Whether you need to document or present information about your objects, you can use predefined or custom reports to do so. Reports provide a way for you to view and share information derived from the objects you have created.

You can schedule, generate, update, list, and delete reports in CentraSite in the following ways:

Report template contains instructions for gathering object metadata from CentraSite registry repository, and formatting it into an object-specific report. A report template could either be used as a stand-alone or associated with one or more objects for generating specific reports.

Reports mainly use CentraSite registry repository as data source. In addition to using CentraSite as data source, CentraSite supports the relational database management systems, such as, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase. The reporting framework has extended support that enables some reports to communicate with these SQL databases using the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), and report data. The JDBC-compliant reports are designed to access and retrieve data from the JDBC-compliant databases. For more information about JDBC-compliant reports, see Configuring JDBC Support for BIRT Reports.

CentraSite includes a set of predefined reports that provide frequently used information about assets, API invocations, and events. These reports can be saved, shared with other users, and reused to monitor and track the API specific usage information and consumer specific usage information of required APIs. For information about reports that are provided with CentraSite, see Predefined Reports.

In addition to using the predefined reports, you can create and design your own custom reports that will contain a specific content and format. Such reports can be created, for example, using the Eclipse plug-ins delivered with CentraSite. The BIRT Report Designer creates a .rptdesign file, referred to as the Template File, and describes a predefined rptdesign layout for creating the custom report templates. Documentation describing how to create BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) reports is contained in the Eclipse online help that is delivered with the plug-ins. For general information about the BIRT technology, see the description of the BIRT project in the Projects section of the Eclipse site at http://www.eclipse.org/birt/.

You can create a custom report in CentraSite using the command tool add Report. For information on the usage of CentraSite command tool, see Adding Custom Report.

You can share dynamic, read-only reports with your API Portal users without giving them access to all of your data.

API Portal users will be able to see the latest version of your report when they use the shareable link.

You can share a report with an instance of API Portal registered in CentraSite using the command tool share Report. For information on the usage of CentraSite command tool, see Sharing Report with API Portal.

You can stop sharing the report at any time. To stop sharing the report, you must modify the property line com.centrasite.report.Classifications, and remove the value shared in the customization file, centrasite.xml.

After you make changes to the report configuration, you must execute the command tool update Report. For information on the usage of CentraSite command tool, see Modifying Report Details.

CentraSite's data store supports the use of indexing and aggregate tables that can query large databases and provide faster access to frequently-accessed data and any query. The aggregate tables reduce the amount of data that must be aggregated and sorted at runtime, and help generate reports at a much faster speed.

CentraSite includes the following reports that are designed to use indexing and aggregated data:

For information about these reports, see Predefined Reports.