jasper talk

Grails Reporting

Getting the most out of JasperReports and DynamicJasper in Grails

by Keith Cochran

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20%

Jasper Dynamic Jasper

1Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Where to get this

• www.cochran-software.com

• downloads

• Contains presentation and sample Grails app


http://www.cochran-software.com

http://www.cochran-software.com

Objectives

• Today we’ll learn about

• Jasper Reports

• Creating reports with iReport

• Passing parameters to reports

• Using Dynamic Jasper


What is it?

• Jasper Reports is

• Open-source reporting tool for Java

• Flexible Report Layout

• Supply data in multiple ways

• Variety of export formats


System Setup


For Demo

• JasperReports

• DynamicJasper

• iReport

• Example Grails App: DrinkMaster


Jasper Reports

• Open Source Java Reporting Library

• grails install-plugin jasper

• Current version: 0.9.5

• Can export reports in plain text, Excel, PDF, RTF, HTML, XML, and CSV.

• Can use either .jrxml or .jasper file


Dynamic Jasper

• Create reports in a config file instead of .jrxml or .jasper format

• grails install-plugin dynamic-jasper

• Current version: 0.5


iReport

• Download iReport 3.5.0 for your platform

• Mac: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Developer-Tools/iReport.shtml

• Others: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ireport/


http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Developer-Tools/iReport.shtml




http://sourceforge.net/projects/ireport/




Using iReport


3 Steps to Create Reports

• Set up and use a data connection

• Use report wizard to create a first cut

• Build, Run, Tweak, Retest cycle


How To Setup Data Connections12Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Use Report Wizard

• File -> New -> Report Wizard


Parameters

• Fill in the report name and hit “Next”

• Make sure you select the correct data source

• Select “design query” to open the Query Designer.


Query Designer

• Drag a table to right

• Select fields (Order counts!)

• Right-click fields for options


Where Clause• Right click on the where clause to add a condition

• Example: Enter “drink.id” in the top window

• Use “=”, enter “ingredient.drink_id” in the bottom


Grouping and Ordering

• Under “Select”

• Right click a parameter

• Select either

• “add to group-by” for grouping

• “add to order-by” for ordering


What the Final Query Looks Like...

SELECT

drink.`name` AS drink_name,

ingredient.`description` AS ingredient_description

FROM

`drink` drink,

`ingredient` ingredient

WHERE

drink.id = ingredient.drink_id

GROUP BY

ingredient_description

ORDER BY

drink.`name` ASC


Fields

• Select the fields to display

• Use arrow keys to move them to the right.


Group By

• Select the column you want to group the report by.

• This can be different than the Query.

• This allows grouping on the report.


Select a layout

• Pick either a columnar or tabular layout

• Hit next

• Select “finish” on the last screen


Edit and Run

• Edit the report look in the designer if desired

• Save the report (saves as .jrxml format)

• Select “Preview” to compile and view the results

• After compile, .jasper file is created and saved as well


Jasper Format

• When you create a new report, it’s in jrxml format.

• After compiling it, there is a .jasper format

• The compiled .jasper format runs faster than .jrxml.

• .jrxml files need to be compiled eventually for use by Jasper.


DEMO: Upload Report and Run in Grails

• Show a Demo of how to write the controller so you can upload the report.


Passing Parameters to Reports


Modify the Report

• Return to the report in iReport

• Right-click on “Parameters” in the report inspector and add a parameter

• Name the parameter something meaningful (i.e. “nameofingredient”) and use the appropriate data type (java.lang.String)

• I use String type for Dates as well!


Modify the Query

• Open the query in the report wizard again and add the following to the “where” clause:

• where ingredient.name like $P{nameofingredient}

• The parameter is case sensitive!


Passing Parameters from Grails

• In your Grails app: use hidden tags in the form when calling Jasper.

<g:jasperReport ...>

<input type=hidden name=blah value=blah/>

</g:jasperReport>


Grails Domains

• For the demo, I up a ReportParameter domain in Grails to hold report parametersclass ReportParameter { Report report String name String dataType String value Date dateValue}


In the GSP: Loop thru Parameters...

<g:jasperReport jasper="${report.id + '/' + report?.fileName}" format="${report?.formats()}" name=" " delimiter=" "> <g:each in="${report?.reportParameters}" status="i" var="parameter"> <g:if test="${parameter?.dataType == 'Date'}"> <input type="hidden" name="${parameter?.name}" value="<g:formatDate format="yyyy-MM-dd" date="${parameter?.dateValue}"/>"> </g:if> <g:else> <input type="hidden" name="${parameter?.name}" value="${parameter?.value}"> </g:else> </g:each></g:jasperReport>

Important! Dates should be passed as strings.


DEMO

• Show code on how to include parameters in call to Jasper.


Dynamic Jasper

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2007

2008

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Drink Price ($) Sales ($1000s)


What is it?

• Create a simple report in a config file instead of using iReport

• Version 0.5 as of this demo

• Use this to create dynamic reports that don’t need the complexity of iReport


Ways to use DJ

• Quickly use it in a URL

• Entity Based Configuration

• Named Reports Configuration


URL Method

• Add this to your domain class you want to report on:

• def static reportable = [columns: [‘name’, etc.]]

• Append to URL: djReport/?entity=myEntity

• Report of all instances of this entity


Parameters

• entity: the domain class to report on

• reportColumns: list of columns to use (overrides columns listed in domain)

• reportFormat: sets the output type


Tweak Report Style

Define the following in DynamicJasperConfig.groovy

• useFullPageWidth: defines if the report will use the full page width• page: page size and orientation• intPattern: the pattern to use with integer numbers• floatPattern: the pattern to use with floating point numbers• datePattern: the pattern to use with dates• titleStyle: the style to use for the report title• subtitleStyle: the style to use for the report subtitle• headerStyle: the style to use for the columns header• detailStyle: the style to use for the data cells


Entity Based Reports

• Define report parameters inside the domain class

• Use the static reportable

• You’ve already seen “columns” defined

• You can also define title, dataSource, grouping, etc.

• See Plugin page for more config options


Named Reports Configuration

• In the conf directory, make a file “DynamicJasperConfig.groovy”

• Inside that config file, format is:

dynamicJasper {someReport {

<parameters go here>}

}


Dynamic Jasper Config File

• This file is loaded at run-time, and changes are not picked up while running.

• Provide a report name and a closure enclosing the report parameters


• Parameters

• Entity: the table to report on

• Title: title of the report

• Columns: array of columns to include

• Patterns: use for date formats, etc.

• ColumnTitles: change the display of columns

• FileName: the name of the file to create

• GroupColumn: column to group by, if needed

• GroupFooterColumn: ??

• GroupOperation: one of SUM, ???


• Final Parameter...

• dataSource: This is where you can modify the query and gain complexity

• Contains session and parameter objects so you can obtain info from the session and pass in variables

• Return data set out of the closure


• On the URL, these are the parameters to pass in:

• report: the name of the report closure

• reportFormat: PDF, XML, etc. PDF is the default


• Named Report Building and Demo.

Demo


Summary

• Today we learned about

• iReport to create reports

• Jasper Reports and passing parameters

• Dynamic Jasper for quick reports


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