Database Publishing with Developer Studio
Kathy Kendall
Information Builders
Information Builders Summit 2009 User Conference
June 2009
Author: Kathy Kendall
Company: Information Builders
Presentation Title: Database Publishing with Developer Studio
Presentation Abstract: A growing number of companies are leveraging the power of databasedriven publishing to merge information extracted from diverse data sources with high-end
document design tools to produce personalized communications to key customers, stakeholders,
and management. These companies are looking to create stylized documents that contain
variable content based on a specific customer, product or set of business rules. The key is to
automate the production of these materials by merging page layout design of recurring content
and style elements with variable data from a variety of select data sources. In this lab you will
learn how to use the latest enhancements within the Document Composer to produce unique and
relevant PDF documents with communications customized to each member of your target
audience.
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Business Need:
In this lab you will learn how to build stylized personalized PDF statements containing custom
information for each customer. The document you will be building is Innovative Investments’
Quarterly Customer Investment Statement, providing each customer with key account summary
and transactional information.
Compound reports let you combine different views of your data for clearer and more creative
ways to communicate your message. Coordinated reports allow you to produce individual
versions of your message personalized to each member of your target audience. With
Coordinated Compound Reports you can combine these powerful tools to build PDF documents
containing multiple reports and graphs and generate instances customized with the information
relevant to each unique value of your primary sort key. These documents can be printed or
distributed electronically as an individual PDF documents using Report Caster.
The individual component reports and graphs have been produced by a separate development
team using a variety of techniques that we will identify as we walk through the process of bringing
it all together into a coordinated compound document. You have also been provided with the
images and the text you will use to style the document. As the designer, it is your responsibility to
bring all of this information together and create a professional and appealing statement for
distribution both electronically and in print.
Your final results will be a PDF document that looks similar to the screenshots below:
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Step 1 – Create New PDF Layout Document
1) From the desktop start the reporting server and Developer Studio.
a) Start the WebFOCUS Full Service 769 reporting server.
b) Start Developer Studio.
2) Create new procedure within the DBPublishing application
directory in Projects on localhost.
a) Right mouse click on Procedures folder and select
New / Procedure.
b) Define the procedure:
i)
Name your procedure STMT_CMPD.
ii)
Select to create with the Composer
(Layout).
iii) Click on Open.
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The Document Composer will open displaying your new document with one blank page layout.
3) Setup the Compound Document properties within
the Properties panel on the right.
a) Set Coordinate Report On.
b) Set Page Orientation to Landscape.
c) Set Reset Page Number On to have the page
numbers restart with each new coordinated key
value.
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You will see the page orientation shift to landscape on the Page Layout presented.
Step 2 – Define document styling
We will begin by defining the Page Master with the formatting we want common to all pages
within our document. Images, lines and text can be placed on the Page Master to create a
common look throughout your document.
1) Add a Page Master.
a) Click on the arrow next to the New Page
Layout icon in the toolbar to open the options.
b) Select Add Page Master Layout.
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Page Master will be added at the top of the document and your positioning will be moved
to the top. This Page Master will always display as the first page of your document in
design view. It does not display in our output document.
2) Add the company logo image.
a) Click on the Image icon in the toolbar and use the hairline pointer to draw a box on the
page in the top left corner where the image should be placed.
b) Select InnovativeInvestments.jpg as the source image.
c) Use your mouse pointer or the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the image to the
edge of the top left margin lines indicated on the page.
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3) Add a vertical line for styling
a) Click on the Line icon in the toolbar and use the hairline pointer to draw a vertical line on
the page starting next to the logo image and running down to the bottom margin guide
line.
Depending on your screen
resolution you may not be
able to size the line to
cover the full page in one
motion. If necessary, scroll
down so you can see the
bottom of the page and use
the sizing controls on the
line to expand the length of
the line to the bottom
margin.
b) Set the color for the line to match the color scheme of the logo.
i)
Click on the line you to select it on the page and to display attributes for this object in
the Properties panel.
ii)
Click in the Color attributes cell.
You can use the selection dialogue to pick a color
from the existing options but for our purposes we
will designate a specific rgb color value to match
our logo.
iii) Double click to open the attribute cell for edit and
enter :
rgb(200,208,218)
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c) Position the line: scroll to the top of the page and use your mouse or the arrow keys on
the keyboard to make sure that the line is positioned directly adjacent to the logo image.
4) Add the company address below the logo.
a) Click on the Text Icon to add a text object to the page and use the hairline pointer to
draw a text element below the logo image.
b) Double click on the text object to open for text edit.
Notice the frame of the object will change from to a
hatched box to indicate edit mode.
c) Enter the following company address text into the
text element:
Two Penn Plaza, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10121-2898
(800) 555-9898
d) Click outside the text element to close edit mode.
e) Apply Font Styling.
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i)
Click on the text element to select for styling.
ii)
Click on the Font Style icon in the toolbar to apply styling.
iii) Set the text styling.
Font = Tahoma (Tip: In the font text edit
box type “T” to move quickly
through the available font list
alphabetically.)
Style = Bold
Size = 8pt
Color = Navy
f)
Center the text: With the text object is still selected Click the Align Center icon
on the toolbar.
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g) Superscript the “st” in 31st .
i)
Double click on the text element to reopen for editing and select ‘st’ in the first
address line.
ii)
Click on the Superscript icon on the formatting toolbar.
5) Add the page numbers.
a) If necessary, scroll down to display the bottom right corner of the Page Master.
b) Click on the Text Icon and use the hairline pointer to draw a text element in the
bottom right corner of the page.
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c) Double click on the new text
element to open for edit mode.
d) Right mouse click within the text
element to select from the context
menu options. Select Insert / Page
n of n.
e) Click outside the text element to leave edit mode and then click on the text element to
select for styling.
f)
Set the text styling.
i)
Click on the Font Style icon in the toolbar.
ii)
Set the following font attributes.
Font = Tahoma
Style = Bold
Size = 9pt (Notice that you can set
sizes other than those provided
in the list by typing your desired
size in the Size edit box.
Color = Navy
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g) Set text element alignment - Click on the Align Right icon in the toolbar.
h) Click on the Refresh Icon on the toolbar to display the updated Page
Master styling on the existing Page Layouts.
i)
Scroll down to display Page Layout 1 and see how the Page Master styling is applied to
the page.
Step 3 – Create Account Summary Page
The Account Summary page contains 3 reports, a graph and page specific text elements. We will
add each of these to Page Layout 1.
1) Add the account header.
a) Click on the Report Icon on the toolbar and use the hairline pointer to draw the report
component on the top of the page, next to the logo image.
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b) Right mouse click on the
report component and select
to Import Existing Procedure.
c) Select to Open STMT_ACCTHDR.FEX.
The report will be displayed in preview with simulated data.
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d) Let’s look at the report we have imported. (Optional)
i)
Double click on the report component to open the
report. The imported report will open in the
procedure viewer.
ii)
Double click on the report component to view the
report we have imported.
Key Component Characteristics:

CUSTOMERID is the top level BY field with visibility turned off (NOPRINT).

This is a detailed level report with account information presented within the
Page Heading. A new page will be generated for each CUSTOMERID value
within the coordinated output.

Page Margins are all set to 0.00 within Report Options / Format.
iii) Close the Report Painter and close the Procedure Viewer to return to the Document
Composer.
e) Position the account header report on the page using any of the following options:

Drag using your mouse.

Move using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Set the Position and Size attributions within the Properties panel.
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f)
Run the report.
i)
Use the Two-Page tool in Acrobat Reader to view your pages two up.
ii)
Scroll through the PDF and notice:

You have a separate page for each of the six customers in our current data file.

Page numbering starts over for each customer.
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g) Close the output window and return to the Document Composer.
2) Add the Account Overview
a) Click on the Report Icon on the toolbar and use the hairline pointer to draw the report
component in the top right corner of the page.
b) Right mouse click on
the report
component and
select to Import
Existing Procedure.
c) Open STMT_ACCOVERVIEW.FEX.
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The report will be displayed in preview with simulated data.
d) Let’s take a look at the report we’ve
included. (Optional)
i)
Double click on the report component
to view the report we have imported.
This fex creates a series of virtual
fields within the DEFINE component
and aggregates the summary data
within the report component.
ii)
Double click on the report component
to view the report.
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Key Component Characteristics:

CUSTOMERID is designated as the top level BY field with visibility turned off
(NOPRINT).

This is a summary level report with account information is presented within
the CUSTOMERID SubFooting. This allows the report to display aggregated
totals for each coordinated key. To correctly display within a coordinated
compound report make sure to build summary reports at the subfooting not
the report footing level.

An Alignment Grid was used within the Subfooting to facilitate a table type
presentation of the formatted data.

Page Margins are all set to 0.00 (within Report Options / Format).
iii) Close the Report Painter and close the Procedure Viewer to return to the Document
Composer.
e) Position the account header report on the page. Use the keyboard mouse keys to move
objects outside of the margin guides.
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f)
Run the report.
i)
Scroll through the report to the pages for each of the six customers in your data.
ii)
Use the Two-Page tool in Acrobat Reader to view your pages two up.
iii) Close the output window and return to the Document Composer.
3) Add the Investment Allocation Pie.
a) Click on the Graph Icon on the toolbar and use the hairline pointer to draw the graph
component on the bottom of the page. It is ok to cover the page number from the
page master – it will show through the background of the graph.
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b) Right mouse click on the graph component
and Include Existing Graph.
c) Open STMT_ALLOCPIE.FEX.
Key Component Characteristics

Presents the actual summary values in the legends. This is accomplished by
building an aggregated hold file with a computed field that concatenates the
product type label and with associated the summary value. This new
concatenated field then is used as the dimension field within the graph.
COMPUTE SHOWREVENUE2/A100 = LJUST(20,
STMT_TRANS.SEG01.PRODUCT_TYPE, 'A20') | RJUST(15,
FTOA(CQ_CLOSE, '(D10.2M)', 'A15'), 'A15');

Advanced Graph Assist is used to graph the resulting hold file.

CustomerID is defined as the Multigraph key and serves as the
coordinated key.

Output parameters are set as: output format to SVG, output type to File,
and the hold file name contains four characters or less.
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d) Position the graph component on the page .
e) Run the report and scroll through the output to see the first page for each of the
customers in your data.
4) Add Page Specific Styling Elements.
a) Add the first text element.
You cannot import third party documents into this document but you can cut and paste
the text. To ease your development you can find the text to be included in the current
application directory. You can access this file by returning to the Explorer Window.
i)
Copy the text to be inserted:
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(1) Select Window / Exploring - Developer Studio/ Projects on
localhost/DBPublishing/Procedures
(2) Locate CUSTOMERSUPPORT.TXT in the Other folder of the DBPublishing
Application Directory. Right mouse click and select Open in Text Editor.
(3) Select the first line of text to copy. Type either CTRL-C or from the menu select
Edit -> Copy to place this text in your copy buffer.
(4)
Use the Window Menu to return to
Document Composer stmt_cmpd.
ii)
Add a text element for the Account Summary paragraph within the left margin.
iii) Double click to open the text element for edit and type the text below or paste the text
you have in your copy buffer by either typing CTRL-C or Right-mouse click / Paste.
The Account Information section provides an overview of activity in your
account during the statement period.
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iv) Apply the following Font Styling to the entire text element.
(1) Select text element for styling. Click outside of text element to exit edit mode
then click on it again to select.
(2) Set the styling as
Font = Tahoma
Size = 9pt
Color = Navy
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v) Apply bold formatting to select words.
(1) Click in the text element to open again.
(2) Select the words “Account Information” .
(3) Click on the Bold icon to apply bold styling to
selected characters.
vi) Click outside the text element to exit edit mode.
vii) Size and position the text element so that it lines up below the under the address
block.
b) Add the second text element.
i)
Add another text element in the left margin below the Account Information blurb.
ii)
Insert the following text: (either type the text below or cut / paste from the 2 nd line of
text within in CUSTOMERSUPPORT.TXT)
The pie chart in the Investment Allocation of Your Account Balance section
illustrates the allocation of your account among the available investment options
as of start of business the 1st day of the next statement period.
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iii) Select the text and apply styling
Font = Tahoma
Style = Normal
Size = 9pt
Color = Navy
iv) Bold the words “Investment Allocation of Your Account Balance”.
v) Superscript the ‘st’ in 1st towards the end of the text.
c) Add the Web Link Report.
i)
Add a new report object to the bottom corner of the page within the left margin.
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ii)
Import the existing procedure: STMT_LINK.FEX.
Key Component Characteristics:

CUSTOMERID is the top level BY field with visibility turned off
(NOPRINT).

The hyperlink has been added as a DrillDown to an external url in the
CustomerID Subfoot.
iii) Size and position the new report to display within the bottom left margin:
iv) Run to see the completed Account Summary page:
(1) Scroll through each of the
pages and see how they differ
for each customer.
(2) Hover over the hyperlink we
have added in the left margin
and see where it will take you.
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Step 4 – Create Account Activity Page
The Activity Pages will contain the following components:
Page Header Report (STMT_HEADER.FEX)
Key Component Characteristics:



CUSTOMERID is the top level BY field with visibility turned off
(NOPRINT).
Places information to be right justified on the report into the Page
Header.
Places information to be left justified below the Page Header into the
subheading for the coordinated key.
Transaction Reports
In this layout we will be using three identical transaction reports differentiated
only by the selection criteria (WHERE Clause).
STMT_TRANS1.FEX – for Product = Brokered Funds
STMT_TRANS2.FEX – for Product = Mutual Funds IDS
STMT_TRANS3.FEX – for Product = Banking
Key Component Characteristics:



CUSTOMERID is the top level BY field with visibility turned off
(NOPRINT).
Totals are subtotals not report totals so that they are calculated for each
value of the coordinated key.
Column width for Product Name column was set to truncate at 2” so that
the columns sizes would remain constant even though values vary in
length across the different Product Categories.
1) Add the new Page Layout.
a) Click on the New Page Layout icon to add a new Page Layout.
b) Click on the Refresh icon to apply the Page Master styling to the new page layout.
c) Scroll down the document to see the new Page Layout.
2) Add the page header report component
a) Add new report component to the top of the page and Import the existing procedure:
STMT_HEADER.FEX.
b) Size and position the header report as shown below. Remember you can use the arrow
keys on the keyboard to move selected objects outside the page margin guides.
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c) Run the report to see the new page with the custom page header in place.
3) Add the transaction reports.
a) Place 3 report components on the page.

Do not worry about sizing them. We will use the sizing and alignment tools to get
things in place.

Be sure that none of the reports are overlapping at this point so that we can define
relationships between them.
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b) Import each to one of the transaction reports to one of the report components.
i)
Import STMT_TRANS1.FEX to the top report
ii)
Import STMT_TRANS2.FEX to the middle report
iii) Import STMT_TRANS3.FEX to the bottom report
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c) Define the flow styles and relationships between each of the reports.

We will anchor the top of the page with the header report as a fixed report that
will always present in the designated vertical size.

Each of the transaction reports will be defined as flowing reports related to the
report above it.
o
Flowing reports automatically size to fit the number of transactions for
the current coordinated key.
o
By setting a relationship between each transaction report and the report
just above it, we can designate that the subsequent report should not
begin until the first report is complete. Additionally if any of the
transaction reports are empty the subsequent report will float up on the
page and present in its place.
We will start by relating each report to the one above it. Think of it as relate this to
that. First select this then select that.
i)
Relate Transaction Report 1 to Header
(1) Click on Report 1
(2) CTRL-Click on the Header report
(3) Click on the Relate Bottom_Left icon
The relationship will be represented by an arrowed line between the two components.
ii)
Relate Transaction Report 2 to Transaction Report 1
(1) Click on Report 2
(2) CTRL-Click on the Report 1
(3) Click on the Relate Bottom_Left icon
Each new relationship will be represented by an arrow between the reports.
iii) Relate Transaction Report 2 to Transaction Report 3
(1) Click on Report 3
(2) CTRL-Click on the Report 2
(3) Click on the Relate Bottom_Left icon
Each new relationship will be represented by an arrow between the reports.
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d) Size and position the reports.
i)
Size the first transaction report as shown below:
ii)
We will now use this as our guide to size and align the other reports.
Select all three transaction reports as follows. It is important to select these reports
in the correct order. We want to select the target report then the source report.
Think – relate first selected to second selected.
(1) CTRL-Click on the 3rd report
(2) CTRL-Click on 2nd report
(3) CTRL-Click on 1st report
iii) We will now use the position toolbar to make these reports the same shape and size.
(1) Click on the Align Left icon
(2) Click on the Make Same Size icon
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e) Modify component attributes within the properties panel.
While we have all three selected we can take advantage of
the multiple setting capabilities to set common attributes for
each report.
i)
Set Size and Overflow to Flowing.
ii)
Set Sizing Requirement to 2.
iii) Click off the report components to deselect. Click on
each to see that the settings have been updated.
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f)
Move Report2 and Report3 so that the subsequent report slightly overlaps the preceding
report as shown below:
g) Run the report to see what you have built and how the transactional reports flow.
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Notice that for each customer, each of the transaction reports presents the available records and
then is followed by the next transaction type report. If the flowing reports expand past a single
page, an overflow page is generated. Notice what happens when a customer does not have a
certain type of transaction.
Step 5 – Add Account Activity Overflow Page
We will now work on formatting the overflow page by setting flow margins and a different header
to distinguish overflow from the first page.
1) Define Page Layout Flow Margins
The Flow Margins define the bottom margin of the page for the flowing reports and the top
margin of the overflow page where the overflow reports will begin.
a) Click anywhere on Page Layout 3 (the activity
page) to select the page and display the page
parameters.
b) Within the parameters panel set the
Flow margin: bottom to 1
Flow margin: top to 1.25
2) Add a new overflow page to define different header / footer.
a) From New Page Layout icon select Add New
Overflow Page.
b) Click on the Refresh Icon to apply Page Master styling to the new overflow page.
c) Scroll down below Page Layout 3 to see the new Overflow Page.
Notice the page is labeled as an overflow object. The page is presented grey to
designate that only components (reports or graphs) can be inserted on this page.
The second set of margin guides now displayed within the outer margin guides represent
the flow margins we defined above.
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3) Add the overflow page header report.
a) Right click on the page and select New Report from the context menu.
b) Your mouse pointer will become the hairline pointer. Use the hairline pointer to draw a
new report object at the top of the page.
c) Position the new report in the same location as we put the header on the first page
layout.
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d) Import the report:
STMT_HEADEROVERFLOW.FEX
This report is identical to the header report placed on the first page except that that
the Account Activity subheading has been changed to Activity Continued to
clearly distinguish that this is a continuation page.
e) Run the report to see how the overflow pages now have different headers.
Step 6 – Complete Styling of Account Activity Page (Optional)
Finish off the activity pages by adding the text element to the left margin to be displayed on the
first page of the activities section.
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1) Scroll back to see Page Layout 3.
2) Add a Text element under the address block in the top portion of the left margin.
3) Insert the following text: (3rd line of text in CUSTOMERSUPPORT.TXT)
The Account Activity section provides details of the activity in your account during the
statement period. This statement has been carefully prepared to ensure that it is
accurate and up-to-date.
4) Format the text as you did with the text boxes in the left margin on the first page:
a) Set Font Styling
Font = Tahoma
Style = Normal
Size = 9pt
Color = Navy
b) Make the words “Account Activity” bold
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i)
Run to see the final version of the Account Summary and Activity pages in your
statement.
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Step 7 – Add a Closing Page Containing Previously Created Content
Add final page of content from an existing page layout.
1) From the Add New Page Layout icon, click on the drop down and
select to Add Existing Page Layout.
a) Select STMT_CMPD_CLOSING.FEX.
2) Scroll down to see Page Layout 5 that has been added.
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3) Run to see your final output and scroll through the overall document to see how each report
is personalized based on the information we know about each individual customer:
Congratulations! You are done!!
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