What's New › Report Designer Enhancements

Report Designer Enhancements

The following enhancements are made to Report Designer in this release:

• Mart-level reports: You can create reports on the Mart and generate reports across models. For example, you can generate a report on the domains that are included in all the models in a Mart.
• Report on validation rules: You can now generate a report that validates certain criteria using filters. For example, you can generate a report of attributes that are primary keys.
• TLX reports: Report Designer now includes model validation reports that are created using CA ERwin Template Language (TLX). TLX reports help you improve your data model by displaying problems and statistics of model objects.
• Export to PDF: You can export reports to PDF.
• Pinned reports from toolbar: You can access the Pinned reports from the Report Designer toolbar.
• Model report status: You can know the reporting status of models on the Mart Open dialog.
• Cross-model reports: You can now generate a report on the properties of attributes and columns present across multiple models in a Mart.
• Scheduling Mart report synchronization: You can synchronize the model changes with Mart report tables dynamically or schedule the synchronization for a later time.
• Using multiple threads to update report data: You can configure a Mart to use multiple threads to update a model. Using multiple threads increases the performance of the update process and improves the time taken for large models to be available for reporting.
• Compressing Mart report data: You can change the way the report information is stored in the report data table and improve the performance of Mart reporting.

Mart-Level Reports in Report Designer

You can now generate reports on the Mart. The reports that you generate could be administrative or about the model objects. For example, you can generate a report on the profiles that are attached to users, or on the list of entities without primary keys. When you generate the report, you can use the filter to search within specific objects. The filter supports SQL wildcard characters such as ? and %.

Note: You must have the Reports: View permission to create Mart reports.

Follow these steps:

1. Open CA ERwin Data Modeler and log in to the Mart.
2. Click Tools, Report Designer.
3. Enter a name for the report and click Mart.
4. Select the report subject in the Select Report Subject pane.
5. [Optional] In the Select Report Fields pane, select Specify Attribute Name at Run Time or Specify Model Name at Run Time check box.
6. Select the properties that you want to include in the report and click one of the following buttons:
   1. Click Run Report.

      If you have selected an option under Filter By, the Mart Report Filter dialog opens.

      Select the specific models that you want to get the results from. Enter the specific model object name. Use wildcard characters, if required.

      The report is generated and displayed. If you do not specify any model or entity the generated report includes all the models. If you have used a wildcard, by default, wildcard is applied to all the names. For example, if you type ID, the report includes Cust_ID and ID_For_Category.

   2. To add the report to the current Report Solution, click OK.

Model Validation Reports

You can now generate model validation reports such as tables that do not have columns and columns that do not have comments. The reports can be generated using filters, and filters are available for the following objects:

• Entity/Table
• Attribute/Column
• Subject Area
• Relationship
• Key group/Index
• Domain

Follow these steps:

1. Open ERwin Report Designer and create a report.
2. Select Logical, Physical, or Logical/Physical. For example, select Logical.
3. Select a subject in the Select Report Subject pane. For example, select Entity.
4. In the Select Report Fields pane, expand the Filter node for the required object and select the required criterion. For example, expand Entity, Filter, and select No Definition. Expand Properties and select Name.
5. Click Run Report.

   The report opens in ERwin Report Designer. In this example, the report includes the names of entities that do not have a definition.

TLX Reports

Report Designer now includes model validation reports that are created using CA ERwin Template Language (TLX). TLX reports help you improve your data model by displaying problems and statistics of model objects. You can generate the default reports or can configure new reports with custom properties. To configure new reports, you must be familiar with TLX scripting.

You can add two types of custom properties, filters and TLX properties. The code for a filter includes a function that returns TRUE or FALSE.

The following are some of the default TLX reports that are included in Report Designer:

• Entity level
  • Is Duplicate
  • No Columns
  • No Comment
  • No PK
• Column level
  • Different FK Datatype
  • Is Duplicate
  • No Comment
  • PK and Not NULL FK allows NULL
  • Using Default Datatype

For more information about how to create TLX reports, see the online help.

Export to PDF

Now you can export the reports that you create using the ERwin Report Designer to PDF. After you run a report, right-click the report and click Export to PDF. You can also use the Export to PDF option on the Toolbar. By default, the exported PDF document is saved in the following folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\CA\ERwin Data Modeler\9.6\Report\Exporting 

Pinned Reports from the Report Designer Menu

You can now open the built-in reports from the Open pinned reports from disk toolbar item. The pinned reports are available in the local computer of the user. These reports are segregated into categories and each category of reports is available in a separate folder. You can create a folder of your own add the reports of your choice to it.

The following folder includes the built-in reports:

Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Application Data\CA\ERwin Data Modeler\9.6\Configuration\Report Solutions\

Windows 7

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\CA\ERwin Data Modeler\9.6\Report Solutions

Reports that are copied directly under this folder do not appear in the Pinned Reports dialog. The reports must be in a subfolder under this folder.

Follow these steps:

1. Launch ERwin Report Designer and click Open pinned reports from disk on the toolbar.

   The Pinned Reports dialog appears.

2. Select the category of the report that you want to see.
3. Select one or more reports that you want to run and click OK.

   The report is included to the current Report Solution and the Pinned Reports dialog closes.

Cross-Model Reports

You can now generate a report on the properties of attributes and columns present across multiple models in a Mart. When you generate the report, you can use the filter to search within specific models. The filter supports SQL wildcard characters such as ? and %.

Follow these steps:

1. Open CA ERwin Data Modeler and log in to the Mart.
2. Click Tools, Report Designer.
3. Enter a name for the report and click Mart.
4. Click Attribute/Column in the Select Report Subject pane.
5. In the Select Report Fields pane, select Specify Attribute Name at Run Time or Specify Model Name at Run Time check box.
6. Select the properties that you want to include in the report.
7. Click Run Report.
8. Select the specific models that you want to get the attributes from. Enter the attribute or column name.

   By default, wildcard is applied to all the names. For example, if you type ID, the report includes Cust_ID and ID_For_Category.

9. Click OK.

   The report is generated and displayed.