In this section, we will introduce the main concepts related to reports.
First of all, what is a report? It is a formatted document. It can include figures, text, and tables, possibly in a highly customized way.
The report is generated from a report design and some data. The report design is created from a template; it consists of a layout and a master page. The master page and the layout are similar in function; however, the master page is only for the header and footer of the pages, and the layout provides the main/body content.
The data can be from various data sources, for example, cubes, databases, and others; for now, we are focusing on KNIME data that is imported using the special nodes. The data imported is named a data set.
The data cube is a multidimensional data set, which can be used to summarize other data sets. You can think of it as a more processed, derived data set.
The reports can have report parameters and report variables, which can be further processed with (JavaScript) scripts.
There are special functions which help in transforming and processing the data. You can also find more implementations of other functions, so it is worth checking the Internet if you need to do something that is not supported by the default installation. You can use these functions in the scripts, although most of the tasks can be done in KNIME in advance.
The report items are the building blocks of the layout and the master page. There are various options to generate report items. You can also design your own report items if you miss one; however, chances are high that there already are solutions for that purpose, so you just have to select the best for your tasks.
AutoTexts and QuickTools both add more options in report design. QuickTools are only available for layout, but AutoTexts are only available for the master page.
The resources of a report are usually static images and scripts. They are often copied to the workflow's folder and referenced from there.
The report designer perspective can be used to create and customize the report design.
Document/report emitters can generate a report in various formats. Different emitters are available for most of the common formats, and you can write your own if you want. The report generation is done in three phases: preparation, generation, and presentation. For more details, you will find a nice figure describing the generation from the scripting perspective on the page: http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/deploy/reportScripting.php
The styles and themes can be used to have the report look consistent, so you can have a result that fits well to other parts of your resources. For details, you can check the page http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-themes-report-birt that has an article from John Ward. You can apply styles to individual items, while the themes contain the default styles for the items.