Changes between Version 2 and Version 3 of TracReports


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Timestamp:
06/24/16 22:52:01 (8 years ago)
Author:
trac
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  • TracReports

    v2 v3  
    1 = Trac Reports =
     1= Trac Reports
     2
    23[[TracGuideToc]]
    34
    4 The Trac reports module provides a simple, yet powerful reporting facility
    5 to present information about tickets in the Trac database.
    6 
    7 Rather 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   {{{
     5The Trac reports module provides a simple, yet powerful reporting facility to present information about tickets in the Trac database.
     6
     7Rather than have its own report definition format, TracReports relies on standard SQL `SELECT` statements for custom report definition.
     8
     9  '''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.
     10
     11  You can already completely replace the reports module by the query module simply by disabling the former in [wiki:TracIni trac.ini]:
     12  {{{#!ini
    1413  [components]
    1514  trac.ticket.report.* = disabled
    1615  }}}
    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.'''''
     16  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.
    2017
    2118A 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 ==
     19 * '''ID''' — Unique (sequential) identifier
     20 * '''Title''' — Descriptive title
     21 * '''Description''' — A brief description of the report, in WikiFormatting text.
     22 * '''Report Body''' — List of results from report query, formatted according to the methods described below.
     23 * '''Footer''' — Links to alternative download formats for this report.
     24
     25== Changing Sort Order
     26
    2927Simple reports - ungrouped reports to be specific - can be changed to be sorted by any column simply by clicking the column header.
    3028
    3129If a column header is a hyperlink (red), click the column you would like to sort by. Clicking the same header again reverses the order.
    3230
    33 == Changing Report Numbering ==
    34 There 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):
     31== Changing Report Numbering
     32
     33There 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:
    3534 * id integer PRIMARY KEY
    3635 * author text
    … …  
    3938 * description text
    4039Changing 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 {{{
    42 update report set id=5 where id=3;
    43 }}}
    44 Keep 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 ==
     40{{{#!sql
     41UPDATE report SET id = 5 WHERE id = 3;
     42}}}
     43Keep in mind that the integrity has to be maintained, ie ID has to be unique, and you don't want to exceed the max, since that's managed by SQLite someplace.
     44
     45You may also need to update or remove the report number stored in the report or query.
     46
     47== Navigating Tickets
     48
    4749Clicking 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.
    4850
    49 You 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 ==
     51You 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).
     52
     53== Alternative Download Formats
     54
    5255Aside from the default HTML view, reports can also be exported in a number of alternative formats.
    5356At the bottom of the report page, you will find a list of available data formats. Click the desired link to
    5457download the alternative report format.
    5558
    56 === Comma-delimited - CSV (Comma Separated Values) ===
     59=== Comma-delimited - CSV (Comma Separated Values)
     60
    5761Export 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 ===
     62'''Note:''' The output is fully escaped so carriage returns, line feeds, and commas will be preserved in the output.
     63
     64=== Tab-delimited
     65
    6166Like above, but uses tabs (\t) instead of comma.
    6267
    63 === RSS - XML Content Syndication ===
     68=== RSS - XML Content Syndication
     69
    6470All 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.
    6571
    66 ----
    67 
    68 == Creating Custom Reports ==
    69 
    70 ''Creating a custom report requires a comfortable knowledge of SQL.''
    71 
    72 A report is basically a single named SQL query, executed and presented by
    73 Trac.  Reports can be viewed and created from a custom SQL expression directly
    74 in from the web interface.
    75 
    76 Typically, a report consists of a SELECT-expression from the 'ticket' table,
    77 using the available columns and sorting the way you want it.
    78 
    79 == Ticket columns ==
     72== Creating Custom Reports
     73
     74Creating a custom report requires a comfortable knowledge of SQL.
     75
     76Note that you need to set up [TracPermissions#Reports permissions] in order to see the buttons for adding or editing reports.
     77
     78A report is basically a single named SQL query, executed and presented by Trac. Reports can be viewed and created from a custom SQL expression directly in the web interface.
     79
     80Typically, a report consists of a SELECT-expression from the 'ticket' table, using the available columns and sorting the way you want it.
     81
     82== Ticket columns
     83
    8084The ''ticket'' table has the following columns:
    8185 * id
    … …  
    99103See TracTickets for a detailed description of the column fields.
    100104
    101 '''all active tickets, sorted by priority and time'''
    102 
    103 '''Example:''' ''All active tickets, sorted by priority and time''
    104 {{{
    105 SELECT 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 ==
     105Example: '''All active tickets, sorted by priority and time'''
     106{{{#!sql
     107SELECT id AS ticket, status, severity, priority, owner, time AS created, summary
     108FROM ticket
     109WHERE status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     110ORDER BY priority, time
     111}}}
     112
     113== Advanced Reports: Dynamic Variables
     114
    116115For more flexible reports, Trac supports the use of ''dynamic variables'' in report SQL statements.
    117116In short, dynamic variables are ''special'' strings that are replaced by custom data before query execution.
    118117
    119 === Using Variables in a Query ===
     118=== Using Variables in a Query
     119
    120120The syntax for dynamic variables is simple, any upper case word beginning with '$' is considered a variable.
    121121
    122122Example:
    123 {{{
     123{{{#!sql
    124124SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE priority=$PRIORITY
    125125}}}
    126126
    127 To 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 
    129 Example:
     127To assign a value to $PRIORITY when viewing the report, you must define it as an argument in the report URL, leaving out the leading '$':
    130128{{{
    131129 http://trac.edgewall.org/reports/14?PRIORITY=high
    132130}}}
    133131
    134 To use multiple variables, separate them with an '&'.
    135 
    136 Example:
     132To use multiple variables, separate them with an '&':
    137133{{{
    138134 http://trac.edgewall.org/reports/14?PRIORITY=high&SEVERITY=critical
    139135}}}
    140136
    141 
    142 === Special/Constant Variables ===
    143 There 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 
    147 Example (''List all tickets assigned to me''):
    148 {{{
     137=== !Special/Constant Variables
     138
     139There is one dynamic variable whose value is set automatically (the URL does not have to be changed) to allow practical reports.
     140
     141 * $USER — Username of logged in user.
     142
     143Example: List all tickets assigned to me:
     144{{{#!sql
    149145SELECT id AS ticket,summary FROM ticket WHERE owner=$USER
    150146}}}
    151147
    152 
    153 ----
    154 
    155 
    156 == Advanced Reports: Custom Formatting ==
    157 Trac is also capable of more advanced reports, including custom layouts,
    158 result grouping and user-defined CSS styles. To create such reports, we'll use
    159 specialized SQL statements to control the output of the Trac report engine.
    160 
    161 == Special Columns ==
    162 To format reports, TracReports looks for 'magic' column names in the query
    163 result. These 'magic' names are processed and affect the layout and style of the
    164 final 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.
     148== Advanced Reports: Custom Formatting
     149
     150Trac is also capable of more advanced reports, including custom layouts, result grouping and user-defined CSS styles. To create such reports, we will use specialized SQL statements to control the output of the Trac report engine.
     151
     152=== Special Columns
     153
     154To format reports, TracReports looks for 'magic' column names in the query result. These 'magic' names are processed and affect the layout and style of the final report.
     155
     156=== Automatically formatted columns
     157
     158 * '''ticket''' — Ticket ID number. Becomes a hyperlink to that ticket.
     159 * '''id''' — same as '''ticket''' above when '''realm''' is not set
     160 * '''realm''' — together with '''id''', can be used to create links to other resources than tickets (e.g. a realm of ''wiki'' and an ''id'' to a page name will create a link to that wiki page)
     161   - for some kind of resources, it may be necessary to specify their ''parent'' resources (e.g. for ''changeset'', which ''repos'') and this can be achieved using the '''parent_realm''' and '''parent_id''' columns
     162 * '''created, modified, date, time''' — Format cell as a date and/or time.
     163 * '''description''' — Ticket description field, parsed through the wiki engine.
    171164
    172165'''Example:'''
    173 {{{
    174 SELECT id as ticket, created, status, summary FROM ticket
    175 }}}
    176 
    177 === Custom formatting columns ===
     166{{{#!sql
     167SELECT id AS ticket, created, status, summary FROM ticket
     168}}}
     169
     170Those columns can also be defined but marked as hidden, see [#column-syntax below].
     171
     172See trac:wiki/CookBook/Configuration/Reports for some example of creating reports for realms other than ''ticket''.
     173
     174=== Custom formatting columns
     175
    178176Columns whose names begin and end with 2 underscores (Example: '''`__color__`''') are
    179177assumed to be ''formatting hints'', affecting the appearance of the row.
    180178 
    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.
     179 * '''`__group__`''' — Group results based on values in this column. Each group will have its own header and table.
     180 * '''`__grouplink__`''' — Make the header of each group a link to the specified URL. The URL is taken from the first row of each group.
     181 * '''`__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.
    183182{{{
    184183#!html
    … …  
    191190</div>
    192191}}}
    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 {{{
     192 * '''`__style__`''' — A custom CSS style expression to use on the `<tr>` element of the current row.
     193 * '''`__class__`''' — Zero or more space-separated CSS class names to be set on the `<tr>` element of the current row. These classes are added to the class name derived from `__color__` and the odd / even indicator.
     194
     195'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, group header linked to milestone page, colored by priority''
     196{{{#!sql
    197197SELECT p.value AS __color__,
    198198     t.milestone AS __group__,
     199     '../milestone/' || t.milestone AS __grouplink__,
    199200     (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
    208 numeric representation from the ''enum'' table.
    209 
    210 === Changing layout of report rows ===
    211 By default, all columns on each row are display on a single row in the HTML
    212 report, possibly formatted according to the descriptions above. However, it's
    213 also 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).
     201     t.id AS ticket, summary
     202FROM ticket t,enum p
     203WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     204  AND p.name = t.priority AND p.type = 'priority'
     205ORDER BY t.milestone, p.value, t.severity, t.time
     206}}}
     207
     208'''Note:''' A table join is used to match ''ticket'' priorities with their numeric representation from the ''enum'' table.
     209
     210=== Changing layout of report rows === #column-syntax
     211
     212By default, all columns on each row are display on a single row in the HTML report, possibly formatted according to the descriptions above. However, it is also possible to create multi-line report entries.
     213
     214 * '''`column_`''' — ''Break row after this''. By appending an underscore ('_') to the column name, the remaining columns will be continued on a second line.
     215
     216 * '''`_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.
     217
     218 * '''`_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).
     219   This can be used to hide any kind of column, even important ones required for identifying the resource, e.g. `id as _id` will hide the '''Id''' column but the link to the ticket will be present.
    220220
    221221'''Example:''' ''List active tickets, grouped by milestone, colored by priority, with  description and multi-line layout''
    222222
    223 {{{
     223{{{#!sql
    224224SELECT p.value AS __color__,
    225225       t.milestone AS __group__,
    … …  
    232232       description AS _description_,                    -- ## Uses a full row
    233233       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 
    242 If 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.
     234FROM ticket t,enum p
     235WHERE t.status IN ('new', 'assigned', 'reopened')
     236  AND p.name = t.priority AND p.type = 'priority'
     237ORDER 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 (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.
    243243
    244244If 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 [trac:TracIniReportCustomFieldSample TracIniReportCustomFieldSample] for some examples.
    245245
    246 '''Note that you need to set up permissions in order to see the buttons for adding or editing reports.'''
     246=== A note about SQL rewriting #rewriting
     247
     248Beyond the relatively trivial replacement of dynamic variables, the SQL query is also altered in order to support two features of the reports:
     249 1. [#sort-order changing the sort order]
     250 1. pagination support (limitation of the number of result rows displayed on each page)
     251In order to support the first feature, the sort column is inserted in the `ORDER BY` clause in the first position or in the second position if a `__group__` column is specified (an `ORDER BY` clause is created if needed). In order to support pagination, a `LIMIT ... OFFSET ...` clause is appended.
     252The query might be too complex for the automatic rewrite to work correctly, resulting in an erroneous query. In this case you still have the possibility to control exactly how the rewrite is done by manually inserting the following tokens:
     253 - `@SORT_COLUMN@`, the place where the name of the selected sort column will be inserted,
     254 - `@LIMIT_OFFSET@`, the place where the pagination support clause will be added
     255Note that if you write them after an SQL comment, `--`, you'll effectively disable rewriting if this is what you want!
     256
     257Let's take an example, consider the following SQL query:
     258{{{#!sql
     259-- ## 4: Assigned, Active Tickets by Owner ## --
     260
     261--
     262-- List assigned tickets, group by ticket owner, sorted by priority.
     263--
     264
     265SELECT p.value AS __color__,
     266   owner AS __group__,
     267   id AS ticket, summary, component, milestone, t.type AS type, severity, time AS created,
     268   changetime AS _changetime, description AS _description,
     269   reporter AS _reporter
     270FROM ticket t,enum p
     271WHERE status = 'assigned'
     272  AND p.name = t.priority AND p.type = 'priority'
     273ORDER BY __group__, p.value, severity, time
     274}}}
     275
     276The automatic rewrite will be the following (4 rows per page, page 2, sorted by `component`):
     277{{{#!sql
     278SELECT p.value AS __color__,
     279   owner AS __group__,
     280   id AS ticket, summary, component, milestone, t.type AS type, severity, time AS created,
     281   changetime AS _changetime, description AS _description,
     282   reporter AS _reporter
     283FROM ticket t,enum p
     284WHERE status = 'assigned'
     285  AND p.name = t.priority AND p.type = 'priority'
     286ORDER BY __group__ ASC, `component` ASC,  __group__, p.value, severity, time
     287LIMIT 4 OFFSET 4
     288}}}
     289
     290The equivalent SQL query with the rewrite tokens would have been:
     291{{{#!sql
     292SELECT p.value AS __color__,
     293   owner AS __group__,
     294   id AS ticket, summary, component, milestone, t.type AS type, severity, time AS created,
     295   changetime AS _changetime, description AS _description,
     296   reporter AS _reporter
     297FROM ticket t,enum p
     298WHERE status = 'assigned'
     299  AND p.name = t.priority AND p.type = 'priority'
     300ORDER BY __group__, @SORT_COLUMN@, p.value, severity, time
     301@LIMIT_OFFSET@
     302}}}
     303
     304If you want to always sort first by priority and only then by the user selected sort column, simply use the following `ORDER BY` clause:
     305{{{#!sql
     306ORDER BY __group__, p.value, @SORT_COLUMN@, severity, time
     307}}}
    247308
    248309----