About Jasper Reports

Jasper Reports

 is an  open source reporting tool. It is entirely written in java. JasperReports has the ability to deliver rich content in various formats such as PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV, XML files, or directly on the screen or printer. It can be used in Java-enabled applications, including Java EE or web applications, to generate dynamic content.IReport is an open source report desginer tool for JasperReports. It reads its instructions from an XML or .jasper file. 

 


In this article I am going to explain the following concepts.

• Jasper Report Life Cycle
• Jasper Reports design with IReport Tool
• Jasper Reports and Standalone application Using IReport tool
• Jasper Reports and Servlets application Using IReport tool
• Jasper Reports, Servlets and JDBC application Using IReport tool
• Jasper Reports and Spring MVC application Using IReport tool
• Jasper Reports, Srping MVC and Hibernate Using IReport tool

Jasper Report Life Cycle  

 

Jasper Report Life Cycle

Design Phase :    In this phase we can create the JRXML file, which is an XML document that contains the definition of the report layout. We can use any text editor or iReportDesigner to manually create it. If iReportDesigner is used the layout is designed in a visual way, hence real structure of the JRXML can be ignored.

Compile Phase :   In this phase the JRXML file is compiled in a binary object called a Jasper file(*.jasper). This compilation is done for performance reasons. Jasper files are what you need to ship with your application in order to run the reports.

Execution Phase :  In this phase data from the application is filled in the compiled report. The class net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperFillManager provides necessary functions to fill the data in the reports. A Jasper print file (*.jrprint) is created, which can be used to either print or export the report.

Export Phase :  In this phase we can export the Jasper print file created in the previous step to any format using JasperExportManager. As Jasper provides various forms of exports, hence with the same input we can create multiple representations of the data. Jasper  Reports has the ability to deliver rich content in various formats such as PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV, XML files.

Next Page