db2 web query ez-install: building your first report! · db2 web query ez-install: building your...

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© 2017 IBM Corporation

DB2 Web Query EZ-Install: Building your first report!

Brought to you by the DB2 for i Lab Services Team at [email protected]

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Table of Contents

InfoAssist Tutorials ........................................................................................................................... 3

1 Creating Your First Report ........................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Creating a Sub-Folder and Authorizing Users ..................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Connect to DB2 Web Query ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1.2 Add Additional Users to DB2 Web Query ............................................................................................................. 4 1.1.3 How to Start InfoAssist ......................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Creating a Summary Report (IA1_Revenue) ..................................................................................... 13 1.2.1 How to Create an Initial Report .......................................................................................................................... 13 1.2.2 How to Format a Column ................................................................................................................................... 15 1.2.3 How to Use Aggregation Functions .................................................................................................................... 17 1.2.4 How to Use Auto Drill & Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 19

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InfoAssist Tutorials With InfoAssist, you can quickly and easily:

Generate Business Intelligence reports, charts, and documents from any enterprise information source without IT interaction.

Complete tasks, such as building a report, with minimal clicks.

Convert reports to charts, or charts to reports, in a single click.

Output report data in a variety of formats, including HTML, Active Reports, active Flash, PDF, active PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint.

1 Creating Your First Report

1.1 Creating a Sub-Folder and Authorizing Users

1.1.1 Connect to DB2 Web Query

The following screens and instructions depict starting from a browser window.

Bring up Internet Explorer or some other browser of choice.

Go to http://your.system.name:12331/webquery

Sign on as your user id you used when you installed the EZ-Package

The IBM i user profile you entered during the EZ-Install process should be already known to DB2

Web Query as an Administrator.

You’ll be using the Century_Electronics top level folder. Century Electronics is the fictional name of

the company used in the Sample Database (schema QWQCENT) installed as part of the EZ-Install

process. The sample database includes 2 years of data. Those dates could change over time as we

ship new versions of the sample database.

http://your.system.name:12331/webquery

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1.1.2 Add Additional Users to DB2 Web Query

You may want to add additional users at this point so they could write their first report and

pursue the self-guided tutorials as well.

In the upper right corner of the BI Portal, select Administration -> Security Center

Bring any existing IBM i User Profiles into DB2 Web Query (during the trial period, you can

add as many users as you like) by clicking on the NEW USER icon in the upper left:

This will give you a list of all the IBM i users on your system. You may want to maximize the security center screen to see a fuller view.

Note in the right hand upper panel that there are six groups for each folder, including

Century_Electronics. Each of these groups can contain multiple users, and defines what operations they can do within that folder.

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For now, select the DB2 Web Query Training -> Developer folder. The “Developer” role is

one that allows a user to create and edit reports within that folder, and then publish those

reports so others with access to that folder can operate on it (depending on their authorities

– for instance, someone in the RUN group can only run a published report.

Drop and drag any users you want to set up as report authors under the “developer” role from the left hand panel to the lower hand panel.

When complete, hit the close button.

1.1.3 How to Start InfoAssist

You may want to now create a subfolder just for you if you’re going to have others building

reports in this same Top Level Folder. Note that authorizations are at the Top Level Folder

and permeate down to the subfolders.

Right-click the CENTURY_ELECTRONICS folder you created in the previous step and select

NewFolder.

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Give the folder a name that you can refer to that identifies is as yours.

Click OK, and now right click on your new sub folder and select NEW -> Report.

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Note that there a lot of options when you did the right click. The number of options you

have on this pop up menu will depend on your folder authorizations set up in security

center. For instance, if you’re not in the “DBA” group within folder “DB2 Web Query

Training” you would not see that Metadata option near the bottom.

In the next window, you will see a list of synonyms that you will build your report over.

Synonyms are a meta data representation of your underlying files/tables (note that they

could also be meta data representations of data returned from an SQL View, a User Defined

Function, an SQL Alias, a Stored Procedure *and* could represent files/tables that reside in

remote databases such as another DB2 for i database, or even a MySQL or SQLServer

database).

Select the CEN_ORDERS synonym. In this case, this synonym actually represents a cluster

of tables JOINED together into a single synonym. This makes it very easy for end users to

not have to worry about the need to, or how to join files/tables together in each and every

report.

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Click OK.

After InfoAssist opens up, click on the MAIN MENU button and select OPTIONS

On the Data Panel option, if not already selected, choose “LOGICAL” view and click on OK

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This lets you set DEFAULTS for your InfoAssist environment. You can always change these

settings within your InfoAssist sessions, but then the scope is just for that particular

InfoAssist session. Now that you have set it here, you may also need to set it within

InfoAssist (or end InfoAssist and start it again). For now, let’s just make sure it is set in

your InfoAssist session.

Click on the VIEW tab within InfoAssist. Make sure the LOGICAL toolbar is selected:

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Note that the Logical button should now be highlighted in a darker blue color which indicates

it is the current selection.

Now if you look at the data panel on the left hand side, you’ll see the columns/fields

available to you for your report.

Note that you can expand selections with the + sign, and collapse with the – sign. You can

also scroll up and down through the data panel.

If you click on the collapse button next to Measures, you should then see a set of

“dimensions.” Fields in the InfoAssist logical view are placed as either Measures (usually

numeric fields) and dimensions (often things that you use as sort fields, like YEAR, or

PRODUCT_TYPE).

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Keep this in mind as you work your way through additional tutorials. You may encounter

instructions that ask you to select a column/field but you can’t find it in the data panel. So

be sure to use the expand buttons and/or scroll capabilities within the data panel to look for

it!

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1.2 Creating a Summary Report (IA1_Revenue)

The InfoAssist user interface is very similar to the Office 2007 interface. The tab-based ribbon style toolbar logically groups all functions and makes it easy to find the options you need. InfoAssist has built-in intelligence throughout its interface. Toolbars collapse and expand to fit the screen. The ribbon updates as you click in different areas of a report. Data fields are logically categorized as dimensions and measures. You will see much of this throughout the tutorials.

1.2.1 How to Create an Initial Report

Double-click the Product Type field (HINT: You may need to expand the Product Info

sections to see the fields in that dimension).

Note that you can double click the field, drag and drop it on to your Interactive Design View

panel, or drag and drop it on to the Query panel below. All three methods will place Product

Type as the primary By field in a new report.

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Compress Dimensions or scroll up in the Data panel on the left until you see the

Measures/Properties heading at the top of the list. Again, you may need to expand the

Measure folder to see all the fields within that.

In the default view, all numeric fields are grouped together under Measures for simplicity.

Double-click Revenue.

Next, we want to add grand totals to our report.

Select the Home ribbon.

If the Report group is not already expanded, click the Report icon on the ribbon to open it.

This is an example where the toolbar will collapse or expand based on the width of the

screen. After you have opened some of the tabs, such as Report, if you then narrow the

width of your screen the system will automatically shrink some of the tabs on the ribbon to

fit.

Click Column Totals in the expanded Report ribbon.

Selecting Column Totals adds a grand total row to the bottom of the report to sum the

numeric data in each column.

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Selecting Row Totals would add a grand total column to the right side of the report to sum

the numeric data in each row.

Save your report. Click the Save button at the top of the window, and call the report

IA1_Revenue.

Click the Run button.

Notice the new tab at the bottom of your screen labeled IA1_Revenue(0). This tab displays

your report output results. Your output report looks the same as your Interactive Design

View except that the numbers are larger. You are now processing your full table instead of

only reading the first 500 records.

You can switch between the Design View and the Results View by selecting the appropriate

tab. Instead of having two tabs open close the results panel. This will leave only the

Interactive Design View open.

Click the Close button on IA1_Revenue(0) in the upper right hand corner of the results

view.

1.2.2 How to Format a Column

Back on the Interactive Design View panel, click the Revenue field.

You are going to format this field with commas and dollar signs.

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When you select the Revenue field, the ribbon becomes field-specific. Some of the groupings

may already be expanded depending on the width of your screen (in this screen shot it is

already expanded but it may not be in yours, based on the resolution of your screen).

Select the comma .

Select the currency symbol down arrow and then choose Floating currency.

There are many ways to do the same thing in InfoAssist. This means that wherever you are,

you are likely to have quick access to the functionality you need.

Right-click the Revenue field (either on the Interactive Design View as shown in the

following image or in the Query panel) and a submenu displays.

Notice that there is an Edit Format option.

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We won’t do anything here – it was just to show you a different technique for getting to the

edit format capabilities. Click the whitespace outside the report to exit this submenu without

executing any instructions.

1.2.3 How to Use Aggregation Functions

You are going to add a count of the number of orders for each product type to the report.

If compressed, expand Dimensions in the Data panel.

Drag Order Number down to Sum - just below Revenue on the Query panel.

Remember that you can also drag it directly onto the report or double-click it to insert it on

the report.

Right-click Order Number, in the Query panel, to open the field-specific submenu.

Select More, then Aggregation Functions and then select Count.

Note: Make sure that

Order Number is

specified as Sum

column and NOT a By

column!

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You want to move the Order Number field before the Revenue field. This example will show

you how to reorder your fields if they aren't in the sequence you want.

Select the Order Number field in the Interactive Design View panel.

Notice that an outline is drawn around the field and its values.

Drag the field to the left of the Revenue column.

You will see a red bar indicating where the field will be positioned when you release the

mouse button.

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Because you positioned the Order Number column beside the sort field (Product Type), an

additional menu appears. The options are Drop as Sort and Drop as Sum. Drop as Sort

makes the selected field a sort field. For this tutorial, select Drop as Sum.

You can also move the Order Number column by dragging Order Number above Revenue in

the Query panel.

To create a new heading in the Query panel right-click Cnt.OrderNumber to see the field

specific submenu.

Select Change Title and type the new title Order Count.

Click Save.

Run the report.

You have completed your initial summary report. You will return to this report later.

Close the report IA1_Revenue(0) to return to the Interactive Design View.

Save your report.

We will continue to use this report as the basis for our next report.

1.2.4 How to Use Auto Drill & Analysis

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is best known as the technology that allows a user to slice and

dice data or drill down into data. DB2 Web Query makes it easy to provide users with a

sophisticated drill-down, slice and dice interface. All report developers must do to enable this

feature is turn it on in the InfoAssist tool. There is much more to OLAP than is discussed here.

Please see the DB2 Web Query Redbook for a complete OLAP tutorial.

Select the Format ribbon and expand the Navigation group if it is compressed.

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Click the little sliver with the down arrow in the Auto Drill & Analysis tool. Once the arrow

is selected, choose Olap Options and then “More options” in the pop up menu.

Select the two options highlighted below. You are providing the end user with some

capabilities to manipulate the data they view in the report. The “Dimensions grouped in

tabs” provides a tabular interface at the top of the report to add additional columns

(interactively) to the report, or filter on various elements of the report. It also lets you set

selection criteria on the fly (“where country does NOT = ‘United States’).

The allow drill down on “Dimensions” enables the non-numeric (typically) fields to allow for

a drill down when clicked on.

Run your report.

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The Product Type is automatically highlighted and underlined; this indicates that you can

drill down on this column.

Click Audio.

You just drilled down to Product Category based on “Audio” Product types within a single

report.

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Take a look at the tabular interface at the top of the report:

This is where you have a lot of different options in determining what data you want to look

at – ALL WITHIN A SINGLE REPORT.

You can filter the data, for example, choose a specific year by clicking on the down arrow for

a selection of YEAR values in your data. You can even set selection criteria like “where YEAR

does NOT equal yyyy” by clicking on the “=” button and toggling through different

expressions available to you.

So while this report is called “auto drill down” it is really a drill anywhere report. From here

you could save it into Excel, or as an active report, or even as a report that you can come

back to the next day after having iterated through the data to this point.

Very powerful stuff !

Close the results display.

SAVE the report as IA_Revenue_Drill_Down and ….

CONGRATULATIONS – you just created your first auto-drill down report in DB2 Web Query!

Auto Drill & Analysis has much more power than the simple example you just executed. As

mentioned previously, a much more detailed OLAP tutorial is available in the DB2 Web

Query for i Redbook Tutorials, that you can obtain at ibm.biz/db2wqezinstall.

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