Creating Report Definitions

Enter a report name.

The report name must be unique, and it must not contain any special characters. If you enter spaces in the report name, the system replaces them with underscores.

Select Connected Query, PS Query, Rowset, XML Doc, or XML File.

See Registering Data Sources.

This control appears on existing report definitions for uses with the XMLP Report Developer role.

When you click the link the Data Source Type and Data Source ID fields become editable and you can define new values.

If you change the data source, you may need to change other dependant parts of the report definition, such as the report template, report-level properties, bursting values, and so on. After you change the data source, be sure to review the entire report definition to verify that the report values match the newly selected report Data Source.

Before changing the data source for a report, you may want to make a copy of the report and test the impact of changing the data source. See Copying Report Definitions.

This control appears after you click the Change Data Source link.

Click the link to revert the report back to the initial state.

Select the data source ID.

You can choose from data source IDs that are based on previously registered data sources. You can select queries regardless of whether they have been previously registered as data sources. For queries, the lookup table respects the public, private, and query access group security for the current user ID.

When you save a report definition with an unregistered query data source, the query is systematically registered as a data source. The query has no object owner ID, but that value can be entered manually on the Data Source page, if required.

This is a read-only field that reflects the value that was entered when the data source was registered.

For unregistered query data sources, this field reflects the query description.

(Optional) Enter descriptive text that provides more detail about the report.

If this field is left blank, the report name appears by default.

Select Active, In Progress, or Inactive.

Setting the report status allows work in progress as well as retirement of report definitions. Active reports must have at least one active template. Only active reports can be selected at runtime and run to success.

Select a report category ID.

This is a grouping mechanism for reports that provides row-level security for editing report definitions per the rights defined on the report category setup table.

See Setting Up Report Categories.

(Optional) Indicate which product, feature, or application owns this report.

Select PDF, RTF, ETX, or XSL.

Only one template type is allowed per report.

The template file extension that you can upload on the Template page is controlled by this value. This value also controls which report templates appear on the Translation component (PSXPTMPLTRNS), because only RTF templates are translatable.

(Optional) Enter a value to set the option to purge the reports from the Report Repository and archive the data to the Report Archive table.

The value that you enter overrides the system setting for retaining reports. The maximum value that you can enter is 9999 days. If you don't select a value, the value from thePeopleTools > Process Scheduler > System Settings page applies.

Only BI Publisher report developers or power users with permission list PTPT2600 or PTPT2500 can set this value.

See Maintaining Reports.

This is a read-only field maintained by the system that indicates the date that the initial report definition was registered.

This is a read-only field maintained by the system that indicates the date that the last update to the report definition was made.

This is a read-only field maintained by the system that indicates the user ID of the operator who initially registered the report definition.

This is a read-only field maintained by the system that indicates the user ID of the operator who last updated the report definition.

Click Data Schema to detach the schema file orSample Data to detach the data file.

Detaching the files enables the user to view the data elements prior to finalizing the report definition.

These links appear if the related files exist on the registered data source. For PS Query data sources, both links always appear regardless of whether the data source is registered because these files are system-generated.

See Registering Data Sources.

Enter a template ID that uniquely identifies this template.

The default template ID is a system-generated ID based on the report name. You can edit this ID when you first add a template to the report definition, but it must be unique across all templates in the system, not just within the current report definition.

(Optional) Enter descriptive text that provides more detail about the template and identifies its use.

Entering a meaningful description helps the user select the proper template at runtime. For example, indicate a unique layout or channel.

Select a language code for the template.

The default value reflects the default template language.

Indicate whether this is the default template.

You can select only one template as the default template. The first template that you add to the report definition is automatically selected as the default. You can change this selection as necessary.

Default templates are automatically used at runtime if no other value is supplied.

(Optional) Select the distribution channel for the template.

The Channel attribute supports the need to identify different layout formats as required by the various distribution mechanisms. For example, a printout may require a different template layout than an email or a web posting. Leaving the channel blank would indicate that this particular template does not have a format that is specifically suited to just one channel.

These values are for information only and do not trigger a particular Process Scheduler distribution mechanism. Developers can drive a template choice based on channel through the PeopleCode BI Publisher classes.

Dynamically lists the available output formats based on the template type.

Select specific values to limit the output choices for the user at runtime.

Select a default format type.

This value appears at runtime on the prompt or run control page. It specifies the output format that the system uses if no other value is fed into the BI Publisher engine.

Select one of the following locations:

• Any indicates that the user can select the output location at runtime.

• Email indicates that the output goes to email.

  Note: The users defined in the distribution list must have a valid email address defined in the user profile. If Allow viewer assignment at report runtime is selected, you can enter additional email addresses at runtime.

• File writes the output to the file that you indicate in theOutput Destination field.

• Printer indicates that the output goes directly to a printer.

  Specify the printer destination for the output in the Printer field. This field is available only when the output location that you select is Printer.

  Printer is a valid selection only when PDF output format is enabled.

• Web indicates that the output goes to a web report repository that is accessible by the Report Manager.

  Select the folder for the output from the Report Manager Folder Name lookup. This field is available only when the output location that you select is Web.

  This is the default location used at runtime if no location is selected.

• Window indicates the output will be posted, like Web output, to the report repository and then streamed to the browser window, the same way scheduled query runs to Window.

  Note: Window output is supported for scheduled and non-bursted reports only. Users building a custom process request page should check for the bursting field name (BurstFieldName) in the ReportDefn class before issuing a process request.

Specify a file name template that gets translated at runtime to a physical file name. This field accepts a combination of output variables and plain text.

Output variables are enclosed within percent signs (%) and used as part of the descriptive report name visible in the Report Manager or on the BIP Report Search page. The following variables are supported.

• %ASD%inserts the as of date.

• %RID% inserts the report ID.

• %BTV% inserts the burst field value.

• %LAN% inserts the report translation language.

• %field% where field is the name of a field from the XML data that lies below the first repeating field. For example, if you want the employee ID value to appear in the file name, you would use %EMPLID%.

  Note: %field% variable is only supported for Report Definition where bursting is enabled, and only burst key candidates on the bursting page are eligible.

  See Setting Bursting Options

For example, if you have a report CERTIFICATE that is burst by STUDENT_ID, you can use the file name to provide more details:

• If no file name is specified, the report description will use the report name, such as CERTIFICATE[2916]-CERTIFICATE.HTM.

• If a file name of LOCATION %TRAINING_LOC% %END_DT% is specified, the report description will include the variables, such as CERTIFICATE[2916]-LOCATION BOSTON 2009–03–13.HTM.

• If a file name of %STUDENT_NAME% is specified, the report description will include the variables, such as CERTIFICATE[2916]-LEE,JAMES.HTM.

Select to indicate that the report requestor can add users or roles to the standard distribution list on the Process Scheduler Request page, under the Distribution Detail link. The users and roles added in the report definition security tab will appear grayed out in the Distribution Detail page to disallow modifying the distribution items coming from the report definition.

When there are no distribution items in the report definition or in the run control tables, the current user is added automatically.

Select an ID type of either Role or User ID.

Select a corresponding distribution ID based on the ID type.

Displays the related description of the distribution ID.

Select a burst by field to enable report bursting.

All subsequent bursting features are disabled until you select this value The values in the drop-down list box are the children from the highest-repeating level (group node) in the XML schema associated with the data source that is assigned to the report definition.

When you select a burst field, the report generates multiple files at runtime with a separate report instance file generated each time a unique value appears for the Burst by data tag. For example, this could be one report file for each employee when you are bursting by EmplID or one report for each department (that includes multiple occurrences of the report, one for each employee) when you are bursting by DeptID.

Select this check box to indicate that the Burst by field contains unique values. If a non unique value is found, the report will not be published and an error will be logged. It is recommended to use unique bursting values.

If this check box is cleared, bursted files with the same Burst by field will be combined in one report.