An introduction to business views

A business view, which is needed for creating multidimensional data views, contains database connections and relationships between view elements. The business view shields report end users from having to understand the physical structure of a data source, and enables them to build reports and analyze data based on a set of view elements they can understand. It also enables IT professionals to maintain control of the business data and ensure its integrity, while presenting end users with an intuitive view of the underlying data structures.

To make use of a business view, you need to first define it at report design time in JReport Designer. For additional information, see Business Views in the JReport Designer User's Guide.

A business view may contain category objects and view elements (group objects, aggregation objects, and detail objects). You can insert these view elements or remove them to change the report result when you view reports in Page Report Studio.

• Category objects
  Category objects contain a collection of view elements. A business view may contain more than one category. In the Resource View panel, the icon indicates that an object is a category. Categories are only for categorizing view elements, and they cannot be inserted into a report. The category is often used for indicating the name of the underlying DBMS table.
• Group objects
  Group objects are view elements that will become the basis for analysis in a report. They characteristically return text or date values. In the Resource View panel, the icon indicates that an object is a group object. A group object can be inserted wherever a group field can be inserted into. It can be inserted as a column or row field in a crosstab, or as a group field or detail field in a banded object or a table, or displayed as category/series field in a chart.
• Aggregation objects
  Aggregation objects are numeric view elements that are calculated dynamically at runtime. The icon indicates that an object is an aggregation object. An aggregation object can be inserted wherever a summary can be inserted. For instance, it can be inserted into the group header or footer panel in a table or banded object, or into a crosstab as an aggregate field. An aggregation object can also be used as a detail field in a banded object or table although it will display the same aggregate value for every detail line. Page Report Studio will calculate the summary values based on the group level the aggregation object has been inserted into.
• Detail objects
  Detail objects provide additional information. The icon indicates that an object is a detail object. It can be inserted wherever a DBField can be inserted. For example, you can insert a detail object into a table or banded object as a detail field.