Converting jrxml file to csv file: Leading zeros getting truncated - jasper-reports

Question

I have a conversion from jrxml to pdf. I am sending the data as 001 in the DTO but while displaying the same in the Excel it is becoming as 1. Below is the code that is been used for displaying the data.
Code:
<textField isStretchWithOverflow="true" isBlankWhenNull="true">
<reportElement style="table 5_CH" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" x="0" y="0" width="71" height="26" backcolor="#FFFFFF">
<property name="class" value="sortable"/>
</reportElement>
<textElement textAlignment="Left" verticalAlignment="Middle">
<font pdfFontName="Helvetica"/>
<paragraph lineSpacing="Single" firstLineIndent="3" spacingAfter="5"/>
</textElement>
<textFieldExpression class="java.lang.String"><![CDATA[$F{reference}]]>
</textFieldExpression>
</textField>
I need to show the leading zeros also. So pls let me know how to fix this issue.

Answer 1

You are using the MS Excel application for viewing csv file. The csv is just a plain-text format, it does not contain information "how to show data". The view of this sort of data depends on your viewer only. Therefore you can try to use JRXlsExporter or JExcelApiExporter or JRXlsxExporter exporters - for constructing report in Excel format (xls or xlsx).
Let's look at an example. We take csv file as datasource.
The csv file data (excel_data.csv):
number_as_string,date,number_as_int
001,2013-09-23,1
002,2013-09-22,3
3,2013-09-21,4
004,2013-09-20,5
The configuration of datasource in iReport will be:
We will use the net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern and net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.detect.cell.type properties in sample for getting information in format we want.
Our template will be:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jasperReport xmlns="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/jasperreport.xsd" name="test_excel_formatting" language="groovy" pageWidth="842" pageHeight="595" orientation="Landscape" columnWidth="802" leftMargin="20" rightMargin="20" topMargin="20" bottomMargin="20" uuid="952b781d-520d-4a76-aa59-f635b8759fbe">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.detect.cell.type" value="true"/>
<queryString>
<![CDATA[]]>
</queryString>
<field name="number_as_string" class="java.lang.String"/>
<field name="date" class="java.util.Date"/>
<field name="number_as_int" class="java.lang.Integer"/>
<columnHeader>
<band height="42" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="667b6ca6-bf50-404e-8ef1-c654456ed8e4" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="0" y="0" width="88" height="42" backcolor="#FF99CC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Number as String, without pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="080a5cc0-fa66-4b11-a3d3-f0b8a4e69204" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="88" y="0" width="88" height="42" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Number as Int, without pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="d1fc6219-2e33-4cc9-b4fe-4ac2b5365102" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="176" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#99FFCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Date without pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="991837d7-a1ab-44ed-8177-756cfae9d369" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="280" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Number as Int with common pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="d38154af-2017-4e10-a176-4d66e5cc9f96" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="384" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Number as Int with xls pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="17f57019-8691-4643-abdb-ab15afe63f36" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="488" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Number as Int with common and xls pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="f4f506bf-9511-4e1e-805b-8752a98e91ea" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="592" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#99FFCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Date with common pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="dffea96e-1dfa-47e0-8551-dd417c25ecbd" stretchType="RelativeToTallestObject" mode="Opaque" x="696" y="0" width="104" height="42" backcolor="#99FFCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle"/>
<text><![CDATA[Date with common pattern]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</columnHeader>
<detail>
<band height="20" splitType="Stretch">
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="3d11d568-6e2c-4373-af7d-fa79b99a2908" mode="Opaque" x="0" y="0" width="88" height="20" backcolor="#FF99CC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{number_as_string}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="8b8f968e-ca6d-44d0-bc2e-50a4773d0a6f" mode="Opaque" x="88" y="0" width="88" height="20" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{number_as_int}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="943a468b-491d-4955-b0c0-58d550536234" mode="Opaque" x="176" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#99FFCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{date}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField pattern="000000">
<reportElement uuid="52a26b66-1ef5-4f77-a4a2-900a606a1171" mode="Opaque" x="280" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#9999FF"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{number_as_int}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="c26be152-fae4-4a85-ae55-c70e27739a87" mode="Opaque" x="384" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#9999FF">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern" value="00000000000000"/>
</reportElement>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{number_as_int}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField pattern="00000">
<reportElement uuid="fab0fba1-1718-479d-841b-6cbaf1963a0b" mode="Opaque" x="488" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#9999FF">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern" value="00000000000000"/>
</reportElement>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{number_as_int}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField pattern="dd-MMM-yyyy">
<reportElement uuid="07552f94-56c8-413d-8dd8-5b5c667c81cf" mode="Opaque" x="592" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#99FFCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{date}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="844449f9-1578-4729-b911-18bdd17f8cd4" mode="Opaque" x="696" y="0" width="104" height="20" backcolor="#99FFCC">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern" value="dd mmmm yyyy"/>
</reportElement>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{date}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</band>
</detail>
</jasperReport>
The report's design in iReport looks like this:
In example I've set report's property net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.detect.cell.type as true.
I've put the number_as_string field without any patterns into the first column (pink color).
I've put the number_as_int field into the columns number 2, 4, 5, 6 (blue color).
The column #2 does not contain any pattern.
The column #4 does contains common textFields element's pattern attribute. I've used the 000000 value.
For column #5 I've set net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern property. I've set 00000000000000 value for it.
And the column #6 is a mixed variant - I've set net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern property and the textFields element's pattern.
I've put the date field into the columns number 3, 7, 8 (green color).
The column #3 does not contain any pattern. The default pattern will be used.
The column #7 does contains common textFields element's pattern attribute. I've used the dd-MMM-yyyy value.
For column #8 I've set net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern property. I've set dd mmmm yyyy value for it.
The result (generated file in Excel format) will be:
Notes:
As you can see the first column contains data in original format.
The column #6 contains data in format set with help of net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.pattern property. This property is "stronger" than the textFields element's pattern attribute.
The Excel file was generated with help of iReport 5.2.0 with XLS Preview, XLS Preview (Using JExcel API) and Excel 2007 (XLSX) Preview options - the result was the same.

Answer 2

I figured the answer after lot of googling. I am sending the data as String but still it is truncating the leading zeroes.
The problem is, excel is taking this input as a number and truncating the leading zeros.
In order to stop excel from doing this, prefix the data with '=' and append our data in double quotes.
i.e, the input which I am sending is 001 which should be converted as "=" + "\"" + "001" + "\"" so it becomes ="001" then in excel it gets to know that the given one is a text and it is not going to truncate the leading zeroes.
Addendum:
I even had trouble while displaying the date. The requirement is, date should be displayed as 04 Apr 2013 but if I send the same to excel it is converting it to 04-Apr-2013 which is not acceptable in my case.
The same logic above holds good here too,
just append '=' to the input data. Say "=" + "\"" + 04 Apr 2013 + "\"" so it becomes
="04 Apr 2013". Now the date is taken as a textand is displayed as it is.
Hoping this will help someone .. :)