Learn how to use iReport to create, design, format, and export reports

* A step-by-step, example-oriented tutorial with lots of screenshots to guide the reader seamlessly through the book
* Generate enterprise-level reports using iReport 3.7
* Give your reports a professional look with built in templates
* Create master/detail reports easily with the sub-report feature
* Produce summary data and present them in a dynamic crosstab report

In Detail

Although JasperReports is the world's most popular open source Java reporting library, it has always lacked one thing: It doesn't provide a tool to visually design reports. iReport is a visual report designer built on JasperReports that fills that lack. It is an intuitive and easy-to-use visual report builder/designer for JasperReports, written in 100% pure Java.

This beginner's tutorial book is a straightforward introduction to the iReport environment taking an example-oriented approach in developing your skills from scratch. It shows you how to use iReport for creating reports in PDF, RTF, and other formats, which can be delivered over the Web for immediate access.

This book will guide you through using iReport to develop various types of reports from a simple report through to dynamic enterprise-level reports based on realistic examples based on a sample Inventory Management System. It takes you through the main types of report available in iReport, and shows you exactly how to create them. It shows you how to use different report templates, how to use special kinds of data operations to generate more powerful reports, combine data to produce master-detail reports, add images, control the layout and formatting of your report and many more.

It will also show you how to use the NetBeans IDE to create Java projects with reporting facilities. You will learn how to vary report format and layout according to business requirements.

What you will learn from this book

* Using iReport for creating reports
* Using special kinds of data operations to generate more powerful reports
* Combining data to produce master/detail reports
* Adding images and controlling the layout and formatting of your report
* Using report variables to store data during the execution of the report
* Representing business data in the form of pie charts, bar charts, line charts and so on
* Calling iReport from a Java desktop or web application
* Creating reports from the NetBeans IDE
* Creating JDBC connections from iReport to connect to different data sources.