APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ABSTRACTING DATA PROCESSING LOGIC IN A REPORT

1 . A computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:

generate a context definition;

generate a query against a data source based on data requirements specified in the context definition;

execute the query against the data source to generate a data source result;

store the data source result in a report document;

generate a data view for the context definition that comprises specific values for the context definition and characterizes the data in the report document; and

store the data view in the report document.

2 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to generate a processing plan comprising the context definition.

3 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the processing plan defines a set of logical requirements to generate the report document.

4 . The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the data source comprises information about the data requirements specified in the processing plan.

5 . The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each context definition is associated with a corresponding data source and a corresponding context identification key.

6 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein each data view comprises extensible logic that defines the specific values for the data view by applying the context definition and the processing plan to the data source result.

7 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , further comprising executable instructions to perform a plurality of operations specified in the processing plan and the context definition.

8 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of operations are performed on the data source result to generate an updated set of specific values for each data view.

9 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of operations are selected from operations to evaluate formulas, apply filters, apply group logic, apply summary logic and apply sort logic to generate the specific values for each context definition.

10 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising executable instructions to store the specific values for each context definition associated with each data view in the report document.

11 . A computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:

receive a report document;

generate a data view for the report document;

generate a processing plan comprising a context definition in accordance with the data view;

generate specific data values for the context definition; and

store the specific data values for the context definition in the report document.

12 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , further comprising executable instructions to perform a plurality of operations specified in the context definition to generate the specific data values for the context definition.

13 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , further comprising executable instructions to store the data view in the report document.

14 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein logic used to generate the specific data values associated with the report document is saved for later reuse.

15 . A computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:

receive a report document;

receive a change to an entity for the report document;

generate a changed entity in response to the change;

compare the changed entity to its unchanged form;

select a processing plan comprising a context definition in accordance with the changed entity; and

pass the processing plan to a report processor.

16 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising executable instructions to generate a new processing plan in view of the changed entity.

17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the new processing plan includes a new context definition.

18 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the entity is selected from a data view, a processing plan and a context definition.

19 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising executable instructions to generate a new report from a data view stored in the report.

20 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising executable instructions to generate a new report by retrieving a new result set from a data source specified in the processing plan.