Do you want
to develop a reporting capability within java based application? I have shared
my knowledge/experience on reporting projects which I have worked earlier.
Happy to hear if from you if you have any concerns/suggestions.
To work with PDF Reports:
We have
used FOP and iText earlier (not both in a same project) to create a pdf report
using Java. Please read the below for each of its pros and cons.
FOP:
It is an
open source Java API to create a PDF report dynamically in a template format.
If you have a XML data and formatting object template (xsl), creating PDF
report using FOP is very easy. I would
say only 3 lines of code will help you to create a PDF report.
XSLFO is a
XSL formatting objects and can be used for formatting XML data and to generate
PDF report. Using FOP, it is easy for us to generate a read-only pdf. At the
same time, we can’t alter an existing pdf or we can’t apply any security within
a pdf using FOP. Want to know more? Have a look @ http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/37663/PDF-Geneartion-using-XSLFO-and-FOP
iText:
It is an
open-source and more powerful java api for creating a PDF file using java.
Using iText, developers can create a PDF file with digital signature and
security (including having permission for opening a document, print/copy the
pdf). In addition to that, we can manipulate, split and concatenate the
existing PDF(s) within Java program. Also, we can build a form within PDF
document. Good set of working examples are available @ http://itextpdf.com/
You can
choose the right framework to address your pdf needs.
To work with Excel Reports:
We have
used POI and JExcel earlier (not both in a same project) to create a Microsoft xls
(spread sheet) report using Java. Please read the below for each of its pros
and cons.
POI:
It is an
open source Java API to read/write/modify Excel spread sheets dynamically if
you have a template already (xsl). Say implementing the POI will be very easy
if you already have the xml data response and xsl template for your report. As
I understand, POI is not improved as much like JExcel in terms of protecting
the xls spread sheet data. Want to learn more, please look at http://poi.apache.org
JExcel:
It is an open
source Java API to read/write/modify Excel spread sheets dynamically. If you
want to apply security OR to derive a new data (Sum, average etc) using the
existing data, JExcel will be the right option. It is a Java API, we wanted to
write Java code for column alignment, font, style etc. Also, it supports copying charts and images
into excel sheet. Want to know more? Visit http://jexcelapi.sourceforge.net/
If you
unable to follow the examples used in the above links, any issues or sample
codes, reach put to me.
_NjN
