XML - Managing Data Exchange/Business Intelligence and XML

Learning objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, for a single entity you will be able to
 * create a report specification entirely in XML for Cognos ReportNet
 * update a report specification in XML format.
 * identify four main sections in a report specification

Introduction
Every report created in Cognos ReportNet has a specification that is written in XML, so you can customize it using XML editor or create a report specification entirely in XML.

Report Specification Flow
After you save a report and open it again, the report specification is pulled from the content store as you can see in Figure 28.1. When you edit it, the changes remain local on the client machine until you save it. When you save the report, the content store is updated.

Figure 28.1 Report Specification Flow

You can see a sample of web report in figure 28.2 and this report can be generated from XML file;

Figure 28.2 Sample of a report

XML in Report Specification Structure
A report specification consists of four main sections.
 * Report Section
 * XML Tag:
 * 
 * Query Section
 * XML Tag:
 * 
 * Layout Section
 * XML Tag:
 * 
 * Variable Section
 * XML Tag:
 * 
 * 

At minimum, a report specification must include the tags, as well as authoring language and schema information.

The specification header in Report Section includes information about:
 * authoring language, “en-us” indicates American English. You can use other language than English  for the report
 * namespace : http://developer.sample.com/schemas/report/1
 * package name: GSR
 * model version : @name='model'

The query section includes information about:
 * Cube elements are indicated by the tags which can contain:
 * facts (. Country, First Name and Last Name are the facts.
 * dimensions consisting of levels
 * filters ( consiting of conditions. Country is the filter    for this report, which is equal to Germany.
 * Tabular model is contained in the  tags.
 * Each tabular model contains data items (

Below is the complete XML file for the report in Figure 28.3

     

Exercise
The end user wants to read the report in Japanese language, so you have to add a variable for Japanese language.