Kettle transformation as data source in Pentaho CDE (OR) Excel sheet as data source for pentaho CDE dashboard

Hello Guys..

Scenario : 

If you receive excel sheet or csv file as data source then how to create dashboard charts or tables in pentaho CDE ?

Like jasper here we do not have any direct way to connect excel sheet as a data source. Here in Pentaho suite we need to make use of Kettle(PDI) to work out with Excel or CSV data sources. 

Current post is an example of using Excel data source for Pentaho CDE dashboard.

This post is not using any parameters(Need to work out with parameters and update this blog post). 

Aim of the Example:

Creating dashboard charts using Excel Datasheet 

Environment :

1) PDI(Kettlle)- 4.4 stable

2) Pentaho BA server - 4.8 stable

3) Excel data source(with .xls extension)

4) Pentaho C-Tools(13.09 version)

5) Web browser(Mozilla is preferable)

 Example :

 Displaying bar chart group by summation of ranks in ascending order. (just an example data sheet)

Display names on X-axis and summation of ranks on Y-axis on Pentaho CDE chart...
Data display should be grouped by name .

NOTE:
Save your kettle file in the folder where you also saving the CDE files.
i.e., Generally in 4.8 BA server
under pentaho-solutions/your project(dashboard) folder. B'z you need to pick the developed .ktr file from data sources section.

Steps:1 Working with PDI for Excel Data
1) Drag an drop Excel Input step.
    Design-> Input -> Microsoft Excel Input ->

2) Double click on Microsoft Excel Input step and  Browse for your excel file and then Add.

3) Drag and drop "Group By" step from Design->Statistics
    Double click on it and select Group field as name
    In the aggregates select as below

       Name Subject Type Value
       name         rank           Sum

4) Connect the two Steps( i.e., connect "Microsoft Excel Input"  and "Group By"  with an Hop.

5) See the preview (Use Debug this transformation).

6) Sort the output that you got from step 5.
   Drag and drop "Sort rows" step from Design ->Transform.
   connect "Group By" step to "Sort rows" step using a hop.

7) After sorting add another step say "Group By 2" to your transformation and now see the preview of the transformation.

Kettle Design Image:

Step 2: Kettle Transformation as Data source in pentaho CDE

1) Layout section :

     Design and develop your dashboard as per your requirement.

2) Components section:

     Take a bar chart and give place holder for that using html object 

3) Data sources section:

    i) Select "KETTLE Queries"  and then click on "kettle over kettle TransFromFile"

   ii) Give name and locate your .ktr file and then write the step name from where you are getting output in your transformation.. In this example step name is : Group by 2 (note that white spaces are there in name)

iii) Give the name of this data source in component section for your chart data source. 

That's it. you have done with working with Kettle as data source for pentaho CDE dashboarding. 

Sample output of this example

Down load source code of this example here

 References :

1) http://codeissue.com/articles/a04f273a99579d2/

     Pedro's blog post:
2) http://pedroalves-bi.blogspot.in/2011/07/elasticsearch-kettle-and-ctools.html