Database Reference
In-Depth Information
In addition to the objects listed earlier, there are custom report items that you can
obtain from third-party sources if the visualization required is not offered out of
the box.
Choosing the correct report item depends heavily on the type of
information you are trying to convey to the user. There is an entire
field called DataViz, or Data Visualization, focused on optimizing
this piece of the puzzle.
Additional components of a report
A basic report can be created from just the primary components (data source, dataset,
and report items) discussed in the previous section. However, in practice, there are a
few other objects used to make reports more useful and flexible for business users.
Report parameters
Parameters provide users with control over the behavior of a report at runtime. The
most common use of parameters is in conjunction with a dataset to filter the results
returned by the query. This can add a great deal of flexibility to reports. For example,
instead of developing a separate report for each of the company's six sales territories,
a single report could be created with a sales territory parameter that allows the
user to choose the sales territory or subset of sales territories that they want data
displayed for at runtime.
Parameter values can also be accessed in expressions (which will be discussed in
the next section) allowing the user to provide input that is then used to set various
properties at runtime. For example, a report parameter could be used to control the
color scheme of a report or the visibility of a report item such as a chart.
