Using the Report Launcher for HCL Compass

Use the Report Launcher for HCL Compass to manage and run reports that are designed with BIRT reporting tools and stored on a shared file server. Authorized users can select reports from the Report Launcher navigation window and view the generated data in the Report Launcher view window.

After deploying the Report Launcher for HCL Compass, use it for running and viewing reports from the Report Launcher for Compass web interface. The interface operates like a download site. The left pane provides the navigation to run and view reports. The right pane contains the report viewer that renders the selected report.

Table 1. Report Launcher for HCL Compass user tasks and instructions
Task Instructions
Start the Report Launcher
In the address bar of a browser, enter the Report Launcher URL in one of the following formats:
https://server_host:<port>/cqreportlauncher/reports
http://server_host:<port>/cqreportlauncher/reports
Where
  • server_host is the hostname and domain of the machine where Report Launcher for HCL Compass server is installed. Contact your administrator for information about the location of your server_host.
  • port is the port defined in the profile used to deploy the application. The default HCL Compass profile uses port 12443. The default Websphere Application Server profile uses port 9443.

By default, the Report Launcher for HCL Compass web interface is displayed. A logon screen is displayed only if client security is enabled and the security rules require authentication.

Locate reports In the left pane of the Report Launcher, click a folder name to drill down into the directory to the list of reports.

For Report Launcher installations that include deeply nested subdirectories, you can also navigate directly to a specific path rather than drilling down to the target subdirectory. For example, you can enter a path like the following to go directly to the reports in the Defect_Reports folder:

http://server_host:<port>/cqreportlauncher/reports/Department1/Defect_Reports
Run reports When you click on a report name, the Report Launcher for HCL Compass starts the report on the report server and opens the report viewer in the right window.
Save, Print, Export reports In the Report Launcher web interface, reports are displayed by using the report viewer for the reporting tool used to create the report. For example, reports created by using the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) display in the BIRT report viewer. The features available for report operations like save, print, and export are provided in the report viewer toolbar or menu. These features are configured using parameters provided by the report viewer runtime environment. For an example of how to customize the available features, see Customizing the BIRT report viewer.
Provide report credentials Click the Set credentials link in the Report Launcher for HCL Compass web interface to specify credentials that are stored and passed when launching reports. When user credentials are saved, the name of the user is displayed in the upper left portion of the page. Use the Clear credentials link to remove the saved credentials.
Note: For more information about report security, see About HCL Compass reporting security.
View static content Users can view static content on the report file server from the Report Launcher web interface. By default, the PDF and HTML formats are supported. You can provide the capability to view other file formats by adding the file type extensions to the reports.launcher.filereader.suffix specification in the Report Launcher configuration file reportlauncher.properties.
Create report snapshots using PDF You can create a report snapshot by exporting the report from the report viewer in the Report Launcher for HCL Compass web interface and saving it as a PDF file.
  1. Run a report and view the report using the Report Launcher for HCL Compass.
  2. In the report viewer window in the Report Launcher for HCL Compass web interface, click the Export option in the tool bar of the report viewer.
  3. Click the Export option in the report viewer toolbar to export the report to PDF.
  4. Click Save and save the report to a file path visible from the Report Launcher interface.
Use sample reports HCL Compass provides a collection of sample reports that can be used for testing.
Windows™
HCL\Compass\reports\driver\plugins\hcl.ccm.compass.report.samples_version.timestamp.jar
Linux™ and UNIX™:
/opt/hcl/compass/reports/driver/plugins/com.hcl.ccm.compass.report.samples_version.timestamp.jar
  1. Create a ReportSamples directory. Then, extract the files from the report samples archive into this directory
  2. To publish the report samples to the Report Launcher, copy the ReportSamples directory to the Report Launcher baseDirectory or update the reportlauncher.properties file to include the samples directory.
  3. To run the sample reports, configure a repository and database 7.0.0/SAMPL. Some reports require queries that must be imported. The required queries are bundled with the samples in the /Queries subdirectory. Import the queries into the HCL Compass folder named Public Queries/Report Queries.