I am new to BIRT.
I have a requirement to print a HEADING based on a database value. How do I do that?
How do I leave a Blank line upon break in one of the fields I am reporting?
In the footer, I need to say "Page X of Y" where Y is the total number of pages?
After creating the data source, switch to the "Master Page" and drag the field in question into the header.
No idea.
There are a couple of computed fields (called "AutoText") available. One of them renders itself as the total number of pages.
As you are new to BIRT it would be good to start with the Tutorials. Reading the FAQs is usually enlightening, too. Make sure to check out the BIRT community resources like the mailing list archives, etc. too.
Related
In Crystal Reports, is there a way to get both full set charting and subset charting, in the report headers?
I'm working on a report from an erstwhile co-worker and I'm still trying to make things "better".
While I haven't found the solution to accruing time
( see Accruing over time (non-overlapping) - technique? )
I'll press on with how to use the resulting data once I retrieve it.
The report is a Global Availability report for network technologies, and part of the report is graphic:
Chart availability for different
network types for last "n" months'
time.
Charts availability for each region
(for each network type for "n"
months' time).
She (co-worker) had a global chart, but for each region, she did a separate sub-report containing just the chart for that region. The query isn't optimal, and using the sub-reports, the query is repeated each time.
If there a way to use a single data-set in one report for all five charts, forcing the four regional charts to display only that region's data?
Additional info:
The charts are all Bar charts, design is
y-axis: calculated availability
x-axis: Group by network type (Switches, Trunks, "Network)
sub group by month
Bad Example:
Let me see if I understand this. In your Report Header, you have 5 Subreports for the 4 regional graphs and the global graph. And you want to collapse this all into 1 Subreport if possible?
Yes, but you can't do it like in your image where United States & Europe are side-by-side. They would have to be 1 per row. Also, the datasource also has to be formatted correctly. To do this,
Make a new subreport. Group it by the Region.
In this subreport, make your regional graph in the Group Header section.
In this subreport, also make your global graph in the Report Header section.
Insert this subreport into your main report and you should be done.
Sometimes, the only way out of the fire is through it.
After lots of un-satisfactory refactoring, I spoke with the original (years ago) requestor and got some good information. I have yet to speak to the most recent requestor again (who didn't have any knowledge of the technical requirements the last several times).
Spoke w/ the guy who is tending a related db, and I get permission to add come functions, views, store procedures, etc. to THAT db... Within reason and after code/perf review -- something that isn't normally conducted, so I welcome it. I WILL have the ability to do the procedural stuff through... a procedure. Written as a stand-alone, I should be able to re-use it for any of the queries against future needs.
And... Yes, I am pretty much going to have to (read "get to") re-design, and hopefully get rid of most of the sub-reports. Yeay, me.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
I'm fairly new to using the Birt Report Designer and need to figure out how to generate a report from a SQLite database. I have suceeded in getting it to connect to the DB but am now unsure how to generate a report and the tutorials that I have found aren't of much help so far.
I have a template that was given to me by my employer that has a few fields, I'm wondering if these fieldnames (in the template) are supposed to match field names in the DB.
Also, when I go to Run->View Report-> As PDF I am unsure what I am supposed to enter for the field "User Key", does this correspond to a table name in the DB or something along these lines?
As of now, I have tried entering a table name but just a blank report is generated.
If anyone can point me to a good resource or help with this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
There are two books i could really advice:
BIRT - A Field Guide to Reporting
Integrating and Extending BIRT
and the Eclipse Help containing BIRT documentation.
I suppose the User Key could be report parameter (listed in Data Explorer window), which is passed to Data Set to select appropriate data. If I'm guessing right, check within a Data Set editor ("Parameters" tab and "Query" tab) where the User Key parameter goes in - probably to one of the table field in a WHERE clause. Parameters in a query are represented by question marks: SELECT * FROM fooTable WHERE barColumn = ?. Hope tracking this would lead to find out, what to enter to the parameter.
Additionally, ensure if your Data Set(s) is(are) connected correctly to your SQLite Data Source ("Data Source" tab in a Data Set editor).
Being as new as you are to BIRT, I would suggest building a couple of reports with the sample DB (Classic Models). There are many, many samples out there for you to use as a guide. Additionally, most tutorials will use the Classic Models data so you can follow right along. After you create a couple of practice reports (this should not take more than 30-45 minutes) the template you have been given will likely make A LOT more sense and allow you to make progress almost immediately.
If you are looking for a nice collection of tutorials and samples, be sure to check out Birt Exchange for Dev Share (samples) & tutorials.
As for the "User Key" this is almost certainly a report-level parameter used to filter the data set (as the previous answer points out).
Good Luck!
after exporting jasperreport template, I found that the number of records per page depends on pageHeight. Suppose I always want all the records to be on one page, is there a way to specify this? is there a way to get how many records I want per page? it seems to be depending on height of the report.
You could put in a page break that prints out when $V{REPORT_COUNT} == $P{SOME_NUMBER}. This would force a new page to start.
You can't really ensure that all the records will be on one page unless you only get X number of records. Jasper is built to output the data you give it and if you give it lots of data it will try to output it all.
You can do things like make the font smaller to put more data on the page or to use columns so that data will use the space more efficiently.
Maybe if you give a description of what you want to do a suggestion more suited to your needs may be possible? :)
I was wondering if someone had a suggestion on how to best do composite reporting.
I have tried to accomplish this with Crystal Reports [CR] (The one that comes with VS2k8) but for a codemonkey like me, it's hard to grasp the design part...
I have found that CR works nicely for reporting on tabular and repeatable data, but I can't grasp how to do what I want it to do.
What I want is a nice front-page, with title, subtitle and possibly some other text.
Maybe a TOC.
A summary report, consisting of some calculations and text-summaries calculated beforehand (not using the reporting tool).
Then a listing of one type of data, normal tabular.
Then another type of data, also tabular.
Then a drill-down on the first type of data. (Every "line" in the first type has 1..* associated items).
It looks to me like I have to do them all in separate reports, then "concatenate" the resulting reports to one another to get one report. And the front-page and the summary page I have no idea how to do at all.
Is there a better tool for doing this? Or does anyone have a good "quick-start" on composite reporting with CR? :)
EDIT: Oh, and these will only be used in printed-form. So no dynamic drill-down and such are necessary.
I create sub-reports and insert them into a footer section of the main report to create composite reports, using seperate reports as you suggest. I've searched myself, and failed to find any reasonable alternative. This approach works well enough and results in a single report file when done.
In my experience, Crystal is a pain in the butt for doing anything like a fixed page layout (ie: the title page). I usually put the title page in the report header (make sure to select "new page after" in the section options). Everything else pretty much has to go into subreports.
If you need to share totals and such between subreports, you need to use a shared variable in a formula field:
shared numbervar whateverTotal:= sum({whatever});
and then in the following reports, just use:
shared numbervar whateverTotal;
What's the difference between a report and a form?
In VB6, we have Data Report Designer to help with the creation of data reports.
I have not really used a report in my application yet. To me, it looks just like a form, but I think there must be some difference between them, or there is no need for the word "report" to exist?
Would someone please tell me the the difference between a report and a form?
A form is generally used to add/update/delete records.
A report is a readonly view of the data, you would like to see.
To give you a dumb example, you can assume a test question paper a form & a report card (which shows your grades), a report :)
A real example could be - when you borrow a book from the library, the software will use some sort of form to update the inventory & keep note of who the book is given to. A report in this example, could be - list of all books borrowed in this week.
Does that make it clear as mud?
A form is used to input data whereas a report is generated from the data that has been inputted.
Forms are for data entry - one record at a time.
Reports are for output - all relevant records.