Getting Started

Getting Started 

 

Installation

Create a Report Workflow

The first time you open the KNIME Report Designer you will see the KNIME perspective - similar to this screenshot:

 

 

Create a report by following these basic steps:

1. Create a KNIME workflow
2. Identify the data tables you want to use in the report
3. Design the report template and apply data from the automatically imported KNIME data tables

The process beings by creating a KNIME workflow:

• From the File menu select "New… -> New Knime Project…", or
• From the “Workflow Projects” view, right-click "New Knime workflow…".

This opens the KNIME project wizard which enables you to enter the name of the workflow, whereupon it is created and opened in the workflow editor.

 

Now build and configure the KNIME workflow as usual by dragging nodes from the Node Repository onto the workflow editor. Subsequently connect, configure and execute them.

Once you have finished creating the workflow and all tables are available in a format that suits your intended use of them in the report, you can connect them to the "to Report" nodes. They can be found in the Node Repository under "Reporting":

 

It is highly recommended to give the reporting nodes significant names as the data sets later on are named according to these names. Otherwise you will see some more or less cryptic default node names.

 

Now that you have finished work with the workflow, it is time to create and design your report by opening the report template.

Open the Report for Editing

There are two ways to switch from your workflow to the associated report.

• Either click the "Edit report" button at the top of your workflow:
  
• Or select the workflow in the Workflow Projects view: right-click it in order to open the context menu and select "Edit Report":
  

Both of these procedures open the report associated with your workflow in the report template editor. Switch to the reporting perspective , and import the data provided by the “to Report” nodes within your workflow as data sets – providing that they are available for the report.

Confirmation Dialog

None of these automatic additions, updates, and deletions are applied without your consent, which is why a confirmation dialog opens, similar to the one shown below:

 

Click "Apply" to have these changes applied to the report; click "Skip" to have them ignored for now and click "Cancel" to be returned to the workflow editor.

By default the confirmation dialog lists all changes and therefore also the addition of data sets and the deletion of unused data sets, etc. Selecting "Only confirm critical changes" will cause uncritical changes to be applied silently and only critical changes have to be confirmed. Critical changes are changes that will likely mean that your report template will have to be adapted.

Report Designer Perspective

Once you have applied the changes to the newly created report, the report template editor opens within the report designer perspective:

 

The report designer perspective consists of the following elements:

Workflow Projects View:
displays the workflows currently in the current workspace.

Data Set View:
displays the data sets (data provided by the "to Report" nodes) within the workflow that corresponds to the opened report.

Palette:
provides tools and report items necessary to create and edit the report template.

Report Template Editor with 3 tabs:

• Layout:
  drag the data sets or report items onto the report template in this editor tab. Use the Property Editor to change fonts, colors, borders, etc.
• Master Page:
  this is where you can change the page size or orientation of the template or add static images such as your company’s logo.
• Preview:
  click here in order to get an idea of what the resulting report will look like.

Property Editor:
depending on the selected report item the property editor displays properties such as color, font, border, orientation, data binding, to name but a few.

Use Data Sets in the Report

The simplest way to use a data set in the report is to drag it onto the report template in the currently active editor. It appears as a placeholder for the entire table, showing the table header, the table body and the table footer:

 

Select the table by clicking it. Now you can start to design the table. Select the table header, table body, or table footer and set the related properties in the property editor below the template editor window.

 

In order to check the result of your design click the rightmost tab, “Preview”, at the bottom of the report template. You are provided with a preview of the report to see what it will look like once it has been rendered.

 

A simple table is not the only way to organize data from a KNIME workflow within a report. There are many other options available, one of which is to use the BIRT Chart Engine with the data from the underlying workflow.