Siebel Reports Administration Guide > Understanding Your Reports Development Environment > About Data Definition for Reports >

About Data Supply ROL Files

All ROL files contain reusable components that can be subclassed into design files in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. For example, a report design subclasses design elements such as label, text, and frame controls from sscustom.rol, as described in Global Report Modifications. The incorporation of a data supply library file into the corresponding design file is a special application of this subclassing methodology. A report design subclasses the datastream component from the corresponding data supply ROL file.

The datastream component contains methods for accessing the necessary report data from the correct business object through the Siebel object interface. One or more data row components are defined for use by the datastream, each specifying the list of fields for a business component whose records are to be retrieved. The logic for the datastream component fetches and deletes instances of the data row until all records in the current query (and subqueries, if applicable) have been obtained and processed into the report.

Viewing the Contents of a Datastream Component

You can view the contents of the datastream and data row components in a report design using the Method Editor and the Component Editor.

To view the contents of a datastream component

1. Open a standard Siebel report in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, for example Actlist.rod in C:\Siebdev\RPTSRC\STANDARD.
2. Expand the main report section component and double-click the datastream component.

   The Component Editor window appears.

3. Click the Methods tab.
4. Choose Start in the method picklist at the upper left in the window.

   The text for the datastream's Start method appears in the Method Editor window.

5. Examine the code for this method. Notice that this code activates each exported field in the business component.
6. Select Fetch in the Method picklist and examine the code for the Fetch method. Notice that the code obtains the value for each exported field.

Viewing the Contents of a Data Row Component

The data supply library file for a report is loaded into the report design file by invoking the Tools > Library Organizer menu option in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. Its datastream and data row components subclass the AcDataSource and AcDataRow components in the Actuate Foundation Class library, respectively. The methods in the data supply library file override corresponding methods in the foundation class library. The contents of these methods are generated code, produced from the list of report fields and other report object definition properties and children in Siebel Tools.

To view the contents of a data row component

1. If you have not already opened a Siebel report, follow Step 1.
2. Expand the datastream component in the component tree and select the data row component.
3. Right-click the data row component and select Properties in the pop-up window.

   The Component Editor window opens.

4. Click the Variables tab.

   The list of variables defined in the data row appears.

   Notice that all the variable names are in black, rather than gray, except for RowNumber. This indicates that these variables are defined locally in the class code, rather than inherited from the parent AcDataRow class.

   Notice too that the names of the variables are modified field names from the business component. The prefix ss has been added to each, and spaces and special characters have been replaced with underscore (_) characters.

The automatic definition of a set of variables, corresponding to the list of exported report fields, is the role of part of the generated code in the data supply library.