Book Image

JasperReports 3.5 for Java Developers

Book Image

JasperReports 3.5 for Java Developers

Overview of this book

Do you want to create easily understood, professional, and powerful reports from disordered, scattered data using a free, open source Java class library? If your answer is yes, this book on JasperReports is what you are looking for. JasperReports is the world's most popular embeddable Java open source reporting library, providing Java developers with the power to easily create rich print and web reports. The book has been fully updated to use JasperReports 3.5, the latest version of JasperReports. Previously accepted techniques that have now been deprecated have been replaced with their modern counterparts. All examples in the book have been updated to use XML schemas for report templates. Coverage of new data sources that JasperReports now supports has been added to the book. Additionally, JasperReports can now export reports to even more formats than before and exporting reports to these new formats is covered in this new edition of the book. This book shows you exactly how to get started, and develop the skills to get the most from JasperReports. It introduces you to the latest version of JasperReports, and gets you creating complex and elegant reports. The book steers you through each point of report setup, to creating, designing, formatting, and exporting reports with data from a wide range of data sources, and integrating JasperReports with other Java frameworks. Starting with the basics of adding reporting capabilities to your application and creating report templates, you will first see how to produce your reports through the use of JRXML files, custom ANT targets, and then preview them in both the web browser and the native browser of JasperReports. Getting data into your reports is the next step, and you will see how to get data from a range of data sources, not only databases, but XML files, and Java Objects, among others. You will create better looking reports with formatting and grouping, as well as adding graphical elements to your reports. You will export your reports to a range of different formats, including PDF and XML. Creating reports will be made even easier with a walkthrough of the iReport Designer visual designing tool. To round things off, you will see how to integrate your reports with other Java frameworks, using Spring or Hibernate to get data for the report, and Java Server Faces or Struts for presenting the report. All examples have been updated to use XML schemas. New export formats, such as OpenDocument Text, and new data sources now supported by JasperReports are now covered in this updated edition.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
JasperReports 3.5 for Java Developers
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

A brief history of JasperReports


JasperReports was started in 2001 by Teodor Danciu when he was faced with the task of evaluating reporting tools for a project he was working on. The existing solutions, he found, were too expensive for his project's budget; therefore, he decided to write his own reporting engine. The project for which he was evaluating reporting tools got canceled, but nevertheless, he started to work on JasperReports in his spare time. He registered the project on SourceForge.net in September 2001. Shortly after, he started getting emails from interested potential users, even though he had not yet released any code. JasperReports version 0.1.5 was released in November 2001. Since then, JasperReports has become immensely popular; it is currently one of the most popular Java reporting tools available.

At first, JasperReports was basically a one-man project, with Teodor working on it in his spare time. Then, in April 2005, a company called JasperSoft was formally launched at the MySQL User Conference in California. JasperSoft now sponsors JasperReports' development, allowing Teodor and other JasperSoft developers to work full-time on JasperReports. JasperSoft also provides commercial support and services for JasperReports and related products, including the iReport visual designer for JasperReports. In addition to providing support for JasperReports and iReport, JasperSoft sells commercial applications incorporating JasperReports. JasperSoft has raised over 8 million dollars in venture capital funding, no small feat in these post dot-com days. This investment is a clear indication that venture capitalists have confidence in the success of JasperSoft and, by extension, in the success of JasperReports.