JasperReports - No Report Sample

Creating Final Documents Using the API Directly (No Report Filling)

Creating Final Documents Using the API Directly (No Report Filling)

Description / Goal
How to create final in-memory documents without using the report generation process, but rather the object model of the JasperReports API.

Since: 0.4.2

The JasperPrint Object

When generating reports, the main purpose is to create a pixel-perfect document, ready for viewing, printing, or exporting to other formats. These documents are stored in serializable JasperPrint objects, that can be saved on the disk, or transferred over the network if needed.

Usually, one can obtain a JasperPrint object by compiling and filling a report template, following the steps below:

• Create a report template containing all information needed for the report design. Usually, report templates are stored in JRXML source files.
• Parse the report template source file using the JRXmlLoader in order to obtain a JasperDesign design template object.
• Compile the design template object using a JRCompiler in order to complete all consistency validations and create a JasperReport object.
• Fill the JasperReport object with all its data and generate the pixel-perfect document stored in a JasperPrint object.

This is the most common way to generate documents in JasperReports. But there are situations when the steps above cannot be all performed. Even in this case, a JasperPrint object can be generated from scratch as in-memory document. Once generated, it can be serialized and stored on disk, either in a *.jrprint file, or in a specific XML file with the .jrpxml extension. Or it can be then exported to various other output formats.

Taking a look inside the JasperPrint object, one can see that it exposes a series of member properties such as:

• name
• pageWidth
• pageHeight
• topMargin
• leftMargin
• bottomMargin
• rightMargin
• orientation
• parts
• pages
• styles
• etc...

Therefore, creating a JasperPrint object may be accomplished by creating an empty JasperPrint instance using the default constructor, and then customizing its members with appropriate values.

The No Report Sample

This sample shows how to create an in-memory JasperPrint object. The sample doesn't contain any JRXML template file. The JasperPrint object is hardcoded in the src/NoReportApp.java file (see the getJasperPrint() method). Report compilation and filling are no more necessary.

private static JasperPrint getJasperPrint() throws JRException
{
  //JasperPrint
  JasperPrint jasperPrint = new JasperPrint();
  jasperPrint.setName("NoReport");
  jasperPrint.setPageWidth(595);
  jasperPrint.setPageHeight(842);

  //Fonts
  JRDesignStyle normalStyle = new JRDesignStyle();
  normalStyle.setName("Sans_Normal");
  normalStyle.setDefault(true);
  normalStyle.setFontName("DejaVu Sans");
  normalStyle.setFontSize(8f);
  normalStyle.setPdfFontName("Helvetica");
  normalStyle.setPdfEncoding("Cp1252");
  normalStyle.setPdfEmbedded(Boolean.FALSE);
  jasperPrint.addStyle(normalStyle);

  JRDesignStyle boldStyle = new JRDesignStyle();
  boldStyle.setName("Sans_Bold");
  boldStyle.setFontName("DejaVu Sans");
  boldStyle.setFontSize(8f);
  boldStyle.setBold(Boolean.TRUE);
  boldStyle.setPdfFontName("Helvetica-Bold");
  boldStyle.setPdfEncoding("Cp1252");
  boldStyle.setPdfEmbedded(Boolean.FALSE);
  jasperPrint.addStyle(boldStyle);

  JRDesignStyle italicStyle = new JRDesignStyle();
  italicStyle.setName("Sans_Italic");
  italicStyle.setFontName("DejaVu Sans");
  italicStyle.setFontSize(8f);
  italicStyle.setItalic(Boolean.TRUE);
  italicStyle.setPdfFontName("Helvetica-Oblique");
  italicStyle.setPdfEncoding("Cp1252");
  italicStyle.setPdfEmbedded(Boolean.FALSE);
  jasperPrint.addStyle(italicStyle);

  JRPrintPage page = new JRBasePrintPage();

  JRPrintLine line = new JRBasePrintLine(jasperPrint.getDefaultStyleProvider());
  line.setX(40);
  line.setY(50);
  line.setWidth(515);
  line.setHeight(0);
  page.addElement(line);

  JRPrintImage image = new JRBasePrintImage(jasperPrint.getDefaultStyleProvider());
  image.setX(45);
  image.setY(55);
  image.setWidth(165);
  image.setHeight(40);
  image.setScaleImage(ScaleImageEnum.CLIP);
  image.setRenderer(
    ResourceRenderer.getInstance("jasperreports.png", false)
    );
  page.addElement(image);

  JRPrintText text = new JRBasePrintText(jasperPrint.getDefaultStyleProvider());
  text.setX(210);
  text.setY(55);
  text.setWidth(345);
  text.setHeight(30);
  text.setTextHeight(text.getHeight());
  text.sethTextAlign(hTextAlignEnum.RIGHT);
  text.setLineSpacingFactor(1.3133681f);
  text.setLeadingOffset(-4.955078f);
  text.setStyle(boldStyle);
  text.setFontSize(18f);
  text.setText("JasperReports Project Description");
  page.addElement(text);

  text = new JRBasePrintText(jasperPrint.getDefaultStyleProvider());
  text.setX(210);
  text.setY(85);
  text.setWidth(325);
  text.setHeight(15);
  text.setTextHeight(text.getHeight());
  text.sethTextAlign(hTextAlignEnum.RIGHT);
  text.setLineSpacingFactor(1.329241f);
  text.setLeadingOffset(-4.076172f);
  text.setStyle(italicStyle);
  text.setFontSize(12f);
  text.setText((new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, MMM d, yyyy")).format(new Date()));
  page.addElement(text);

  text = new JRBasePrintText(jasperPrint.getDefaultStyleProvider());
  text.setX(40);
  text.setY(150);
  text.setWidth(515);
  text.setHeight(200);
  text.setTextHeight(text.getHeight());
  text.sethTextAlign(hTextAlignEnum.JUSTIFIED);
  text.setLineSpacingFactor(1.329241f);
  text.setLeadingOffset(-4.076172f);
  text.setStyle(normalStyle);
  text.setFontSize(14f);
  text.setText(
    "JasperReports is a powerful report-generating tool that has the ability to deliver rich content onto the screen, to the printer or into PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV or XML files.\n\n" +
    "It is entirely written in Java and can be used in a variety of Java enabled applications, including J2EE or Web applications, to generate dynamic content.\n\n" +
    "Its main purpose is to help creating page oriented, ready to print documents in a simple and flexible manner."
    );
  page.addElement(text);

  jasperPrint.addPage(page);

  return jasperPrint;
}

The Ant compile task is no longer necessary. When the fill task is performed, the only things it has to perform is to call the getJasperPrint() method, which produces an already filled JasperPrint object, and to save this in-memory object in a *.jrprint file:

  public void fill() throws JRException
  {
    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
    JasperPrint jasperPrint = getJasperPrint();
    File file = new File("target/reports/NoReport.jrprint");
    file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
    JRSaver.saveObject(jasperPrint, file);
    System.err.println("Filling time : " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - start));
  }

Running the Sample

Running the sample requires the Apache Maven library. Make sure that maven is already installed on your system (version 3.6 or later). In a command prompt/terminal window set the current folder to demo/samples/noreport within the JasperReports source project and run the following command:

> mvn clean compile exec:exec@all

It will generate all supported document types containing the sample report in the demo/samples/noreport/target/reports directory.