extending birt with geospatial data visualization capabilities by

ChristophSüess Version:1.0 Lastchange:16.06.1119:48

ExtendingBIRTwithgeospatialdata

visualizationcapabilitiesbyintegratingthe

SOLAPLayersmappingcomponent

BachelorThesisDepartmentofComputerScience

UniversityofAppliedScienceRapperswil

SpringTerm2011Author: ChristophSüessAdvisor: Prof.StefanKellerProjectPartner: Spatialytics,QuébecCity,CanadaExternalCo‐Examiner:ClaudeEisenhutInternalCo‐Examiner: Prof.HansjörgHuser

BachelorthesisSS2011 Page2/106


1 Abstract

Department ComputerscienceNameofstudent ChristophSüess

Academicyear Springsemester2011Titleofthebachelorthesis Extending BIRT with Geospatial Data Visualization

capabilities by integrating the SOLAPLayers mappingcomponent

Examiner Prof.StefanKellerTopic Reportingtools/OSBI/GeoBIProjectpartner SpatialyticsInstitution InstitutfürSoftwareHSRSummaryToday, Business Intelligence (BI) is an important part for everymodern company. BIallowsanalyzingalargeamountofdata.Theoverviewovertheinformationsimplifiestotakedecisions,whichinfluencethestrategiesofthecompany.ThedifferentpartsofBIaresupportedbyalotofproprietaryandopensourceapplications(OSBI).Spatialytics from Québec, Canada is a small start‐up company, which established in2009.ThemaingoalofSpatialyticsistoprovidetheuseofgeo‐spatialdatafordifferentOSBI‐tools.Spatialyticshasthreesoftware‐toolswhichcoveringdifferentaspectsoftheBI‐process. One of these solutions is SOLAPLayers. SOLAPLayers is a reporting tool,whichdisplaysdatafromdifferentdatasourcesonaninteractive,webbaseddashboard.Themainfeature is thepossibilitytoretrievegeo‐spatialdataanddisplay itonamapcomponent.This bachelor thesis forced to restructure the existing SOLAPLayers 2.0 version, toprovideamore flexible, extendableanddynamical softwarecomponent,whichcanbeintegrated into other considerable reporting tools. The new version allows providingnew data‐source drivers and output formats in an easy way to the framework. In asecond step, a driver for relational databases has been added to the application. ThisdriverwasnecessarytoextendtherangeofpotentialusersofSOLAPLayers,sincenotevery company owns a datawarehouse. The resulting software is not a final version.Moredata sourcesandother featureswill beadded toSOLAPLayersbeforeprovidingthesoftwaretothepublic.The second goal of this projectwas to create amap component for the popular opensource reporting toolBIRT.BIRT is onof themainprojects of theEclipse foundation.The founder andmost active collaborator is the companyActuate. Based on differentfacts,thedecisiontointegrateSOLAPLayersintoBIRTwasdone.Finally,SOLAPLayersisusedasdatasourceandreportitemofthenewBIRT‐plugin.Thisdocumentcontainstheanalysisandtheprojectdocumentationofbothpartsofthisbachelorthesis.Additionalanexcursiononthetopic“stateoftheartofreportingtools”can be found in the appendix of this document. The whole thesis was produced byChristophSüessatSpatialyticsinQuébecCAduringathreemonthlonginternshipandsupervisedbyProf.StefanKellerattheHochschulefürTechnikatRapperswilCH.



2 ManagementSummary

In den 1990er Jahren wurde ein Verfahren mit dem Namen Business Intelligencepopulär.HinterdemBegriffBusiness Intelligence ‐kurzBI ‐ verbirgt sichderProzesszursystematischenAnalysevonDaten,welchemeistinelektronischerFormvorhandensind. Dieses Werkzeug wird von Unternehmen genutzt um sich eine Übersicht überdiverse Zahlen zu verschaffen und die Erkenntnisse in die Strategien einfliessen zulassen. Somit können die Unternehmensziele besser verfolgt und kontrolliertwerden.Das BI‐Verfahren kann grob in drei Phasen unterteilt werden. In der ersten Phasewerden die Daten zusammengetragen. Diese Daten werden normalerweise in einemsogenanntenData‐Warehouseabgelegt. InderzweitenPhasewirdeinZusammenhangzwischendenInformationengebildet,sodassausdenDatenSchlüssegezogenwerdenkönnen. In der letzten Phase, werden die Fakten dem Unternehmen präsentiert unddafürgesorgt,dassdieErkenntnissegenutztwerdenkönnen.DaessichmeistensumgrosseDatenbeständehandelt,istesnichtverwunderlich,dassdieserProzessdurchdiverse IT‐Systemeunterstütztwird. Sowurden imVerlaufederJahre Software‐Komponenten für alle drei Phasen des BI‐Verfahrens entwickelt.Inzwischen gibt es mehrere Unternehmen, die etablierte Applikationen für den BI‐Prozess vermarkten. Die wohl namhaftesten Produkte sind diejenigen des weltweittätigenUnternehmensSAP.

In den letzten Jahren wurde das Vertrauen inOpen Source Softwarelösungen durch effizienteund erfolgreiche Produkte gestärkt. VieleAnwender erkannten die Stärken von OpenSource und legten das weiterverbreiteteMisstrauengegenüberderfreienSoftwarenieder.DieserTrendsetzesichauchinderBusinessweltfort. Neben den proprietären BI‐Tools entstandfreie Software, welche mit OSBI (Open SourceBusiness Intelligence) betitelt wurde. MancheProdukte unterstützen den gesamten BI‐Prozessund andere konzentrieren sich auf bestimmteTeile, wie zum Beispiel dem Zusammentragen,der Zurverfügungstellung oder dem AuswertenderInformationen.

2009 entstand inQuébecCity inKanada das Start‐UpUnternehmen Spatialytics.Spatialytics ist nachwie vor einsehr frischesUnternehmen,dassnoch diverse Entscheidungentreffenmuss.DieFirmagingauseinigenProjektenausderGeoinformatik,welcheanderUniversitéLavalFuss fassten,hervor. Die treibende Kraft hinter dem Projektwar Prof. Thierry Badard. Spatialyticskannte den BI‐Markt und interessierte sich dafür, den Aspekt der räumlichenInformation der Daten in einem Data‐Warehouse für spezifischere Auswertungen zu

Figure1‐LogovonpopulärenOSBI

Figure2‐LogodesUnternehmesSpatialytics



nutzen. Ein populäres Zitat aus der Geowelt besagt, dass achtzig Prozent allergespeichertenBusinessdateneinenräumlichenBezughaben.BiszumheutigenTagwirddieserAspektjedochvonvielenBI‐undOSBI‐Systemenzuweniggenutzt.DerräumlicheGesichtspunktistaberwiederZeitlicheinderWirtschaftsehrwichtig.SpatialyticsverfolgtimMomentdreiProjekte.MitGeoKettlebietetdasUnternehmeneinETL‐Tool (Extract, Transform, Load) an, welches neben den herkömmlichenDatenformaten auch mit diversen geometrischen Datenformaten umgehen kann.Mondrian isteinOLAP‐Server,einSystemdasperformanteundkomplexeZugriffeaufein Data‐Warehouse ermöglicht. Spatialytics erweiterte dieses quelloffene Projektmitdem räumlichen Aspekt, so dass die resultierenden Daten auch geometrischeInformationenenthaltenkönnen.DarausentstanddasProduktGeoMondrian.Das dritte wichtige und im Zusammenhang mit der Bachelorarbeit interessantesteProjekt von Spatialytics, widmet sich dem Auswerten der Daten. Mit SOLAPLayerskönnen Daten aus verschiedenenDatenquellen abgefragtwerdenundin einem interaktiven Reportdargestellt werden. Natürlich liegtauchhierwiederdasHauptmerkmalauf der Präsentation dergeografischen Daten. Das Herz vonSOLAPLayers bildet die interaktiveKarte, welche komplexegeografische Zusammenhängeabbilden kann. In Zukunft willSpatialytics diese geometrischenFeatures vonSOLAPLayers auch fürnamhafte Open Source ReportingTools anbieten. Dazu gehörenProdukte wie Pentaho Reporting,JasperReportsundBIRT.Diese Bachelorarbeit forcierte die Integration einer interaktiven Karte in Berichte,welche mit Hilfe von BIRT erstellt werden können. Es war nicht gegeben, abernaheliegenddasmanhierfürdieexistierendeSOLAPLayers‐Lösungnutzte.DasZielwareinPrototypzuerstellen,welchervorallem fürDemosverwendetundgegebenenfallsspäterfürdenErnstfallerweitertwerdenkann.Die erste Version von SOLAPLayers war noch nicht bereit um in eine bestehendeSoftware eingegliedert zu werden. Darum begann man an einer neuen Version zuarbeiten. Neben dem Hinzufügen von neuen Features, stand vor allem dasUmstrukturieren von SOLAPLayers im Mittelpunkt. Die neue Version sollte flexiblersein, so dass die Applikation einerseits besser erweitert und andererseits einfach inDrittapplikationen eingegliedertwerden kann. Die Umstrukturierung ging zu GunstendieserBachelorarbeit.DasResultaterlaubtnunneueDatenquellenundAusgabeformateflexiblehinzuzufügen.DerAufwandbeschränktsichdabeiaufdasEntwickelnvonneuenTreibern, die Integration ist mit sehr geringem Aufwand verbunden. Neben dieserUmstrukturierung wurde SOLAPLayers durch einen neuen Datenquellen‐Treiberergänzt. Ab sofort können auch relationale Datenbanken mit SOLAPLayers benutztwerden. Zuvor wurden nur SOLAP‐Quellen unterstützt. Die Unterstützung vonrelationalenDatenbankenwarausmehrerenGründenüberfällig.Entscheidenwar,dass

Figure3‐SOLAPLayersDemoDashboard



nachwievornichtalleUnternehmenmit fürdieAnalyseoptimiertenData‐Warehousearbeiten. Öfters sind die Daten in einfacheren relationalen Datenbanken vorhanden.Auch wenn die Verwendung solcher Datenquellen, auf Grund von Performance‐Einbussen, nicht empfehlenswert ist, sollte ein Reporting Tool deren Anbindungunterstützen.NachdemFertigstellendieserZwischenversionvonSOLAPLayerswurdedieEntwicklunganSOLAPLayersausserhalbderBachelorarbeitweitergeführt.

Die Bachelorarbeit widmetesichnunderBIRTIntegrationvon SOLAPLayers. DieMöglichkeit der Integrationwurde zuerst analysiert unddiverse Szenarienbesprochen. DieSchlussfolgerung zeigte, dasses Sinn macht SOLAPLayersals Datenquelle sowie zurPräsentation der Daten zuverwenden. Die Integrationstelltesichalsschwierigeralsgeplant heraus. Trotzdemkonnte das geplante Szenarioumgesetztwerden.Neben der resultierendenSoftware wurde ein Bericht

zumThema„StateoftheArtofReportingTools“erstellt,welcherdieaktuelleSituationvonToolszurErstellungvonBerichtenaufzeigt.DieUmständemachtendasProjektnichteinfach.DadasProjekt ineinemsehr jungenUnternehmen, welches sich schnell entwickelt, durchgeführt wurde, konnten vieleAbhängigkeiten nicht vermieden werden. Des Weiteren existierte für SOLAPLayerskeine Dokumentation und auch das sehr etablierte Tool BIRT ist leider sehr schlechtdokumentiert,wasdieErweiterungdesReportingToolsbetrifft.DieKommunikationansich war jedoch sehr gut, obwohl eine begrenzte Sprachbarriere vorhanden war.Schwierigkeiten brachten aber auch die verschiedenen Interessengruppen mit sich.Einerseits sollte meine Arbeit bei Spatialytics das Unternehmen weiterbringen undandererseits war das Bachelorprojekt gewissen Richtlinien unterstellt. DieseKoordinationerfordertevielDurchhaltewillenundAufwand.

Figure4‐BIRTReportmitSOLAPLayers‐Karte



3 Scope

Extending BIRT with Geospatial Data Visualization capabilities byintegratingtheSOLAPLayersmappingcomponentBachelorarbeitvonChristophSüessimAuslandAbteilungInformatik,Frühjahrssemester2011

AusgangslageReporting‐Programme(Berichterstellungsprogramme)automatisierendieAnalyseundAufbereitung von Informationen. Damit lassen sich Berichte (Reports) in Form vonTabellen und Businessgrafiken (Charts) erstellen und in den gängigen Formaten (z.B.HTML, PDF, XLS und CSV) ausgeben. Die Berichte können nach der einmaligenKonfigurationimmerwiedererzeugtwerden.“Business Intelligence Reporting Tools” (BIRT http://www.eclipse.org/birt/) ist einsolchesReporting‐Programm.Esbasiert aufEclipseund ist JavaOpenSource (EclipsePublicLicense).UmeinenReportzuerstellen,musszunächsteineVerbindungzueinerDatenquelle,z.B.zu einem Data Warehouse, hergestellt werden. Dann kann der Report mit Hilfe des"BIRTReportDesigners"interaktivdefiniertwerden.FürflexibleAnfragengibtesaucheine Scriptingsprache. Das Resultat ist eine XML‐Report‐Design‐Datei. Der eigentlicheReportwirdmitder"BIRTReportEngine"(Laufzeitumgebung)erzeugt.DieseSoftwarelässtsichauchgutinWebapplikationen(Java/J2EE)integrieren.WirdeinerInformationeinRaumbezugzugeordnet(z.B.eineAdresseoderKoordinate),sosprichtmanvonGeodaten.Geodatensindkomplex,aufwändiginderErfassungundRechenintensiv in der räumlichen Auswertung (z.B. Umkreissuche). Sie werdentypischerweise in bzw. Geo‐Datenbanken (‐Erweiterungen) gespeichert und mittelsGeo‐Informationssystemen(GIS)verwaltet.Für die räumlich erweiterte Prozessierung von Informationen aus Data Warehouses(sog. „SpatialOnlineAnalytical Processing“, SpatialOLAP, bzw. SOLAP)undv.a. derenDarstellung in einer Onlinekarte, gibt es die JavaScript‐Bibliothek „SOLAPLayers“.SOLAPLayers basiert auf den Bibliotheken GeoExt/OpenLayers (vgl.http://www.spatialytics.org/?page_id=10). ImBereich SOLAP hat sich die Univ. Laval,QuébéceinenNamengemacht.

AufgabenstellungZurzeitwerdenvonBIRT‐ReportsnurBusinessdiagrammeunterstützt.Wasfehlt,istdieAusgabealsOnlinekarte.DieAufgabederArbeitbestehtdaherausfolgendenTeilen:torestructuretheSOLAPLayersapplicationontheserverside,toprovideamoreflexibleapplicationwhichallowstoaddnewdatasourcesandoutputformatsinaneasyway



to analyse how itwill be possible to add amap component in the toolbox offered byBIRTandwhich features this componentwill have toprovide (access to some spatialdatasources,thematicmappingcapabilities,etc.)to analyse how itwill be possible to add amap component in the toolbox offered byBIRTandwhichfeaturesthiscomponentwillhavetoprovidetodevelopthecodeinordertoeffectivelycarryoutthisintegration.Towriteanexcurseonthetopic:„ThestateoftheartofOSBI‐tools“

BeteiligteDiplomand: ChristophSüess([email protected])Projektpartner: Prof.ThierryBadardundMitarbeiterdes

CentreforResearchinGeomatics(CRG),DépartementdesSciencesGéomatiques,UniversitéLaval,Québec,Qc,G1V0A6,Canada.

BetreuungHSR,VerantwortlicherDozent: Prof.StefanKeller,IFS‐HSR([email protected])

Gegenleser: Prof.HansjörgHuserExperte: ClaudeEisenhut,EisenhutInformatik

Burgdorf([email protected])

Projektabwicklung

TermineBeginnderArbeit: 28.03.2011Abgabetermin: 17.06.2011(12.00Uhr).Weitere Termine: Siehe https://www.hsr.ch/Termine‐Diplom‐Bachelor‐und.5142.0.html(intern)

ArbeitsaufwandFürdieerfolgreichabgeschlosseneArbeitwerden12ECTSangerechnet.DiesentsprichteinerArbeitsleistungvon360Stunden.

HinweisefürdieGliederungundAbwicklungdesProjektesGliedernSieIhreArbeitin4bis5Teilschritte.SchliessenSiejedenTeilschrittmiteinemMeilenstein ab. Definieren Sie für jedenMeilenstein,welche Resultate dann vorliegenmüssen!FolgendeTeilschrittebzw.MeilensteinesollteninderPlanungvorgesehenwerden:

• Schritt1:Projektauftraginkl.Projektplan(mitMeilensteinen),• Meilenstein1:ReviewdesProjektauftragesabgeschlossen.Projektauftragvon

AuftraggeberundDozentgenehmigt Termin:ca.zweiWochennachBeginnderArbeit

• LetzterMeilenstein:Systemtestsabgeschlossen Termin:ca.eineWochevorAbgabe



• DieSoftwareistineinemagilen,d.h.iterativenundinkrementellenProzesszuentwickeln:ManplanemöglichstfrüheinenerstenlauffähigenPrototypenmitdenwichtigstenundkritischstenKernfunktionen.IndenfolgendenPhasenkanndannschrittweiseausgebautundgetestetwerden.

• FallsinderArbeitneueoderunbekannteTechnologieneingesetztwerden,solltemanparallelzumErarbeitendesProjektauftragesmitdemTechnologiestudiumbeginnen.

• EssindUnit‐Testseinzusetzen.SoftwareundDokumentewerdenaufeinemRepositoryverwaltet(z.B.SVN,git).Ev.isteinBuildServerhilfreich(z.B.CruiseControl).

• ManhaltesichimÜbrigenandieVorgabenausdemModulSE‐Projekt.• Projektadministration:• EsisteinProjekttagebuchzuführenausdemersichtlichwird,welcheArbeiten

durchgeführtwurden(inkl.ungefähremZeitaufwand).DieseAngabensolltenggf.eineindividuelleBeurteilungermöglichen.

• DieArbeitensindlaufendzudokumentieren.ManlegedieProjektdokumentationmitderaktuellenPlanungunddenBeschreibungenderArbeitsresultateelektronischineinemProjektordnerab.DieserProjektordnersolltejederzeiteinsehbarsein(z.Bsvn‐ServeroderFile‐Share).

Fortschrittsbesprechung:• RegelmässigfindetzueinemfixenZeitpunkteineFortschrittsbesprechungstatt

(ArbeitenimAusland:Wochenbericht).• TeilnehmersindDozentundStudenten,beiBedarfauchVertreterder

Auftraggeber• Termingem.Absprache(ArbeitenimAuslandz.B.Montags).• Fallsnotwendig,könnenweitereBesprechungen/Diskussioneneinberufen

werden.• SieerstellenzujederBesprechungeinKurzprotokoll,welchesSiespätestens2‐3

TagenachderSitzungperE‐MailandenBetreuersenden(ArbeitenimAusland:EintragimWikio.ä.).

InhaltderDokumentation• DiefertigeArbeitmussfolgendeInhaltehaben:

1. Abstract,ManagementSummary,Aufgabenstellung2. TechnischerBericht3. DokumentedesProjektdokumentation4. Anhänge(Literaturverzeichnis,CD‐Inhalt)

• Mind.dieDokumentederPunkte1,2sowieInstallationundCodemüsseninEnglischsein.

• DieAbgabeistsozugliedern,dassdieobigenInhalteklarerkenntlichundauffindbarsind.

• Zitatesindzukennzeichnen,dieQuelleistanzugeben.• VerwendeteDokumenteundLiteratursindineinemLiteraturverzeichnis

aufzuführen.• Projekttagebuch,DokumentationdesProjektverlaufes,Planungetc.• WeitereDokumente(z.B.KurzbeschreibungfürBroschüre,Poster)gemäss

www.hsr.chundgemässAbsprachemitdemBetreuer.



FormderDokumentation• Bericht(StrukturgemässBeschreibung)gebunden(2Exemplare)undinOrdner

(1Exemplar„kopierfähig“inlosen,gelochtenBlättern).• AlleDokumenteundQuellendererstelltenSoftwareaufCD;CD'ssauber

angeschrieben(3Ex.).

BewertungsschemaAls Bewertungsschema gilt das in www.hsr.ch erwähnte, d.h. die folgenden Aspektewerdenbewertet:

• Projektorganisation(Gewicht1/6)• Bericht(Gewicht1/6):Inhalt,Gliederung,Sprache• Inhalt(Gewicht½):1.Vorstudie,AnforderungsanalyseundDomainanalyse;2.

Entwurf(Systemarchitektur,BeschreibungdesEntwurfs,EntwurfBenutzerschnittstelle);3.RealisierungundTest

• MündlichePrüfung(Gewicht1/6)Es gelten ansonstendie üblichenRegelungen zumAblauf und zurBewertungderBA‐ArbeitdesStudiengangsInformatikderHSR.Rapperswil,27.Oktober2010,S.Keller



4 Tableofcontents

1 Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................................22 ManagementSummary.............................................................................................................................33 Scope.................................................................................................................................................................64 Tableofcontents ......................................................................................................................................105 Overview......................................................................................................................................................126 SOLAPLayers2.0Extended..................................................................................................................136.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................136.2 Technicalreport...............................................................................................................................136.2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................13UsageofSOLAPLayers ....................................................................................................................13SOLAPLayersversions ....................................................................................................................13Guidelines.............................................................................................................................................14Courseofaction .................................................................................................................................14

6.2.2 Stateoftheartofreportingtools ......................................................................................146.2.3 Resultsandevaluation...........................................................................................................15Achievementofobjectives ............................................................................................................15FutureImprovements .....................................................................................................................15

6.3 Projectdocumentation..................................................................................................................156.3.1 Requirementsspecification .................................................................................................156.3.2 Analysis‐ResultsettoOLAP‐cubetransformation ..................................................15WhyusingSQLfordataanalyzing? ...........................................................................................15WhyparsingSQL‐resultstoOLAP‐cubes?..............................................................................15WhatisanOLAP‐cube?...................................................................................................................16Howdoesthetransformationwork?........................................................................................16

6.3.3 Architecture................................................................................................................................17ArchitectureofSOLAPLayers1.0 ...............................................................................................17ArchitectureofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended ..........................................................................18Activitydiagram ................................................................................................................................20Packagediagram/layeroverview............................................................................................21Classdiagram......................................................................................................................................22Technologies .......................................................................................................................................23Clientapplication ..............................................................................................................................24

6.3.4 Implementation ........................................................................................................................25Systemtest ...........................................................................................................................................25Codequality.........................................................................................................................................29

6.3.5 Futureimprovements ............................................................................................................30Chores ....................................................................................................................................................30Extensions ............................................................................................................................................30

6.3.6 Developersguide......................................................................................................................31Installation ...........................................................................................................................................31Addanewconnectiontype...........................................................................................................32Addanewoutputformat...............................................................................................................33Registernewoutputformat .........................................................................................................34Addanewdatasource....................................................................................................................34UsingMDX‐queries...........................................................................................................................35UsingSQL‐queries.............................................................................................................................36



Creatingadashboard.......................................................................................................................407 Geoextensions2Birt .................................................................................................................................417.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................417.1.1 Technicalreport .......................................................................................................................41Introduction.........................................................................................................................................41StateoftheArt....................................................................................................................................41

7.1.2 Projectdocumentation ..........................................................................................................41Requirementsspecification ..........................................................................................................41Analysis .................................................................................................................................................42Architecture.........................................................................................................................................47Implementation .................................................................................................................................48Systemtest ...........................................................................................................................................48Codequality.........................................................................................................................................51FutureImprovements .....................................................................................................................51UserGuide ............................................................................................................................................52Developersguide...............................................................................................................................59

8 Projectmanagement...............................................................................................................................609 Projectreview............................................................................................................................................609.1 Acknowledgment.............................................................................................................................609.2 Fieldreport.........................................................................................................................................609.3 Lessonslearned................................................................................................................................61

10 Furtherdocumentation.......................................................................................................................6111 Appendices ...............................................................................................................................................62APPENDIXA‐ContentoftheCD ..........................................................................................................62APPENDIXB‐Glossary.............................................................................................................................62APPENDIXC‐References........................................................................................................................64APPENDIXD‐Tableoffigures ..............................................................................................................65APPENDIXE–Projectmanagement...................................................................................................67APPENDIXF‐Licenseagreement........................................................................................................81APPENDIXG‐Agreementoftheauthor............................................................................................82APPENDIXH‐Instructions:CreatingadashboardusingSOLAPLayers.............................82APPENDIXI–CustomizedSCRUM‐processforbachelorthesis.............................................84APPENDIXJ–Interimreport .................................................................................................................86APPENDIXK‐Resultpresentations ...................................................................................................88APPENDIXL–Stateoftheartofreportingtools ..........................................................................89



5 Overview

Thisdocument is structured in twodifferentmainparts.The firstpartdocuments theSOLAPLayers improvement,whichwas done at the beginning of the bachelor project.ThesecondpartdescribestheintegrationofSOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedintotheBIRT‐plugin. Both parts contain a technical report and project documentation. Informationabout the project progress and approach can be found at the end of this document.Additionaldocumentsareattachedtothisdocumentintheappendices.Note: SOLAPLayers 2.0 Extended is not an official name of a SOLAPLayers version.SOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedreferstothestateofSOLAPLayers,whichwasreachedattheendofthebachelorthesis‐project.



6 SOLAPLayers2.0Extended

6.1 Overview

Main use of this chapter is to document SOLAPLayers 2.0 Extended. For betterUnderstanding some parts of the SOLAPLayers base ideas will complete thisdocumentation.Thedocumentisstructuredbytwomaintopics,thetechnicalreportandtheprojectdocumentation.

6.2 Technicalreport

6.2.1 Introduction

UsageofSOLAPLayersSOLAPLayers is a product developed by the University of Laval. Spatialytics extendsSOLAPLayerssince2009.SOLAPLayers is a Java‐reporting‐framework, which is used to build interactivedashboardswithmappingcapabilities.SOLAPLayersretrievesdata fromdifferentdatasourcesanddisplaystheinformationondashboards.ThecorefunctionofSOLAPLayersistocreateinteractivemaps.On theonhand,SOLAPLayerscanbeusedasaweb‐basedreporting tool.Dashboardscan be defined using simple HTML‐tags. On the other hand, SOLAPLayers can beintegratedinexistingreportingtoolstoextendthemwithmappingcapabilities.

SOLAPLayersversions

SOLAPLayers1.0

Figure5‐SOLAPLayerslogo

The initial version of SOLAPLayers provided the possibility of querying one singleGeoMondrian‐data sources. The whole project was structured in four classes. Theconnectionstringwasconfiguredintheweb.xml‐file.GeoJSONandOLAPJsonexistedasdatatransport format.Thewholesourcecodewashighcoupledanddidnotprovidealotofreusability.SOLAPLayers1.0usedDojoandOpenLayersfortherepresentationofthemapontheclientside.TheSOLAPLayers1.0sourcecodeisavailablefordownloadat http://sourceforge.net/projects/spatialytics/. SOLAPlayers 1.0 is more a proof ofconceptthananactualversion.

SOLAPLayers2.0SOLAPLayers 2.0 is a revision of the concept of SOLAPLayers 1.0. The client and theserverpartwerereengineered.OntheclientsidetheDojo‐andOpenLayers‐frameworkswere replaced with ExtJS and GeoExt. SOLAPLayers 2.0 supports many morecomponentsfordatarepresentation(crosstab,barchart,barchart,etc.)



SOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedSOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedisnoofficialreleaseofSOLAPLayers,moreoveritreferencesto the state,whichwas reachedafter thebachelorproject. SOLAPLayers2.0Extendedhastwomaingoals:

• Buildaflexibleapplication,whichsimplifiestoaddnewdatasourcesandoutputbuilders.Forreachingthisgoal,thewholesourcecodewillbereviewedandrefactored.

• AddaSQL‐datasourcetoSOLAPLayersforqueryingrelationaldatabases.

GeoBIExt1.0GeoBiExt1.0willbetherenamedproductofthefinalSOLAPLayers2.0release.GeoBiExt1.0willbepresentedattheFOSS4G2011inDenver,Colorado.

GuidelinesSOLAPLayers was an existing project based on some technology‐ and architecture‐desicions and principles they were defined before the bachelor project started. Thisbachelorthesisdidnotevaluatethisdecisionsandcontinuedonthegivenbase.Ontheonehand,thiswasnotadesireofSpatialytics,ontheotherhand,theevaluationwouldbetootimeconsumingforthisproject.Thefollowingkey‐factsaffectedthecourseoftheproject:

• SOLAPLayersretrievesdatafromanydatasourceandsendsittotheclientintheOLAPJson‐format.OLAPJsonisaundocumentedformatinventedbySpatialytics.OLAPJsonrepresentsaOLAPCubeinaJSON‐format.

• Theclient‐sideofSOLAPLayerswasnevertouchedbythestudentduringthisproject.Theclient‐sideparsestheOLAPJson‐fileandrepresentsthedatausinghtml,cssandjavascript.AslongastheOLAPJson‐fileisvalid,thepossiblefailuresontheGUIareproblemsoftheclient‐side.Asmalloverviewoftheclient‐sidecanbefoundinthesub‐chapter“clientapplication”.

• TheOLAPCubetransformation(OLAP4JtoOLAPJson)wasalreadyapartofthe1.0versionDuringtheprojectthesourcecodewassplitedupindifferentpartstomaketheapplicationmoreflexible.Someimprovementsonthesourcecodeandthealgorithmweremadeaswell.Theevaluationofthistransformationwasnotapartofthisthesisandwasneverreviewedindetail.

• Allthekeytechnologydecisionsweredoneinadvanced:o Javaasthemainprogramminglanguageo OLAP4J‐Librarytohandlethreedimensionalmdx‐result‐cubeso The2D‐spatial‐java‐libraryJTSTopologySuite,whichisusedtointerpret

geometry‐formatso JSONasbasedatatransportformato AllthetechnologiesusedbytheclientsideofSOLAPLayers(Javascript,

HTML,CSS,OpenLayersandtheEXTJS‐framework)

CourseofactionThisprojectwasdevelopedinacustomizedSCRUM‐process.Forfurtherinformationsee“APPENDIXI–CustomizedSCRUM‐Processforbachelorthesis”.

6.2.2 StateoftheartofreportingtoolsFor information about the state of the art of reporting tools, consider the document“Stateoftheartofreportingtools”whichisattachedtothisdocument.ForthestateoftheartofSOLAPLAyersseethechapter“SOLAPLayers2.0“.



6.2.3 Resultsandevaluation

AchievementofobjectivesThegoal of thisproject couldbe reached completely. Spatialyticswas satisfiedby thesolution. The version was used for extending SOLAPLayers right after finishingSOLAPLayers2.0Extended.

FutureImprovementsSOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedisnotamajorreleaseofSOLAPLayers.It isnotyetdefinedwhich featuresGeoBIExt1.0willprovide. Somerecommendationsareavailableat thechapter“FutureImprovements”oftheprojectdocumentation.

6.3 Projectdocumentation

6.3.1 RequirementsspecificationThe requirement specificationwas done by Spatialytics in an agileway. The SCRUM‐Taskboardcanbefoundintheappendix(see“APPENDIXE–projectmanagement”).

6.3.2 Analysis‐ResultsettoOLAP‐cubetransformationAbigpartoftheanalysisisalreadydonebySpatialytics.Theusedtechnologiesaregivenand the applicationwill be developed based on the version 2.0 of SOLAPLayers. ThefollowingchaptersdocumenttheanalysisofthesolutionsofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended.The following text shows theway inwhichSOLAPLayers2.0Extended transforms theresultsetofaSQL‐queryintoanOLAP‐cuberepresentation.

WhyusingSQLfordataanalyzing?Why accessing simple relational databases with SQL‐queries instead of using MDX?OLAP‐data sources are much faster for the analysis of a large amount of data, thenaccessing databases using SQL. Anyway, many enterprises still work with simplerelationaldatabases,evenforanalyzingissues.ThatiswhySOLAPLayershastosupportthiskindofdatasourcesaswell.

WhyparsingSQL‐resultstoOLAP‐cubes?The data format is based on a data cube on all logical layers of SOLAPLayers. Thecommondataformat,whichisprocessedbytheoutputbuilders, isbasedonanOLAP‐cube.TheOLAPJson‐format,whichtransportstheresultfromSOLAPLayerstothecallingapplication,representsacubeaswell.Thiswasgivenbytheprojectguidelines.



WhatisanOLAP‐cube?

Figure6‐VisualizationofanOLAP‐cube

OLAP‐cubes result fromMDX‐queries and can be imagine as three dimensional resultsetsrespectivelyasdatacubes(morethanthreedimensionsarepossible).Inthesamplecube above “Product”, “Time” and “Location” are dimensions and “174” is a specificmeasure. OLAP‐cubes are often represented as cross‐tables in reports or dashboards.Furtherinformationcanbefoundonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAP_cube.

Howdoesthetransformationwork?SQLisnotabletoreceiveanOLAP‐Cube.Thatisthereasonwhyitisnecessarytoparsethe two‐dimensional result set toanOLAP‐cube representation.Thereare somestepsnecessarytoreachagoodresult:

1. RequirementsfortheSQL‐querya. Allthemeasuresanddimensionshavetobeapartoftheselect‐

statementb. Itisnecessarytogroupthedatabythedimensions

Basically,everyrowoftheresultsetwillcontaintwoimportantpiecesofinformation.Thefirstpartoftheinformationcontainsthecoordinates.Thecoordinatesdescribethepositionofthemeasure/s.Thesecondpartoftheinformationisthemeasure,respectivelyabunchofmeasures.Thefollowingexampleshowsthedatacolumn,whichdescribesthevalueinthecubeabove.Product,LocationandTimearethedimensions,whicharepresentinthegroupby‐clauseofthesql‐query.“174”isthemeasure.Withthisinformationitispossibletolocateallgivenmeasuresinthecube.Ifaspecificcoordinateisnotavailableintheresultset,itmeans,thatthevalueofthismeasureiszero.Product Location Time ValueCellphones Euro 2000 174… … … …

c. Anaggregate‐functionhastobespecifiedforthemeasuresBecausewealwaysusethegroup‐by‐clauseitisnecessarytodefineaggregate‐functionsforallthemeasures.



Forexample:Themeasureinthecubeabovecouldbetheaveragepriceofacellphoneatacontinentinayear.Inthequerywecalculatetheaveragepriceofallthecountriesofonecontinentusingtheavg‐function.Product Location Time Country ValueCellphones Euro 2000 Spain 171Cellphones Euro 2000 Germany 177 174

2. AdditionalmetadataToextracttheinformationcorrectlyadditionalmetadataisnecessary.Thetypehastobedefinedforeachrowofaresultset:

a. SpatialdimensionWhichrowrepresentsthenameofthespatialdimension?

b. GeometrydataWhichrowrepresentsthegeospatialdata(usuallyapolygonoramulti‐polygon)ofthespatialdimension?

c. GeometrypointrepresentationWhichrowcontainsapointrepresentationofthespatialdimensionsinordertodisplaydataadditionallyasasimplemarkeronamap?

d. DimensionsWhichrowscontaintheotherdimensions?

e. MeasuresWhichrowsrepresentthemeasures?

Forguidelinesandfurtherinformationhavealookatthechapter“UsingSQL‐Queries“inthedevelopersguide.

LimitationsThecube‐transformationisstilllimited.Metadataarenotapartoftheresultingcubeatthemoment.Datacanberelatedtojustonespecificspatialdimension.

6.3.3 Architecture

ArchitectureofSOLAPLayers1.0SOLAPLayers 2.0 has a very basic architecture. The whole process of retrieving andtransforming data is done in one shot. SOLAPLayers does not provide any hooks toextend the software. It is an in four class structured procedural application,which isdeveloped only for the reason of sending mdx‐queries and receiving OLAPJson.SOLAPLayerswasdevelopedtoaccessoverawebservlet.



ArchitectureofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended

Figure7‐OverviewSOLAPLayers2.0Extended

The new architecture of SOLAPLayers uses the advantages of objectorientedprogramming.Thedifferentstepsoftheworkflowweresplittedintoflexibleparts.ThisenhancestheextendabilityofSOLAPLayers.Inuseofconfigurationsandparameterstheprozess can be customized easely without touching the core source code. The newarchitecturebringsthefollowingadvantages:

• Thesourcecodeislogicallystructuredindifferentclassesandpackages.Thismakesthesourceclearandunderstandableingeneral.

• Specificdatasourcescanbeconfiguredusinganxml‐file.Nofurtherchangesinthesourcecodearenecessary.

• Newconnectiondrivers(e.g.flatfiles,webservices,etc.)canbeaddedeasily.Interfacesandabstractclasseshelptodevelopandintegratethenewconnectiontype.Nochangesatthecorearenecessary.Definingthepathtothenewdriverinthedatasourceconfigisallwhathastobedone.SOLAPLayersusesreflectiontoloadandconstructthedrivers.

• Scaffoldingsfornewoutputformatsexist.Afterimplementingannewoutputbuilderjustverylittlechangesonthecoresourcecodehastobedone.Infutureversionsthisshouldnotbenecessaryatall(seechapter“Futureimprovements”).

• SOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedprovidesaccesspointsforwebapplicationsaswellasforsystemstheyusingSOLAPLayersasalibrary.



Figure8‐OverviewvisionSOLAPLayers2.0Extended



Activitydiagram

Figure9‐Activitydiagram

The activity diagram shows the workflow of SOLAPLayers. The following steps wereperformed:

1. TheSeverretrievesthequeryandparameters.Thesourceofthisinformationcanbeaninputofanuserorthedataofasystem,whichusesSOLAPlayersasapartoftheapplication.Inthesamestep,SOLAPLayersreadsthedatasourceconfiguration,whichspecifiytheconnectionforthedatasource(e.g.db‐url,password,user,etc.).Withthequery,theadditionalparamtersandtheopenconnectionthedatafromthedatasourcecanbereceived.

2. Acomondataformatisusefulltobuildoutputsforeachdatasource.Thatiswhythereceiveddatastructuregetstransformedintoacomonformat.ThiscomonformatismainlyaOLAP‐cube‐representationplussomeadditionalyinformation(e.g.theexecutedquery).

3. Thecomondatastructureallowstocreatedifferentoutputformatsforeverykindofdatasource.Theoutputisnotyetsendedtotheclient,thismakesitpossibletoreuseanoutputbuilderforanotheroutputbuilder.Inthiswayreallycomplexoutputbuilderscanbedeveloped.

4. Inthelaststep,theoutputissendedbacktotheclientorthecallingapplication.Dependingonthecallingsystem,someinformationhavetobeadded(e.g.HTTP‐headerinformations).

AlltheactivitysfromaboveareflexiblepartsofSOLAPLayers.Fornewdatasourcesoroutputformatsthisactionshavetobeimplementedandcontributedtotheframework.



Packagediagram/layeroverview

Figure10‐Packagediagram

• Theservletpackagecontainsalltheclasses,whicharecalledbythedashboardorthethird‐partysoftware.

• Theconnectionpackagecontainsallcomponents,whichareresponsibletocreateanduseaconnectiontodifferentdatasources.Thedriverpackage,whichisapartoftheconnectionpackage,containsspecificdriversfordifferentdatasources,whicharestructuredindifferentclasses.Thishelpstoholdtheoverviewoverthedifferentdrivers.

• Thedatapackagecontainsclasses,whichworkasdatatransportobjects.Usuallytheseclassesareplaindataclasseswithoutalotoflogic.Theyworkasdatainterfacebetweenthedatasourceandtheoutputbuilder.

• Theoutputpackagecontainsutilityclasses.Theyconstructtheoutputbuilderandhelptocreateoutputs.Concreteoutputbuildersforaspecificformatarelocatedinthebuilderpackageinsideoftheoutputpackage

• TheexceptionpackageholdssomeSOLAPLayersspecificexceptions.Itisusedbyallofthepackages.Theseexceptionsallowamorespecificexceptionhandling.



Classdiagram

Figure11‐Classdiagram

TheclassdiagramshowsthemostimportantclassesintheSOLAPLayers‐project.Someclassesarenotdisplayedforbetterunderstandingandoverview.Formoreinformationhavealookatthejavadoc.The light blue colored classes are components of the framework. They regulate theworkflow and call the defined hook classes. The dark blue classes are flexiblecomponents,whichareattached to thehooksof the framework.Theredclassesshownot yet developed classes, they are just displayed to show the possibilities ofSOLAPLayers.

SOLAPLayersProcessorThemain class of SOLAPLayers. The SOLAPLayersProcessor starts the data retrievingandexecutesthedatatransformations.

SOLAPLayersServletSOLAPLayersServlet is the entry point, if SOLAPLayers is used as a webapplication.SOLAPLayersreadstheparametersoutoftheHTTP‐requestandforwardsthemtotheSOLAPLayersProcessor.

ConnectionA Connection gives access to a concrete data source. A ConnectionConfiguration isnecessary for theconstruction.At themoment, twodifferentconcretconnection‐typesare implemented (SOLAPConnection and DBConnection). More Connections will bedevelopedforafurtherversionofSOLAPLayers.



ConnectionConfigurationTheConnectionConfigurationcanbeseenasatextualdescriptionofaConnection.TheConnectionConfiguration provides access to the source parameters defined in thesources.xml.AConnectionConfigurationisnecessarytocreateaConnection.

OutputBuilderThisinterfacecontainsthemainoperationforeveryOutputBuilder.Itallowstobuildaoutputoutofrawdataandprovidesaccesstotheresultingouput.

HttpOutputBuilderThisOutputBuilder‐interfaceaddsamethodtosendaHTTP‐responsebacktotheclient.At themoment all of the concrete OutputBuilders implement this interface. Concreteimplementations are OLAPJsonOutputBuilder, SOLAPJsonOutputBuilder,GEOJsonOutputBuilderandtheCellSetToOLAPJsonOutputBuilder.

TechnologiesThe technologies were already given, since this project was an enhancement of anexisting software. This chapter illuminate the libraries and technologies, which wereusedadditionallytotheJavacorelibraries.ThewholeprojectisdevelopedonJavaSE6.

JSON(JavaScriptObjectNotation)The client‐server communication uses the HTTP‐protocol. The server response isformatted as JSON. JSON is a really compact data transport format with a smalloverhead.SinceJSONisaJavaScript‐technologytheinterpretationontheclientsidecanbedoneverysmooth.BecauseofthelargeamountofdataisJSONfarmorecapableforSOLAPLayersthenothertechnologieslikeXML.Furtherinformation:http://www.json.org/

GeoJSONGeoJSONisastandardizedJSON‐formatwiththepurposetotransportgeo‐spatialdata.SOLAPLayerssupportsthegenerationofGeoJSON.Furtherinformation:http://geojson.org/

MapfishMapfish is aopen‐source framework tobuild rich‐mappingapplications. SOLAPLayersuses just a part ofMapfish.Mapfishs allows to createGeoJSON representations out ofJava objects in an easy way. SOLAPLayers uses this library to create the GeoJSONoutputs.Furtherinformation:http://mapfish.org/

Log4JThepopularLog4Jisusedforloggingpurposes.Furtherinformation:http://logging.apache.org/log4j/

MondrianMondrianisanOLAP‐server,whichallowstoanalyselargequantitiesofdatainrealtime.SOLAPLayersusesMondriantodefinetheXML‐SchematomaptherelationaldataintoaOLAP‐cuberepresentation.Furtherinformation:http://mondrian.pentaho.com/



OLAP4JWhat JDBC is forrelationaldatabases isOLAP4J formultidimensional‐queries.OLAP4JsupporttocreateMDX‐queriesandretrievetheresultingdataasOLAP‐Cube.Furtherinformation:http://www.olap4j.org/

POSTGisPOSTGis isaPostegreSQL‐extension,whichallows to storegeo‐spatialdataefficiently.ThePOSTGisdriverisusedtoquerythedatabaseoutoftheJavaapplication.Furtherinformation:http://postgis.refractions.net/

PostgreSQLAllthetestdataisstoredinPostgreSQL‐databases.IngeneraleverydatabasewithJDBCsupportcanbeused,aslongitisabletostoregeo‐spatialdata.Furtherinformation:www.postgresql.org

JTSTopologySuiteTheopen‐sourceJTS‐libraryisusedforrepresentationofgeo‐spatialinformationasJavaobjects.Theresultsfromthedatabasecanbeparseddirectlyintogeometric‐objectsandcanbeusedforfurtherpurposes.Furtherinformation:http://www.vividsolutions.com/products.asp?catg=spaapp&code=jts

OthertechnologiesAll other librarieswhich can be found in the project directory are used by the abovemetionedtechnologies(dependencies)andwillnotbedescripedinthisdocumentation.

ClientapplicationAsmentionedintheguidelineschapter,theclient‐sideofSOLAPLayerswasnotapartofthis project. The client‐side will be described shortly for a better understanding ofSOLAPLayers.SOLAPLayersclientsideisaHTML5.0,JavaScriptandCSSbasedapplication.Itdisplaysmapsandotherdashboardelements,liketables,inthebrowser.Forthepresentationofthe map and the dashboard elements the EXT(http://www.sencha.com/products/extjs/) and GeoEXT (http://www.geoext.org/)librarywere used. The use of this library allows to create easyely really flexible andcomplex dashboards. The transformation of received OLAPJson‐data is done bySOLAPLayers,respectivelyisnotapartoftheusedlibraries.SOLAPLayers 1.0 used Dojo (www.dojotoolkit.org/) as JavaScript‐framework. In thenewSOLAPLayers2.0version,Dojoisnotapartoftheapplicationanymore.



6.3.4 Implementation

Systemtest

GoalThis test plan assures the correct behaviour of the SOLAPLayer 2.0 Extended serverpart.Ademodashboardisusedforthetest,tosendandreceiveinformation.Theobjectof test is the creation of output‐formats using a mdx‐ or sql‐query and specificparameters.ThistestdoesnotverifytheclientpartofSOLAPLayers,sincetherewasnoworkdoneduringthedevelopmentperiodofthebachelorproject.

RequirementsandtestdataThe test data can be found in the Eclipse project in the directory“SpatialyticsMapReportingTool/testqueries/”. The files containing the queries and thequeriesthemselvesarenumbered.Informationabouttheusedparametersperqueryisavailableaswellinthequery‐files.The “Query and parameters”‐column gives information about the used query andparameters. Technical information about the data sources can be found in the file“SpatialyticsMapReportingTool/webapp/WEB‐INF/sources.xml”. Preconditions are notavailable, since the application is stateless and every test conatins the whole A‐to‐Bscenario.

ExpectationsTheresultofeveryqueryisthepresentationonthedashboard(includesamap,atableandachart).Foronegivenmeasureandnodimensions,thepolygonsonthemapwillbeindifferentcolors,whichhighlight theproportionalrelationsof themeasures. Ifmorethanonemeasureoratleastonedimensionexists,thepolygonswillappearinthesamecolor,butincludingabar‐chart,whichshowsthedifferentmeasures.Thisfactswillnotbementionedasexpectationsineverytestcase.



TestplanThistestplanwasaccomplishedon28Marchand1May2011.ThesoftwarewastestedonaLinuxUbuntu20.10onthebrowserGoogleChrome11.

MDX‐queriesFor all the following tests just the parameters “Output Format”, “Source Id” and “Query” have to be set, since the other information isincludedintheMDX‐query.Forallteststhefollowingparametersarepredefined:

• OutputFormat: olapjson Mentionedifohtersource• SourceId: 1

Thequeriesaredefinedinthefile“1‐mdx‐requests.txt”.Number Testcase Queryandparameters Result1.1 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1A Pass1.2 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1B Pass1.3 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1C Pass1.4 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1D Pass1.5 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1E Pass1.6 MDX‐Query(seequery) Query:1F Pass1.7 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1A Pass1.8 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1B Pass1.9 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1C Pass1.10 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1D Pass1.11 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1E Pass1.12 MDX‐Query(seequery).Usingdeprecatedoutput‐builder. Query:1F Pass



SQL‐queriesIf a parameter is not listed in the “Query and parameters”‐column, it has the default value or stays empty. For all tests the followingparametersarepredefined:

• OutputFormat: olapjson Theonlyformatwhichcanbedisplayeddynamicallyonthemap• SourceId: 3 Mentionedifohtersource• GeometryData: the_geom Mentionedifothervalue• GeometryPointRepresentation: the_geom_point Mentionedifothervalue

Thequeriesaredefinedinthefile“3‐sql‐request‐db_test2.txt”.Number Testcase Queryandparameters AdditionalExpectations Result2.1 Simplequerywithonemeasureand

nodimensions.SpatialDimension:supnameMeasures:nopersonsQuery:3A

Pass

2.2 Simplequerywithtwomeasuresandnodimensions.

SpatialDimension:zip_codeMeasures:nopersons,totalsavingsQuery:3B

Pass

2.3 Simplequerywithonemeasureandonedimension.

SpatialDimension:supnameDimensions:sexeMeasures:nopersonsQuery:3C

Pass

2.4 Querywithtwomeasuresandonedimension.

SpatialDimension:supnameDimensions:sexeMeasures:nopersons,totalsavingsQuery:3D

Pass

2.5 Querywithtwomeasuresandtwodimensions

SpatialDimension:zip_codeDimensions:sexe,civilstatusMeasures:nopersons,totalsavingsQuery:3E

Pass



2.6 Querywiththreemeasuresandthreedimensions

SpatialDimension:supnameDimensions:sexe,civilstatus,agegroupMeasures:nopersons,totalsavings,avgsavingsQuery:3F

Pass

2.7 Querywithonemeasureandtwopotentialspatialdimensions(oneofthemwillworkasanormaldimension).

SpatialDimension:supnameGeometryData:the_district_geomGeometryPointRepresentation:the_district_geom_pointDimensions:zip_codeMeasures:noperonsQuery:3G

“the_district_geom”willbedisplayedonthemapandthe“supname”astherowvalue.“zip_code”willbedisplayedlikeasimpledimension.

Pass

2.8 Querywithonemeasureandtwopotentialspatialdimensions(oneofthemwillworkasanormaldimension).

SpatialDimension:zip_codeGeometryData:the_zip_code_geomGeometryPointRepresentation:the_zip_code_geom_pointDimensions:supnameMeasures:nopersonsQuery:3G

“the_zip_code_geom”willbedisplayedonthemapandthe“zip_code”astherowvalue.“supname”willbedisplayedlikeasimpledimension.

Pass

2.9 Simplequerywithonemeasureandnodimensions.

SourceId:2SpatialDimension:supnameMeasures:noincidentsQuery:2A

Worksfineforanothersourceaswell.

Pass

2.10 Simplequerywithonemeasureandonedimension.

SourceId:2SpatialDimension:supnameDimensions:dayofweekMeasures:noincidentsQuery:2C

Worksfineforanothersourceaswell.

Pass



CodequalityThe project was reviewed automatically by the Eclipse plugins Metrics(http://metrics.sourceforge.net/)andPMD(http://pmd.sourceforge.net/).

Codeanddependenciesanalysis

Figure12‐MetricsreportofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended

The red highlighted problems occur because of the deprecated classesCellSetToOLAPJsonBuilderandGeoBIFeature.TheclassCellSetToOLAPJsonBuilderisaclassfromSOLAPLayers1.0andremainsintheprojectjustfortestinganddevelopingreasons.AllthefunctionalityisgivenbythenewclassOLAPJson.NorefactoringfortheclassCellSetToOLAPJsonBuilderwasdone,thatiswhytheMcCabeCyclomaticComplexityistohigh.TheclassGeoBIFeatureisdeprecatedandwillberemovedinafurtherversion.Alltheinformationwhich this data class contains, is providedby the class CubeDTO aswell.Thisrefactoringismentionedinthechapter„FutherImprovements“.



6.3.5 FutureimprovementsSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedisnotafinalversion.Duringthedevelopmentprocesssomeideas ,to improve theapplication, cameup.Chores canbedonewithout analyzing thesolutiondeeply.Theextensionideashavetobeanalyzedbeforetheimplementation.

Chores• Addloggingtotheworkflow,toallowtomonitortheworkflowandsimplifythe

debugging.• Differentiatethevaluesnullandzerowhenretrievingdatafromadatasource

andcreatingtheoutput.Itisimportanttoknowifthevaluedoesnotexistsorifthevalueisequalszero.ThishastobemadeintheOLAPJson‐specification.

• Accomplishtheexceptionhandlingbypassingtheexception,respectivelyarelatedmessage,totheclient.AddasendException()‐methodtotheabstract„OutputBuilder“‐class.Thismethodwillbecalledwhenanexceptionarisesduringtheprocess.Soeach„OutputBuilder“cansendanappropriateexception.

• Addingallexceptiontextsintoaresource‐file.Thisallowsbetteradministrationofthetextsandmakesiseasytodisplayexception‐messagesindifferentlanguages.

Extensions

ExtendthedataabstractionTherearetwomainrequirementstothedataabstraction:

1. Theexchange‐format„RawData“doescontainredundancy.Alltheinformationtheoutputbuildersneed,arecontainedintheCubeDTO(arepresentationofanOLAP‐cube).Thelistof„MfFeature“isunessential.Ontheonehand,TheFeature‐listsimplyfiesthecreation‐processoftheoutputbuilder,ontheotherhandisitunnecessaryfortheconnectiontobuildthislist.Thislisthastoberemovedforacleanimplementation.

2. TheCubeDTOisnotcomplete.Itcontainsalltheessentialdatareadbytheconnection.ThemetadataandfilterAxisarenotyetapartoftheCubeDTOandshouldbeaddinanotheriteration(attention:Thesechangesaffectthe“OutputBuilder”‐and“Connection”‐classes.Theaffectedclasseshavetobeextendedaswell).

AddfeaturestoaddanOutputBuilderwithoutmodifyingcoreAt themoment every newOutputBuilder has to be registered bymodifying the core‐source code. This is a very poor implentation. This circumstances canbe removedbyaddingaconfiguration‐fileorusingreflection.

AddConnectionmanagerSOLAPLayersisstatelessatthemoment.Aspecificconnectionisopenedandclosedforeachrequest.Thisneedsalotofressources.Aconnectionmanager,whichoverviewstheused connection, could remove this circumstances and cache open connections forfurtherusebeforeclosingthem.

AddCacheforgeospatial‐dataReading geospatial‐data and relations to geospatial‐data need a lot of CPU power,respectively time. Different requests refer often to the same geometries. It would beuseful tocachethisdataontheserver‐orclient‐side insteadofrecalculating themforeachrequest.



DefineXML‐schemaforsources.xmlForbettervalidationandlessexceptionsitisrecommendedtocreateaXML‐schemaforthe sources.xml. It allows to recognize problems in advanced, before running theprogramm.

Addquery‐builderThere are different guidelines for a SOLAPLayers SQL‐query and the additionalparameters (See “Using SQL‐Queries” and “Analysis ‐ Result set to OLAP‐cubetransformation”).Aquery‐builder could simplify the constructionof a valid sql‐query.With an intelligentquery‐builder it is possible to validate thequery in relation to theparametersandprovidelistboxestosetthequery‐parameters.

StandardizeOLAPJsonOLAPJson is an undocumented data format, which contains an OLAP‐cuberepresentation. For better understanding and collaboration with other application, itwouldbeusefultodocumentanddescribetheOLAPJsonformat.InafurtherstepaXMLschemacouldbedefined.

6.3.6 DevelopersguideSOLAPLayers is a framework which can be used by developers. It is not yet enoughunderstandableandmaturetoprovide it topeoplewithnotechnicalbackground. It isrecommended to read this instructions for using the SOLAPLayers‐Frameworksuccessful.The instructionshelp tobuildnewconnection‐andoutput‐typesand teachhowtoworkwiththeSOLAPLayersserverpart.

InstallationThe installationwas tested on a LinuxUbuntu20.10 system.The computer has to beconnectedtotheInternettoruntheapplicationwiththetestdatabases.

ToolsFortosetupandrunSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedsomesoftwarehastobeinstalledontheworkingmachine.Installationanduserguidesfortheseapplicationscanbefoundontheirwebsites:

• EclipseHelios.ForfurtherusewiththeBIRT‐Pluginthe“EclipseIDEforJavaandReportDevelopers”isrecommended(http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse‐ide‐java‐and‐report‐developers/heliossr2).

• Tomcat6.Theprogramistestedontheversion6,newertomcatversionsshouldworkaswell(http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat‐6.0‐doc/index.html).

• Additionally:Subclipse(http://subclipse.tigris.org/)orotherSVN‐PluginforEclipse.IfthesourcecodewillbeimportedusingSVNanappropriateEclipse‐pluginisuseful.

Stepbystepmanual• StartEclipseandcreateoropenaworkspace• Getthesourcecode

o ImportSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedprojectcodeusingtheimport‐functionalityofEclipse“ExistingProjectsintoWorkspace”.Thezip‐fileislocatedontheprojectCD(“SOLAPLayers2.0Extended/solaplayers_2.0_extended.zip”).

• TorunSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedproperly,someadjustmentshavetobedone:



o Openthefile“build.properties”andcustomizethe“tomcat_webapps_path”.Thepathhastopointonthewebapps‐directoryofyourtomcatinstallation.

o Adjustthepathtothesources.xml‐fileinthefile“/webapp/WEB‐INF/web.xml”.Pointonthesources.xml‐file,whichislocatedintheworkspace“webapp/WEB‐INF/sources.xml”orcreateyourownsources.xmlatanydirectory(useanabsolutepath).

o Notice:Checkthesources‐configurationinthesources.xmlfile.ForusingthesampleOLAP‐source,the“catalog”‐parameteroftheconnectionstring‐elementhastobecustomized,sothatitpointsonthe“SOLAPLayers‐2.0/WEB‐INF/schemas/Canpop.xml“‐fileonthetomcat‐server.

o Copythepostgresql.jarintothe“lib”‐directoryofthetomcatinstallation.ThelibrarycanbefoundontheprojectCDwidespread(“SOLAPLayers2.0Extended/Utils/postgresql.jar”).

• Itisrecommendedtostoptomcatbeforedeployingtheapplication.• Tobuildtheprojectdraganddropthebuild.xml‐fileintothe“Ant”‐viewand

doubleclickon“deploy‐war”.Executefirst“clean”,ifSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedisalreadyinstalledontheserver.

• Starttomcat• AccessSOLAPLayersusingabrowser:http://localhost:8080/SOLAPLayers‐2.0/

(notallbrowsersdisplaySOLAPLayers2.0Extendedproperly.SOLAPLayersrunsrightonUbuntuusingGoogleChrome).

• LoginintoSOLAPLayers(Username:demo,password:Spatialytics)• Clickon“TestyourMDXqueriesandobservetheJSONoutputfromtheserver.”• SendacorrectSQLandMDX‐querytochecktheSOLAPLayersinstallation.

o Notice:Ifyouusethesamplequerieslocatedinthe“testqueries”‐directorycheckforwrongdisplayedspecialcharacters.Itcanhappenthattheoperatingsystemdisplaysthemwrong.

AddanewconnectiontypeEverythingthatprovidesdata,whichcanbetransformedinanOLAPCube,isapotentialdatasource.Beforestartingwithdevelopingitisusefultoanalyzethetransforming.As soon the idea is ready, a new class, which has to implement the “Connection”‐interface,canbecreated.Threepublicmethodshavetobecoded,toprovideaworkingconnection‐implementation:

Connect()‐CreatingaconnectiontothedatasourceDependingonthekindofdatasourceaconnectionmaybeinitializedbeforeitispossibletoreaddata.Ifnoconnectionisrequired,thismethodhastobeimplementedempty,orcanbeusedtoreaddataoutoftheconfiguration.

Execute(Parametersparameters)‐RetrievingandtransformingdataThis is the most important and complex part of the connection implementation.Depending on the complexity of this procedure, it is recommended to use additionalclasses tomakethesourcecodemoreunderstandable(E.g.Parser‐orquery‐wrapper‐class).The first thing is to use the already established connection to retrieve the data. Thequeryor/andtheparameterswhichleadtothedataarecontainedintherequest‐object,whichispassedtothismethod.



Afterreadingthedata,theinformationhastobeparsedintoa“RawData”‐object.Atthemomenta“RawData”‐objectcontainsa“CubeDTO”,whichrepresentsanOLAP‐cubeandaListof“MfFeatures”,whichrepresentsthegeospatial‐datainasimpleway.ThecontentofRawDatamaychangewitheveryversionofSOLAPLayers.

Close()–CleanupandcloseconnectionThe last step of integrating a new connection type is to clean up and close theconnection. As mentioned above does not every connection type need a permanentconnection,sinceitispossibletoaccessthedatadirectly.In thenormal case, the connection to thedata sourcehas tobe closed in thismethod(E.g.database).

AddanewoutputformatIncomprehensiontotheconnectiontypethedeveloperhastodosomechangesinthecoreapplication(thismaybe improvedbyanextversion,see“AddfeaturestoaddanOutputBuilder withoutmodifying core“). The following steps show how to develop anewoutputformat.After creating a new class, which extends the abstract class “OutputBuilder” thedeveloperhastoimplementthreemethods:

Build(RawDatadata)–BuildtheoutputThismethodreceivesthetransformeddatafromaconnectionandhastoretransformitinto a specific output format. Themethod does not return the converted data to thecalleranddoesnotyetsendanyresponsetotheclient,soitcanalsobeusedbyotheroutputbuilders(e.g.Chartoutputbuilderdeliverscharttoapdfoutputbuilder).

getOutput()–AccessthegeneratedoutputThis method allows accessing the generated output. The method returns an object,whichcanbeparsedintheexceptedtype.

sendHttpResponse(HttpServletResponseresponse)–SendtheresponsetotheclientThismethodsets theHeaderof thehttp‐responseandmaydosome lastmodification,whicharespecificforthereceiver.Finally,itsendsthehttp‐response.Thisistheendoftheworkflow.



RegisternewoutputformatThe framework chooses the output‐format by a parameter of the HTTP‐request. Theconstructionofalloutput‐buildersisdoneinthe„OutputBuilderFactory“‐class.EditthegetInstance(String outputFormat)‐method to provide the new output‐format to theframework.

Figure13‐OuputBuilderFactoryclass,whichwillbereplacedinafutureversion

AddanewdatasourceBeforeaddinganewdatasource twothingshave tobeensured.Firstly,adatasourcehave to exist and the connection information has to be available. Secondly, anappropriateconnectiontypehastobeavailable.Now the developer can simply add a new source at the end of the sources‐files (orbetweentwosources).Everynewsourceneedsaidandhastoencloseaclass‐tag,whichcontainsthefullpackagepathtotheconnection,respectivelythedriver,class.Allotherrequiredparametersdependonthedriver.



Figure14‐Sampleofsources.xmlwithdifferentdatasources

DBConnectionThe following parameters have to be set additionaly for a connection using the„DBConnection“‐driver:connectionstring Pathtothejdbc‐ressourceuser Nameofthedatabaseuserpasswort Passwortofthedatabaseuserdriver Driver package depending on the type of database (Example:

Postgres,Oracle,DB2,MySql,etc.)

SOLAPConnection“The following parameters have to be set additionaly for a connection using the„SOLAPConnection“‐driver:connectionstring PathtotheOLAP‐ressourceincludingnameandpasswordofDB‐

userdriver Driver package depending on the type of database (Example:

Postgres,Oracle,DB2,MySql,etc.)

UsingMDX‐queriesDriver:org.spatialytics.solaplayers.connection.driver.solap.SOLAPConnectionUsingMDX‐Queries is the simplest way to display BI‐ and geospatial data. Just threeparametershavetobesendtotheserver,allotherparameterswillbeignored:

• OutputFormat:FordisplayingthedataonaSOLAPLayers‐dashboardenter“olapjson”asoutputformat.Youcanuseanyotherexistingoutputformat,ifyounotwanttodisplaythedataonaSOLAPLayersdashboard.Analternativeto“olapjson”isthe“oldolapjson”‐output‐format.Itcreatestheexactsameoutputas“olapjson”,butusesadifferentwayofdatatransformationontheserverside,whichisdeprecated.Thispossibilityshouldbeusedjustfortestinganddevelopingissues.

• SourceId:Entertheidofanexistingsource.ThesourceidhastorefertoavalidSOLAPConnection‐source.Thelocationofthesourcefileisdefinedinthe“WEB‐INF/web.xml”‐filelocatedintheprojectdirectory.Fordefininganewsource,readchapter“Addanewdatasource”.



• Query:Enteramdx‐queryforretrievingdatafromthechoosendatasource.Atthemomenttheonlylimitationisthatthegeographicdatahastobeselectedonrowsasasinglefield.

Example

Figure16‐ResultofsampleMDXquerydisplayedascrosstable

UsingSQL‐queriesDriver:org.spatialytics.solaplayers.connection.driver.db.DBConnectionAclassicSQL‐querycontainsnotasmuch informationasamdx‐query.SinceweuseaOLAPJson‐formatasthedatatransferformatbetweentheserver‐andtheclientside,wehavetoprovidesomeadditionalinformationtoconverttheresultsetofaSQL‐queryto

Figure15‐SampleMDXqueryforSOLAPLayers



an OLAPCube.We have to define the request in two steps for creating a sql‐request:Creatingaqueryanddefiningtheparameters.

HowtobuildavalidqueryTheusedsql‐querycanbeascomplexaswished(usingjoins,where‐conditions,unions,etc.).Theonlyconditionis,thatthefollowingconsiderationshavetobedone:

1. Whichgeographicinformationshouldberepresentedonthemap?Selectalabel(SpatialDimension),apolygon‐geometry(GeometryData)andapointrepresentationofthegeometry(GeometryPointRepresentation).GroupthequerybySpatialDimensionandbyeachindependentGeometry.Example:Countryname,geometryandpointrepresentationgeometryofcountry

2. Whichvalues(Measures)shouldbedisplayedinthecrosstable?Atleastonemeasurehastobelistedintheselectpart.Themeasurecolumnhastocontainnumericvalues.Useacorrespondingaggregationfunctiontogroupthemeasures.Example:GDP,Population,Averagesalary,etc.

3. Fromwhichperspectiveyouwanttolookatthemeasures(Dimension)?Everymeasurehastobelistedintheselectandthegroupby‐clause.Example:Sex,age,nationality,profession,etc.

4. Doyouwanttoreadallthedata?Usewhere‐conditionstorestraintheretrievingdata.Usuallythewhereclauseisusedondimensions,butitispossibletousethemaswellonmeasuresandthegeometry‐data,ifitisuseful.Example:Receivejustinformationaboutfemales,adults,Canadians,teachers,etc.

RequirementsoftheadditionalparametersThe following list shows the required and optional parameters, which are necessarybesidethequery.Thecarelessuseoftheparameterscanproducewrongreproductionoftheinformation:

• OutputFormat:FordisplayingthedataonaSOLAPLayers‐dashboardenter“olapjson”asoutputformat.Youcanuseanyotherexistingoutputformat,ifyoudonotwanttodisplaythedataonaSOLAPLayersdashboard.Donotusethe“oldolapjson”‐format.ThisisadeprecatedformatwhichcanonlybeusedtogetherwithaSOLAPdatasource.Possibledataformatsinthecurrentversionare“geojson”,“olapjson”,“oldolapjson”and“solapjson”.

• SourceId:Entertheidofanexistingsource.ThesourceidhastorefertoavalidDB‐source.Thelocationofthesourcefileisdefinedinthe“WEB‐INF/web.xml”‐filelocatedintheprojectdirectory.Fordefininganewsource,readchapter“Addanewdatasource”.

• SpatialDimension:Thisrequiredparameterhastomatchasingleselectedcolumninthesql‐query.Thereshouldbealogicalrelationbetweenthe“SpatialDimension”andthe“GeometryData”,sincethe“SpatialDimension”isnothingelsethananaliasforthegeometry.

• GeometryData:Thisrequiredparameterhastomatchasingleselectedcolumninthesql‐query.Itrepresentsapolygonoramulti‐polygononthemap.TheSRIDofthecolumnhastobe4326,sincetheSOLAPLayerclientpartdoesnotsupportanyotherSRIDatthemoment(PostgreSQL/PostGIS:theST_Transform(geometry,srid)‐methodcanprovidetransformationsfromothergeo‐datarepresentations).

• GeometryPointRepresentation:Thisisapointrepresentationofthe“GeometryData”,whichisusedtopositiondiagramsonthemap.Itisrequired



andthenamehastomatchacolumnofthesql‐query.Thesameconventionsasforthe“GeometryData”arenecessary(PostgreSQL/PostGIS:theST_PointOnSurface(geometry)‐methodcanbuildapointrepresentationoutofthe“GeometryData”,ifthedatabasetabledoesnotprovideapointrepresentation‐column).

• Dimensions:Thisparameterisrequiredifthereisadimension(besidethespatialdimension)inthesql‐query.Theparameterhastomatchthedimension/sinthesql‐query.Eachdimensionshastobelisted(separatedbycomma).Theorderofthedimensionsaffectsthepresentation.Thefirstdimensionnameisonthetopofthetableheadings.Donotsendanyparameters,ifnodimensionisprovidedbythesql‐query.

Figure17‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwithdimensionscivilstatusandsex

Figure18‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwithdimensionssexandcivilstatus

• Measures:Atleastonemeasurehastobeset.Ifthesql‐queryprovidesmorethanonemeasure,onecanbechosenortheycanbelist(separatedbyacomma).Thefirstmentionednamewillappearasthefirstcolumninthetablerepresentation.

Figure19‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwiththemeasuresnumberofpersons,totalsavings



Figure20‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwiththemeasurestotalsavings,numberofpersons

Example

Figure21‐SampleSQLqueryforSOLAPLayers

Figure22‐ResultofsampleSQLdisplayedastable



CreatingadashboardAnexamplehowtocreateadashboardcanbefindinthepresentation“Dashboardandreporting tools: IntegrationofBI tools in thegeospatialdomain“byThierryBadardofSpatialytics.Thementionednotescanbefoundintheappendix.

Figure23‐SOLAPLayerssampledashboard



7 Geoextensions2Birt

7.1 Overview

Thispart of thedocumentationexplains the integrationof SOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedintoaBIRT‐plugin.ThepluginhasthenameGeoextensions2Birt.Pleasehavea lookatthedocumentationaboveforSOLAPLayersrelatedcontent.Besidethetechnicalcontent,auser‐anddeveloper‐guidecanbefoundattheendofthischapter.

7.1.1 Technicalreport

IntroductionOne of the main goal of Spatialytics is to integrate their products into well‐knownproducts.OneofacoupleofwidespreadreportingtoolsisBIRT.BIRTisaproductoftheAmerican company Actuate and a part of the Eclipse Foundation. For further steps aprototypeofamapreportitemforBIRThastobedeveloped.Decisionsandresultsaredocumentedinthefollowingchapters.

StateoftheArtBIRTitselfdoesnotcontainanymappingfeatures.TheonlysolutiontodisplaymapsinaBIRTreportistouseoneofthemap‐libraries,whichActuateprovides.

MapIt(GoogleMaps)andFlashMapsShowcaseMapItandFlashMapsShowcasearenotarealBIRTplugins.ThebothextensionsareBIRTreport‐libraries.Thelibrarycontainsacoupleofpredefinedtext‐items,whichcanbedragged into a report. The items contain JavaScript‐code,whichdisplays aGoogleMaportheFlashrepresentation.Thedifferentcode‐samplesallowcustomizingthemapandbindingdata.AGoogleMapAPI‐keyisnecessaryforMapIt.

Advantages• itisreallyflexibleandeasytocustomizeMapItandFlashMapsShowcase,since

theycontainjustpre‐scriptedJavaScript‐andsomeFlash‐files,.

Disadvantages• Cannotbeinstalledthateasyasaplugin• Doesnotallowtoconfigurethemapusingextendededitorfunctionality• Displayedasabigconstructoftableandtextfieldsinthereportdesigner.The

reportdesignerdoesnotrepresentthemapinanyway.• Hardtohandlefornon‐developers

ConclusionItiseasywaytoworkwithamapinBirttouseoneoftheseextensions.Theusabilityisverybadandthemap ishardtocustomize fornon‐developers.All inall thesepluginsaremoreaworkaroundtodisplaymaps,thanarealextensionforBIRT.

7.1.2 Projectdocumentation

RequirementsspecificationTherequirementspecificationisdonebySpatialyticsinanagileway.TheSCRUM‐Taskboardcanbefoundintheappendix(see“APPENDIXE–projectmanagement”).



AnalysisThere are different possible solutions to receive the data from a data source. Thesedifferent solutions were analysed and rated to find the best possible one for thisparticularplugin.Thedecisionrelayedondifferentaspects:

• UsabilityThegoalistomakeiteasyfortheusertodefineanewdatasource.Lessuserdefinedinformationaspossibleshouldberequired.Weight:1*:Sincethisversionofthepluginisaprototypeandwillbeusedfordemonstrationpurpose,featureswillbemoreimportantthanagoodusability.

• NumberofconnectionsReportingandperformancehaveastrongrelation.Forabigamountofdata,thereport‐generationcanusehourstofinish.Thatiswhyaslesspossibleconnectionsaspossibleshouldbecreatedtoreceivethedata.Inthebestcaseoneconnectionperdatasourceisnecessary.Weight:2*:Multipleconnectionshaveaninfluenceontheusability,theperformanceandthecomplexity.

• DatatransformationForperformancereasonsthereceiveddatashouldbedisplayedwithouttotransformthedataintoanotherrepresentation.ThiscancostalotofCPUandtime,ifthedataamountislargeWeight:1*:Datatransformationscostperformance,butarenecessaryforalmosteverydatasource,tofitthecommondatainterface(ODA).

• ReusabilityBIRTisjustoneplatformSpatialyticsdealswith.Inthefuturepluginsforotherproductsshouldbedeployedaswell.Asmuchaspossibleoftheimplementedcodeshouldbereusableforfurtherprojects.Weight:3*:Spatialyticswillprovidethiskindofpluginsforfurtherreportingtools.Itsavesalotoftimeandeffort,iftheworkcanbereusedforotherprojects.

• EffortandtimeTimeismoney.Forthisreasonsthepluginshouldbeimplementedinatimesavingway.Weight:2*:Thegoalistocreateaprototypeasfastaspossible,thatiswhy“effortandtime”isanimportantaspect.

• ExtensibilityThegoalistocreateaplugin,whichcanbeextendedtofitallpossibleupcomingrequirements.Ifitisnotpossibletoextendtheplugin,alotofadditionalworkhastobedone.Weight:3*:Aprototypeisademo‐object.Inthefuturealotofrequirementswillcomeup.Itshouldbepossibletoimplementthenewfeaturesintotheprototype.

Some of the following solution ideas use SOLAPLayers as a component of the BIRTplugin. SOLAPLayers provides the possibility to query different data sources and anhtml‐basedinteractivemapcomponent.Twoimportantguidelineshavetobeconsidered:

• Alltheguidelines,whichweregivenforSOLAPLayers2.0Extended,arevalidfortheBIRT‐pluginaswell.Havealookatthe“Guidelines”‐chapterinthe“Technicalreport”‐chapteroftheSOLAPLayers2.0Extendeddocumentation.



• TheBIRTdatasourceconnectionsarebasedontheODAinterface.AllthedataBIRTreceivesisinatwo‐dimensionalformat.Three‐ormultidimensionalformatsarenotsupported.

Variant1‐SOLAPLayerswithJSON‐outputandtwoconnections

Figure24–Illustration:SOLAPLayerswithJSON‐outputandtwoconnections

DescriptionTheBIRTpluginworkswithtwodifferentconnections.Thefirstconnectionreadsdatafromthegivensourcetodisplayitinatableoranotherreportitem.Thiscouldbedonein an easywaywith theBIRT core features, no extensionwould be necessary. For todisplaythemapitemasecondconnectionisnecessarytoreceivethemap‐information.

Dis‐/AdvantagesAdvantages Disadvantages+ProfitfromSOLAPLayersfeatures

‐ Twoconnections(anddatasourcedefinitions)necessary

‐ Mapdatasourceisnotcompatiblewithcorereportitems

‐ HackforODAdatasourcenecessary(resultisnotatwo‐dimensionalresultset)

Report Items

Data Sources

Report

Data Source

SOLAP

Layers

Server

BIRT

Map Item



Variant2‐SOLAPLayerswithImage‐outputandtwoconnections

Figure25–Illustration:SOLAPLayerswithImage‐outputandtwoconnections

DescriptionAs invariantone, thedata for thenormaldatasourcecanbereceivedusing theBIRTcore functionality. For todisplay themap, SOLAPLayers to receivedata and create animage‐map(ForavariantwithoutSOLAPLayersseevariant4).

Dis‐/AdvantagesAdvantages Disadvantages+ProfitfromSOLAPLayersfeatures

‐ Twoconnections(anddatasourcedefinitions)necessary

‐ Imageisnotinteractive‐ HackforODAdatasource

necessary(resultisnotatwo‐dimensionalresultset)

Report Items

Data Sources

Report

Data

Source

SOLAP

Layers

Server

BIRT

Map Item



Variant3‐SOLAPLayersandoneconnection

Figure26–Illustration:SOLAPLayersandoneconnection

DescriptionThis solution just creates a connection to SOLAPLayers. No more connections arenecessary. The received data contains the data as two‐dimensional result set and anOLAPJson for to interpret themap representation. To display the received data fromSOLAPLayersthedatahastobetransformedintoatwo‐dimensionaldataset.

Dis‐/AdvantagesAdvantages Disadvantages+ProfitfromSOLAPLayersfeatures+Justoneconnection+Highflexibility

‐ HackforODAdatasourcenecessary(resultisnotatwo‐dimensionalresultset)

Report Items

Data Sources

Report

Data

Source

SOLAP

Layers

Server

BIRT

Map Item



Variant4–OneconnectionwithoutSOLAPLayers

Figure27–OneconnectionwithoutSOLAPLayers

DescriptionThis variant doesnot use SOLAPLayers, instead thedata sources are connectedusingtheBIRTdrivers.Theproblemwillbetostorethedataforthemaprepresentationintoatwo‐dimensionalresultset.Mapscandisplaycomplexrelations,whicharehardtostorein a two‐dimensional data set. The big advantage would be, that the ODA‐definitioncouldbeusedregularly.

Dis‐/AdvantagesAdvantages Disadvantages+Justoneconnection+ProperuseoftheODA‐interface+AllBIRTdriverscanbeused

‐ Badreusability

Report Items

Data Sources

Report Data Source

BIRT

Map Item



ConclusionThefirstnumbershowsthenumberofpoints,thesecondthefinalimportanceincludingtheweightoftheaspect. Variant1 Variant2 Variant3 Variant4Usability(1*) 1/1 1/1 2/2 3/3Numberofconnections(2*) 1/2 1/2 2/4 2/4Datatransformation(1*) 2/2 2/2 1/1 3/3Reusability(3*) 2/6 2/6 3/9 1/3Effortandtime(2*) 3/6 2/4 3/6 1/2Extensibility(3*) 3/9 3/9 2/6 1/3Total 26 24 28 20Thevariant3willbe implemented.Theideasofthevariant1and4willbedismissed.The variant 3 allows to implement an image‐output asmentioned in variant 2 in thefuture.

ArchitectureThe architecture of the BIRT‐plugin is quite simple. The project used differentextension‐pointstointegratethepluginintheEclipseenvironment.

Figure28‐ExtensionpointsusedbytheBIRT‐plugin

SomeoftheextensionspointsaredirectlyprovidedbyEclipse.Thesearetheextensionpoints, which realize the ODA‐interface and a common property page. All extensionpoints, which refer directly to BIRT specific features, are provided by BIRT. Thefollowinghookswereusedtointegratethemap‐plugin:

• …birt.report.designer.ui.reportitemUIo ThisimplementationextendsthereportitemintheBIRTreportdesigner.

TheconnectedclassimplementstheIReportItemImageProvider‐interface,todisplaythemapinthedesignerasanSWT‐Image.

• …birt.report.model.reportItemModelo Thishookdefinesthemodelbehindtherepresentationofthemapitem.

Themodeldefinesthereportitemspecificproperties.• …birt.report.engine.reportitemPresentation

o Theclass,whichislinkedtothisextensionpoint,isresponsibleforthepresentationofthemapiteminarenderedreport.AtthemomentjustHTMLisgenerated,thiscouldbeextendedinfutureversions.

• …birt.report.designer.ui.elementAdapterso Thisextensionpointconnectstothemapitemasanextendedreportitem

• .…datatools.connectivity.oda.dataSource



o This,fromtheEclipsecoreprovidedextensionpointisresponsibleforthedatasourcedriver.ThelinkeddriverclassimplementstheIDriver‐interface.

• …datatools.connectivity.oda.design.ui.dataSourceo Theimplementationofthisextensionpointdefinesthewizardsforthe

definitionofaspecificdatasourceanddataset.• …ui.propertyPages

o Theimplementationofthisextensionpointprovidesadefaultdatasourcepropertypage.

Implementation

Systemtest

GoalThistestplanassuresthecorrectbehaviouroftheSOLAPLayers‐BIRT‐plugin.TheBIRT‐pluginworkswithSOLAPLayers2.0Extended,whichisdescribedinthefirstChapterofthis document. The use of SOLAPLayers in the Eclipse‐ and BIRT‐enviroment will betested. Some presentation‐issues are based on the SOLAPLayersmap, whichwas nottouched during the bachelor thesis. Please notice the known problems (see chapter“Futureimprovements–unsolvedproblems”).ThistestplandoesnottestanyBIRTcorefeatures,justtheinteratctionofthepluginwithBIRT.

RequirementsandtestdataThesametestdataasinthetestofSOLAPLayers2.0Extendedwasusedforthistest.Forfurtherinformationlookatthe“Systemtest”ofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended.



TestplanThistestplanwasaccomplishedon12May2011.ThesoftwarewastestedonaLinuxUbuntu20.10withEclipseIDEforJavaandReportDesignersintheversionHeliosRelease2.

DefaultAtoBScenarioThefollowingtestplancontainsadefaultAtoBscenario.Ateachstepthepreconditionistheerror‐freecompletitionofthepreviousstep.Fortheinitialpositionofthetestanew“ReportProject”andinsideofthisprojectanewreportcalled“test.rptdesign”hastobecreated.Usethe“ReportDesign”perspectiveinEclipsetogothroughthetestplan.Number Testcase Expectation Result1.1 Rightclickonthe“DataSources”iconinthe“Data

Explorer”view.Choose“NewDataSource”inthecontextmenu

“SOLAPLayersDataSource”isdisplayedasoneofthedatasourcesinthelist.

Pass

1.2 Selectthe“SOLAPLLayersDataSource,enterthename“SOLAPLayersDataSource”andclickonthe“Next”button.

Thepropertywindowisdisplayed. Pass

1.3 Enterthe3Asql‐stringandtherelatedparameters(see“SOLAPLayers2.0Extendedsystemtest”forfurtherinformation”).Clickonthe“Finish”button.

“SOLAPLayersDataSource”isdisplayedonthe“DataSources”‐listintthe“DataExplorer”.

Pass

1.4 Rightclickonthe“DataSets”iconinthe“DataExplorer”.Choose“NewDataSet”inthecontextmenu.

Theentered“DataSource”isdisplayedinthe“SOLAPLayersDataSource”list.

Pass

1.5 Choosethejustentereddatasource,enterthename“SOLAPLayersDataSet”andpressthe“Next”‐button.

The“GeneratedColumns”viewisdisplayedandthethreecolumns“OLAPJSON”,“supname”and“nopersons”arelisted.

Pass

1.6 Clickonthe“Finish”‐button. The“OutputColumns”viewisdisplayed.Thecolumnsarelisted.

Pass

1.7 Clickonthe“PreviewResults”link. Thethreecolumnsaredisplayed.ThefirstcolumncontainsjusttheOLAPJSONinthefirstcell.Allothercellsofthefirstcolumnareempty.Theothercolumnscontaintherightdata.Totalelevenrowsaredisplayed.

Pass



1.8 Clickonthe“OK”button Thewindowclosesandanewdatasetcalled“SOLAPLayersDataSet”appearsinthe“DataSets”list.

Pass

1.9 Dragthe“SOLAPLayersDataSet”intothereport.Deletethecolumn“OLAPJSON”.

Atableisdisplayedinthereportdesigner. Pass

1.10 Changetothe“Palette”viewanddragamap‐itemintothereport.Resizethemaptothesizeofthetable.

Themapappearsintherightsizeonthereport. Pass

1.11 Selectthemapitemandchangethetitleinthe“PropertyEditor–Map‐Properties”viewto“SOLAPLayersMap”andthezoomto“1”.Changetothe“Binding”tabandchoosethe“SOLAPLayersDataSet”fromthedrop‐down.Savethereport.Clickonthe“ViewReport”itemanchoose“ViewReportasHTML”.

Thereportisdisplayedinanewwindow.Thetableshowsalltheelevenrowsandthemapisdisplayedintherightsize.Theareasonthemaparehighlightedindifferentgreens.Theyshowthehighnumbersinlightcolors.

Pass

AlternativescenariosNumber Testcase Expectation Result2.1 SamescenariousingaMDX‐query Thegeneratedcolumn‐namesarecomposedoutofthe

differentmeasures.Pass

2.2 SamescenariousingaSQL‐querywithdimensions Thegeneratedcolumn‐namesarecomposedoutofthedifferentmeasures.

Pass



CodequalityThe project was reviewed automatically by the Eclipse plugins Metrics(http://metrics.sourceforge.net/)andPMD(http://pmd.sourceforge.net/).

Figure29‐MetricsreportofthefinalGeoextensions2Birt‐plugin

The numbers calculated byMetrics are all in a suitable range. Some code smells aregiven through the implemented interfaces. Some of the used interfaces have hugeamountofmethods,whichhavetobeintegrated.

FutureImprovements

Unsolvedproblems

PresentationjustasbasicHTMLForunknownreasonsthemapisdisplayedjustinthebasicHTMLview(inBIRTEclipseplugin).Theproblemishardtoevaluate,becausethereisnowspecificdocumentationofthe way html gets interpreted in the other HTML‐based views (preview and webviewer). The problem relays probably on the compatibility of the JavaScript‐librarieswiththeviewers,orisevokedbythepagination‐algorithm.

LinktoprojectinternalJavaScriptresourcesDifferentJavaScript‐librariesarenecessarytodisplaythemapcomponentintheHTML‐view.Thegoalistoaccesstheselibrariesintheprojectdirectoryusingrelativepaths.Itcould not be figured out, how the BIRT‐browser addresses JavaScript‐links. For thisreason,allJavaScripthavetobeaccessiblethroughanURL‐address.Atthemomentthelibrariesarelocatedin“public_html”,whichshouldbelocatedinthewepapps‐directoryofthetomcatserver(oronanothertypeofserver).

MultiplemapsforonereportSOLAPLayersclientsidedoesnotsupportmultipleviewsinthecurrentversion.Thatiswhy the BIRT‐plugin is not able to display more then one map as well. As soonSOLAPLayerhasthisfeature,theBIRT‐pluginhastoadapttoSOLAPLayers.



Chores

DifferentviewsforMDX‐andSQL‐queryCreate a different view for entering MDX and SQL‐queries. This would improve theusability,sinceMDXdoesnotneedthesameamountofparameters.

Separatedatasource‐fromdataset‐parametersAtthemoment,allparametersforaccessingadatasourceareenteredinthedatasourcepropertywindow.Inthefuturejusttheconnectioninformationappearsandthequeryaswellastheparameterswillbeenteredinthepropertiesofthedataset.

ErrorHandlingSOLAPLayers has a complete error handling implemented. The BIRT‐plugin shouldadaptthisandgenerateusefulerrormessage,whichcanbedisplayedinthefront‐end.Thisisnecessaryespeciallyforvalidationandconnectionreasons.

ReuseSOLAPLayerslibrariesSOLAPLayers is integrated in theBIRT‐plugin as a library. This library contains otherjars. TheBIRT‐pluginneeds to access these libraries. There is nopossibility to accessthesesub‐libraries inEclipseat themoment.Thisversionof theplugincontainssomelibraries twice. They increase the file‐size and could lead to problems with thecompatibility(whenusingtwodifferentlibraryversions).

LocalizationAtthemomentjustanEnglishbundleexistsandthelocalizationisignored.Thisshouldbefixedtoprovidethepluginindifferentlanguages.

AlignthemapinthecenterThe map is displayed without to align the important data in the middle of the maprepresentation.Theuserhastofindthehighlightedpolygons,lineorpointsbythemself.Thiscouldbesolvedprogrammatically.

Extensions

SupportotheroutputformatsSOLAPLayers 2.0 Extended supports no other output than the JSON‐formats. As soonSOLAPLayers support other formats other report‐formats can be provided as well.Especiallytheoutputofamapasanimageisimportant,thiswouldallowtocreatepdf,Excel,PowerPointandotherusefulreport‐formats.

UserGuide

InstallationThe installationwas tested on a LinuxUbuntu20.10 system.The computer has to beconnectedtotheInternettousethetestdatabases.

• Copythe“Geoextensions2Birt/datasource_1.0.0.jar”intothe“plugins”directoryofyourEclipseinstallation.

• Copythe“Geoextensions2Birt/Utils/public_html”‐directoryintothewebappsdirectoryofyourtomcatandruntomcat.The“public_html”‐directoryhastobeaccessibleusingtheURLhttp://127.0.0.1/public_html/(Forfurtherinformationsee“Unsolvedproblems‐LinktoprojectinternalJavaScriptresources)

• Copythesources.xmltotherootdirectory(“/”)ofthecomputer.



• StartEclipseusingtheconsoleandtheargument“‐clean”tomakesurethatthepluginwillbeloaded.

Tutorial–Addingamapitemtoareport1. AfterinstallingtheBIRTplugin,openBIRTandchangetothe“ReportDesign”

perspective.Use“File–New–Project…”tocreateanew“ReportProject”.Enteranameandgothroughtheprojectwizard.

Figure30‐Printscreen:CreateaReportProject

2. Executearight‐clickonthenewprojectinthe“Navigator”‐viewandclickon“New–Report”.Enteranameandfinishthewizard.

3. Thenextstepistodefinethedatasource.Openthenewreportandright‐clickonthe“DataSources”‐iconinthe“DataExplorer”.Choose“NewDataSource”.AWindowpopsup.



4. Chosethe“SOLAPLayersDataSource”andclickonthe“Next”‐button.

Figure31‐Printscreen:Selectadatasourcetype

5. EntertheSQLorMDXqueryandthecorrectparameters.Forfurtherinformationabouttheparametersandtheformatofthequeryhavealookatthe“SOLAPLayers2.0Extended–Developersguide”–chapter.Clickon“OK”.Youcanseenowthenewdatasourceinthe“DataExplorer”.

Figure32‐Printscreen:Filloutthedatasourceparameterform



6. Performaright‐clickonthe“DataSets”‐icon,whichisdisplayedaswellinthe“DataExplorer”.Choose“NewDataSet”.Apop‐upwindowappears.

7. ChoosetheSOLAPLayersdatasourceandenteranameforthedataset.Clickon“Next”tocontinuethewizard.

Figure33‐Printscreen:Choosethedatasource



8. Forthetwo‐dimensionalrepresentationofMDX‐resultsandSQL‐results,withdimensionsasparameters,thecolumnsarenotobviousinthequery.Thatiswhyyoucanseeonthispageofthewizardthegeneratedcolumn‐names.Clickonthe“Finish”button.

Figure34‐Printscreen:Generatedcolumnnames

Figure35‐Printscreen:Previewcolumnnames

9. Changeintheappearingwindowtothepage“PreviewResults”tohaveanoverviewofthedata.Ignorethefirstcoloumn,itwillbehideinafurtherversion



ofGeoextensions2Birt.Clickon“OK”tocompletethedatasetcreation.

Figure36‐Printscreen:Previewresultset

10. Youcandraganddropthedatasetonthereport.Pleasedeletethefirstcolumn“OLAPJSON”.

11. Changetothe“Palette”viewtodraganddropthemapreportitemonthereport.

Figure37‐Printscreen:Draganddropmapreportitem



12. Youcannowresizethemapitemandenterthenameandthezoomlevelusingthe“PropertyEditor–Map”‐view.

Figure38‐Printscreen:Definepropertiesformapreportitem

13. Toviewthefinalreportclickonthe“ViewReport”‐iconandchoose“ViewReportasHTML”.Noticethatthepreviewandotherformatsarenotworkinginthisversion.

Figure39‐Printscreen:ReportasHTML‐output



Developersguide

ExportPlugin• Right‐clickontheproject• Clickon“Export…”• Choose“Plug‐inDevelopment–Deployableplug‐insandfragments”• Defineadirectoryandclickon“Finish”

PluginInstallationThe installationwas tested on a LinuxUbuntu20.10 system.The computer has to beconnectedtotheInternettousethetestdatabases.

• ImportGeoextensions2birt‐projectcodeusingtheimport‐functionalityofEclipse“ExistingProjectsintoWorkspace”.Thezip‐fileislocatedontheprojectCD(“Geoextensions2Birt/geoextensions2birt.zip”).

• Copythe“Geoextensions2Birt/Utils/public_html”‐directoryintothewebappsdirectoryofyourtomcatandruntomcat.The“public_html”‐directoryhastobeaccessibleusingtheURLhttp://127.0.0.1/public_html/(Forfurtherinformationsee“Unsolvedproblems‐LinktoprojectinternalJavaScriptresources)

• Specifythepathtothesource.xml(SOURCES_XML)inthe“util/messages.properties”‐file.

• Runprojectas“EclipseApplication”.AnewWorkspaceopensandthepluginwillbeloaded.



8 Projectmanagement

The process of the two subprojects is documented in the appendix. (“APPENDIX E –Project management”) For more information about the chosen project managementmethod,havealookat“APPENDIXI–CustomizedSCRUM‐processforbachelorthesis”.“

9 Projectreview

9.1 Acknowledgment

Iwould like to thank to Prof. StefanKeller for the big support before and during thebachelor thesis. This project could not proceed so unproblematic without the goodassistanceofhim.AbigthanksgoestoSpatialytics,namelyDr.ThierryBadard,LucVaillancourtandJeanMathieu,fortheirefforttointegratemeintotherecompany,thegoodteamworkandtheassistance.IwishyouandSpatialyticsjustthebestforthefuturechallenges.

9.2 Fieldreport

ImAnhangdiesesDokumentesbefindetsichderZwischenberichtderinderHalbzeitdesProjektserfasstwurde(siehe„APPENDIXJ–Interimreport“).HiernochmalseinkurzerRückblicküberdasgesamtProjekt:Die Bachelorarbeit, die ich bei dem Unternehmen Spatialytics in Québec, Canadaerarbeitet habe, brachte vieleHerausforderungenmit sich.MitmeinemVorhaben, dieBA im Ausland zu schreiben, bin ich diese Challenge bewusst eingegangen. Auch imNachhineinbinichsehrglücklich,dassichmichdieserAufgabegestellthabe.IchkonntewährenddiesenzweieinhalbMonatenvonvielenverschiedenenAspektenprofitieren.Die Arbeit bei Spatialytics war sehr angenehm. Das eingespielte Team hat mich sehrfreundlichempfangenundmichschnell indieFirmaeingegliedert. Spatialytics isteinsehrmotiviertesStart‐UpUnternehmen,dasmitvielElanundMotivationdieAufgabenangeht. Der Fakt das Spatialytics erst in denKinderschuhen steht, beeinflusstemeineArbeitstark.EswarleidernichtmöglicheintotaleigenständigesProjektdurchzuführen,wasimSinneeinerBachelorarbeitsehrzuschätzenwäre.ZuvieletechnischeaberauchorganisatorischeAbhängigkeitenwarendurchdieUmständevorhanden.Eines dieser Problemewar, dass sich die Applikation SOLAPLayers zu Beginn der BAnicht auf einemQualitätsniveauwar,welchesdieHSR füreineBAakzeptierenwürde.Dieser Fakt brachtemich bereits früh in einen gewissenZwiespalt, da ichmitmeinerArbeiteinerseitsSpatialyticsundandererseitsdie fürdieBewertungverantwortlichenPersonenzufriedenstellenwollte.DieszuvollbringenerfordertevielMehraufwandundeineguteKoordination.DaderzeitlicheRahmenesnichtzugelassenhat,dassichmichzu fest in die bereits vorhandenen Umstände einmischte, musste ich mirEinschränkungenmachen. So akzeptierte ich gewisse Entscheidungen, ohne den SinnundZweckzuhinterfragen.



DieorganisatorischeHerausforderunghattezurFolge,dassdertechnischeAspektetwaszukurzkam.LeiderkonnteichmichmitmeinerBAnichtwiegewünschtprofilierenundeine technische Arbeit mit dem gewünschten Anspruch entwickeln. Trotzdem, daserzielteResultatistinmeinenAugentechnischsauberumgesetztundverständlichundausführlich dokumentiert. Das Hauptziel war die Zufriedenstellung meiner Betreuer.SpatialyticshatmehrmalsihreDankbarkeitausgesprochenundmichsomitbestätigt.Ichfreuemich,dasssievonmeinerArbeitprofitierenkonnten.Die Zeit in Québecwar definitiv eine prägende Zeit. Nicht nur durch die Arbeit, auchdurchdasLebennebenderBAkonnte ichvielprofitieren.Sokonnte ichzumBeispielmeine Englisch‐Kenntnisse verbessern und meinen kulturellen Horizont erweitern.Nebenbei hatte ich eine super Zeit, mit vielen netten Begegnungen und einem superUmfeld. Die etwas schwierigeren Umstände waren eine super Vorbereitung auf daskommendeBerufsleben,woichauchaufähnlicheSituationentreffenwerde.HerzlichenDankanalle,diemichvorundwährendmeinerZeit inQuébecunterstützthaben!

9.3 Lessonslearned

Die errungenen Erkenntnisse aus dieser Arbeit sind in den wöchentlichen Sprint‐Berichten dokumentiert. Diese können im Anhang E oder auf der Projekt CD imDokument “project plan.xls” eingesehen werden. Weitere Informationen zum VerlaufderArbeit könnenauchdemSchlussbericht („field report“) unddemZwischenbericht(„interimreport“)entnommenwerden.

10 Furtherdocumentation

Additionaly to this document a JavaDoc documentation for each project exists. TheJavaDoc documents all classes briefly and important public methods more detailed.Overwritten methods are documented in the implemented interface or the extendedsuperclass. Simple getter and setter methods as well as private‐methods are notdocumented.



11 Appendices

APPENDIXA‐ContentoftheCD

• BachelorThesiso Containsthefinalprojectdocumentation,theprojectplan,all

presentations,whichwereheldduringtheinternshipandtheJavaDoc‐documentationforbothsub‐projects.Theprojectpostercanbefoundinthisdirectorytoo.

• Geoextensions2Birto ContainsthesourcecodeoftheBIRT‐plugin,thedeployedpluginand

someutilities,whicharenecessarytoinstallanduseGeoextensions2Birt.• SOLAPLayers2.0Extended

o ContainsthesourcecodeofSOLAPLayers2.0ExtendedasEclipse‐projectandasdeployedjavalibrary,andutilities,whicharenecessarytorunSOLAPLayers2.0Extended.

• Utilitieso Containsfiles,whichareusefulforbothsub‐projects,besideallthe

documentation.

APPENDIXB‐Glossary

This is a glossary about used terms and definitions. To understand the topic it isrequiredtoengagewiththetopicsofBIsandspatialinformationandsystems.Term ExplanationBI‐Tools BusinessIntelligence‐Systemsaretools,whichallowsanalysing

businessdataandcreatingreports.SAPisthemostcommoncommercialtool.Therearealotothercompetingcommercial‐andopensourcesoftwareproductslikeOracleBI,PentahoBISuite,Baanetc.

BIRT BIRTisanEclipse‐basedreportingtool.EasytointegrateintootherJava/JavaEEapplicationtocreatecompellingreports.Seehttp://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/.

BIRTROM BIRTReportObjectModelisusedtocreateandsavereports.TheBIRTObjectModelisdescribedbyanxml‐file.Seehttp://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/ref/rom/index.html.

DataMining DataMiningdescribestheprocessoffindingpatternindatasets.AsimilarnameforDataMingis„KnowledgediscoveryinDatabases“.

Data‐Warehouse Containsdatafromdifferentsources.TheprovideddatagetpushedintothewarehousethroughETL.Thecreateddata‐warehouseisusedfordataanalysisandtomakebusinessdecisions.Inadatawarehousedatagetsneverdeletedandalotofinformationisredundant.Theredundancyincreasestheperformance.

DBS DataBaseSystemssavedataefficiently,consistentanddurableandprovideittouserandsystems.

EclipseRCP EclipseRichClientPlatformisaplatformforcreatinganddeployingdesktoprichclientsoftware.EclipseisbasedonanOSGi‐framework



calledEquinox.Seehttp://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Rich_Client_Platform

ETL ETListheabbreviationforExtract,Transform,andLoad:• Extractdataoutofdifferentdatasources.• Transformdatatofitinthetargetdatabase.• Loadthetransformeddataintothedatabase.

GEF TheGraphicalEditingFrameworkisahelpfulframeworktoextendtheEclipseWorkbench.ItaffordstoextendEclipsewithSWT‐basedtreeandDraw2d‐basedgraphicaleditors.Seehttp://www.eclipse.org/gef/.

GeoKettle AKettleextensionofSpatialyticstoextendtheETL‐productforspatialdata.Seehttp://www.spatialytics.org/projects/geokettle/.

GeoMondrian GeoMondrianisaprojectofSpatialyticstoextendthestandardMondrianproduct.ThisSOLAP‐ServerprovidesintegrationofspatialobjectsintotheOLAPdatacubestructure.SOLAPdoesnotneedanadditionaldatabaseforthegeographicdata.Seehttp://www.spatialytics.org/projects/geomondrian/.

GIS GeographicInformationSystemscapture,store,manage,analyzeandpresentdata,whichislinkedtolocation/s.Thecomplexnatureofthespatialdatarequiressuchinformationsystems.

JasperBISuite AnOpensourceOSBItool.FullydevelopedinJava.Since2007completesJasperETLtheOSBI‐solution.Seehttp://www.jaspersoft.com.

Jedox TheworldwideleadingProviderofOSBI‐systems.JedoxislocatedinFreiburg,Germany.Awell‐knownproductisthePalo‐suite.Seehttp://www.jedox.com/de/home/uebersicht.html.

Kettle KettleIsthePentahoDataIntegrationtool(ETL).Seehttp://kettle.pentaho.com/.

MDX MultidimensionalExpressionsisaquerylanguageforOLAPdatabases.MDXallowsqueryingandmodifyingmultidimensionaldatastoredinOLAPcubes.

Mondrian Astatisticaldata‐visualizationsystemofPentaho.Itallowsthevisualizationofalmostanykindofdata.Itstrengthistoworkwithlargedata.MondrianisanOLAP‐Server.Seehttp://mondrian.pentaho.com/.

ODA ODAistheshortcutforOpenDataAccess.ODAdescribesastandardforadatarepresentationasatwo‐dimensionalresultset.ThisstandardismainlyusedbyBIRTandotherEclipseprojects.

OLAP OLAPistheabbreviationforOnlineAnalyticalProcessing.OLAPisamethodtosendcomplex,multidimensionalanalyticallyqueriestothedatabase(MDX).Theanswerofthequeryistypicallysuppliedasamatrix.

OLAPcube OLABcubeisamethodtopresentlogicaldata.Thedataarearrangedthree‐ormulti‐dimensional.Thedatacanbechosenthroughoneormoreaxes.

OLAP4j OLAP4JisaJDBCacronymforaccessingdifferentOLAPserver.ItallowschangingtheusedOLAPserverrapidlyandwithoutchanging



anysourcecode.Itisanopensourceproduct.Seehttp://www.olap4j.org/.

OLTP Online‐Transaction‐Processinglabelsaparadigmfordatabasesystems.Thesystemsusesdatabasetransactionsandresponsesimmediatelytouserrequests.

OSBI OpenSourceBusinessIntelligenceproductsaretheopponentstothemorecommoncommercialproductslikeSAP,OracleBI,Baanetc.Well‐knownOSBIstoolsarebyTalend,SpagoBI,Palo,JasperBISuiteandPentahoBISuite.

PaloOLAPServer PaloisamultidimensionalrealtimeOLAP‐server(MOLPA).Itisusedtomanageeconomicallyandstatisticallydatasets.Itcanbeintegratedthroughdifferentsoftwareenvironments(Java,PGP;C,.NETetc.).TheJedoxcompanydevelopsPaloOLAPServer.Seehttp://www.jedox.com/de/produkte/palo‐suite/palo‐olap‐server.html.

PentahoBISuite Ajava‐basedOSBItoolofthePentahoCompany.PentahohasETL,reporting,OLAP/analysisanddata‐Miningfunctionality.Developedsince2004.Seehttp://www.pentaho.com.

Snowflake AschemausedforOLAPanddatawarehouses.Itnormalizesthedimensions‐tableofthestartschemaandprovidesinthiswayfasterrepeatedrequestsonlargedimensiontablesandsavingmemorycapacity.

SOLAP SOLAP(SpatialOn‐LineAnalyticalProcessing)extendsOLAP.ItallowstoexploreradditionalspatialinformationprovidedbyGeographicInformationSystems(GIS).

SOLAPLayers SOLAPLayersisalightweightwebcartographiccomponent,whichenablesnavigationinSOLAPdatacubes.Itaimstobeintegratedintoexistingdashboardframeworksinordertoproduceinteractivegeo‐analyticaldashboards.Seehttp://www.spatialytics.org/projects/solaplayers/.

SpagoBI InJavawrittenOSBI.Coversthefullrangeofanalytic‐tools.DevelopedbytheOW2Consortium.Seewww.spagobi.ow2.org.

Star AschemausedforOLAPanddatawarehouses.Canbedescribedasadenormalizeddatabase,whichholdsduplicateddatatoprovideafastaccessfortheproveofanalysingandprocessingoflargeamountofdata.AstarhasalwaysafactanddifferentdimensiontablesThefacttablecontainsthedataandthedimensionslimitandextendthespecificviewonthedata.

APPENDIXC‐References

Literature

Source• BorisGloger„SCRUM–Produktezuverlässigundschnellentwickeln“,©2008

CarlHanserVerlagMünchenWien,ISBN978‐3‐446‐41495‐2



• JasonWeathersby,TomBondur,IanaChatalbasheva,DonFrench“IntegratingandExtendingBIRT”,©2008AddisonWesley,ISBN978‐0‐321‐58030‐6

InternetType Source DateImage http://www.infobarrel.com/A_Quick_Scrum_Tutorial 02.03.2011Image http://training.inet.com/OLAP/Images/kube0006.gif 01.05.2011Image PresentationofThierryBadard“Dashboardandreporting

tools:IntegrationofBItoolsinthegeospatialdomain”06.05.2011

Image PresentationofThierryBadard“Spatialytics”,2010 06.05.2011

APPENDIXD‐Tableoffigures

Figure1‐LogovonpopulärenOSBI...........................................................................................................3Figure2‐LogodesUnternehmesSpatialytics.......................................................................................3Figure3‐SOLAPLayersDemoDashboard ..............................................................................................4Figure4‐BIRTReportmitSOLAPLayers‐Karte ...................................................................................5Figure5‐SOLAPLayerslogo.......................................................................................................................13Figure6‐VisualizationofanOLAP‐cube..............................................................................................16Figure7‐OverviewSOLAPLayers2.0Extended ...............................................................................18Figure8‐OverviewvisionSOLAPLayers2.0Extended..................................................................19Figure9‐Activitydiagram..........................................................................................................................20Figure10‐Packagediagram ......................................................................................................................21Figure11‐Classdiagram.............................................................................................................................22Figure12‐MetricsreportofSOLAPLayers2.0Extended .............................................................29Figure13‐OuputBuilderFactoryclass,whichwillbereplacedinafutureversion ..........34Figure14‐Sampleofsources.xmlwithdifferentdatasources...................................................35Figure16‐ResultofsampleMDXquerydisplayedascrosstable.............................................36Figure15‐SampleMDXqueryforSOLAPLayers ..............................................................................36Figure17‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwithdimensionscivilstatusandsex..................................................................................................................................................................38Figure18‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwithdimensionssexandcivilstatus .....................................................................................................................................................................38Figure19‐SamplecrosstableinSOLAPLayersdashboardwiththemeasuresnumberofpersons,totalsavings.....................................................................................................................................38Figure 20 ‐ Sample cross table in SOLAPLayers dashboard with the measures totalsavings,numberofpersons.........................................................................................................................39Figure21‐SampleSQLqueryforSOLAPLayers................................................................................39Figure22‐ResultofsampleSQLdisplayedastable ........................................................................39Figure23‐SOLAPLayerssampledashboard.......................................................................................40Figure24–Illustration:SOLAPLayerswithJSON‐outputandtwoconnections..................43Figure25–Illustration:SOLAPLayerswithImage‐outputandtwoconnections ...............44Figure26–Illustration:SOLAPLayersandoneconnection..........................................................45Figure27–OneconnectionwithoutSOLAPLayers ..........................................................................46Figure28‐ExtensionpointsusedbytheBIRT‐plugin....................................................................47Figure29‐MetricsreportofthefinalGeoextensions2Birt‐plugin............................................51Figure30‐Printscreen:CreateaReportProject..............................................................................53Figure31‐Printscreen:Selectadatasourcetype...........................................................................54Figure32‐Printscreen:Filloutthedatasourceparameterform ............................................54



Figure33‐Printscreen:Choosethedatasource ..............................................................................55Figure34‐Printscreen:Generatedcolumnnames .........................................................................56Figure35‐Printscreen:Previewcolumnnames..............................................................................56Figure36‐Printscreen:Previewresultset.........................................................................................57Figure37‐Printscreen:Draganddropmapreportitem.............................................................57Figure38‐Printscreen:Definepropertiesformapreportitem ...............................................58Figure39‐Printscreen:ReportasHTML‐output.............................................................................58Figure40‐IntroductionofcreatingaSOLAPLayersdashboard–Step1...............................82Figure41‐IntroductionofcreatingaSOLAPLayersdashboard–Step2..............................83Figure42‐IntroductionofcreatingaSOLAPLayersdashboard–Step3..............................83Figure43‐SCRUMProcess .........................................................................................................................84



APPENDIXE–Projectmanagement

Thefollowingillustrationsshowtheprojectplanandtheprojectprogress.DetailedinformationcanbefoundontheCDinthedocument“projectplan.xls”.

Scheduling



TaskboardTask Priority Story

PointsTask Description Category State

1 30 4 FlexiblearchitectureforSOLAPLayersdatasources

Analyse and develop an architecture forSOLAPLayers,which allows a flexible chooseofthedatasource.ThedatasourcecanbeanOLAP‐oraSOLAP‐server,asimpleDB,flatfilelike XML, Excel, etc. The client sendsdepending on the data source a query andadditional information to get the desireddata. At the moment just SOLAP‐data isprovided.

ExtendingSOLAPLayer

Done

2 15 3 FlexiblearchitectureforSOLAPLayersoutputformats

Analyse and develop architecture forSOLAPLayers,whichallowsa flexibleoutput‐format. At the moment just a couple ofdifferent JSON‐formats are provided. At thefuture,formatslikeimages,KLM,etc.shouldbeprovided.

ExtendingSOLAPLayer

Done

3 15 5 PossibilityofDBasaSOLAPLayerdatasource

IncludeastrategyintoSOLAPLayerstoaccessdatafromadatabasethroughanSQL‐query.

ExtendingSOLAPLayer

Done

5 20 4 GetconfidentwithBirt,BIandspatialinformation

For the futurework it is necessary to knowhowtoworkwithBirt.Aswellitisamusttoknow the different technologies used bySpatialytics.

Knowledgeaccumulation

Done

6 20 2 CreateasampleextensionforBirt Create a small sample extension for Birt, inorder to get confident with the Birtenvironment and figure out the possibilitiesofextendingBirt.


Done



7 20 1 AnalyzeexistingmapsolutionsforBirt

Havealookatthetwoexistingmapsolutionsfor Birt and get the dis‐/advantages. Thishelpstoimprovethequalityoftheextension,whichhastobedeployed.


Done

8 30 4 Extendthe"SQL‐resultsettoOLAPJson"‐process

This task should add functionality to thetransform‐process to allow more complexSQL‐queries. The goal is to create a crosstable between a location and one or moredimension.Differentmeasuresarepossible.

ExtendingSOLAPLayer

Done

9 10 2 DocumentthenewSOLAPLayerarchitecture

Create a documentation of the newSOLAPLayers server architecture. Theprincipal topic is how to extend the existingsolution.

Documentation

Done

10 10 2 DocumenthowtouseSOLAPLayersforadashboard

Createasimpledocumentationforusingthedashboard. This may be a part of thearchitecturedocument.

Documentation

Done

11 25 3 AnalyzeBIRTandfindasolutionforintegratingamapcomponent

Find a way to integrate a map into BIRT.Search different solutions and figure outwhichistheonetogo.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

12 10 3 DocumentanalysisofBirt‐pluginforfuturetraceability

Show on which facts the final decision isbased.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

13 30 3 Createdatasourcepluginwithdummydata

Create as fast as possible a solution toconnect to an individual data source and toretrievedata inthecorrectway.ToreachasfastaspossibleanA toB scenario, thedatawill be static for themoment. The receiveddata has to be in the right format, to getdisplayedbyareportitem.

ExtendingBIRT

Done



14 30 3 Createamapreportitempluginwithdisplaysstaticcontent

Extend the report item palette with amap‐component,whichshowsamapwithdefault,staticdata.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

15 25 3 RetrievedynamicdatausingadefaultSQL‐queryandSOLAPLayersanddisplayitwithexistingreportitems

The retrievedOLAPJsonhas tobeconvertedintoa result set representation.All the corereport items handle data in a two‐dimensional‐format

ExtendingBIRT

Done

16 20 2 RetrievedynamicdatausingadefaultSQL‐queryandSOLAPLayersanddisplayitwiththenewmapitem

For representing themap theOLAPJson hastobeforwardedtothereportitem.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

17 15 3 CreateGUIandthelogicbehindforusingcustomizableSQL‐queries

ReplacethehardcodedSQL‐queryandallowthe user to define his own query with theaccordingparametersusingaGUI.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

18 15 3 CreateGUIforspecifythemapreportitemwithcustomizableparameters

The displayed SOLAPLayers‐map should becustomizableusingaGUI.

ExtendingBIRT

Done

19 10 6 Writeadocumentationaboutthestateoftheartofreportingtools

Write a documentation about the state oftheartofreportingtools

Documentation

Done

Excursus:StateofArtofReportingTools Page71/106


TimetableThe following report shows the time overview on the 18.05.11. Somemore workingtimewillbeneededforcorrections.Fordetailedinformationabouttheusedtimehavealook at http://sueess.mite.yo.lk (the user‐ and password‐data were send to thesupervisor)oratthefile“BachelorThesis/time‐entries.xls”ontheprojectCD.



Sprint0(28.02.‐06.03.11)



Sprint1(07.03.‐13.03.11)



Sprint2(14.03.‐20.03.11)



Sprint3(21.03.‐27.03.11)



Sprint4(28.03.‐03.04.11)



Sprint5(04.04.‐10.04.11)



Sprint6(25.04.‐01.05.11)



Sprint7(02.05.‐08.05.11)



Sprint8(09.05.‐15.05.11)



APPENDIXF‐Licenseagreement

Agreement[This is atranslationof theoriginalGermanagreement,which is related to the Swisslaw.]

1.MatteroftheagreementThisagreementdefinestherightsfortheuseandthefurtherdevelopmentoftheresultsofthebachelorthesis„ExtendingBIRTwithGeospatialDataVisualizationcapabilitiesbyintegrating theSOLAPLayersmappingcomponent“byChristophSüess.The thesiswasdevelopedincooperationwiththecompanySpatialytics.

2.IntellectualpropertyrightsThestudentkeepsallhisintellectualpropertyrights.

3.UsageTheresultingsourcecodeistheexclusivepropertyofSpatialytics.ThestudentandHSRhaveno rights to use and extend the resulting source code.All documents beside thesourcecodecanbeusedandextendedbySpatialytics,byHSRandbythestudent.Thestudentdeclarestohavereadthisagreementandagreestotheseregulations.

Vereinbarung

1.GegenstandderVereinbarungMit dieser Vereinbarung werden die Rechte über die Verwendung und dieWeiterentwicklungderErgebnissederBachelorarbeit„ExtendingBIRTwithGeospatialData Visualization capabilities by integrating the SOLAPLayers mapping component“von Christoph Süess unter der Betreuung von Prof. Stefan Keller geregelt. DieBachelorarbeitwurdeinZusammenarbeitmitdemUnternehmenSpatialyticserarbeitet.

2.UrheberrechtDieUrheberrechtestehendemStudentzu.

3.VerwendungSämtliche Rechte des resultierenden Quellcodes stehen exklusiv Spatialytics zu. DerStudentunddieHSRhabenkeinRecht,denresultierendenSourceCodezuverwenden.DieresultierendenDokumente–abgesehenvomSourceCode–könnenvonSpatialytics,derHSRunddemStudentenverwendetunderweitertwerden.DerStudenterklärthiermitvondieserVereinbarungKenntnisgenommenzuhabenundstimmtdenBedingungenzu.QuébecCity,29.04.11

.........................................................

ChristophSüess,StudentHSR



QuébecCity,29.04.11

.........................................................

Dr.ThierryBadard,SpatialyticsRapperswil,

........................................................

Prof.StefanKeller,SupervisorHSRRapperswil, ......................................................... Prof. Hansjörg Huser, Head of department

ComputerScienceHSR

APPENDIXG‐Agreementoftheauthor

Icherklärenhiermit,• dassichdievorliegendeArbeitselberundohnefremdeHilfedurchgeführthabe,

ausserderjenigen,welcheexplizit inderAufgabenstellungerwähnt istodermitdemBetreuerschriftlichvereinbartwurde,

• dass ich sämtliche verwendeten Quellen erwähnt und gemäss gängigenwissenschaftlichenZitierregelnkorrektangegebenhabe.

Ort,Datum: Name,Unterschrift: ChristophSüess

APPENDIXH‐Instructions:CreatingadashboardusingSOLAPLayers

Figure40‐IntroductionofcreatingaSOLAPLayersdashboard–Step1



APPENDIXI–CustomizedSCRUM‐processforbachelorthesis

Figure43‐SCRUMProcess

IntroductionSCRUMasaprojectmanagementinstrumentisusedfortheproject„ExtendingtheBIRTReporting Toolwith Geospatial Data Visualization”. The goal is toworkwith an agileprojectmanagementinstrumentthatfostersafastandhighqualitywayofdevelopment.InthecaseofthisbachelorthesisSCRUMhastobecustomizedfordifferentreasons:

• Theprojecthasjustonemainparticipant• Itisnotpossibletorealizetheprojectisolatedfromtherestoftheteam,

becauseofexistingtechnologicallydependencies• Themainparticipantassumesdifferentroles• Theprojectenvironmentdoesnotworkwithaspecificsoftwaredevelopment

processThisdocumentdescribesthecustomizedSCRUM‐processforthisspecificproject.

BasicprinciplesIncomparisontonon‐agiledevelopmentprocesses,SCRUMdoesnotignorethefact,thatitisnotpossibletocompletelyplanaprojectinadvanced.SCRUMknowsthereality:Thevision,thegoalsandtheprojectprocessareproductsofthewholeprocess.SCRUMbaseontheseimportantguidingprinciples:

• Attheendofeachsprintexistsafulltested,runningversionoftheapplication



• Nodocumentationforthesakeofjustdoingit.• "Workingmorehours"doesnotnecessarilymean"producingmoreoutput"

RolesSCRUMdefinesthefollowingroles:

• ProductOwnero DefinestheVision.TheScrummasterhelpstofindtherightdirection.The

ProductOwnerdefinesthegoalduringthesprint.Heplansandreviewsthedoneworkformalattheendofeverysprint.

• Teamo CreatestogethertheProductBacklog,alistofbybusinessvalue

prioritizedfeatures.Theteamdefinestheneededtimeforeachfunctionality.Duringasprint,theteamiscompletelyorganizedbythemself.Ifaproblemoccurs,theteamtalkstotheScrumMaster.

• Scrummastero Helpstheteamifitisstuck.Hewritesnocodebyhimself.Hehasthe

connectiontothemanagement.• Management

o TalksprimarytotheScrummasterconcerningfinancialandothermatters.• Customer• User

Becauseofthesizeoftheprojectteamtherolescannotbeassignedanddefinedinthesame way as usually: The team (Christoph Süess) will adopt the duties andresponsibilities of the product owner and the Scrummaster in co‐operation with themanagement(ThierryBadard).

SprintAsprintwillhavethedurationofoneweek,startsatMondayandendsusuallyatFriday(weekendasreserve).Thesprintendswithareporttotheprojectadvisor(Prof.Keller)on Monday. A sprint contains an amount of items out of the task board, which getsexpandedcontinually.Asprintshouldnotbechangedduringtheweek.Insomecasesitisnotpossibletoretainon the items (organizational reasons,dependencies tootherprojects). In this case theteamchangesthesprintandnotesthereason.

ProjectdocumentationBesidestheknowledge,designandanalysisdocuments,everysprintisrepresentedbyadocumentcontainingthefollowinginformation:

• Sprinttaskboardo Thechosenitemsfromtheprojecttaskboard

• Stateofprogresso Theactualstateofprogress

• Retrospectiveo Whatdidtheteamlearnduringthesprints?Improvementsforfuture

sprints?• Sprintreview

o Whatdidtheteamachieve?• ImmediateBacklog



o Wherearetheproblems?Whydoesdedevelopmentnotgoasfastasplaned.

• Logbooko Dateandreasonfortheadjustmentsofthesprint

APPENDIXJ–Interimreport

Seitdem23.Februar2011befindeichmichinQuébecCity,einersympathischenStadtan der Ostküste Kanadas. Ich habe hier eineWohnung gefunden undmir ein kleines,aber feines soziales Umfeld geschaffen. Meine Entscheidung, die BA im Ausland zuschreiben, bereue ich trotz allem Aufwand und einigen Hindernissen (sieheHerausforderungenundProbleme) inkeinemFall.Bereitsschaue ichmitWehmutansEndemeinesAufenthalts.IchschreibehiermeineBachelor‐ArbeitmitdemTitel„ExtendingBIRTwithGeospatialDataVisualizationcapabilitiesbyintegratingtheSOLAPLayersmappingcomponent“imdrei Mann Unternehmen Spatialytics. Der Kopf der Firma bilden Luc Vaillancourt(Management) undThierryBadard (Professor an derUniversität Laval, Entwicklung).Jean Mathieu ergänzt das Team. Alle drei haben Geologie studiert und sind aufverschiedeneWegeindieInformatikgekommen.AlswaschechterInformatikerergänzeichdasTeamsuperundkannmitmeinemWissendemUnternehmenweiterhelfen.

1.Woche–Umfeld,ToolsundTechnologienkennenlernenDieersteWocheimneuenUnternehmen:Esgabvielzulernen.VorallemWissenrundum OSBI, Reporting Tools und Birt, aber auch das klassische kennenlernen desUnternehmens hielten mich während den Tagen auf Trab. Nebenbei plante ich meinVorgehenundversuchtedieerstenZielezuformulieren.

2.–4.Woche–SOLAPLayers–OSBImeetsGeo‐DashboardIn den drei Wochen kümmerte ich mich voll und ganz um SOLAPLayers. MeineAusgangslage war ein kleines Projekt. Das Tool war funktionstüchtig, aber nur inwenigen Hinsichten objektorientiert und für den Quellcode hätten Sie mirwahrscheinlichmeineSE2‐Noteentzogen.WasistSOLAPLayers?WelchesistdieVisionhinterSOLAPLayers?„SOLAPLayersistprimäreinFrameworkumgeografischeDatenvonSOLAP‐DatenbankenineineminteraktivenDashboarddarzustellen.SekundäradressiertSOLAPaberauchandereDatenquellenund präsentiert auch nicht geografische Daten. Somit ist SOLAPLayers ein Tool um kompletteDashboard‐Anwendungen zu erstellen. SOLAPLayers ist eine Webapplikation, die serverseitig inJava umgesetzt ist und im Clientbereich mit JavaScript (EXT JS‐Framework), HTML und CSSarbeitet.SOLAPLayersbefindetsichnochindenKinderschuhenundstehtuntereineropen‐sourceLizenz(MehrInfos:www.solaplayers.org)“Mein Aufgabenbereich befand sich ausschliesslich im Server‐Bereich. GrundsätzlichhabeichzweigrosseÄnderungen,sprichErweiterungenforciert:

1. UmgestaltenderSoftwareArchitektur,sodassneuenDatenquellenundOutput‐FormateeinfachundimobjektorientiertenSinnehinzugefügtwerdenkönnen.DazugehörteaucheinRefactoringdesQuellcodes(sodassderQuellcodeSE2würdigist).



2. HinzufügeneinesTreibersfürrelationaleDatenbanken.DieserSOLAPLayers‐TreibererlaubtesanhandeinesSQL‐QueriesundweiterenParameterneinenMDX‐QueryzusimulierenunddieResultatewiegewohntanzuzeigen.DieseErweiterungwarnötig,danachwievorrelationaleDatenbankendasZepterhalten(auchwennsieimBereichderAnalysesehrvieleNachteilemitsichbringen).

DaichanfänglichvondermirzurVerfügunggestelltenBasisetwasgeschocktwar,habeichsehroft inEigenregiegehandelt.Thierrywardannaber jeweilssehrzufriedenmitdemResultat.

5.–6.WocheNunkamdasReportingToolBIRT insSpiel,welchesmir seit zweiWochendasLebenschwer macht. BIRT ist ein Eclipse‐Core‐Project und wird vor allem von demUnternehmen Actuate entwickelt. BIRT ist zur Anwendung und zum Integrieren inandere Java‐Applikationen bestimmt ein brauchbares Werkzeug. Wer BIRT jedocherweiternwill, fühlt sichöfterswieeinNomadeaufderSuchenachWasser irgendwotiefinderSahara.NachvielenüberwindetenHürdenhabe ich es geschafft ein simples „A toB“‐Scenarioumzusetzen.AbHeuteistesnunalsoMöglich,SOLAPLayersalsBIRT‐Plug‐Inzunutzen,auchwenndieBedienungnochweitvonBenutzerfreundlichentferntist.ThierrysiehtdieProblememitBIRTundäussertsichsehrpositivzumeinemaktuellenStand.

WeiteresVorgehenDienächstenzweiWochensucheichkeinWasser,sonderngeniesseichdieneueWeltinvollenZügen.NachdenzweiWochenBreak,wende ichmicherneutdemBIRT‐Plug‐Inzu.DaicheinesehrfixeDeadlinehabe,steht indenletztendreiWochenvorallemdieDokumentation an erster Stelle. Ziel ist es Spatialytics ein gut dokumentiertes,funktionsfähiges BIRT‐Plug‐In zu hinterlassen, mit dem Spatialytics, Sie und auch ichsehrzufriedensind.

HerausforderungenundProblemeDie Themen des Semesterprojekts und meiner Studienarbeit habe ich jeweils selberdefiniert und zusammen mit meinem Team sehr gute Resultate erzielt. DieHerausforderung lag jeweils ganz klar im technischen Bereich, sprich Performance,Concurrencyusw.warenProblemediewirforcierten.MeineBAbringtganzandereProblememitsich.DieseHindernissesindnichtwenigerlehrreich, aber leider verhindern sie teilweise, dass ich mich den interessanten,technischenProblemewidmenkann:

1. SpatialyticsisteinStart‐Up,diestabilenSäulenfehlennoch,sprichallesistimAufbau.Auchwenndassehrspannendist,istesgrundsätzlicheinschlechtesUmfeldfüreineBA.EsbestehenvieleAbhängigkeiten,diesichimmerwiederändern.

2. AuchwennSpatialyticsinzwischeneingrossesIT‐Knowhowhat,istderQuellcodenichtsoprofessionell,wieeranderHSRerwartetwird.Daraufaufzubauenistschwierig.DarumerfordertmeineBAvielZeitumsolchenCodein



Ordnungzubringen(Refactorings).GewisseVorgabenakzeptiereichaberauszeitlichenGründen,ohnedentechnischenSinnzuhinterfragen.SchliesslichwillichmitmeinerBAnebenSpatialyticsauchSie,alsmeineBetreuerundBewerter,zufriedenstellen.

3. InzwischenklapptdasDokumentierenundDiskutiereninEnglischziemlichgut,trotzdemdieFremdsprachekostetZeitundEnergie.

4. AlleineaneinemspezifischenProjektzuarbeitenbringtgenausovieleVor‐wieNachteile.EinerseitsentfällteinGrossteilanKommunikation,andererseitsfehltaucheinePersonumtechnischeundorganisatorischeProblemezudiskutierenundsicheineZweitmeinungeinzuholen.

5. DaseinzigeProblem,dasmichwirklichaufTrabhältundauchmalaufmeinegrundsätzlichhoheMotivationschlägtheisstBIRT.DasErweiternvonBIRTistsehrschlechtdokumentiert,auchwennBIRTgrundsätzlicheinenormaleRCPist,gibtesvieleBIRT‐spezifischeDinge,dienichtdokumentiertsind.DiezweiexistierendenoffiziellenTutorialssindnuraufWindowslauffähig,daSieeinBasis‐KonzeptvonSWTignorieren.SelbstdaseineexistierendeBuchistnichtsmehralseinAbbilddesohnehinschonschlechtenJavaDocs.WerinderCommunityundderDokumentationkeineAntwortenfindet,hatnureineMöglichkeit:DirektdenQuellcodeanalysieren.BeiBIRTistmandortbeiderQuelledesGrauensangekommen.UnglaublichwieschlechtderCodeist,einesuperVorlagefüreinSE2‐Projekt.Eskannsehrfrustrierendsein,wennmanstundenlanganstellevonproduktiverArbeitsichdemformulierenvonGoogle‐SuchstringsunddemdurchforstenvonForenwidmenmuss.

FazitObwohl die Probleme viel Zeit in Anspruch nahmen, bin ich nachwie vor überzeugt,dassichmichaufeinemsehrgutenWegbefinde.DasFeedbackvonThierrywarbisherimmersuperundvonderBetreuer‐SeitewurdenbisanhinnochkeineBedenkenoderähnlichesgeäussert.Auchwennesetwas schade ist,dass ichaufGrundderProblemenichtgleichvielAufwandindasbewältigenvontechnischenHürdensteckenkann(wiebeimSemesterprojektundderSA)istdieseArtvonBAsichereinesuperVorbereitungfürdieArbeitnachdemStudium,wodieBedingungenauchunterschiedlichsind.Ich habe in den letzten sechsWochen sehr viel gelernt und freuemichdieBA in denletzten dreiWochen fertigzustellen. Ich hoffe, dass ich auch Siemitmeinem Resultatbegeisternkann.

APPENDIXK‐Resultpresentations

Duringtheprojectmultiplepresentationwerehold.ThenotescanbefoundontheCD:• BIRT‐Open‐sourceBusinessIntelligenceandReportingTool• SOLAPLayers‐Changesandimprovementsofthenewversion• MapextensionforBIRT• SOLAPLayerstoBIRT–Finalresultspresentation



APPENDIXL–Stateoftheartofreportingtools

1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................902 Purposeofreportingtools...........................................................................................................903 Functionalityofabasicreporttools........................................................................................914 Dashboard...........................................................................................................................................915 Opensourcereportingtools .......................................................................................................92Pentaho..................................................................................................................................................92About .................................................................................................................................................92Reportingtools..............................................................................................................................92

JasperSoft..............................................................................................................................................92About .................................................................................................................................................92Reportingtools..............................................................................................................................93

Actuate ...................................................................................................................................................93About .................................................................................................................................................93ReportingTools.............................................................................................................................93

ComparisonMatrix...........................................................................................................................94DesignParadigm‐Pixelpositioning ................................................................................. 103Reportcompilation/Reportformat................................................................................. 103Eclipseplug‐inavailable......................................................................................................... 103DataSourcesTypes .................................................................................................................. 104GraphicalQueryDesigner...................................................................................................... 104

Alooktothefuture........................................................................................................................ 1046 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 1057 Sources.............................................................................................................................................. 1058 Tableoffigures .............................................................................................................................. 106



1 Introduction

Figure44‐Ilustrationofthedecisionmakingprocess

In the nineties the term Business Intelligence came up. Business Intelligence is abusiness‐processfordecision‐making.BIhelpstonavigatetherunningbusinessintotherightdirection.Tomakecorrectdecision, thedecision‐makerneedsanoverviewofallinformation, which could influence his decision. BI is a process, which manages thecollationandthetransformationofrawdataintomeaningfulinformation.Nowaday,BIissupportedbyalotofpowerfulapplication,whichcanhandlethehugeamountandthecomplexrelationsoftheinformation.This excursion will inform the reader about a special part of BI, the reporting part.Reporting tools are applications they access data and represent the information in ahumanreadableformat.Thegoalistocreatereports,whichhelpsthedecision‐makertooverviewandfindtheimportantinformation.Thisarticledescribesthepurposeandtheevolution of reporting tools aswell as it shows some concrete open source software‐toolsandthereadvantagesanddisadvantages.

2 PurposeofreportingtoolsNotallcompaniesuseprofessionalreportingtools.Especiallysomesmallerfirmsworkwithoutreportingtools.MicrosoftExcelisnotarealreportingtool,butitisusedbyalotofcompaniesforcalculationandreportingreasons.ThemajorityofbigcompaniesusesBI‐suitestocoverthewholebusiness‐process.TheleadingcompanyinbusinesssoftwareisSAP.SAPhastoolsfordifferentpartsoftheBI‐process. One of there reporting tools is SAP Business Explorer. Other well‐knownproprietaryreportingtoolsareOracleReports,BissantzDeltaMaster,Cognos8BI,SAPCrystalReportsandCubewareCockpitV6pro.JusttheOracleandtheSQP‐toolsarepurereporting tools, the other products are complete BI‐suites, which include a reportingcomponent.



With the evolution of the proprietarysoftware, some open source toolsentered the market as well. Theproprietary providers of BI‐tools arestill leading, but the open source partatmarketisgrowingfast.Alotofopensourceproject haveproven, that opensourcedoesnot just stand fora socialthought, moreover it has a lot ofadvantages for the customers and forthe companies, which contribute thesourcecode.

3 FunctionalityofabasicreporttoolsAllcommonreportingtoolsfunctioninthesamebasicallyway:

Thefirststepistodefineoneormoredatasources.Thiscanbearelationaldatabase,anOLAP‐Server,flatfiles,webservicesoranyothersupporteddatasource.

Inasecondsteptheusercreatesareport‐template.Alotofreportingtoolsprovideadesigner,whichallowscreatingareportinaneasyway(WYSIWYG).Thereportcreatordefineswhichdata,fromwhichdatasourceisdisplayedinwhichway.Hecanchoosereportitemsliketables,crosstables,chartsandmanyotherrepresentations.Thisreportisoftenrepresentedbyanxml‐fileonthefilesystem.

Theresultingreportisnowinterpretedandfilledwiththeinformationusingthegivendatasources.Commonoutputsarepdf‐,xls‐,html‐ordoc‐files.

Formoreadvanceduse,thereportscanbedeployedonservers.Thisallowsprovidingthereportstodifferentpeoplesorevenasawebservice.

4 DashboardReports represent a static view on data.Aftertheenginecreatedthereports,theyare saved in a common format like pdf,xls, ppt, doc, etc. These reports can becreated new at any time, to get actualinformation.Dashboardsgoastepfurther.Dashboardsallow navigating through data, gettingmore details and seeing related content.Dashboard are often implemented aswebsites, this allows to set access rightsfordifferentusers(e.g.differentviewsfordirector, department heads and teamleaders). Some reports provide somedashboardfunctionalitythat iswhyinsomecases it isnotpossibletoclearlyseparatedashboardsfromreports.Thefollowingtableshowstheadvantagesofreportsanddashboardsingeneral:

Figure45‐CrystalReportsdashboard

Figure46‐Drilldownreport



Report Dashboard• EasytoprintandsendbyE‐Mail• Canbeusedofflineaftercreation• Easytoarchive

• Allowstonavigatethroughtheinformation(drilldown/rollup)

• Bettervisualisationofrelationsbetweendifferentdata

• Betterunderstandingandoverviewthroughinteractivepresentation

5 Opensourcereportingtools

Figure47‐Well‐knownOSBI‐tools

The most famous open source reporting tool providers are JasperSoft, Pentaho andActuate, all of themuse Java. For all thisproducts exists a commercial version. In thefollowingchapters thecompaniesandtherereportingtoolsareexplained. Ina furtherchapterthethreeproductsarecomparedandsomeoftheimportantfactsaredescribedmoredetailed.

Pentaho

AboutPentahoisacompanyfromOrlando,Floridawitharound200employees.Thecompanyoffers a complete BI‐suite. Important and well‐known tools of Pentaho are Kettle,MondrianandWeka.Withmore thansixmilliondownloadsof thereproducts,aroundthousandenterprisecustomersandacommunityof20’000peopleisPentahotheheadoftheopensourceBI‐movement.

ReportingtoolsThePentahoReportingCommunityEditionprovidesthreedifferenttools.

ThePentahoReportDesignerisusedtocreatereports.Itisastandaloneapplication,whichallowsdragginganddroppingreportitemsintoareport‐document.Propertiesallowcustomizingtheseitems.OpenFormula/Excel‐formulaexpressionsmakeitpossibletoformatdatadynamically.PentahoReportDesigneriseasytousefordevelopersaswellasforbusinesspeople.

ThePentahoReportingEngineisapartofthePentahoReportDesigner.Thisenginecreatesthereportswithinthedesigner.

ThePentahoReportingSDKisusedtointegratePentahoinserverorofflineapplications.ItallowsusingtheReportingEngine‐featuresasajavalibrary.

AdditionallyareportservercalledPentahoBIServerexists.

JasperSoft

AboutLikePentaho,JasperSoftprovidesacompleteBi‐suiteaswell.JasperSoftislocatedinSanFranciscoandhasaround100employees.Fromthe twelvemilliondownloadsaroundtwelve thousand people use the commercial licence. One of the popular products ofJasperSoftistheOLAPserverMondrian.



Reportingtools

Figure48‐IReportfromJasperSoft

IReport is the name of the JasperSoft report designer. With IReport reports for theJasperReports engine are created. JasperServer allows uploading reports andprovidingthemaswebsites,webservicesandscheduleddistributions.

Actuate

AboutThe company Actuate has his headquarter in San Francisco, California. Actuate is themaincontributorof theEclipsecoreprojectBIRT.ActuatedoesnotprovideanyotherBI‐products.Around600peopleworkforActuate.

ReportingToolsBIRTisanEclipsebasedreportingtool.ItcanbeintegratedintoJ2EEapplicationsorcanbe used as a simple standalone‐reporting tool. BIRT allows specifying almost everydetail of a report. BIRT is consisted of two components. The Eclipse integratedBIRTREPORTDesignerallowstocreatexml‐basedreportsusingacomfortableWYSIWYG‐editor.TheBIRTReportEngineprocessesthexml‐basedreportsandcreatesreportsindifferentoutputformats.TheBIRTIServerisaproprietaryproduct,whichdeliverstheinformationtoanunlimitednumberofpersons.



ComparisonMatrixThe following table was published by Innovent Solutions (http://www.innoventsolutions.com/birt‐jasper‐pentaho‐comparison‐matrix.html)andupdatedon03.05.2011bytheauthorofthisdocument.Themarkedrowsaredescribedmoreindetailattheendofthedocument. BIRT2.6.2 JasperSoft 4.0.2

CommunityPentaho Reporting CommunityEdition3.8

Website www.birt‐exchange.comwww.eclipse.org/birt

www.jasperforge.com reporting.pentaho.com

License EclipsePublicLicense GNULesserGeneralPublicLicense GNULesserGeneralPublicLicenseREPORTDESIGNER BIRTReportDesigner2.6.2 JasperIReport4.0.2 PentahoReportDesigner3.8stableDesignerPlatforms Windows,Linux,MacOSX Windows,Linux,MacOSX Windows,Linux,MacOSXEclipsePlug‐inAvailable Y N

JasperAssistant is availablecommercial, non‐free, third‐partyplug‐in

NNote that the Pentaho DesignStudio, an Eclipse plug‐in, is not areportdesigner.

NetBeansPlug‐inAvailable N Y N

StandaloneJavaClientAvailable

Y Y Y

DesignParadigm WebPageDesignparadigm:frames,tables,lists

banded reports, pixel positioning,table

bandedreports,pixelpositioning

ReportCompilation Notrequired Required Notrequired



BIRT2.6.2 JasperSoft 4.0.2Community

Pentaho Reporting CommunityEdition3.8

ReportFormat XML(.RPTDESIGNfilesarepureXML)

.JRXML report design files arecompiled into .JASPER report files,whichareJavaByteCode.Youthendeploythe.JASPERfile.

XML(.PRPT report file is a ZIP thatcontains the XML file plus otherresources)

ReportDesignerComponentsCommonReportDesignerComponents:‐ReportEditorPalette‐DataExplorerProperty‐EditorOutlineview‐PreviewExpression‐BuilderReport‐ProblemsChartBuilder‐ScriptEditor

Y Y Y

Sub‐reports Y Y YSide‐by‐sidereportcomponents

Y Y Yviasub‐reports

Tables Y Y NCross‐tabs Y Y “Experimental”inPentaho3.5SortingHorizontalPanning Y Alwaysscrolldown,evenifcrosstab

expandsside‐to‐sideN

Newspaper/multi‐columnlayout

N Y N





Hyperlinkswithinareport Y Y Y

Actionablecharts Ydrill‐down,hyperlinks,mouse‐overs

Partial–hyperlinks N

CascadingStyleSheets(CSScontrolledformat)

Y Y N

ConditionalFormatting Y Partial Y

DataSourcesMultipledatasourcesandqueriesperreport

Yes,plussupportforjoiningthem Only via sub‐reports (one datasourcepersub‐report)

Only via sub‐reports (one datasourcepersub‐report)orincharts

SupportforjoiningmultipledatasourcesintheDesigner

Y N N

Reportcanfurtherre‐sort,filter,orgroupdatareturnedfromaquery.

Y Partial – Jasper can furthermanipulate data sets beforebuilding cross‐tabs, but not forregulartables.

N

‐DatabaseJDBC ‐DatabaseJDBC ‐DatabaseJDBC‐XMLFile ‐XMLFile ‐XMLfiles‐WebServices ‐CSVFile ‐Table‐Flatfiles:CSV,SSV,PSV,TSV ‐MicrosoftExcel ‐OLAPMDX‐Customdatasource ‐JavaBeans ‐PentahoMetadata

DataSourcesTypes

‐OLAPMDX ‐HibernateHSQL ‐PentahoDataIntegration





‐Scripted Data Source: POJO, EJB,Hibernate,XMLStream

‐SpringHibernateEJBQL ‐OLAPMDX

‐XMLAServer ‐Scripted Data Source:POJO,EJB,Hibernate

‐MondrianOLAP ‐TextFile ‐NetBeansJDBC ‐POJOs ‐Custom

‐RemoteXMLfiles QueryDesigner Y Y YGraphicalQueryDesigner Prototypeonly Y(SQLLeonardo) Y(SQL‐Leonardo)

‐JavaScript ‐JavaScript ‐JavaScript‐JavaEventHandlers ‐Groovy ‐BeanScriptFramework(BSF) ‐Java ‐Bean‐ScriptHost(BSH)

Scripting

‐SingleValueQueryOutputFormatsPaginatedHTML Y Y YUnpaginatedHTML Y N NPDF Y Y YExcel(XLS) Y Y YXML Y Y YPlainText Y Y YRTF Y Y YPowerpoint(PPTorPPTX) Y Y N





CSV Y Y YPostscript Y Y YOpenOfficereporttypes(document&spreadsheet)

N Y N

MicrosoftOffice2007reporttypes(DOCX,XLSX)

N Y N

Flash(SWF) N Yviewed within Jasper Server’s flashreportviewer

N

CustomFormats Y Y YGeometricshapes&lines Y Y Y

Barcodes Y Y YCharts ChartWizard Y Partialtwo‐stepwizard,restisabig

dialogboxN

ChartInteractivity Ymouse‐over, tool tips, hyperlinks,etc.

Yhyperlinksonly

N

Chartthemes Y Y NPrecisecontroloverformatofallcontrolelements

Y N N





Chartstypesthatallhave:2D,3D,Pie,Multi‐pie,Bar,StackedBar,BarXY,Line,LineXY,Area,AreaXY,StackedArea,BarLine,Bubble,Scatter,Plot,Multi‐Axis

Y Y Y

StudyCharts Y N NRingChart N N YTubechart Y N NConechart Y N NPyramid Y N NTimeSeries Y Y NMeter/Gauge Y Y NWaterfall N N YStep N N YStepArea N N YDifference Y N YRadar/Spider Y Y YThermometer N Y NCandlestick/StockChart(High/Low)

Y Y N

Gantt Y Y NSurveyScale N N YBarSparkline N N YLineSparkline N N YPieSparkline N N Y





ReportParameterizationStaticParametersselectparametervaluesfromahard‐codedlistofvalues

Y Y Y

DynamicParametersusersselectparametersfromalistofvaluesthatcamefromadatabase

Y YCascading input controls are reportindependent

Y

Cascadingparameterslinkeddatadrivenpromptse.g.‐Country|‐State|‐City

Y Y Y

Calendardate‐pickerforparametersoftypedate.

Y Y Y

Canspecifydefaultvalues Y Y Y

Drop‐downlistboxes Y Y YRadiobuttons Y Y YCheckboxes Y Y YComboboxes Y Y YAggregates/SummarizeData

‐Average ‐Average ‐AverageCommonAggregations‐Count ‐Count ‐Count





‐DistinctCount ‐DistinctCount ‐CountbyPage‐First ‐Sum ‐GroupCount‐Is‐Bottom‐N ‐First ‐Sum‐Is‐Botton‐N‐Percent ‐Lowest(Minimum) ‐Minimum‐Is‐Top‐N ‐Highest(Maximum) ‐Maximum‐Is‐Top‐N‐Percent ‐StandardDeviation ‐SumQuotient‐Last ‐Variance ‐SumQuotientPercent‐Max ‐System ‐Calculation‐Median ‐CountforPage‐Min ‐SumforPage‐Mode ‐Sum(Running)‐MovingAve ‐Count(Running)‐Percentile ‐GroupCount(Running)‐Percent‐Rank ‐CountDistinct(Running)‐Percent‐Sum ‐Average(Running)‐Quartile ‐Minimum(Running)‐Rank ‐Maximum(Running)‐RunningCount ‐PercentofTotal(Running)‐RunningSum ‐StandardDeviation ‐Sum ‐Variance

‐WeightedAverage UserDefinedFunctions/Expressions

YJava,JavaScript

YJava,JavaScript,orGroovy

YOpenFormula(Excel‐like),Java

UserDefineAggregates Y Y Y





Designerprovides“codehooks”(akacallbacks,eventhandlers.…)foreachreportelement.

Y Partial – only the report itself hascallbacks – not at the per‐elementlevel.

NotinDesigner.

SupportforReuseWithinDesignerTemplates(customreportstartingpoints)

Y Y Y

User‐definedLibraries(reusablereportpieces)

Y N N

Stylescolors,fonts,borders,margin…

Y Y Y

CSS Y Y N



DesignParadigm‐Pixelpositioning

Thereare twoways toposition the report items, like tables, charts, etc. intoa report.Pentaho and JasperSoft allow positioning their elements using pixels. In thisway thepositioning can be done really exactly. This may have some advantages. The bigdisadvantages of this variant are that the reports are shown the sameway on all thedifferent screens and that all elements have to be positioned, since there is noautomatism.Thebothreportingtoolsshowareportinthesamewayonawide‐screenastheyshowitonanormalscreen.Thisisnotverycomfortable.BIRTusesanotherway topositionhiselements.Thereport canbesplit intodifferentcellsusingagridlayout.Theeffectivesizeofreportitemswillbecalculateddynamicallyforeachscreen.

Reportcompilation/ReportformatPentahoandBIRTareworkingthesameway.ThedesignercreatesanXML‐file,whichisusedbythereportenginetoretrievethedataandcreatetheexpectedoutput.UsingaXML based file has some important advantages. XML is a human‐readable format. Adesigner is not necessary to create reports, as long the syntax is documented well.Another advantage is the collaboration with source control tools. The differencebetweentwoversionsofareportiseasytofigureout.JasperSoftcompilesthereportsinthedesignerandcreatesanunreadabledataformat.This may speed up the interpretation‐process, but all the mentioned advantages ofreadableformatsarelost.

Eclipseplug‐inavailableWhy dowe care about anEclipse plug‐in? Does itmatter if I create myreport in Eclipse or in astandalone application?Yes,itdoes.Bigcompaniesuse the reporting toolsrarely for to create somereports on a standalonecomputer. They want toprovidereportstopersonsin different executivepositions. For this matterJ2EE applications werewritten. Since Eclipse isthe most widespread IDE,it makes sense to be abletoworkonthereportand

theapplicationinthesameenvironment.

Figure49‐BIRT‐pluginforEclipse



DataSourcesTypesA lot of data sources have something important in common.There results of this data sources ends in a two‐dimensionalresultset.All thereport itemsareabletodisplayatableoracelloutofthetable.MDXqueriesforexampledonotdeliveratwo‐dimensional result set, the result is three‐ or evenmultidimensional. BIRT for example supports OLAP just in anon‐nativeway.Itallowstocreatedatacubesoutoftables,butit is not possible to send amdx query to aOLAP‐server anddisplaytheresultdirectlyasacrosstable.

GraphicalQueryDesignerAcommonproblemwith reporting tool is there complexity. Creating complex reportsusingdifferentdatasourcesandreportitemsinaneasywayisobviouslyanantithesis.Thisresults inthe fact thatreportsoftenhavetobecreatedbydevelopersandnotbybusiness‐people, which are familiar with the thematic. Another fact is, that thecommunication between to different involved parties often raises problems. Featureslikeagraphicalquerydesignertrytoreducethesedependencies.

AlooktothefutureThe business‐world grows fast. New trends, like social medias, change themethodologies and strategies of companies. New technologies allow the company tocapturenewandmoreinformation,whichcouldinfluencetheirstrategy.Reportingtoolshavetoadapttothisalternations.

Ontheonehand,itisthetechnicalaspect,whichhastobeimproved.Thegiganticamountofinformationmakesit difficult to create reports and dashboards in anappropriate time. Inour fast‐changingworld isno timetowaitforhourstogetanoverviewoverthefacts.That

iswhyknowndistributorsofreportingtoolsworkonasolution, to make the process faster then ever before.

Formillionsofdatasets,itisnormaltowaitforsomehours.Usingthenewsystemstheprocesscanbedoneinreal‐time.Oneofthesesolutionswaspresentedattheendof2010bySAP.SAPHANA(SAPHigh‐PerformanceAnalyticAppliance)ishighperformancesystem.HANAusesatechnologycalled In‐Memory Computing. The two main character of In‐Memory are, that thedatabasesarestoredinthemainmemoryandwithanewdatabaseconcepttheamountoftoucheddataforarequestcouldbereduced.Thiscombinationofsoft‐andhardwareinnovation improves theusage of reporting toolsimmense. Hilti, aconstruction‐companyfrom Liechtenstein, is oneof the first well‐knowncompanies, which use SAPHANAforthereBI‐process.

Figure50‐Visualizationofadatacube

Figure51‐LogoSAP

Figure52‐SpatialyticsconnectsBIwithgeo‐spatialcomponents



Besidesoftheuseofnewtechnologiestospeed‐uptheprocess,thetypeofinterestinginformationchanges.Agoodexampleforthegrowingoftheamountofdatashowsthebonusprogramstheycameupintheearlynineties.Withnewinformationofcustomers,themarketing‐strategycanbeoptimizedforeachcustomerindividual.Aninterestingaspectofinformation,whichwinsmoreandmoreoftheattention,isthegeo‐spatialaspect.Withtheevolutionofsmartphones,locationbasedappscameupfast.A new trend is the location based real‐life games, likefoursquare. It is for sure, that this trend will reach thebusiness‐worldaswell and thegeo‐spatial informationwillinfluentthestrategiesanddecisionsofthecompanies.The modern reporting tools contain no or just simplecomponentstodisplaygeo‐spatialinformation.Butapinona map is not the best and only way to show geo‐spatialinformation.Therearemuchmoreopportunities todisplaycomplexformsandchartsdirectlyonmapsandrelatethemto other data representations. Spatialytics is a company,whichworkson thisparts and tries tobring this feature toopensourcereportingtoolsAthirdaspect,whichwillbeimprovedinthefuture,isthewayofthepresentationofthedata. Already now, some contributors are developing apps for displaying reports onmobiledevices.Especiallytablet‐pcsallowtodiscussdecisionseverywhere,atanytimeinaconfortableway.

6 ConclusionTheimportanceofreportingtoolsishugeandit isstillgrowing.Theinfluenceofopensourceproductsisbiggertheneverbefore.Allthepresentedopensourceproductshavesimilarfeatures.Therealdifferentcanbefoundinthedetails.Inthefuturenewfeatureswillamplifytheusageforbusiness‐companiesandthecontributorsofreportingtoolcanbenefitfromthesedevelopments.

7 SourcesType Source DateImage http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/008/Purple/ea/c2/40/mzi.n

agcebvp.175x175‐75.jpg15.05.2011

Data http://de.sap.info/hana_newdb_westmere_inmemory/44054 15.05.2011Data http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Report 15.05.2011Data http://fico‐forum.de/Painter.php Data http://help.sap.com/saphelp_ish471/helpdata/DE/84/b0b739

7a672963e10000000a114084/content.htm13.05.2011

Data http://it‐republik.de/jaxenter/artikel/Pentaho‐BIRT‐und‐JasperReports‐im‐Vergleich‐1737.html

14.05.2011

Data http://jasperforge.org/plugins/espnews/?group_id=102 13.05.2011Data http://jasperforge.org/plugins/espnews/?group_id=112 14.05.2011Data http://jasperforge.org/plugins/espnews/?group_id=83 14.05.2011Image http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/sap/37408/images/374

08‐hi‐sales_report.png13.05.2011

Image http://plugins.netbeans.org/data/images/1197052333893_ireport.jpg

14.04.2011

Figure53‐BIRTMobileViewerIPadapp



Data http://www.cmscritic.com/pentaho‐bi‐suite‐3‐8‐puts‐more‐power‐in‐the‐hands‐of‐end‐users/

14.05.2011

Data http://www.computerwelt.at/detailArticle.asp?a=133566&n=2 14.05.2011Data http://www.computerwoche.de/software/bi‐

ecm/1934051/index2.html13.05.2011

Data http://www.computerwoche.de/software/bi‐ecm/2368387/ 13.05.2011Image http://www.conbusinessintelligence.com/wp‐

content/uploads/2009/11/database_and_business_intelligence.JPG

15.05.2011

Image http://www.fernstudium‐fernschulen.de/assets/images/sap.jpg

15.05.2011

Data http://www.heise.de/developer/meldung/Sapphire‐Now‐SAP‐forciert‐In‐Memory‐Computing‐1003014.html

13.05.2011

Data http://www.innoventsolutions.com/open‐source‐reporting‐comparison.html

14.05.2011

Data http://www.innoventsolutions.com/open‐source‐reporting‐comparison.html

13.05.2011

Image http://www.panorama‐novaview.de/images/cube_medium_2.jpg

15.05.2011

Image http://www.pentaho.com/images/rich_chart_editor.jpg 15.05.2011Data http://www.refocusingtechnology.com/2009/03/03/4‐adv‐

dashboard/15.05.2011

Data http://www.sap.com/germany/plattform/in‐memory‐computing/index.epx

15.05.2011

Data http://www.sap.com/germany/solutions/sap‐crystal‐solutions/index.epx

13.05.2011

Image http://www.stonetemple.com/images/UNICA_Drill_Down.jpg 14.05.2011Data http://www.tecchannel.de/server/sql/1750691/business_intel

ligence_teil_8_bi_software_tools/index9.html13.05.2011

Data http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RecSOmN34Sc 13.05.2011Data https://foursquare.com

15.05.2011

Image /Data

OSBI market analysis of Luc Vaillancourt of Spatialytics, 2011,QuébecCity,Canada

15.05.2011

8 TableoffiguresFigure44‐Ilustrationofthedecisionmakingprocess...................................................................90Figure45‐CrystalReportsdashboard ..................................................................................................91Figure46‐Drilldownreport .....................................................................................................................91Figure47‐Well‐knownOSBI‐tools .........................................................................................................92Figure48‐IReportfromJasperSoft ........................................................................................................93Figure49‐BIRT‐pluginforEclipse ...................................................................................................... 103Figure50‐Visualizationofadatacube .............................................................................................. 104Figure51‐LogoSAP ................................................................................................................................... 104Figure52‐SpatialyticsconnectsBIwithgeo‐spatialcomponents......................................... 104Figure53‐BIRTMobileViewerIPadapp.......................................................................................... 105

extending birt with geospatial data visualization capabilities by

Documents