You can grab a copy of the guide in Google Docs format and the SQL Script Pack at the projects page.

As always please let me know if you find any errors and also if you would like to see any further additions to guides and support for other databases.

Prashant.

This guide has been tested and works with the latest version of Pentaho BI Server 3.6.

Updated 28/02/2010

This guide has been tested and works with the latest version of Pentaho BI Server 3.5.2.

Updated 09/02/2010

All the guides have been updated as well as the MySQL and PostgreSQL SQL Packs. I have made a bunch of fixes to grammatical and spelling errors (ouch!), cleaned up the layout and process flow, extended the Java and Tomcat-Apache sections and added SMTP and Publishing sections (all changes are listed on the front page of each guide).

Last year I created a tutorial on how to install Pentaho Business Intelligence Server 2.0 with MySQL on Linux and the response was overwhelming with the amount of people who found the tutorial helpful.

I have taken the suggestions and feedback and have updated the tutorial for 3.5 and added PostgreSQL 8+ and Oracle 10g (XE and 11g) to the list, all the tutorials are split up for Windows and Linux operating systems.

Can’t wait? Head over to the Pentaho project page and start downloading!

Scenario.

I have two separate data sources, the first data source (ds01) has information about my employees i.e. employee code, office location, created date. My second data source (ds02) has satisfaction survey responses for each employee which was provided by an external company i.e. employee code, question title, response. I would like to retrieve for each employee the question and response from the satisfaction survey but only for employees who were created in the last month.

Flow.

The flow of the Jobs and Transformations which will make up this ETL process are:

• Job : Process employee satisfaction
  • Transformation : Get employee details
    • Get system data : Get last months date
    • Table input : Get employee data
    • Copy rows to result
  • Transformation : Get employee satisfaction
    • Get rows from result
    • Table input : Get satisfaction data
    • Excel output : Store results

Data sets.

The first data set ds01 (employee data) looks like this:

The second data set ds02 (satisfaction data) looks like this:

Step 1. Create the parent Job.

The first step is to create the parent Job, Process employee satisfaction. Once PDI has started to create a New Job you can either click on the File > New > Job option or use the CTRL + ALT + N shortcut.

Save the Job (using the File > Save option or CTRL+S shortcut) and name the file Process employee satisfaction.

Step 2. Create the Shared Database connections.

The next step is to create two shared database connections one for ds01 the other for ds02. While the Process employee satisfaction job is open make sure the View tab is visible (in the left hand side pane) and right click on the Database connections item and select the New option.

The Database Connection window will appear. You will then to fill out the available options for your database connection, as an example ds01 uses a MySQL database so my options after they were filled out looked like this:

• Connection Name : Name of your connection i.e. ds01
• Host Name : Host of your database server i.e. localhost
• Database Name : Name of the database which holds your information i.e. employees
• Port Number : Port which your database is listening on i.e. 3306
• Username : User to access the database i.e. root
• Password : Password to access the database

For ds02 my connection options looked like this:

• Connection Name : Name of your connection i.e. ds02
• Host Name : Host of your database server i.e. localhost
• Database Name : Name of the database which holds your information i.e. satisfaction
• Port Number : Port which your database is listening on i.e. 3306
• Username : User to access the database i.e. root
• Password : Password to access the database

After filling out the required fields you should always test your connection by clicking the Test button, you should receive a success message similar to the one below:

Repeat the steps above for the second database connection ds02. When you are done you should have both ds01 and ds02 database connections listed under the Database connections folder:

The last step is to share both the database connections so that they can be used throughout any other jobs and transformations which are created. Right click on the ds01 database connection and click the Share option:

Repeat the above step for ds02, you should now see both database connections in bold:

Now that the database connections have been created and shared save the Job and restart Kettle. In the following steps you will create the transformations.

It is important that you restart Kettle so that the shared database connections can be used within the transformations.

Step 3. Create the Transformations.

1. Get employee details.

The first transformation that you will need to create will require the following steps:

1. Get System Data : Get last month date
2. Table input : Get employee data
3. Copy rows to result

The first step is to create the Transformation, Get employee information. To create a new Transformation you can either click on the File > New > Transformation option or use the CTRL + N shortcut.

Save the transformation and name it Get employee information.

The first step will retrieve last month’s date using the Get System Data step. Drag and drop the Get System Data (under Inputs) step from the left hand side onto the workspace and double click on it to edit the options. After making the changes the Get System Data step now look like this:

After clicking the OK button the workspace now looks like this:

The next step, Get employee data uses a Table input (under Inputs) step which also utilises the previous steps (Get last month date) value as a variable in the WHERE clause. Drag and drop the Table input step from the left hand side pane onto the workspace and create a Hop between the Get last month date and the Table input step.

To create Hops click on the first step, hold down the SHIFT button and drag the arrow to next step.

Double click on the Table input step to change the options, after making the changes the options now look like this:

• Step name : Name of the step i.e. Get employee data
• Connection : The connection which the step is using i.e. ds01
• SQL : SQL statement used to retrieve the information, in this example we are retrieving employee codes who were created in the last month (which has been replaced with a ? to make it dynamic)
• Replace variables in script : Checked, we are using variables from the previous step which I have represented with a ? in the SQL statement
• Insert data from step : Selected the previous step, Get last month date as this contains the variable needed in the SQL statement

You can read more into how to use variables in Table input steps on the Pentaho Wiki.

After clicking the OK button the workspace now looks like this:

You can make sure that the variable replacement is working you can preview the output of the Get employee data step by clicking on the step and then the preview (icon) or right clicking on the step and selecting the Preview option. This will open up a Transformation debug dialog window:

Click the step which you would like to preview which in this example is Get employee data and click the Quick launch button, you should now be shown a preview of the data set from the Get employee data step:

The last step is a Copy rows from result step, this will copy the output from the previous step Get employee data to the result (memory). Drag and drop the Copy rows from result step (under Job) from the left hand side pane on to the workspace and create a Hop between the Get employee data and the Get rows from result step.

Save the transformation.

2. Get employee satisfaction.

The second transformation you will need to create will require the following steps:

1. Get rows from result
2. Table input : Get satisfaction data
3. Excel output

The first step is to create the Transformation, Get employee information. To create a new Transformation you can either click on the File > New > Transformation option or use the CTRL + N shortcut.

Save the Transformation and name it Get employee satisfaction.

The first step will retrieve the data which is stored in the result (memory) by the Copy rows to result step in the previous transformation using the Get rows from result step. Drag and drop the Get rows from result (under Jobs) step from the left hand side onto the workspace and double click on it to edit the options. After making the changes to the Get rows from result step the options now look like this:

Make sure you enter the exact name of the fields that you copied to the result which in this example was from the Table input step Get employee data, these were named emp_code.

The next step Get satisfaction data will be use Table input (under Scripts) step which will utilise the values of the previous step, Get rows from result in the WHERE clause. Drag and drop the Table input step from the left hand side pane onto the workspace and create a Hop between the Get rows from result and the Table input step:

Double click on the Table input step to change the options, after making the changes the options now look like this:

• Step name : Name of the step i.e. Get satisfaction data
• Connection : The connection which the step is using i.e. ds02
• SQL : SQL statement used to retrieve the information, in this example we are retrieving employee satisfaction results for each employee code (which has been replaced with a ? to make it dynamic) stored in the result (memory) from the Get rows from result step
• Replace variables in script : Checked, we are using variables from the previous step which I have represented with a ? in the SQL statement
• Insert data from step : Selected the previous step, Get rows from result as this contains the variable needed in the SQL statement
• Execute for each row? : Check, in this example we need to run this query for each row stored in the result (memory)

Click OK your workspace will now look like this:

The last step is to create an Excel Output step which will store the results from the Get satisfaction data step. Drag and drop the Excel Output step from the left hand side pane onto the workspace and create a Hop between the Get satisfaction data and Excel Output step.

Double click on the Excel Output step to change the options, after making the changes the options now look like this:

• File tab
  • Filename : Name and location of where the Excel file will be stored i.e. /Users/prashantraju/Desktop/result
  • Extension : Extension of the file i.e. .xls
• Content tab
  • Append : Append the results to the file, in this example the output will run for each row in the result (memory) so you will need to append the results to the file otherwise you will only see the last row from the ETL process
  • Header : Include the header in the output, in this example that is emp_code, emp_name, question_title and response
• Fields tab
  • The fields which will be outputted into the Excel sheet, in this example it is only emp_code, question_title and response

Click OK to save the step and also save the Transformation.

Step 4. Complete the Job.

The last and final step is to complete the Job which we created in Step 1, the job will require four steps:

1. START
2. Transformation: Get employee information
3. Transformation: Get satisfaction information
4. Success

Open the Process employee satisfaction job and drag and drop a START step (under General), two Transformation steps (under General) and a Success step (also under General) onto the workspace and create a Hop between each of them so that your workspace now looks like this:

You will need to make changes to both Transformation steps so that they point to the Get employee information and Get employee satisfaction transformations which were created in Step 3. Double click on the first transformation and change the options so that they now look like this:

Click OK to save the step.

Repeat the above steps but for the Get employee satisfaction step.

Click OK to save the step and also save the Job. Now you are ready to test the Job.

Step 5. Test the Job.

To run the ETL process make sure you have the Process employee satisfaction job open and click on the (run) icon to run the Job, this will display a Execute a job window after changing the options i.e. log detail etc:

After clicking the Launch button and opening the result.xls file on my Desktop the output shows for each employee code the question and response:

Downloads.

Final Notes.

This example may not be the best way to represent the use of Table inputs and variables but hopefully the detail and the inclusion of storing rows in results, using system variables and debugging steps can help you with your PDI learning curve (not that that there is a big one anyway!).

As always, enjoy!

Scenario.

I wanted to create a bar chart which has a dynamic width (expand or contract) depending on the amount of categories a user selected from a multi value list parameter. This would ensure that the chart didn’t become squashed and unreadable. in this tutorial I will be using a data set which represents population by countries.

Data Set.

Below is an example of the data set I will be using for this tutorial, as you can see each country has a population (you can download a spreadsheet version of the sample data at the end of this tutorial).

* Population is calculated in the millions

Step 1 – Data Source.

Start PRD and create a new report. Right click on the Data Sets icon and select the JDBC option from the menu.

After selecting the JDBC option a JDBC Data Source window will appear. I have already created a connection to my database which includes the data that I will be working on, in this example it is called Geography.

Once you have a working connection to your database you are now ready to create your queries.

Step 2 – Queries.

This report contains two separate queries:

1. qCountries : Retrieves a distinct list of countries, this will be used for the countries parameter
2. qDataset : Retrieves the population for the countries selected by a user

pCountries.

The qCountries query needs to return a distinct list of countries, the SQL query looks like this:

SELECT   DISTINCT COUNTRY
FROM     dataset

A screen shot of the JDBC Data Source window of the qCountries query looks like this:

qDataset.

The qDataset query needs to return the population for countries which the user has selected, the SQL query looks like this (this query will need to use a parameter which I will add in later):

-- Use a sub query to calculate the total amount of countries selected
SELECT    t1.COUNTRY AS COUNTRY,
               SUM(t1.POPULATION) AS POPULATION,
               SUM(t2.COUNTRY_COUNT) AS COUNTRY_COUNT
FROM      dataset t1,
          (
              SELECT COUNT(*) AS COUNTRY_COUNT
              FROM dataset
              GROUP BY COUNTRY
          ) t2
GROUP BY COUNTRY

A screen shot of the JDBC Data Source window with the qDataset query looks like this:

Step 3 – Parameter.

There is only one (multi value list) parameter in this report which will display a distinct list of countries and be populated by the qCountries query. To create a new parameter right click on the Parameters option under the Data tab and click the Add Parameter… option:

This will bring up the Add Parameter window. After filling out all the options the Add Parameter window now looks like this:

Where the options and values are:

• Name : This is the name of the parameter, this is used within report queries i.e. the WHERE clause of qDataset
• Label : The text which sits next to the parameter on the report i.e. Select one or more countries
• Value Type : The data type of the sCountries value i.e. COUNTRY is a String
• Mandatory : For the report to run a parameter value must be selected i.e. Checked (true)
• Display Type : The parameter type i.e. Multi Value List
• Value : The parameters value which will used within queries etc. i.e. the field COUNTRY
• Display Name : What the user will see the parameter value as i.e. the field COUNTRY
• Visible items : The amount of items which are shown to the user in the multi value list parameter i.e. 3

Click OK to save the parameter, it should now be visible under the Parameters item under the Data tab.

After adding the sCountries parameter the next step is to use the parameter as part of the qDataset WHERE clause. Right click on the qDataset item under the Data tab and click the Edit Query option:

Modify the qDataset query so that it now includes the sCountries parameter:

-- Use a sub query to calculate the total amount of countries selected
SELECT    t1.COUNTRY AS COUNTRY,
               SUM(t1.POPULATION) AS POPULATION,
               SUM(t2.COUNTRY_COUNT) AS COUNTRY_COUNT
FROM      dataset t1,
          (
              SELECT COUNT(*) AS COUNTRY_COUNT
              FROM dataset
              WHERE COUNTRY IN (${sCountries})
              GROUP BY COUNTRY
          ) t2
WHERE COUNTRY IN (${sCountries})
GROUP BY COUNTRY

Step 4 – Bar Chart.

The next step is to create a bar chart whose width is dynamic based on the amount of countries a user selects. To get started drag and drop the chart object onto the report header.

As you can see the width is fixed at the moment but before I start to make any changes to the chart’s width I will need to configure my chart to display our data and see how it becomes unreadable when we increase the amount of categories on the x axis. Double click on the chart and to bring up the Edit Chart window.

By default the chart is set to a bar chart and without going through every available option I made the following changes to represent my data set:

• chart-title : Chart title i.e. Population of Countries (optional)
• gridlines : Are the vertical and horizontal grid markers i.e. Set to False (optional)
• x-axis-title : Label of the x-axis i.e Countries
• x-axis-label-rotation : Rotation of the x-axis label i.e. 90
• y-axis-title : Label of the y-axis i.e. Population (millions)
• category-column : Field which will be on the x-axis i.e. COUNTRY
• value-columns : Field which populates the y-axis i.e. POPULATION
• series-by-field : Field which defines the series i.e. COUNTRY

After previewing the chart with all the countries selected you can see that the output is squashed and unreadable.

One way around this is to make the width (or height) of your chart dynamic by the amount of countries the user selects from the multi value list parameter. Select the chart and on the right hand side under the Style tab locate the size & position option and click the icon under the Formula column. This will display an Expression window, click on the icon which will then open the Formula Editor window.

The formula below retrieves the COUNTRY_COUNT field and multiplies it by the width of the chart which suits one category (country) on the x axis, which in this example is 150.

# If there is only one country selected then use default width otherwise calculate width
=IF([COUNTRY_COUNT]=1;150;[COUNTRY_COUNT]*150)

Save the formula. Now you are ready to preview the report.

Step 5 – Preview.

Click on the preview icon and select one country from the multi value list parameter, as you can see the width is set to our default width, 150.

Selecting two countries from the multi value list parameter will expand the width to 300.

Selecting four countries from the multi list parameter will expand the width to 600.

So that is how you create a chart which can expand or contract depending on the amount of categories displayed on the x axis.

Downloads.

Final Notes.

A couple of things to note about the method I used:

• The query to generate the amount of selected countries uses a sub query and could cause performance issues with large data sets etc.
• This method can be used for both the width and height and on any other object within PRD i.e. shapes, labels, pictures etc.

Hopefully this comes in handy when you start handling large data sets and charts!

Enjoy!

Recently I was given the chance to review Maria Carina Roldan’s new book “Pentaho Data Integration 3.2 – Beginners Guide”. Maria is an active member of the community and be found on the forums under the (surprise, surprise) Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) section.

As I had been given an ebook to review it was hard to sit down and read through it easily – it just isn’t the same as the real thing. Generally the book is meant for beginners (as the title suggests) as it covers the basics and some intermediate topics of Pentaho’s Data Integration tool. The best thing about this book is that each chapter uses ‘real-life’ data scenarios i.e. football game results and backs it up with quick pop quiz’s to test your PDI knowledge.

I recommend the book for both beginner and intermediate users of PDI and is a great to keep handy on your desk for quick reference. The book covers many different areas but some of the main topics include: transformations and jobs, JavaScript, databases, error handling and using repositories.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Packt Publishing and grab yourself a copy!

My current report (based on the Steel Wheels sample data) displays the product code and product name based on multiple selections of product codes using a multi value list parameter type:

To populate the above report I use the following queries:

-- Name: product
-- Description: Populates the main report
SELECT
  PRODUCTCODE, PRODUCTNAME
FROM
  PRODUCTS
WHERE
  PRODUCTCODE IN (${productCodes})
 
-- Name: productsList
-- Description: Populates the product code parameter
SELECT
  DISTINCT PRODUCTCODE
FROM
  PRODUCTS

The options for the product code multi value list parameter are:

Now I need to display the multi list parameter values (product codes) in the report header but formatted like this:

S10_1678, S10_1949, S10_2016

To create the above format I’m going to use MySQL’s GROUP_CONCAT function (there are similar functions out there for PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server etc.) in a new query. The query which uses the GROUP_CONCAT function looks like this:

-- Name: productsSelected
-- Description: Displays a friendly formatted list of parameters inside the sub-report using the productCodes parameter
 
SELECT
  GROUP_CONCAT(PRODUCTCODE, ', ')
FROM
  PRODUCTS
WHERE
  PRODUCTCODE IN ({$productCodes})

As this is a separate query I will need to create an inline sub-report. The first step is to drag and drop the sub-report object from the left pane onto the report-header and assign the productsSelected query:

The next step is to double click on the sub-report to work inside it. Once the sub-report has opened under the Data tab right click on the Parameters item and select the Edit Sub-report Parameters… option. From the Sub-report parameters window add in the productCode parameter under the Import Parameters area (Outer and Inner) and click OK to save.

To display the multi value list field (GROUP_CONCAT(PRODUCTCODE, ‘, ‘)), I dragged and dropped the field from the productsSelected query under the Data tab onto the report header section and also added a label Selected Product Codes:

After the previewing the report I can now see that the parameters from the multi value list are displayed in a friendly format:

This method does have a downfall as it runs another query but it is a simple and clean way of outputting the values of multi value list parameters.

Do you use a different method? Let me know by posting a comment!

Enjoy.

I have 40 sale campaigns. I need to put together a quick presentation (as a PDF) which will show 2 key metrics (New and Loss revenue) for each of the 40 sale campaigns. Do you know of a quick way I can produce this presentation?

I thought this would the perfect opportunity to show off Pentaho Report Designer (PRD) as an alternative to Mircosoft Excel, Access or other big BI vendors. Below is a step by step guide on how I accomplished this.

Scenario.

The above statement sums up the users requirements, visually the the report needed to look like this:

After I knew the structure of the report I got the user to export the data into an Excel Worksheet – this was going to be my data source – after this it took me only 5 minutes to create the presentation using PRD.

Data Source.

The end user was able to produce a raw extract of the data which the report needed to be based on. Here is a preview of the data:

• Campaign: Campaign identifier which duplicates for each week row
• Week: Week ending date which is for 2010
• New_09, Loss_09: Revenue for 2009
• New_10, Loss_10: Revenue for 2010

To use an Excel worksheet as a data source make sure the Data tab is active, right click on the Data Sets icon and select the Table option:

After clicking the Table option a Table Datasource Editor window is displayed:

Step 1. Create a Query.

The first step is to create a query which will store the data set. Click on the  (Add Query) icon and then specify a name, in this example I’m naming the query dataset.

Step 2. Select the Excel Worksheet.

The next step is to select the Excel worksheet which contains the data set. Click on the  icon located in the bottom left hand corner to open up a file browser window, select the Excel file which contains the data set and click OK. Your data set should now be visible (as my Excel worksheet has headers I have checked the Use First Row as Header option).

At the moment you can only use .XLS files so if you are using Office 2007+ make sure you save the extension as .XLS instead of .XLSX and if your .XLS file contains formulas they will not be recognised by PRD so be sure to paste special as values.

Step 3. Manipulate the Data.

You can add empty rows and columns or remove rows and columns by using these icons:

You are also able to change the column headers and data type by double clicking on the column header:

In this example I didn’t need to make any modifications to the data however I did have trouble converting the Week_Ending field into a date format so in the Excel worksheet I converted it into a string using the TEXT() function – if anyone knows how to get this working please lleave a comment.

Once you are happy with the data set click the OK button. The data set should now be visible as fields under the Data Sets > Table > dataset icon under the Data tab:

Building the Report.

The next step was to build the report, from the report structure (above) I knew I had to create one group Campaign, and within that group add 2 charts which represented the New and Loss Revenue for 2009 and 2010.

Step 1. Add the Group.

To get started add the Campaign field as a group by right clicking on the Groups item under the Structure tab and selecting the Edit Group .. option:

After clicking the Edit Group .. option an Add Group window will appear, specify a name for the group i.e. Campaign and using the arrows move the field over which defines the group which in this example is Campaign and click OK when done.

The Campaign field will now be defined under the Attributes tab for the Group item:

The next step is to make the Group Header and Details Header are visible on the report canvass. Click on the Groups > Group Header item under the Structure tab and and under the Attributes tab uncheck the hide-on-canvass option:

Repeat the above steps for the Groups > Details Body > Details Header item as well:

Step 2. Functions.

I will need to create three functions; one which will convert the Week_Ending field into a date and the other two will be display dynamic chart titles.

Converting the Date.

As I mentioned above I had some issues with letting PRD convert the Week_Ending field into a date from the Table Datasource Editor, so to get around this I created a formula which would take the Week_Ending field (as a string) and convert it into a Date.

To do this create a new function by right clicking on the Functions option under the Data tab and click the Add Function… option.

From the Add Function… window expand the Common folder and select the Open Formula option and click the Add button:

This will add an Open Formula function under the Functions option (seen under the Data tab) :

To change the name of the function (named by default as FormulaExpression1) click on the function and in the area below change the value that is set for the Function Name, in this example I named the function New_Week_Ending:

To edit the formula of the function click on the  icon which is displayed when you click in the Formula value area, this will display a Formula Editor window:

As my date is in the current format YYYY-MM-DD I needed to use the DATE function with a combination of LEFT, MID and RIGHT functions to convert it into a date. I won’t go into too much detail with this section as all these functions are pretty self explanatory and are well documented in the Formula Editor but the final formula looked like this:

=DATE(LEFT([Week_Ending];4);MID([Week_Ending];6;2);RIGHT([Week_Ending];2))

Click the OK button to save the New_Week_Ending formula. I have just created a function which will convert the Week_Ending (string) field into a New_Week_Ending (date) field so that the X-Y Chart TimeSeries Collector will now recognise it as a date.

Dynamic Chart Titles.

Each chart needs to have a dynamic title which will output the campaign and the measure which is represented i.e. 1 – New Revenue ($). As I have two charts for each campaign I will need to create two functions: one for the New Revenue chart and one for the Loss Revenue chart.

Following the steps outlined above to create two new functions (with the names sNewChart and sLossChart) using the Open Formula type and specify the formulas to be:

# New Revenue Charts (sNewChart)
=[Campaign] & " - New Revenue ($)"
# Loss Revenue Charts (sLossChart)
=[Campaign] & " - Loss Revenue ($)"

I have now created three functions:

Step 2. Add the Group Header.

To add the Campaign as the Group Header drag and drop the Campaign field from the Data tab onto the Group Header area and apply some formatting:

Step 3. Add the Charts.

Each chart needed to look similar to this mockup (I have already created the Chart Title and New_Week_Ending functions):

Drag and drop a chart object from the panel located on the left hand side onto the Details Header section and double click the object to open up the Edit Chart (properties) window . To create a X-Y Chart which uses a TimeSeries Collector make sure you Edit Chart (properties) window looks like this:

After setting up all the options the Edit Chart (properties) window now look like this (for the New Revenue measure):

• Title
  • chart-title-field: Field or function which is the chart title i.e. sNewChart or sLossChart
• Primary DataSource
  • Common
    
    • category-time-option: Value of the x-axis, this must match the amount of series you have in the value-column option i.e. New_Week_Ending (twice)
    • time-period-type: Type of period the above field is i.e. Week and New_Week_Ending is an increment of weeks
    • value-column: Field(s) which contain the y-axis, you can specify more than one as there can be multiple series i.e. New_09 and New_10 or Loss_09 and Loss_10
  • Series
    • series-by-value: Name of the each series specified for the above option i.e. 2009 and 2010
  • Group
    • reset-group: Reset the charts after a specific group(s) i.e. Campaign

There was alot of extra formatting on the charts so be sure to check out the available .PRPT file if you interested in what they look like.

After I created the chart for New Revenue I just copied and pasted the chart object and made changes to the properties to create the Loss Revenue chart:

The final report structure looks like this:

There are a lot of options in the charting library of PRD so I suggest you pick up Will Gorman’s book Pentaho Reporting 3.5 for Java Developers which has a couple of chapters which cover the charting library in detail.

Step 4. Add the Page Break.

The last step was to add a page break after each Campaign group. To do this click on the Details Body item under the Structure tab and check the pagebreak-after option:

Output.

After previewing the report the final output as a PDF looks like this (you can download the actual PDF file below):

Downloads.

Final Notes.

This post is very detailed as it covers some interesting areas but as this was an ad hoc request it took me under 5 minutes to whip together this report and have it in the user’s inbox. Do you have any examples of how you handled ad hoc requests with PRD? If so, leave a comment or send me an email.

One user converted n to go! Enjoy.

• Login page and dialog
• Messages
• Main toolbar, menu bar and logo panel
• Launch page (covered in this post)

In this post I will show you how to customise the launch page.

The Launch Page

The launch page is the default page that is displayed when you log into the PUC, below is a screenshot of the launch page:

launch.jsp

The contents of the launch page are generated by the launch.jsp file which is located under the tomcat/webapps/pentaho/mantle/launch/ directory, the images which are used for the launch page are located under the tomcat/webapps/pentaho/mantle/launch/images directory.

The contents of the launch.jsp are:

<%@ taglib prefix='c' uri='http://java.sun.com/jstl/core'%><%@
    page
  language="java"
  import="java.io.InputStream,
      java.util.Locale,
      java.util.PropertyResourceBundle,
      java.util.ResourceBundle,
      java.util.regex.Pattern,
      java.util.regex.Matcher,
      org.pentaho.platform.util.messages.LocaleHelper,
      org.pentaho.platform.api.engine.IPentahoSession,
      org.pentaho.platform.api.engine.IPluginManager,
      org.pentaho.platform.api.repository.ISolutionRepository,
      org.pentaho.platform.engine.core.system.PentahoSystem,
      org.pentaho.platform.engine.core.system.StandaloneSession,
      org.pentaho.platform.util.logging.Logger,
      org.pentaho.platform.web.jsp.messages.Messages,
      org.pentaho.platform.web.http.PentahoHttpSessionHelper,
      org.apache.commons.lang.StringEscapeUtils"%>
<%
  /*
   * Copyright 2006 Pentaho Corporation.  All rights reserved.
   * This software was developed by Pentaho Corporation and is provided under the terms
   * of the Mozilla Public License, Version 1.1, or any later version. You may not use
   * this file except in compliance with the license. If you need a copy of the license,
   * please go to http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.txt. The Original Code is the Pentaho
   * BI Platform.  The Initial Developer is Pentaho Corporation.
   *
   * Software distributed under the Mozilla Public License is distributed on an "AS IS"
   * basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or  implied. Please refer to
   * the license for the specific language governing your rights and limitations.
   *
   * @created Jul 23, 2005
   * @author James Dixon
   *
   */
%>
 
<%@page import="org.pentaho.ui.xul.XulOverlay"%>
<%@page import="org.pentaho.platform.api.engine.IPluginManager"%><html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
 
 
<title><%=Messages.getString("UI.PUC.LAUNCH.TITLE")%></title>
 
<style type="text/css">
<!--
body {
  color: #000000;
  background-color: #FFFFFF;
  margin: 0px;
}
 
p {
  margin: 0px;
  padding: 0px;
}
 
A:link,A:visited,A:hover {
  color: #7e932f;
  text-decoration: underline;
}
 
A:hover {
  color: #ca6333;
  text-decoration: underline;
}
 
.launchPanel {
  background-color: white;
  background-image: url(images/quicklaunch_bg.png);
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: center;
  height: 100%;
}
 
.ql_container {
  width: 620px;
  margin-bottom: 50px;
}
 
.ql_icon_bar_left {
  width: 41px;
  height: 147px;
  vertical-align: top;
  padding-top: 25px;
}
 
.ql_icon_bar_middle {
  background-image:
    url(images/ql_icon_bar_middle.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
  width: 100%;
  height: 199px;
}
 
.ql_icon_bar_right {
  width: 41px;
  height: 147px;
  vertical-align: top;
  padding-top: 25px;
}
 
.ql_spacer {
  width: 20px;
}
 
.ql_btn {
  width: 167px;
}
 
.ql_btn_left {
  width: 41px;
  height: 56px;
}
 
.ql_btn_middle {
  background-image: url(images/ql_btn_middle.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
  width: 100%;
  font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.25em;
  line-height: 20px;
  font-weight: 300;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: top;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding-top: 5px;
}
 
.ql_btn_right {
  width: 41px;
  height: 56px;
}
 
.ql_btn_left_hover {
  width: 41px;
  height: 56px;
}
 
.ql_btn_middle_hover {
  background-image:
    url(images/ql_btn_middle_hover.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
  width: 100%;
  font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.25em;
  line-height: 20px;
  font-weight: 300;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: top;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding-top: 5px;
}
 
.ql_btn_right_hover {
  width: 41px;
  height: 56px;
}
 
.ql_new_report {
  width: 120px;
  height: 130px;
  padding-bottom: 13px;
  cursor: pointer;
}
 
.ql_new_analysis {
  width: 120px;
  height: 130px;
  padding-bottom: 13px;
  cursor: pointer;
}
 
.ql_manage {
  width: 120px;
  height: 130px;
  padding-bottom: 13px;
  cursor: pointer;
}
 
.ql_logo {
  width: 290px;
  height: 91px;
  padding-bottom: 30px;
}
 
.button {
  cursor: pointer;
  width: 167px;
  padding: 0px;
  spacing: 0px;
  height: 56px;
}
 
.btn_left {
  background-image: url("images/ql_btn_left.png");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  height: 56px;
  width: 22px;
}
 
.btn_right {
  background-image: url("images/ql_btn_right.png");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  height: 56px;
  width: 22px;
}
 
.btn_center {
  background-image: url(images/ql_btn_middle.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
  width: 100%;
  font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.25em;
  line-height: 20px;
  font-weight: 300;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: top;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding-top: 5px;
}
 
.btn_left_hover {
  background-image:
    url("images/ql_btn_left_hover.png");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  height: 56px;
  width: 22px;
}
 
.btn_right_hover {
  background-image:
    url("images/ql_btn_right_hover.png");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  height: 56px;
  width: 22px;
}
 
.btn_center_hover {
  background-image:
    url(images/ql_btn_middle_hover.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
  width: 100%;
  font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.25em;
  line-height: 20px;
  font-weight: 300;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: top;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding-top: 5px;
}
-->
</style>
 
<script type="text/javascript">
Button = function(label, container){
 
    var btn = document.createElement("input");
    btn.setAttribute("type","button");
 
 
    table = document.createElement("table");
    document.getElementById(container).innerHTML="";
    document.getElementById(container).appendChild(table);
 
    table.setAttribute("cellpadding","0");
    table.setAttribute("cellspacing","0");
    table.setAttribute("border","0");
    table.className="button";
    table.setAttribute("height","56");
    table.setAttribute("width","167");
    table.cellSpacing = "0px";
    table.cellPadding = "0px";
 
    var tbody = document.createElement("tbody");
 
    var tr = document.createElement("tr");
 
    var left_td = document.createElement("td");
    left_td.className="btn_left";
    left_td.innerHTML = "<img src='images/ql_spacer.png'/ width='22' height='1'/><br/>";
    tr.appendChild(left_td);
 
    var center_td = document.createElement("td");
    center_td.setAttribute("width","100%");
    center_td.className="btn_center";
    center_td.onselectstart=function(){return false;}
    center_td.style.MozUserSelect='none';
    center_td.innerHTML = label;
    tr.appendChild(center_td);
 
    var right_td = document.createElement("td");
    right_td.innerHTML = "<img src='images/ql_spacer.png'/ width='22' height='1'/><br/>";
    right_td.className="btn_right";
    tr.appendChild(right_td);
    tbody.appendChild(tr);
 
    table.appendChild(tbody);
 
    table.onmouseover=function(){
      window.selectedButton = this;
      left_td.className="btn_left_hover";
      right_td.className="btn_right_hover";
      center_td.className="btn_center_hover";
    };
    this.reset = function(){
      left_td.className="btn_left";
      right_td.className="btn_right";
      center_td.className="btn_center";
    }
 
    table.onmouseout = this.reset;
 
    this.onClick=function(onClick){
      if(window.parent && window.parent.mantle_initialized){
        table.onclick = function(){eval("window.parent." + onClick)};
      }
    };
}
 
window.onresize = function(){
  if(window.selectedButton){
     window.selectedButton.onmouseout();
  }
 
 
  // IE_6_FIX: When resized by PUC, IE will display rendering issues. This is accounted for by the code below. 
  if(window.isIE6){
 
    // IE6 has a rate limit on the number of resize events that it will fire. This means we cannot rely on the
    // resize event alone to determine when the reisize is complete. The timer ensures that the layout is
    // recomputed after PUC is done resizing the iframe.
    setTimeout(function(){
      window.tableWrapperDiv.style.top = "1px";
      window.tableWrapperDiv.style.top = "0px";
    }, 350);
 
  }
 
}
 
function loader(){
 
  // IE_6_FIX: We're using a CSS filter to enable transparany in IE 6. This has the side-effect of trapping mouse events in the
  // filtered area. The standard workaround is to wrap that area in two divs, one absolutely positioned inside a relative one.
 
  var navAgent = window.navigator.userAgent;
  window.isIE6 = false;
  var reg = new RegExp("MSIE ([0-9]{1,}[\.0-9]{0,})").exec(navAgent)
  if (reg != null) {
    var version = parseFloat( RegExp.$1 );
    window.isIE6 = version >= 6.0 && version < 7.0;
  }
 
  // The following wrapps the button table with two DIVs, one positioned relative and the other absolute.
  if(window.isIE6){
    var buttonTable = document.getElementById("buttonTable");
    var parent = buttonTable.parentNode;
    window.tableWrapperDiv = document.createElement("div");
    var absDiv = document.createElement("div");
 
    with(tableWrapperDiv.style){
      position = "relative";
      width = "100%";
      height = "100%";
    }
    with(absDiv.style){
      position = "absolute";
      top = "0px";
      left = "0px";
    }
 
    parent.removeChild(buttonTable);
    parent.appendChild(tableWrapperDiv);
    tableWrapperDiv.appendChild(absDiv);
    absDiv.appendChild(buttonTable);
    tableWrapperDiv.id = "buttonWrapperDiv";
  }
  // End IE_6_FIX
 
    new Button("<%=Messages.getString( "UI.PUC.LAUNCH.NEW_REPORT" )%>", "launch_new_report").onClick("openWAQR()");
    new Button("<%=Messages.getString( "UI.PUC.LAUNCH.NEW_ANALYSIS" )%>", "launch_new_analysis").onClick("openAnalysis()");
<%!
  private static ResourceBundle getBundle(String messageUri) {
    Locale locale = LocaleHelper.getLocale();
    IPentahoSession session = new StandaloneSession( "dashboards messages" ); //$NON-NLS-1$
    try {
        if (messageUri.startsWith("content/")) {
          messageUri = "system/" + messageUri.substring(8); //$NON-NLS-1$
        }
      InputStream in = PentahoSystem.get(ISolutionRepository.class, session).getResourceInputStream(messageUri, true, ISolutionRepository.ACTION_EXECUTE);
      return new PropertyResourceBundle( in );
    } catch (Exception e) {
      Logger.error( Messages.class.getName(), "Could not get localization bundle", e ); //$NON-NLS-1$
    }
    return null;
  }
%><% 
  boolean pluginButton = false;
  String buttonLabel = "";
  String buttonCommand = "";
  String buttonImage = "";
  IPluginManager pluginManager = PentahoSystem.get(IPluginManager.class, PentahoHttpSessionHelper.getPentahoSession(request)); //$NON-NLS-1$
    if (pluginManager != null) {
        for(XulOverlay overlayObj : pluginManager.getOverlays()) {
          if (overlayObj.getId() != null && overlayObj.getId().equals("launch")) {
      ResourceBundle bundle = getBundle(overlayObj.getResourceBundleUri());
        // replace I18N parameters
        Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\$\\{([^\\}]*)\\}");
        Matcher m = p.matcher(overlayObj.getOverlayXml());
        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
        while (m.find()) {
          String param = m.group(1);
          m.appendReplacement(sb, bundle.getString(param));
        }
        m.appendTail(sb);
        String overlay = sb.toString();
 
      if (overlay.indexOf("id=\"manage_content\"") >= 0) {
        int startButtonLabel = overlay.indexOf("label=\"");
        int endButtonLabel = overlay.indexOf("\"", startButtonLabel + 7);
        buttonLabel = overlay.substring(startButtonLabel + 7, endButtonLabel);
 
        int startButtonImage = overlay.indexOf("image=\"");
        int endButtonImage = overlay.indexOf("\"", startButtonImage + 7);
        buttonImage = overlay.substring(startButtonImage + 7, endButtonImage);
 
        int startButtonCommand = overlay.indexOf("command=\"");
        int endButtonCommand = overlay.indexOf("\"", startButtonCommand + 9);
        buttonCommand = overlay.substring(startButtonCommand + 9, endButtonCommand);
        pluginButton = true;
        break;
      }
          }
      }
    }
  if (pluginButton) {
%>    new Button("<%=buttonLabel%>", "manage_content").onClick("<%= buttonCommand%>");
<%
  } else {
%>    new Button("<%=Messages.getString( "UI.PUC.LAUNCH.MANAGE_CONTENT" )%>", "manage_content").onClick("openManage()");
<%  }  %>
    fixPNGs();
}
 
</script>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="../pngfix.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript">
      PngFix.spacerURL = "images/ql_spacer.png";
  </script>
</head>
 
<body onLoad="loader()">
 
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;">
<table style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" class="launchPanel" id="launchPanel"
  cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td style="vertical-align: middle;" align="center">
 
    <table width="564" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0"
      cellspacing="0" class="ql_container">
      <tr>
        <td colspan="3" align="center"><img
          src="images/ql_logo.png" alt="Pentaho.com"
          class="ql_logo" /></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="ql_icon_bar_left"><img
          src="images/ql_icon_bar_left.png" width="41"
          height="147" /></td>
        <td class="ql_icon_bar_middle" >
 
            <table id="buttonTable" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
              height="100%">
              <tr>
                <td align="center" valign="top" onClick="window.parent.openWAQR()"><img
                  src="images/btn_ql_newreport.png"
                  class="ql_new_report" /></td>
                <td align="center" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
                <td align="center" valign="top"
                  onClick="window.parent.openAnalysis()"><img
                  src="images/btn_ql_newanalysis.png"
                  class="ql_new_analysis" /></td>
                <td align="center" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
<% if (pluginButton) { %>
                <td align="center" valign="top"
                  onClick="window.parent.<%=buttonCommand %>"><img
                  src="../../<%=buttonImage %>"
                  class="ql_manage" /></td>
<% } else { %>
                <td align="center" valign="top"
                  onClick="window.parent.openManage()"><img
                  src="images/btn_ql_manage.png"
                  class="ql_manage" /></td>
<% } %>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td id="launch_new_report" height="100%"><!--  container for New Report Button -->
                </td>
                <td><img src="images/ql_spacer.png"
                  class="ql_spacer" /></td>
                <td id="launch_new_analysis"><!--  container for New Analysis Button -->
                </td>
                <td><img src="images/ql_spacer.png"
                  class="ql_spacer" /></td>
                <td id="manage_content"><!--  container for manage content Button -->
                </td>
              </tr>
          </table>
 
        </td>
        <td class="ql_icon_bar_right"><img
          src="images/ql_icon_bar_right.png"
          width="41" height="147" /></td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
</div>
 
</body>
</html>

Before you make any changes to launch.jsp make sure you keep a backup copy.

Example 1

The launch.jsp page is like any other JSP (or HTML) page. For example, if I wanted to make the launch.jsp page display my blog’s logo all I need to do is change the contents of the launch.jsp file so that they now look like this:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>Launch</title>
</head>
<body>
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;">
<table style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" class="launchPanel" id="launchPanel" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr>
    <td style="vertical-align: middle;" align="center">
      <img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="Logo"/>
    </td>
    </table>
  </tr>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>

I have placed the logo.jpg image under the tomcat/webapps/pentaho/mantle/launch/images/ directory.

After refreshing the browser the new launch.jsp now looks like this:

Example 2

You could also embed information from other sites i.e. intranet home page etc. by using an iframe. For example, to include Google News instead of the default launch page I will need to make changes to the launch.jsp page so that it now looks like this:

<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>Launch</title>
</head>
<body>
<iframe src="http://www.google.com/news" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0">
  <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
</iframe>
</body>
</html>

After refreshing the browser the new launch.jsp now looks like this:

Example 3

Another example would be to add a list of links to key reports, analysis views and/or dashboards using xactions. Just say I would like to create a list which are links for the following:

• Area Chart Example (Steel Wheels > Charts)
• Marketing Analysis by Year (Steel Wheels > Analysis)

After making changes the launch.jsp file now looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>Launch</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Steel Wheels Launch pad</h1>
<p>Maybe one of these reports/analysis/dashboards can help you:</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="http://localhost:8080/pentaho/ViewAction?&solution=steel-wheels&path=charts&action=areachart_data.xaction">Area Chart Example</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://localhost:8080/pentaho/ViewAction?&solution=steel-wheels&path=analysis&action=analysis_customers.analysisview.xaction">Marketing Analysis by Year</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>

After refreshing the browser the new launch.jsp now looks like this:

Example 4

You can also redirect the launch.jsp page to a xaction, to do this change the contents of the launch.jsp file so that they now look like this:

<%
    // xactionPath is the xaction path
    String xactionPath = "http://localhost:8080/pentaho/ViewAction?&solution=steel-wheels&path=analysis&action=analysis_customers.analysisview.xaction";
    response.sendRedirect(xactionPath);
%>

After refreshing the browser the new launch.jsp will automatically redirect to the xaction specified.

Final Notes

If you want to embed or replace the launch.jsp with xactions, dashboards, reports etc. I believe that you should use the startup-urls option instead, this option is covered in my previous post Customising the Pentaho User Console – Part 3.

Do you have any other examples? Post a comment or drop me an email and I’ll add it to this post.

Enjoy.

The Scenario.

I need to create a public schedule which will run out of business hours. Coincidently after creating the public schedule I’m approached by a Sales Manager who requests that I run the Top N Analysis report which is needed for tomorrow’s weekly meeting. As this particular report takes a while to run I will assign it to public schedule (created earlier) which will run the report out of business hours and email to the Sales Manager before his/hers weekly meeting.

Step 1 – Setup SMTP.

The first step is to make sure you have setup the Pentaho BI Server to talk to your SMTP server correctly. The configuration file for the SMTP server is email_config.xml which is located under the /pentaho-solutions/system/smtp-email/ directory. The contents of the email_config.xml looks like this:

<email-smtp>
  <!-- The values within <properties> are passed directly to the JavaMail API.
       For a list of valid properties see http://java.sun.com/products/javamail/javadocs/index.html -->
	<properties>
		<!-- This is the address of your SMTP email server for sending email. e.g. smtp.pentaho.org -->
		<mail.smtp.host></mail.smtp.host>
		<!--  This is the port of your SMTP email server. Usually this is 25. For GMail this is 587 -->
		<mail.smtp.port>25</mail.smtp.port>
		<!--  The transport for accessing the email server. Usually this is smtp. For GMail this is smtps -->
		<mail.transport.protocol>smtp</mail.transport.protocol>
		<!--  Usually this is 'false'. For GMail it is 'true' -->
		<mail.smtp.starttls.enable>false</mail.smtp.starttls.enable>
		<!-- Set to true if the email server requires the sender to authenticate -->
		<mail.smtp.auth>true</mail.smtp.auth>
		<!--  This is true if the email server requires an SSL connection. Usually 'false'. For GMail this is 'true' -->
		<mail.smtp.ssl>false</mail.smtp.ssl>
  	<!--  Output debug information from the JavaMail API -->
   	<mail.debug>false</mail.debug>
    <!-- For GMail this is 'false' -->
    <!--mail.smtp.quitwait>false</mail.smtp.quitwait-->
	</properties>
	<!-- The is the address of your POP3 email server for receiving email. e.g. pop.pentaho.org -->
	<!-- It is currently not used -->
	<mail.pop3></mail.pop3>
	<!-- This is the default 'from' address that emails from the Pentaho BI Platform will appear to come from e.g. joe.pentaho@pentaho.org -->
	<mail.from.default></mail.from.default>
	<!-- This is the user id used to connect to the email server for sending email
       It is only required if email-authenticate is set to true
       This is never sent or shown to anyone -->
	<mail.userid></mail.userid>
	<!-- This is the password used to connect to the email server for sending email It is only required if email-authenticate is set to true
       This is never sent or shown to anyone -->
	<mail.password></mail.password>
</email-smtp>

Below is the email_config.xml settings I used for my GMail account:

<email-smtp>
	<properties>
		<!-- This is the address of your SMTP email server for sending email. e.g. smtp.pentaho.org -->
		<mail.smtp.host>smtp.gmail.com</mail.smtp.host>
		<!--  This is the port of your SMTP email server. Usually this is 25. For GMail this is 587 -->
		<mail.smtp.port>587</mail.smtp.port>
		<!--  The transport for accessing the email server. Usually this is smtp. For GMail this is smtps -->
		<mail.transport.protocol>smtps</mail.transport.protocol>
		<!--  Usually this is 'false'. For GMail it is 'true' -->
		<mail.smtp.starttls.enable>true</mail.smtp.starttls.enable>
		<!-- Set to true if the email server requires the sender to authenticate -->
		<mail.smtp.auth>true</mail.smtp.auth>
		<!--  This is true if the email server requires an SSL connection. Usually 'false'. For GMail this is 'true' -->
		<mail.smtp.ssl>true</mail.smtp.ssl>
    <!-- For GMail this is 'false' -->
    <mail.smtp.quitwait>false</mail.smtp.quitwait>
	</properties>
	<!-- The is the address or your POP3 email server for receiving email. e.g. pop.pentaho.org -->
	<!-- It is currently not used -->
	<mail.pop3></mail.pop3>
	<!-- This is the default 'from' address that emails from the Pentaho BI Platform will appear to come from e.g. joe.pentaho@pentaho.org -->
	<mail.from.default>prashant.g.raju@gmail.com</mail.from.default>
	<!-- This is the user id used to connect to the email server for sending email
       It is only required if email-authenticate is set to true
       This is never sent or shown to anyone -->
	<mail.userid>prashant.g.raju@gmail.com</mail.userid>
	<!-- This is the password used to connect to the email server for sending email 
       It is only required if email-authenticate is set to true
       This is never sent or shown to anyone -->
	<mail.password><!-- passoword --></mail.password>
</email-smtp>

You can test if you have configured Pentaho BI Server to talk to the SMTP server correctly by running the Burst Sales Report which is located under the BI Developer Examples/Reporting/ solution folder.
Click on the report and fill out the prompts including your email address:

After clicking the Run button you should receive an email for each employee and the report as a PDF attachment.

Step 2 – Create a Public Schedule.

The next step is to create a Public Schedule. To do this you must have access to the Pentaho Administration Console (PAC), after logging into PAC click on the Administration menu item and then the Scheduler tab:

To create a new schedule click on the icon (Create schedule), this will display a Schedule Creator window with the Schedule tab active:

• Public Schedule – Allow users access to the schedule : Check this option to make this schedule public
• Name : Name of your schedule i.e. Ad hoc Reports
• Group : Group which your schedule belongs to i.e. Ad hocs
• Description : Description of your schedule i.e. Use this schedule to run lengthy ad hoc reports out of business hours
• Recurrence : How often do you want the schedule to run i.e. Daily
  • Recurrence pattern : On which days you want the schedule to run (this will be different for Monthly, Yearly etc. recurrences) i.e. On weekdays
  • Range of recurrence : The date the schedule is to start and end i.e. The schedule is start on the 2nd of March 2010 till no end date

After filling out the options the Schedule Creator window now looks like this:

You can also assign files directly to this schedule by clicking on the Selected Files tab:

Within the Selected Files tab you are able to assign reports (and xactions) to the schedule, in this example I will not be assigning any reports to this schedule. If you want to add reports click the icon (Add item) and use the file browser to locate your report:

When you have found your report click on the Select button to add it to the schedule.

After completing all the options available on the Schedule tab click the OK button. You should now see the Ad hoc reports schedule in the schedule list:

Step 3 – Setup and Email the Report.

The next step is to assign the report to the schedule, setup the parameters (including the email address) and schedule the report all from the PUC. Log into the PUC with a user who has access to the report (Top N Analysis) and can schedule reports – in this example I’m using the user Joe. The report that needs to be sent out is Top N Analysis which is located under the /Steel Wheels/Reporting/ solutions folder. Right click on the report under the Files section and select the Share option:

Within the Properties window click the Advanced tab and check the Use Public Schedules option and move the Ad hoc Reports option under the Available: list to the Current: list using the > arrow and click the OK button:

Right click on the report again and select the Schedule… option:

After clicking the Schedule… option the Top N Analysis report will open up in a new tab:

The Report Parameters section is where you define the default parameters for this report. The Sales Manager has requested that the report parameters are:

Before entering this parameters make sure you uncheck the Auto Submit option

• Product Line : Classic Cars
• Region : APAC
• Year : 2003
• Top N Customers : 10
• Output Type : PDF

The Schedule Report section is the new improvement with Pentaho’s BI Server 3.5.2:

• Report Name : The title of the report this is also displayed in the Email subject line i.e. Top 10 Classic Car Customers for APAC
• E-mail To : The report recipient’s email addresses i.e. prashant.g.raju@gmail.com. If you would like to specify more than one address seperate the emails with a , (comma) i.e. prashant.g.raju@gmail.com,prashant@analysethis.com.au
• Subscription : Which public subscription this report belongs to i.e. Ad hoc

After filling out all the options click the View Report button to preview the report before you schedule it:

Once you are happy with the report preview click the Schedule button. If successful you should receive the following message:

Step 4 – Check the Report Schedule.

You can check the status of the report by clicking on the icon (Workspace) on the main toolbar. You are able to see the status of the Ad hoc public schedule under the All Schedules (Admin Only) section and the status of the Top 10 Classic Car Customers for APAC under the Public Schedules section:

Step 5 – The Email.

When the sales manager receives the email it will look similar to this:

Step 6 – Delete the Scheduled Report.

After the report has successfully run and has been emailed to the Sales Manager you will need to remove it from the Ad hoc schedule (if you don’t the Sales Manager will keep receiving this email on weekdays out of business hours). Click on the icon (Workspace) on the main toolbar and click on the Delete link next the report under the Public Schedules section:

Final Notes.

I’m not sure that the example I provided is a viable solution as in most cases the users can log in and run the report themselves. I personally see this functionality beneficial when running large reports which need to be run and sent out of business hours i.e. extracts.

Enjoy.