Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of SystemReports

Timestamp:

07/26/05 10:03:34 (19 years ago)

Author:

joe

Comment:

--

SystemReports

@@ +1 @@
+= Reports =
+
+The reports module provides a simple, yet powerful reporting facility
+to present information about tickets in the database.
+
+Rather than have its own report definition format, the reports rely on standard SQL
+SELECT statements for custom report definition. 
+
+A report consists of these basic parts:
+ * ID -- Unique (sequential) identifier 
+ * Title  -- Descriptive title
+ * Description  -- A brief description of the report, in WikiFormatting text.
+ * Report Body -- List of results from report query, formatted according to the methods described below.
+ * Footer -- Links to alternative download formats for this report.
+
+
+== Changing Sort Order ==
+Simple reports - ungrouped reports to be specific - can be changed to be sorted by any column simply by clicking the column header. 
+
+If a column header is a hyperlink (red), click the column you would like to sort by. Clicking the same header again reverses the order.
+
+
+== Alternate Download Formats ==
+Aside from the default HTML view, reports can also be exported in a number of alternate formats.
+At the bottom of the report page, you will find a list of available data formats. Click the desired link to 
+download the alternate report format.
+
+=== Comma-delimited - CSV (Comma Separated Values) ===
+Export the report as plain text, each row on its own line, columns separated by a single comma (',').
+'''Note:''' Column data is stripped from carriage returns, line feeds and commas to preserve structure.
+
+=== Tab-delimited ===
+Like above, but uses tabs (\t) instead of comma.
+
+=== RSS - XML Content Syndication ===
+All reports support syndication using XML/RSS 2.0. To subscribe to a , click the the orange 'XML' icon at the bottom of the page. See SystemRss for general information on RSS support.
+
+----
+== Creating Custom Reports ==
+
+''Creating a custom report requires a comfortable knowledge of SQL.''
+
+A report is basically a single named SQL query, executed and presented by
+the system.  Reports can be viewed and created from a custom SQL expression directly
+in from the web interface.
+
+Typically, a report consists of a SELECT-expression from the 'ticket' table,
+using the available columns and sorting the way you want it.
+
+== Ticket columns ==
+The ''ticket'' table has the following columns:
+ * id
+ * time
+ * changetime
+ * component
+ * severity  
+ * priority 
+ * owner
+ * reporter
+ * cc
+ * url
+ * version
+ * milestone
+ * status
+ * resolution
+ * summary
+ * description
+
+See SystemTickets for a detailed description of the column fields.
+
+'''all active tickets, sorted by priority and time'''
+
+'''Example:''' ''All active tickets, sorted by priority and time''
+{{{
+SELECT id AS ticket, status, severity, priority, owner, 
+       time as created, summary FROM ticket 
+  WHERE status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
+  ORDER BY priority, time
+}}}
+
+
+----
+
+
+== Advanced Reports: Dynamic Variables ==
+For more flexible reports, the system supports the use of ''dynamic variables'' in report SQL statements. 
+In short, dynamic variables are ''special'' strings that are replaced by custom data before query execution.
+
+=== Using Variables in a Query ===
+The syntax for dynamic variables is simple, any upper case word beginning with '$' is considered a variable.
+
+Example:
+{{{
+SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE priority='$PRIORITY'
+}}}
+
+To assign a value to $PRIORITY when viewing the report, you must define it as an argument in the report URL, leaving out the the leading '$'.
+
+Example:
+{{{
+ http://vso1.nascom.nasa.gov/docs/reports/14?PRIORITY=high
+}}}
+
+
+=== Special/Constant Variables ===
+There is one ''magic'' dynamic variable to allow practical reports, its value automatically set without having to change the URL. 
+
+ * $USER -- Username of logged in user.
+
+Example (''List all tickets assigned to me''):
+{{{
+SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE owner='$USER'
+}}}
+
+
+----
+
+
+== Advanced Reports: Custom Formatting ==
+The system is also capable of more advanced reports, including custom layouts,
+result grouping and user-defined CSS styles. To create such reports, we'll use
+specialized SQL statements to control the output of the report engine.
+
+== Special Columns ==
+To format reports, SystemReports looks for 'magic' column names in the query
+result. These 'magic' names are processed and affect the layout and style of the 
+final report.
+
+=== Automatically formatted columns ===
+ * '''ticket''' -- Ticket ID number. Becomes a hyperlink to that ticket. 
+ * '''created, modified, date, time''' -- Format cell as a date and/or time.
+ * '''description''' -- Ticket description field, parsed through the wiki engine.
+
+'''Example:'''
+{{{
+SELECT id as ticket, created, status, summary FROM ticket 
+}}}
+
+=== Custom formatting columns ===
+Columns whose names begin and end with 2 underscores (Example: '''_''''''_color_''''''_''') are
+assumed to be ''formatting hints'', affecting the appearance of the row.
+ 
+ * '''_''''''_group_''''''_''' -- Group results based on values in this column. Each group will have its own header and table.
+ * '''_''''''_color_''''''_''' -- Should be a numeric value ranging from 1 to 5 to select a pre-defined row color. Typically used to color rows by issue priority.
+ * '''_''''''_style_''''''_''' -- A custom CSS style expression to use for the current row. 
+
+'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, colored by priority''
+{{{
+SELECT p.value AS __color__,
+     t.milestone AS __group__,
+     (CASE owner WHEN 'daniel' THEN 'font-weight: bold; background: red;' ELSE '' END) AS __style__,
+       t.id AS ticket, summary
+  FROM ticket t,enum p
+  WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened') 
+    AND p.name=t.priority AND p.type='priority'
+  ORDER BY t.milestone, p.value, t.severity, t.time
+}}}
+
+'''Note:''' A table join is used to match ''ticket'' priorities with their
+numeric representation from the ''enum'' table.
+
+=== Changing layout of report rows ===
+By default, all columns on each row are display on a single row in the HTML
+report, possibly formatted according to the descriptions above. However, it's
+also possible to create multi-line report entries.
+
+ * '''column_''' -- ''Break row after this''. By appending an underscore ('_') to the column name, the remaining columns will be be continued on a second line.
+
+ * '''_column_''' -- ''Full row''. By adding an underscore ('_') both at the beginning and the end of a column name, the data will be shown on a separate row.
+
+ * '''_column'''  --  ''Hide data''. Prepending an underscore ('_') to a column name instructs the system to hide the contents from the HTML output. This is useful for information to be visible only if downloaded in other formats (like CSV or RSS/XML).
+
+'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, colored by priority, with  description and multi-line layout''
+
+{{{
+SELECT p.value AS __color__,
+       t.milestone AS __group__,
+       (CASE owner 
+          WHEN 'daniel' THEN 'font-weight: bold; background: red;' 
+          ELSE '' END) AS __style__,
+       t.id AS ticket, summary AS summary_,             -- ## Break line here
+       component,version, severity, milestone, status, owner,
+       time AS created, changetime AS modified,         -- ## Dates are formatted
+       description AS _description_,                    -- ## Uses a full row
+       changetime AS _changetime, reporter AS _reporter -- ## Hidden from HTML output
+  FROM ticket t,enum p
+  WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened') 
+    AND p.name=t.priority AND p.type='priority'
+  ORDER BY t.milestone, p.value, t.severity, t.time
+}}}
+
+
+----
+See also: SystemTickets, SystemQuery, SystemGuide