It’s been some time since I last posted, and a lot has gone on with OSBI since then. With the 2.0 and 3.0 releases of Pentaho, there were major improvements to the UI, and the dashboard framework in particular. Now, with the pending release of Pentaho 3.5, significant improvements in reporting are on the way.
Pentaho Reporting has always been good, offering the baseline capabilities of standard banded report designing. But with the new Report Designer 3.5 release, I expect Pentaho Reporting will leap forward and fill many of the missing gaps in functionality and usability.
While all this is going on, there’s a major, and unbelieveable welcome push on the documentation side. For reporting geeks (you know who you are), there’s a new book that’s definitely worth getting your hands on. Pentaho Reporting 3.5 For Java Developers, by Will Gorman, is one of the first books available for users of the Pentaho Platform and it offers a complete view of Pentaho reporting from designing reports all the way through deploying them into various Java and web applications.
I think anyone who’s ever jumped into OSBI would agree, it can be hard to find clear “getting started” instructions. The wiki’s are good, there’s solid forums, and a great community, but not always an easily identifiable “first step.” If you want to get started with the innards on how reporting works, this book can get you headed in the right direction.
It starts out with a nice overview of the Pentaho reporting libraries, and then walks through a few tutorials on embedding simple reports into java apps. There are a series of deep dives on the graphical report designer that provide a nice illustration of all of the various elements that can be added to a report. Some of the new items in 3.5 (sparklines!) are reviewed here.
The book covers how to pull your data from all kinds of data sources, including SQL, OLAP, Kettle (Data Integration), Pentaho Metadata as well as XPath and HQL. There’s a nice chapter on charting as well. Some of the more advanced design items are covered, including the new parameterization model, sub reports and the cross-tab feature. The walk-through on cross tabs is particularly helpful. I don’t believe that I could’ve figured it out on my own, given the 3.5 UI is still evolving as of RC2.
There are several other topics in the book, including how to write reports with the API and extending reporting with custom functions. Meaty stuff, for sure.
On caveat on the book. Remember the title: “Pentaho Reporting 3.5 for Java Developers.” While it sure is a great resource if you’re doing Java development, it doesn’t mean that the book is only useful for Java developers. I’m not a Java developer, and I still find it’s a great reference and a offers clear guidance on the various properties and settings in Pentaho Reporting (Oh….that’s what “sticky” does!). That being said, if you’re a Java developer and get a thrill every time you type “ant,” this book provides some nice examples and demonstrations for embedding Pentaho into an application.
Should you pick this up if you’re not a Java developer? Absolutely. But, my word of advice is that if you’re not a Java developer and are just trying to get a sense of Pentaho Reporting, don’t freak out about the wealth of Java integration items this book walks you through. If all you want to do is “simple” BI reporting within the Pentaho platform, you’ll find a chapter in there just for you as well.
I like what this book offers. It’s got a nice intro to Pentaho reporting for novices, and then jumps deep into some hard core technical stuff, which really demonstrates the power of the platform. This book offers a great reference for those with experience deploying business intelligence, but are looking for some how-to’s on some of the finer points on the Pentaho platform. Kudos to Mr. Gorman.