Creating Custom Reports
This section describes the methods for creating custom reports. Reports are implemented as either static or dynamic. Static reports are based on either structured query language (SQL) or multidimensional expression (MDX) queries of an SQL or online analytical processing (OLAP) databases, respectively. Dynamic reports are based on an Extensible Markup Language (XML) framework that includes either an SQL query or a reference to a cube.
Static report definitions consist of a query and parameter definitions. When a static report is run, the parameters are presented to the operator and then passed to a rendering component. The rendering component generates an HTML document from the query results. Completed static reports are stored as HTML files on the computer that houses Commerce Server Business Desk. These reports can be opened through Business Desk and are displayed in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Dynamic report definitions are stored as queries, and the pivot table view is stored in XML format in the Data Warehouse. Query results are displayed in the Microsoft Office 2000 Web Components (OWC) Pivot Table component.
Definitions for the pre-defined reports are contained in the file CSReports.sql found in the Commerce Server installation directory. The CSReports.sql file populates the Report tables in the Data Warehouse. A Data Transformation Services (DTS) Report preparation task is available to process OLAP cubes and execute stored procedures to prepare imported data for reporting.
You use Business Desk to run reports and display query results.
The Commerce Server 2000 Software Development Kit (SDK), which is included with Commerce Server 2000, contains four SQL script files that enable you to create the four report types. The script files to create these reports are located in the installation folder under \Microsoft Commerce Server\SDK\Samples\Business Analytics\Scripts.
This section contains:
Creating Static Reports Using SQL. Describes creating static reports using parameterized SQL query statements.
Creating Static Reports Using MDX. Describes creating static reports using parameterized MDX query statements.
Creating Dynamic Reports. Describes creating dynamic reports using the XML framework.