Java Reference
In-Depth Information
The JasperReports Open-Source License
JasperReports is licensed under the
Lesser
GNU
Public
License
(LGPL)
. This license
was chosen for JasperReports since, unlike the GPL, it allows JasperReports to be
used in both open-source and closed-source applications. Applications linking to
the JasperReports Java class library do not need to be open-source. However, if you
consider making modifications to the existing JasperReports source code, then your
modifications will have to be released under the LGPL. See
http://jasperreports.
sourceforge.net/license.html
for the complete license.
Features of JasperReports
In addition to textual data, JasperReports is capable of generating professional
reports including images, charts, and graphs. Some of the major JasperReports
features include:
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It has flexible report layout.
It is capable of presenting data textually or graphically.
It allows developers to supply data in multiple ways.
It can accept data from multiple datasources.
It can generate watermarks.
It can generate subreports.
It is capable of exporting reports to a variety of formats.
Each of these features is briefly described in the next few sections.
Flexible Report Layout
JasperReports allows us to separate data into optional report sections.
These sections include:
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The report title, which will appear once at the top of the report.
A page header, which will appear at the top of every page.
A detail section, which typically contains the primary report data.
A page footer, which will appear at the bottom of every page.
A summary section, which will appear at the end of the report.
All of these and other report sections are discussed in detail in Chapter 6. In
addition to allowing us to define report sections, JasperReports allows the creation
of elaborate dynamic layouts based on the contents of the report. For example,
depending on the value of a report field, data can be hidden or displayed in a report,
