Blox Builder reports for business users

Reports can contain components, properties, and a layout:

Components

Components are the parts that make up a report. Components define the data and visual aspects of a report. For example, a report can contain a PresentBlox component, which displays a grid and a chart, and a checkbox component, which displays a checkbox.

Properties

You can create custom report properties, which you use to share information between the report's components. For example, your report contains a PresentBlox component and a checkbox component. You want the PresentBlox to display a toolbar when you select the checkbox. You can design the report so that when you click the checkbox, the checkbox component sets a report property to true. The PresentBlox accesses the value of the report property to determine whether to display a toolbar.

Layout

A report's layout defines how the report's components are displayed in the browser. The layout defines each component's size and position when the report is displayed in the browser. Similar to the report display name and description, a report can have a different layout for each locale.

The report is stored as a report definition, which is an XML file. Blox Builder provides a graphical interface to work with the report definition. A report definition is uniquely defined by its report ID. A report ID can contain alphanumeric, slash, dash, space, and underscore characters.

Each report has a display name and description, which can be different for different locales. For example, you can give a report one name in English and a different name in Japanese.

The report definition and layout file are stored in the Alphablox repository.

When you add a report to an application, you can change the values of a report's properties so that the report acts like a template. For example, you create a report that displays the sales data for a certain time period. A custom report property contains the value that determines the time period. In an application, you can set the report property to different values to display reports for different time periods.