To create a report in Report Designer, you will generally follow a process similar to
this one:
- Connect to a data source (database, usually, though you can also pull data from a
flat file)
- Constrain the data with a query
- Arrange data elements in the Report Designer workspace
- Apply formatting and add extra graphical elements
- Create formulas or calculated fields using data retrieved from your query
- Publish the report, either to the Pentaho BI Server, or locally as a PDF or other
supported file format
Your report will consist mostly of data retrieved from a database query that you will
create through Report Design Wizard, SQL Query Designer, MQL Query Builder, or by hand.
Once you have a dataset, you are able to further constrain it to show specific details,
and then move on to report layout and design.