The value of a single application platform that connects people, information, and systems, both within and across organizational boundaries, is self-evident. The critical component to developing such a powerful enterprise solution is selecting the right business-process automation tools that can deliver on the promise of a connected enterprise.

At Unify, we recognized the value and challenges presented by the development and distribution of an integrated application platform. Because decision-makers at all levels of an organization depend on timely, customized reports to provide actionable business information, choosing the right information delivery component for this platform was critical. For the Unify NXJ application platform, we needed a reporting solution that was easy enough for all types of developers to install, deploy, and manage; powerful enough to support business; and open enough to integrate into any IT environment.

JReport was a good fit for Unify NXJ because it is a 100% J2EE solution that delivers highly usable business information without the complexities of integration, management, and usage inherent in traditional analytical reporting solutions. In this article, we'll look at how JReport meets the challenges of enterprise information delivery.

Actionable Information
The key to JReport is the ability to provide actionable information through Web-based report deployment and ad hoc report creation. JReport provides a wide range of functionality to dynamically modify report views via the Web. Data can be sorted, filtered, grouped, navigated, searched, and drilled-down on to view detailed information. JReport allows users to customize their view of data in order to glean valuable information.

 

Creating ad hoc reports is simple, making JReport a highly usable tool across the enterprise. A wizard prompts users through the process of selecting a data source, choosing a report type (JReport offers over 40 chart types, tabular reports, and crosstabs), defining fields to display, and setting grouping and sorting levels. Parameterized reports can be created by applying filters on the generated result. The ease and flexibility of creating reports on the fly is an important element of Unify NXJ.

Easy, Open, and Flexible Report Design
JReport is an open system that offers a high degree of creative flexibility. JReport presents an interactive design environment that puts a host of report design features at your fingertips. Our developers were able to start designing report templates for our customers quickly, and a handy "View" option allowed them to see the actual report as it was being built. This helped speed the process of designing and testing the report templates that were included in NXJ or built by Unify Professional Services for customer-specific solutions.

 

Another nice feature of JReport is the Report Inspector, which displays each report object on a hierarchy tree in a separate window. Clicking on the object, either from within the layout interface or within the Report Inspector, displays properties and values for that object, which can then be edited in point-and-click fashion. A property can be either a static value or a Java function.

Users can also define style sheets to streamline formatting of font size, typeface, alignment, and other parameters, allowing them to design more reports faster, while also making it easier to implement a standardized look. In addition, custom objects can be created by using an API to convert any Java class into a JReport object that can be seamlessly integrated into any report.

 

One main advantage of JReport is the ability to share resources/objects among reports. Once a parameter, formula, or summary has been created, it's stored in a catalog and can be used in any report. Since certain elements within a report, such as address fields, queries, etc., are often repeated in reports, this feature saves developers duplication of effort while enhancing uniformity of design.

JReport supports conditional formatting, by which formulas can be used to calculate summaries, control layout, condition records, etc. For example, to set a field's font properties or control page breaks dynamically, a user simply creates a formula and sets the associated property. Formulas can be executed at the record, group, or section level. JReport provides more than 160 built-in functions as well as an API to write custom Java formulas.

JReport users can set runtime parameters to dynamically control query values and report layout. In addition, grouping and sorting criteria can be selected at runtime. JReport can export data to a number of different formats, including HTML/DHTML, e-mail, PDF, Excel, Fax, RTF, and XML. Users can preview reports in these various formats while they are designing the reports.

High Performance
Unify needed its reporting component to be flexible yet powerful enough to support sophisticated enterprise reporting demands. At the heart of JReport is a high-performance engine that can handle any workload demand and easily scales from small deployments to large multi-CPU environments. In addition, JReport supports remote administration, enabling server configuration and management from any Web browser. It also offers a clustered server option that provides high availability, load balancing, and failover protection to ensure uninterrupted access to critical business information.

JReport has several features that optimize performance by making the most efficient use of system resources. JReport provides the ability to fine-tune data buffers usage during report generation and to determine the use of temporary files. JReport is also able to cache connections, allowing incoming reports to utilize existing connections. This helps to streamline the process of executing reports, allowing the system to run more efficiently. To optimize performance in a multiple CPU environment, JReport provides "report bursting" that divides a large report into concurrently running smaller pieces of reports that are later automatically merged into a final report.

Once a report is run, that report and all its resources can be cached for future use. This greatly enhances performance in situations where the same reports need to be generated at regular intervals. Reports can also be archived with their results for future reference.

Enterprise Deployment
Deploying reports to an enterprise server is fast and intuitive through JReport's Deployment Wizard. Users can choose a catalog, select any number of reports from the catalog, select the desired destination within the server directory, and view a list of the connection properties for that catalog. With just a few mouse clicks, the reports and their resources are deployed for production.

Enterprise-wide deployment is also enabled through JReport's support for any data source, including user-defined data sources. In addition, JReport can automatically generate reports based on the data structure inherent in hierarchical data sources like XML and EJBs.

The JReport Enterprise Server API provides an easy-to-use interface for resource management, task scheduling, version control, caching, connection pooling, and security. JReport organizes report resources, including JReport catalogs, report templates, and report results into a logical hierarchy that can be accessed using a Web browser. Users don't need to know the details of where a report catalog, template, or result is physically stored in order to access it. Security can be controlled at the record, row, or page level to authorize end-user access to personalized information, enabling a single, large report to serve any number of individuals across an enterprise.

With JReport's National Language Support, the same report can be viewed in different languages depending on the end user's locale. JReport incorporates a Java mechanism called "resource bundle," which separates language-dependent strings into isolated files to simplify the translation process.

Seamless Integration
Unify required a flexible, open report deployment and delivery system that was easily integrated - and branded - so that it could be embedded seamlessly into the NXJ application platform. Once again, JReport delivered. Its 100% J2EE architecture does not require its own server environment and can be run as Java servlets, allowing for quick and seamless integration into any enterprise environment.

JReport is easily implemented in a typical three-tier J2EE environment, and utilizes native Java connectivity to access data sources and the adapters needed to retrieve data on demand. While JReport can be implemented in a number of configurations within the J2EE environment, our needs required integration as an EJB. In this embedded model, Unify NXJ calls J2EE components provided by JReport, and JReport calls J2EE components provided by NXJ in order to customize specific functions.

JReport allows users to design their own JavaServer Pages (JSPs) to customize the look and feel of their reporting system interface. JReport integrates with our existing system and application-level security, so users can access business information with a single sign-on.

JReport can also notify a designated user of report completion or report failure by e-mail. The user receives an e-mail message containing a URL link to the report. In addition, reports can be sent in the body of an e-mail or as an attachment.

Jinfonet Software, Inc.
9400 Key West Avenue - Suite 250
Rockville, MD 20850
Web: www.jinfonet.com
Phone: 301 838-5560
Fax: 240 465-0355
E-mail: info@jinfonet.com

Summary
JReport is a powerful, open, easy-to integrate, and easy-to-use reporting solution. With an intuitive and feature-rich design interface, JReport makes designing customized reports quick and easy. Its servlet architecture provides high performance, security, scalability, and seamless integration into any J2EE environment.

Training requirements were minimal, though we did find documentation to be somewhat complicated. For NXJ customers, we simplified documentation, helping to establish JReport as a more seamless out-of-the-box reporting solution.