Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of TracReports


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Timestamp:
08/24/08 22:21:40 (16 years ago)
Author:
trac
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  • TracReports

    v1 v1  
     1= Trac Reports =
     2[[TracGuideToc]]
     3
     4The Trac reports module provides a simple, yet powerful reporting facility
     5to present information about tickets in the Trac database.
     6
     7Rather than have its own report definition format, TracReports relies on standard SQL
     8`SELECT` statements for custom report definition.
     9
     10  '''Note:''' ''The report module is being phased out in its current form because it seriously limits the ability of the Trac team to make adjustments to the underlying database schema. We believe that the [wiki:TracQuery query module] is a good replacement that provides more flexibility and better usability. While there are certain reports that cannot yet be handled by the query module, we intend to further enhance it so that at some point the reports module can be completely removed. This also means that there will be no major enhancements to the report module anymore.''
     11
     12  ''You can already completely replace the reports module by the query module simply by disabling the former in [wiki:TracIni trac.ini]:''
     13  {{{
     14  [components]
     15  trac.ticket.report.* = disabled
     16  }}}
     17  ''This will make the query module the default handler for the “View Tickets” navigation item. We encourage you to try this configuration and report back what kind of features of reports you are missing, if any.''
     18
     19  '''''You will almost definitely need to restart your httpd at this point.'''''
     20
     21A report consists of these basic parts:
     22 * '''ID''' -- Unique (sequential) identifier
     23 * '''Title'''  -- Descriptive title
     24 * '''Description'''  -- A brief description of the report, in WikiFormatting text.
     25 * '''Report Body''' -- List of results from report query, formatted according to the methods described below.
     26 * '''Footer''' -- Links to alternative download formats for this report.
     27
     28== Changing Sort Order ==
     29Simple reports - ungrouped reports to be specific - can be changed to be sorted by any column simply by clicking the column header.
     30
     31If a column header is a hyperlink (red), click the column you would like to sort by. Clicking the same header again reverses the order.
     32
     33== Changing Report Numbering ==
     34There may be instances where you need to change the ID of the report, perhaps to organize the reports better. At present this requires changes to the trac database. The ''report'' table has the following schema (as of 0.10):
     35 * id integer PRIMARY KEY
     36 * author text
     37 * title text
     38 * query text
     39 * description text
     40Changing the ID changes the shown order and number in the ''Available Reports'' list and the report's perma-link. This is done by running something like:
     41{{{
     42update report set id=5 where id=3;
     43}}}
     44Keep in mind that the integrity has to be maintained (i.e., ID has to be unique, and you don't want to exceed the max, since that's managed by SQLite someplace).
     45
     46== Navigating Tickets ==
     47Clicking on one of the report results will take you to that ticket. You can navigate through the results by clicking the ''Next Ticket'' or ''Previous Ticket'' links just below the main menu bar, or click the ''Back to Report'' link to return to the report page.
     48
     49You can safely edit any of the tickets and continue to navigate through the results using the Next/Previous/Back to Report links after saving your results, but when you return to the report, there will be no hint about what has changed, as would happen if you were navigating a list of tickets obtained from a query (see TracQuery#NavigatingTickets). ''(since 0.11)''
     50
     51== Alternative Download Formats ==
     52Aside from the default HTML view, reports can also be exported in a number of alternative formats.
     53At the bottom of the report page, you will find a list of available data formats. Click the desired link to
     54download the alternative report format.
     55
     56=== Comma-delimited - CSV (Comma Separated Values) ===
     57Export the report as plain text, each row on its own line, columns separated by a single comma (',').
     58'''Note:''' Carriage returns, line feeds, and commas are stripped from column data to preserve the CSV structure.
     59
     60=== Tab-delimited ===
     61Like above, but uses tabs (\t) instead of comma.
     62
     63=== RSS - XML Content Syndication ===
     64All reports support syndication using XML/RSS 2.0. To subscribe to an RSS feed, click the orange 'XML' icon at the bottom of the page. See TracRss for general information on RSS support in Trac.
     65
     66----
     67
     68== Creating Custom Reports ==
     69
     70''Creating a custom report requires a comfortable knowledge of SQL.''
     71
     72A report is basically a single named SQL query, executed and presented by
     73Trac.  Reports can be viewed and created from a custom SQL expression directly
     74in from the web interface.
     75
     76Typically, a report consists of a SELECT-expression from the 'ticket' table,
     77using the available columns and sorting the way you want it.
     78
     79== Ticket columns ==
     80The ''ticket'' table has the following columns:
     81 * id
     82 * type
     83 * time
     84 * changetime
     85 * component
     86 * severity 
     87 * priority
     88 * owner
     89 * reporter
     90 * cc
     91 * version
     92 * milestone
     93 * status
     94 * resolution
     95 * summary
     96 * description
     97 * keywords
     98
     99See TracTickets for a detailed description of the column fields.
     100
     101'''all active tickets, sorted by priority and time'''
     102
     103'''Example:''' ''All active tickets, sorted by priority and time''
     104{{{
     105SELECT id AS ticket, status, severity, priority, owner,
     106       time as created, summary FROM ticket
     107  WHERE status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     108  ORDER BY priority, time
     109}}}
     110
     111
     112----
     113
     114
     115== Advanced Reports: Dynamic Variables ==
     116For more flexible reports, Trac supports the use of ''dynamic variables'' in report SQL statements.
     117In short, dynamic variables are ''special'' strings that are replaced by custom data before query execution.
     118
     119=== Using Variables in a Query ===
     120The syntax for dynamic variables is simple, any upper case word beginning with '$' is considered a variable.
     121
     122Example:
     123{{{
     124SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE priority=$PRIORITY
     125}}}
     126
     127To assign a value to $PRIORITY when viewing the report, you must define it as an argument in the report URL, leaving out the leading '$'.
     128
     129Example:
     130{{{
     131 http://trac.edgewall.org/reports/14?PRIORITY=high
     132}}}
     133
     134To use multiple variables, separate them with an '&'.
     135
     136Example:
     137{{{
     138 http://trac.edgewall.org/reports/14?PRIORITY=high&SEVERITY=critical
     139}}}
     140
     141
     142=== Special/Constant Variables ===
     143There is one ''magic'' dynamic variable to allow practical reports, its value automatically set without having to change the URL.
     144
     145 * $USER -- Username of logged in user.
     146
     147Example (''List all tickets assigned to me''):
     148{{{
     149SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE owner=$USER
     150}}}
     151
     152
     153----
     154
     155
     156== Advanced Reports: Custom Formatting ==
     157Trac is also capable of more advanced reports, including custom layouts,
     158result grouping and user-defined CSS styles. To create such reports, we'll use
     159specialized SQL statements to control the output of the Trac report engine.
     160
     161== Special Columns ==
     162To format reports, TracReports looks for 'magic' column names in the query
     163result. These 'magic' names are processed and affect the layout and style of the
     164final report.
     165
     166=== Automatically formatted columns ===
     167 * '''ticket''' -- Ticket ID number. Becomes a hyperlink to that ticket.
     168 * '''created, modified, date, time''' -- Format cell as a date and/or time.
     169
     170 * '''description''' -- Ticket description field, parsed through the wiki engine.
     171
     172'''Example:'''
     173{{{
     174SELECT id as ticket, created, status, summary FROM ticket
     175}}}
     176
     177=== Custom formatting columns ===
     178Columns whose names begin and end with 2 underscores (Example: '''`__color__`''') are
     179assumed to be ''formatting hints'', affecting the appearance of the row.
     180 
     181 * '''`__group__`''' -- Group results based on values in this column. Each group will have its own header and table.
     182 * '''`__color__`''' -- Should be a numeric value ranging from 1 to 5 to select a pre-defined row color. Typically used to color rows by issue priority.
     183{{{
     184#!html
     185<div style="margin-left:7.5em">Defaults:
     186<span style="border: none; color: #333; background: transparent;  font-size: 85%; background: #fdc; border-color: #e88; color: #a22">Color 1</span>
     187<span style="border: none; color: #333; background: transparent;  font-size: 85%; background: #ffb; border-color: #eea; color: #880">Color 2</span>
     188<span style="border: none; color: #333; background: transparent;  font-size: 85%; background: #fbfbfb; border-color: #ddd; color: #444">Color 3</span>
     189<span style="border: none; color: #333; background: transparent; font-size: 85%; background: #e7ffff; border-color: #cee; color: #099">Color 4</span>
     190<span style="border: none; color: #333; background: transparent;  font-size: 85%; background: #e7eeff; border-color: #cde; color: #469">Color 5</span>
     191</div>
     192}}}
     193 * '''`__style__`''' -- A custom CSS style expression to use for the current row.
     194
     195'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, colored by priority''
     196{{{
     197SELECT p.value AS __color__,
     198     t.milestone AS __group__,
     199     (CASE owner WHEN 'daniel' THEN 'font-weight: bold; background: red;' ELSE '' END) AS __style__,
     200       t.id AS ticket, summary
     201  FROM ticket t,enum p
     202  WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     203    AND p.name=t.priority AND p.type='priority'
     204  ORDER BY t.milestone, p.value, t.severity, t.time
     205}}}
     206
     207'''Note:''' A table join is used to match ''ticket'' priorities with their
     208numeric representation from the ''enum'' table.
     209
     210=== Changing layout of report rows ===
     211By default, all columns on each row are display on a single row in the HTML
     212report, possibly formatted according to the descriptions above. However, it's
     213also possible to create multi-line report entries.
     214
     215 * '''`column_`''' -- ''Break row after this''. By appending an underscore ('_') to the column name, the remaining columns will be be continued on a second line.
     216
     217 * '''`_column_`''' -- ''Full row''. By adding an underscore ('_') both at the beginning and the end of a column name, the data will be shown on a separate row.
     218
     219 * '''`_column`'''  --  ''Hide data''. Prepending an underscore ('_') to a column name instructs Trac to hide the contents from the HTML output. This is useful for information to be visible only if downloaded in other formats (like CSV or RSS/XML).
     220
     221'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, colored by priority, with  description and multi-line layout''
     222
     223{{{
     224SELECT p.value AS __color__,
     225       t.milestone AS __group__,
     226       (CASE owner
     227          WHEN 'daniel' THEN 'font-weight: bold; background: red;'
     228          ELSE '' END) AS __style__,
     229       t.id AS ticket, summary AS summary_,             -- ## Break line here
     230       component,version, severity, milestone, status, owner,
     231       time AS created, changetime AS modified,         -- ## Dates are formatted
     232       description AS _description_,                    -- ## Uses a full row
     233       changetime AS _changetime, reporter AS _reporter -- ## Hidden from HTML output
     234  FROM ticket t,enum p
     235  WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     236    AND p.name=t.priority AND p.type='priority'
     237  ORDER BY t.milestone, p.value, t.severity, t.time
     238}}}
     239
     240=== Reporting on custom fields ===
     241
     242If you have added custom fields to your tickets (a feature since v0.8, see TracTicketsCustomFields), you can write a SQL query to cover them. You'll need to make a join on the ticket_custom table, but this isn't especially easy.
     243
     244If you have tickets in the database ''before'' you declare the extra fields in trac.ini, there will be no associated data in the ticket_custom table. To get around this, use SQL's "LEFT OUTER JOIN" clauses. See TracIniReportCustomFieldSample for some examples.
     245
     246'''Note that you need to set up permissions in order to see the buttons for adding or editing reports.'''
     247
     248----
     249See also: TracTickets, TracQuery, TracGuide, [http://www.sqlite.org/lang_expr.html Query Language Understood by SQLite]