas for the response.i will look into it.

This is a good question for the Pentaho Forum over...

2012-01-18T09:43:30.602Z

This is a good question for the Pentaho Forum over here: http://forums.pentaho.com/forumdisplay.php?80-Community-Tools-CTools
At the end you probably have to write a small xaction or other service to expose that information to the outside world.

But be aware that anyone with half a brain-cell can modify values on the client side. If you base your security on a client-side parameter, you are deep in trouble. That sort of magical rewrite/parametrization should be done purely on the server-side, for instance with either Metadata's Row-level security or a security definition in a Mondrian schema.

hi Do you now how i can get the username variable ...

2012-01-18T07:10:43.967Z

hi
Do you now how i can get the username variable from the dashboard side to use in a query to create a dashboard.All help sincerely appreciated.

kind regards

I am stuck with Apache Http Client 4 and with the ...

2011-12-23T22:09:45.790Z

I am stuck with Apache Http Client 4 and with the help from your example I managed to get it to work using the following

HttpHost targetHost = new HttpHost("localhost", 80, "http");
DefaultHttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
httpclient.addRequestInterceptor(preemptiveAuth, 0);
httpclient.getCredentialsProvider().setCredentials(
new AuthScope(targetHost.getHostName(), targetHost.getPort()),
new UsernamePasswordCredentials(user, pass));

where the preemptiveAuth is

HttpRequestInterceptor preemptiveAuth = new HttpRequestInterceptor() {
public void process(final HttpRequest request, final HttpContext context) throws HttpException, IOException {
AuthState authState = (AuthState) context.getAttribute(ClientContext.TARGET_AUTH_STATE);
CredentialsProvider credsProvider = (CredentialsProvider) context
.getAttribute(ClientContext.CREDS_PROVIDER);
HttpHost targetHost = (HttpHost) context.getAttribute(ExecutionContext.HTTP_TARGET_HOST);

if (authState.getAuthScheme() == null) {
AuthScope authScope = new AuthScope(targetHost.getHostName(), targetHost.getPort());
Credentials creds = credsProvider.getCredentials(authScope);
if (creds != null) {
authState.setAuthScheme(new BasicScheme());
authState.setCredentials(creds);
}
}
}
};

Thanks again for your help.

To see it in a working example: http://source.pen...

2011-12-22T16:33:24.033Z

To see it in a working example:
http://source.pentaho.org/viewvc/pentaho-reporting/tools/report-designer/tags/3.8.3-GA/report-designer-extension-pentaho/source/org/pentaho/reporting/designer/extensions/pentaho/repository/util/PublishUtil.java?view=markup

We use the "openReport" method to communicate with the server to download the prpt file. Replace the "renderMode=DOWNLOAD" with "renderMode=XML" and you have your code.

To be sure that you do not get redirected, set

final GetMethod method = new GetMethod(paramServiceText);
method.setFollowRedirects(false);

on your HTTP-method. This way, if your login is not correct, you will receive a 302 error code from the server.

In that case do what we do in PRD: (1) Grab the a...

2011-12-22T16:28:35.253Z

In that case do what we do in PRD:

(1) Grab the apache-http-client.
(2) Initialize your client with:

final HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
client.getParams().setCookiePolicy(CookiePolicy.BROWSER_COMPATIBILITY);
client.getParams().setSoTimeout(WorkspaceSettings.getInstance().getConnectionTimeout() * 1000);
client.getParams().setAuthenticationPreemptive(true);
client.getState().setCredentials(AuthScope.ANY,
new UsernamePasswordCredentials(user, password));

The important part is the "setAuthenticationPreemptive".
If you do not do that, you will be rerouted to the login page and when you
will never get your data back.

Hi, I checked out the Pentaho-Wiki already, but t...

2011-12-22T15:06:35.150Z

Hi,

I checked out the Pentaho-Wiki already, but thanks for the link. I realized that it's userid and password, but it still does not work. I am not accessing them from a browser but from a Java application. I also tried Basic Authentication both from java and with "wget --header='Authorization: Basic [BASE64]' --output-document='out.xml' http://localhost:8080/pentaho/content/reporting?renderMode=PARAMETER&solution..." and the authentication seems to work since I get a 200 OK but the content of out.xml is only "java.lang.NullPointerException" even though the exact same link works in a browser if I am already logged in. Any ideas?

See this Pentaho-Wiki for details: http://wiki.pen...

2011-12-22T12:37:23.755Z

See this Pentaho-Wiki for details:
http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/ServerDoc2x/Authentication

In short: it's "userid" and "password". If you are logged in already, then your browser should have the authentication/session info in a cookie and you should not need the password.

So after you logged in normally, you will be able to fire the HTTP-Get without any problems as long as you not log out or not close your browser window.

How do you pass the credentials? If I do a http ge...

2011-12-22T08:26:58.782Z

How do you pass the credentials? If I do a http get at http://demo.pentaho.com/pentaho/content/reporting?renderMode=XML&solution=steel-wheels&path=%2Freports&name=Product+Sales.prpt I don't get the XML document, but the login page. Even if I add user and password parameters to the url, e.g. "&user=joe&password=password".

Was directed here from Pentaho forums. While the a...

2011-12-15T14:24:25.343Z

Was directed here from Pentaho forums. While the article is helpful I still could not figure out how to do it with limited screenshots and/or illustrations. Please, it would really be beneficial to the community.

Hi Thomas, Is there any way we can use PRD 3.8.3 ...

2011-12-12T11:52:16.271Z

Hi Thomas,

Is there any way we can use PRD 3.8.3 libraries with 3.8.0 platform?

We need the crosstab bug fixes, but if possible, would like to avoid upgrading BI platform version.

For updated developer documentation on the CDF-bas...

2011-12-06T22:14:02.746Z

For updated developer documentation on the CDF-based Reporting Web Viewer check out the Pentaho Wiki:

http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/ServerDoc2x/Pentaho+Prompting+API
http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/Reporting/Pentaho+Reporting+Web+Viewer

i still dont know, how to switch/change the langua...

2011-11-16T13:16:21.182Z

i still dont know, how to switch/change the language of this program! please help!

Sorry, I understood it now, please ignore my earli...

2011-11-14T18:20:01.471Z

Sorry, I understood it now, please ignore my earlier post!

Thanks thomas, Queries reference only parameters(...

2011-11-14T18:15:51.561Z

Thanks thomas,
Queries reference only parameters(${} syntax) right? can they reference fields from main report too?

The parameter passing happens implicitly. The quer...

2011-11-08T20:52:28.442Z

The parameter passing happens implicitly. The queries just have to reference any of the fields currently active in the report. The SINGLEVALUEQUERY function passes the whole report context along when firing the query.