Report generation using metadata

• US 20070179975A1
• Filed: 01/31/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Takacs, Daniel, Nuthakki, Manoj, Ravindran, Karthik, Teh, Jin, Skrivan, Samuel
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system for use in rendering a report for a client application, client server application or multi-tier applications. The system includes a report definition generator that is configured to generate a report definition using metadata located in a metadata store. A database in the application configured to receive a query and to provide a data set. A design engine is configured to render the report based on the report definition, parameters and the data set.

Claims

1. A system for use in generating a report for an application, the system comprising:

a report definition generator configured to generate a report definition using metadata located in a metadata store;

a database in the application configured to receive a query and to provide a data set; and

a design engine configured to render the report based on the report definition, parameters and the data set.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application comprises one of an enterprise resource planning system and a customer relationship management system.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a report controller configured to access queries from the metadata in the metadata store.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the accessed queries comprise relational entity queries and entity cube queries.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a query services engine configured to execute the query of the database using the accessed queries to retrieve the provided data set.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the query services engine is configured to re-execute the query based on an indication from the report controller that the design engine needs to be refreshed.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the parameters are derived from the accessed queries.

8. The system of claim 3, further comprising a preview module configured to obtain a session key to allow the report controller to access the queries from the metadata in the metadata store.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata located in the metadata store used to generate the report definition comprises design-time metadata.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata located in the metadata store used to generate the report definition comprises run-time metadata.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the metadata used to generate the report definition is based on a selected report from a plurality of created reports.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application comprises a physical controller configured to provide the report controller with additional parameters.

13. A computer-implemented method of generating a report for an application, the computer-implemented method comprising:

generating a report definition using metadata located in a metadata store;

executing a query of a database in the application to retrieve a data set; and

rendering the report based on the report definition, parameters and the data set.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising selecting a report from a plurality of created reports based on a user input to generate the report definition.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising accessing queries from metadata in the metadata store.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining a session key to access the queries.

17. A computer-implemented method of generating a report definition, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving report metadata derived from a metadata store;

receiving report template metadata derived from the metadata store;

creating the report definition based on the report metadata and the report template metadata; and

sending the report definition to a design engine for rendering of a report.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the report metadata and the report template metadata are derived from a run-time metadata database.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the report metadata and the report template metadata are derived from a design-time metadata.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising receiving query metadata derived from a metadata store.