Creating custom reports

Before you begin

Before you begin the process of creating custom reports, you must install Jaspersoft Studio and ensure that you have a Cloud Cruiser stored procedure to obtain the data you want to use in your report. Optionally, you can configure Jaspersoft Studio to connect with your Cloud Cruiser database.

Creating a report from scratch

To create a report from scratch

1. In Jaspersoft Studio, select File > New > Jasper Report.
   The New Report Wizard opens.
2. Select a template, and then click Next.
3. Select a directory and a File name for your report, and then click Next.
   Save the report outside of the Cloud Cruiser installation directory to prevent import problems that result in the custom report being overwritten by future upgrades to Cloud Cruiser.
4. In the Data Adapter field, select the Cloud Cruiser adapter you created in Configuring Jaspersoft Studio to connect with your Cloud Cruiser database.
5. (optional) If you have configured Jaspersoft Studio to connect with your Cloud Cruiser database, you can complete the following steps to load your report with real data from the Cloud Cruiser database. Note that these steps are for only for viewing purposes as you write your report. Later in the procedure you will add a property to call a stored procedure that populates the report with data when it is run from the Cloud Cruiser console.
   1. In the Texts area, enter a SQL statement that includes the Cloud Cruiser data you want to see in your report, and then click Next.
      For example: SELECT * FROM dbo.account_field
      
   2. Move the database fields you want in your report from the Dataset Fields column to the Fields column, and then click Next.
      
   3. If you want the data in your report to be grouped by one or more fields, move those fields from the Dataset Fields column to the Fields column. If you do not want data to be grouped in your report, leave all of the fields in the Dataset Fields column. When you are done, click Next.
6. On the Congratulations page, click Finish.
   The new report opens for editing.
7. Customize the content and appearance of your report to meet your needs. For assistance, see the Jaspersoft Studio documentation at community.jaspersoft.com/documentation.
   From the Outline section of JasperSoft Studio, you can drag Cloud Cruiser database fields to the report Design area.
   
8. Click the Source tab in the Jaspersoft Studio report designer to view the source XML of your report.
   Note that the opening <jasperReport> tag includes a name parameter with the name of your report as its value. This piece of metadata must be unique within Cloud Cruiser to distinguish this report from other reports. If there is no name attribute, or the value is not unique within Cloud Cruiser, the import of the report will fail.
9. To the opening <jasperReport> tag, add the following attribute-value pair:

   scriptletClass="com.cloudcruiser.core.report.DataUtilScriptlet"

   This attribute allows the Jasper report to make use of Cloud Cruiser's DataUtilScriptlet library, which is required for parameters to work properly in the report.
10. Immediately below the opening <jasperReport> tag, add the following properties, where <group_name> is the name of the report group that will contain this report on the Standard Reports page of the Cloud Cruiser console, and <sp_name> is the name of the stored procedure that will retrieve data from the Cloud Cruiser database. For more information about these and other properties you can define in your report, see Report properties and parameters.

    <property name="com.cloudcruiser.report.group" value="<group_name>"/>
    <property name="com.cloudcruiser.report.view_type" value="HTML"/>
    <property name="com.cloudcruiser.report.cache_type" value="REPORT"/>
    <property name="com.cloudcruiser.report.restricted" value="true"/>
    <property name="com.cloudcruiser.report.call_procedure" value="<sp_name>:inAccountLevel,inAccountFieldValues"/>
    

    For example, the following image shows a report that will be added to the Invoices group in Cloud Cruiser, and which calls a stored procedure named sp_sample:
    
11. (optional) If you want to add selectable parameters that allow you to pre-filter the results of your report, provide add those lines to the source XML of your report immediately above the <queryString> line. Parameters appear as fields on the Parameters page in Cloud Cruiser.
    For example, if you want to include Account Level and Account Filter as parameters for your report, add the following lines to the source XML:

    <parameter name="inAccountLevel" class="java.lang.String">
       <property name="com.cloudcruiser.param.account_level" value="All=0"/>
    </parameter>
    <parameter name="inAccountFieldValues" class="java.lang.String">
       <property name="com.cloudcruiser.param.account" value=""/>
    </parameter>

    
    For a full list of parameter properties, see Report properties and parameters.
12. If you completed step 5 to add an SQL statement that allows you to view real data in Jaspersoft Studio, remove that query and the surrounding <queryString> tags from the .jrxml file.
    For example, if you added the statement SELECT * FROM dbo.account_field, you must remove the following lines:

    <queryString>
       <![CDATA[SELECT * FROM dbo.account_field]]>
    </queryString>

13. Save your .jrxml file.
14. In a text editor, create a .properties file with the same name as your report .jrxml file.
    For example: SampleReport.properties.
15. Add the following lines to your properties file, where <title> is the name of your report and <description> is the description that appears under the title in Cloud Cruiser.

    com.cloudcruiser.report.default_title=<title>
    com.cloudcruiser.report.description=<description>

16. (optional) If you added selectable parameters to your report .jrxml file, add a label and description for each parameter to the .properties file. This allows Cloud Cruiser to display the parameter and provide appropriate field values on the Parameters page of the report.
    For example,  if you added parameters named inAccountLevel and inAccountFieldValues to your .jrxml file, add the following lines to the .properties file:

    com.cloudcruiser.param.inAccountLevel.label=Account Level
    com.cloudcruiser.param.inAccountLevel.description=Select the account level you want to use for this report
    

17. (optional) If your report .jrxml file includes $R{} resources, update your report .properties file to include a line that defines the string to be displayed when the report is run.
    For example, if your .jrxml file includes an $R{report.footer.total} resource to add the text string "Total" as a footer element under a column of data, you would include the following line in your report .properties file:

    report.footer.total=Total

18. Save your .properties file.
19. Load the report to Cloud Cruiser, as described in Loading and removing reports.