It is outside the scope of this section, or even this manual, to teach you the basics of xslt. We'll just say that it is an xml-based technology that allows you to take one or more input xml document and transform them into an output document, which can be xml, html, xhtml, or text. You can also use xsl-fo, a formatting xml-based language, to produce postscript or pdf files. Here is a list of resources for you to get more information:

Learning xslt is not very easy nor very fast, but it pays off in time. Xml-based languages and technologies are what the entire web is built upon, and you get to find excellent tools, resources and peer support just aboute everywhere. The list above is just a small fraction of what's available. We believe in the power and flexibility of these technologies and are going to push them more and more in EDW over the traditional report building techniques (which EDW supports as well, anyway).

EDW features an agent that can process an xml file, produced by one of the agents described above, and transform it into an xml (in different format), html, xhtml, txt or pdf file. The agent uses an xslt stylesheet file called a template, and delegates the xslt processing to MSXML (it needs at least MSXML 2, which you'll find installed in any reasonably recent computer). This is the TEDWXSLAgent, which is documented in detail in the EDW reference. This agent calls Apache FOP to produce pdf files; in order to be able to do that you should:

The agent can also copy any additional support files (lik .js, .css, or image files) over to the output folder, and supports custom macros in the input xml document and text-based support files, and in the xslt template document.

If you need to transform an xml document on-the-fly, have a look at the TransformXMLText global routine (more details in the EDW reference). It's the routine used internally by the xsl agent.

There are several bits and pieces of code useful to work with xml in EDW and in the libraries it is based upon, like the CBLib. We suggest you browse the EDW reference and the source code for documentation on classes like TEDWSAXReader and TEDWXMLOutputStream.

This is a simple container for one or more SQL select statements that are used to build datasets. You can link datasets in master/detail relationships if needed. You configure the dataset builder through numbered configuration items: DataSet<X>.Name is the name you'll use to uniquely identify each dataset later; DataSet<X>.SQLStatement contains the dataset's SQL select statement; DataSet<X>.ParentDataSetName optionally points to the master dataset in a master/detail relationship.

You pass a database connection to the database builder upon construction, then you set any Configuration items and call the BuildAllDataSets method to have all datasets built and all data retrieved. When you use this class as a part of a CBReport, all this is done automatically and you just need to pass the configuration items in the appropriate slice.

The built datasets are passed to the doc producer, that will load any needed external template or definition and create the final document. The following table summarizes the main configuration items of this object:

You can also set a ReportTitle, a ReportSubTitle, and decide to show a preview on screen or not. This class is used by assigning a dataset builder to its DataSetBuilder propert, setting all needed Configuration items and call its ProduceDoc method. When you use this class as a part of a CBReport, all this is done automatically and you just need to pass the configuration items in the appropriate slice.

The EDW demo contains examples of how to configure and use the CBReport agent. Here is a configuration file snippet that produces a very simple list report with OOo Writer and stores in PDF format:

// Include settings common to all programs.
{$include EDWDemo_inc.conf}
begin
  // Configure database access using constants included above.
  Configuration.SetString('DBFactoryId', EDWDemoDBFactoryId);
  Configuration.SetString('DBConnection.ConnectionString', EDWDemoDBConnectionString);

  // Configure the datasets that will be built for the report.
  // In this case it's a single dataset for a simple list.
  // Note that the main dataset should be called 'Main'.
  Configuration.SetString('DataSetBuilder.DataSet1.Name', 'Main');
  Configuration.SetString('DataSetBuilder.DataSet1.SQLStatement',
    'select ID, NAME, DESCRIPTION from COMPANY order by NAME');

  // Select the OpenOffice.org Writer document producer.
  Configuration.SetString('DocProducer.CBDocProducerClassName',
   'TOOoWriterDocProducer');

  // Create the report based on a given template. The template
  // should contain fields in <dataset name>.<field name> format.
  Configuration.SetString('DocProducer.TemplateFileName',
    'CompanyListReportOOoTemplate.ott');

  // Save the report in PDF format and under the given file name.
  // You can save in other formats, like ODT, as well.
  Configuration.SetString('DocProducer.OutputFileName',
    'CompanyListReportOOo.pdf');
    
  // Uncomment this line to disable the on-screen preview.
  //Configuration.SetBoolean('DocProducer.ShowReportPreview', False);
end.

Here is the code that you would use in an EDW program to load the above configuration file and produce the report:

A := Environment.AddAgent('CBReport');
A.Configuration.LoadFromFile('CompanyListReportOOo.conf');
A.Execute;