JasperReports/Rails integration using Rjb (Ruby Java Bridge)

• jasper-rails 2.0.0.beta1 released!

You need a Java Virtual Machine installed and set up in order to use this gem.

gem install jasper-rails

Add jasper-rails to your Gemfile:

  gem "jasper-rails"

Note: If you're running your application on OS X, this is usually all you have to do. On Linux, you might have to set the JAVA_HOME. On Windows, good luck!

For any issues related to the java/ruby integration, please check out: http://rjb.rubyforge.org/. You will find here plenty tips that might help you to solve your problem.

1. Tell your controller that it "responds to" :pdf and it "responds with" some list:

Note: This list will become your datasource inside the report.

  respond_to :html, :xml, :pdf

  def index
    @people = Person.all
    respond_with @people
  end

2. Create your jasper report source file using iReport or any compatible jasper tool.

3. Set the "Query Text" and "The language for the dataset query" properties of your report.

Note: If you're using iReport, you can find those properties in the "Properties panel". Don't forget to select the report root node in your "Report inspector".

Example: If you have a list of people, you should have something like:

• "Query Text" = /people/person
• "The language for the dataset query" = xpath

4. Design your report (add fields, groups, images, etc.)

5. Save the report source file in your views folder (just like any other html view file):

Example:

• app/views/people/index.jrxml

  def index
    @people = Person.all

    # This variable will be available in your report!
    @user = "John Doe"

    respond_with @people
  end

All you have to do now is to create, in iReport, a parameter called "user" (yes, without the "@") and drop it in your report!

Limitation: By now, all parameters that aren't manually converted to Rjb java classes/instances are converted to java String. We intend to change this in the near future.

  title = (Rjb::import 'java.lang.String').new("The Beatles")
  @parameter_that_is_a_java_class = (Rjb::import 'java.util.HashMap').new
  @parameter_that_is_a_java_class.put("title", title)

For more information check out issue: #13

You can change any default report param by setting JasperRails.config[:report_params], e.g., in your "config/application.rb" you might have something like:

  config.after_initialize do
    JasperRails.config[:report_params]["REPORT_LOCALE"] = JasperRails::Locale.new('pt', 'BR')
  end

Check out: jasper-rails-rspec.

For a running example, just clone: jasper-rails-demo.

For any discussion related to this gem, feel free to join the mailing list.

This project was first developed at Grupo Fortes in 2011 and we have been using it in several projects since then. Pay attention that all the features it supports right now were based in those project's especific needs. Therefore you might find a lot of JasperResports' features that are not yet supported.

Copyright (C) 2012 Marlus Saraiva, Rodrigo Maia

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

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