Integrate PostgreSQL Data in the Pentaho Report Designer



Publish reports based on PostgreSQL data in the Pentaho BI tool.

The CData JDBC driver for PostgreSQL data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to PostgreSQL data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on PostgreSQL data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

  1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
  2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.
  3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new PostgreSQL connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

    • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:postgresql: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

      To connect to PostgreSQL, set the Server, Port (the default port is 5432), and Database connection properties and set the User and Password you wish to use to authenticate to the server. If the Database property is not specified, the data provider connects to the user's default database.

      Built-in Connection String Designer

      For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the PostgreSQL JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

      java -jar cdata.jdbc.postgresql.jar

      Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

      When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

      Below is a typical JDBC URL:

      jdbc:postgresql:User=postgres;Password=admin;Database=postgres;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432;
    • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.postgresql.PostgreSQLDriver.
    • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
    • Password: The password to authenticate with.

Add PostgreSQL Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with PostgreSQL data.

  1. Add the PostgreSQL source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

  2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

    SELECT ShipName, ShipCity FROM Orders
  3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the Orders table.
  4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the PostgreSQL Driver to get started:

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