There are two possible ways for the application to create a report's dataset:
- Query: The application can execute a query with any number of parameters to create the dataset. Use a query whenever your report only needs to load one report table from the schema and doesn't need to execute any logic on the returned data (using a query is preferable for performance reasons). The query comes from the entity and must exist there before you can create the report.
- Method: Use a method whenever your report needs to load more than one report table or needs to execute logic on the returned data (such as a calculation of some kind). The method comes from the Reports server (srvReports) in the business tier and must be defined there before you can create the report.
S3 uses the push method to populate the data in the report: the query or method loads data to a dataset and the report displays the dataset. Once you have defined the report and dataset, creating the report is a simple exercise in binding an XML file to those files.
This post is part of the Reports topic. Click here to open the Reports Overview.