Integrate XML Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for XML data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to XML data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on XML data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new XML connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:xml: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     Connecting to Local or Cloud-Stored (Box, Google Drive, Amazon S3, SharePoint) XML Files

     CData Drivers let you work with XML files stored locally and stored in cloud storage services like Box, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or SharePoint, right where they are.

     Setting connection properties for local files

     Set the URI property to local folder path.

     Setting connection properties for files stored in Amazon S3

     To connect to XML file(s) within Amazon S3, set the URI property to the URI of the Bucket and Folder where the intended XML files exist. In addition, at least set these properties:

     • AWSAccessKey: AWS Access Key (username)
     • AWSSecretKey: AWS Secret Key

     Setting connection properties for files stored in Box

     To connect to XML file(s) within Box, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Box.

     Dropbox

     To connect to XML file(s) within Dropbox, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Dropbox. Either User Account or Service Account can be used to authenticate.

     SharePoint Online (SOAP)

     To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with SOAP Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. Set User, Password, and StorageBaseURL.

     SharePoint Online REST

     To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with REST Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. StorageBaseURL is optional. If not set, the driver will use the root drive. OAuth is used to authenticate.

     Google Drive

     To connect to XML file(s) within Google Drive, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect and set InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH.

     The property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

     • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your XML data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
     • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
     • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

     See the Modeling XML Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the XML JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.xml.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

     jdbc:xml:URI=C:/people.xml;DataModel=Relational;

   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.xml.XMLDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.
   👁 Required connection properties defined in the JDBC URL. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Add XML Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with XML data.

1. Add the XML source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT [people].[personal.age] AS age, [people].[personal.gender] AS gender, [people].[personal.name.first] AS first_name, [people].[personal.name.last] AS last_name, [vehicles].[model], FROM [people] JOIN [vehicles] ON [people].[_id] = [vehicles].[people_id]

   👁 The query to retrieve data, specified in the JDBC data source configuration wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the people table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.