Jasper Reports tips and tricks

Jasper Reports basic steps:

1. Design report in iReport designer
2. Save the the template  - jrxml file
3. Compile the jrxml to jasper
4. Run from iReport or integrate it with a java program

Load the jasper report from .jasper file

//reportData is an instance of List

(JasperReport)jasperReport = JRLoader.loadObjectFromLocation(jasperReportName);

JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(jasperReport,parameters,new JRBeanCollectionDataSource(reportData));

//Export into pdf format

byte[] pdfFile = JasperExportManager.exportReportToPdf(jasperPrint);

//Export into csv format
JRCsvExporter exporter = new JRCsvExporter();
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
exporter.setParameter(JRExporterParameter.JASPER_PRINT, jasperPrint);
exporter.setParameter(JRExporterParameter.OUTPUT_STRING_BUFFER,buffer);
exporter.exportReport();

//Export into HTML format

JRHtmlExporter exporter=new JRHtmlExporter();
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
  
exporter.setParameter(JRExporterParameter.JASPER_PRINT, jasperPrint);
exporter.setParameter(JRExporterParameter.OUTPUT_STRING_BUFFER, buffer);
exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.IS_USING_IMAGES_TO_ALIGN, false);
//following parameters are used to avoid the page breaks, empty spaces and display tabular data better in html compare to pdf

exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.IGNORE_PAGE_MARGINS, true);
exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.ZOOM_RATIO, 1.5F);
exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.BETWEEN_PAGES_HTML, "");
exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.FRAMES_AS_NESTED_TABLES,true);
exporter.setParameter(JRHtmlExporterParameter.IS_REMOVE_EMPTY_SPACE_BETWEEN_ROWS, true);
exporter.exportReport();
   

iReport Designer tips n tricks:

Create paremeters, fields in the iReport designer and make sure the name match the exact names in the javabean if you plan to use java bean as datasource.

List is also very useful if you do not want to use a subreport.
To create a list, drag list component from the pallet and right-click select datasource :
new net.sf.jasperreports.engine.data.JRBeanCollectionDataSource($F{fieldname})
go to the dataset1 and create all necessary fields and drag and drop them to the area.


If you want to display certain area when some conditions are met, select the band properties for that particular group or section and modify "print when expression" to new Boolean($F{fieldname}>0) for e.g.