Set env::username for testing PRPT in Pentaho Report Designer (PRD)

by Andrew Cave
July 23, 2019
A common technique to restrict access in Pentaho Report Designer is use the variable ‘${env::username}’ in queries. This is replaced with the currently logged in username on the server and allows group memberships/rows access to be identified at the database level.

Unfortunately, when testing (or debugging) a report using the Desktop designer, there is no obvious way to set the username – this means all the queries have to be manually changed to use a string literal (e.g. ‘acave’) with all the risks that might entail.

However, a tip I discovered on an obscure forum from more than a decade ago , allows the setting of the username value at program startup.

In the file

[PRD_INSTALL_PATH]/report-designer/resources/classic-engine.properties

(on my Win10 setup, it’s in C:\pentaho\design-tools\report-designer\resources\classic-engine.properties)

Find the line

org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.environment.username=Designer

and change it to (your user for testing). Here I’m using ‘test_user_name’

org.pentaho.reporting.engine.classic.core.environment.username=test_user_name

Save the file and restart the Pentaho Report Designer. When running your queries, the ‘${env::username}’ will be replaced with ‘test_user_name’ when the queries are run.

More blog posts

Information Security and the BizCubed Ways and Values

We’ve blogged previously about the BizCubed Ways and Values.  Many companies have versions of this – they may call them values, guiding principles or another phrase.  While many in large organisations struggle to see them as more than “corporate buzzwords”, we rely on them heavily and incorporate them daily.

read more

BizCubed’s Journey to ISO27001 Certification

A year ago, we blogged about Data Security as a Practice. Since then, we have continued the practices we talked about there, integrating it even further into our daily practice, and incorporating new processes and aspects into our existing cadence.

read more