In most cases, you'll be using Pentaho Reporting with an already existing dataset—be it CSV, a relational database, or another form of data. To demonstrate the capabilities of Pentaho Reporting, a reasonably believable data source is included with this book, which will allow you to learn Pentaho Reporting's capabilities.
Included is a dataset for a fictional retail company called ElectroBarn that sells computer and electronics supplies. This dataset includes inventory, purchases, invoices, and customer relational tables, which are used for the three reporting examples in this chapter.
The examples that will follow use HSQLDB's file-based embedded database option to access the JDBC database without the need to start a separate server. HSQLDB is a lightweight Java database. To learn more about HSQLDB, visit http://www.hsqldb.org. As long as the hsqldb.jar
library is included in your classpath, you will be able to execute SQL queries. In the examples that will...