using JasperReports with php

Installation
  • install JasperServer - bundles java based applications (tomcat, ant) but also mySQL and iReports (don't need to install those on the server)
  • to work with the reports, you'll need to install it locally as well
  • to generate scheduled reports from php, enable SOAP extension for php (php.ini)
  • install SOAP and Net_Dime PEAR libraries for php
Generating a report
  • open IReports: add/create the SQL query, design & build the report
  • start jasper server (tomcat)
  • open jasper application (e.g. http://localhost:8080/jasperserver/)
  • under reports, right click > Add resource > JasperServer Report
  • fallow the wizard to upload the jrxml file
Integrating with php // add connection credentials in session session_start(); $_SESSION['username'] = 'jasperadmin'; $_SESSION['username'] = 'jasperadmin'; $uri = '/reports/samples/report1'; // this is the report - the path is being used by jasperserver to id the report $format = 'HTML '; // HTML|XLS|PDF require_once 'client.php'; $output_params[RUN_OUTPUT_FORMAT] = $format; ws_runReport($uri, $report_params, $output_params, $attachments); // display the reports if (is_array($attachments)) { // set in ws_runReport by reference if ( $format == 'PDF' ) { header ( "Content-type: application/pdf" ); } else if ( $format == 'XLS' ) { header ( 'Content-type: application/xls' ); header ( 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="report.xls"'); } else if ( $format == 'HTML' ) { //header ( "Content-type: text/html"); // optional: save the report on disc // save any image foreach (array_keys($attachments) as $key){ if ($key != "cid:report"){ $f = fopen("images/".substr($key,4),"w"); fwrite($f, $attachments[$key]); fclose($f); } } } echo $attachments["cid:report"]; } Issues
  • is java based, and steep learning curve. I'm sure it has features that I didn't even scratched the surface off.
  • might have bugs (for example, I could not render a piechart with iReports; the barchart worked)
  • reports are not very interactive (difficult to create rich html or javascript). Reports are more like PDFs.
  • report compiling can be done using jasper app interface, and (probably) using Apache ant but is more difficult.
  • difficult to integrate in a project. Output is a whole html document and you can't add anything else inside (e.g. menus, pagination)
  • images (resources) - difficult to handle: upload each one manually, fatal errors if missing
Recommendation
  • I don't recommend it as a fast or flexible solution.
  • It might be a solution when dealing with a large number of reports that would take longer to build with classical tools (i.e. php / html)

thanks man, but, where is the

Submitted by leojpv on Sat, 07/30/2011 - 18:58.

thanks man, but, where is the client.php file?

within the jasper

Submitted by admin on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 17:47.

within the jasper application. Look in the php-sample folder