The DBReport component has some issues, not so bad, but if enought for a week of work, but in this moment, i working in android project, in 2 weeks i think, i’ll working on that, meanwhile, i answer questions by email and some bugs are resolved, just enought for working.
I see another options like Valentina, RSReports, BKeeney Shorts, etc, and like Bob Keeney says: “…all of them , have drawbacks and strengths…” Valentina is impressive (remember i tried about a year, but the key them send me don’t work) but my client -the person who contract me for this component- don´t liked, prefer to pay me (on yours words), for your needs DBReport is just fine. So another fella friend of their, see the component and buyed!. this 2 persons have a 40+ end-users totally satisfied with the Component, so i thought, how about another xojo users? Even i think put like open source (i have the source in bitbucket right now) but its a dilema: how about the users that pay for?
So in bottom line, give me a few days to prepare docs and fix bugs, most important, prepare for supporting.
I think many XOJO users (certainly me) would be grateful for a nice end-user report designer with source code available. I’ve been thinking of jumping to XOJO from the Delphi world, but a good end-user report designer without royalties is one of two features holding me back (the other is a component that can recognize a QR code in an image).
I have two questions for you. With DBReport is it fairly easy to:
Subclass components (e.g., the Image component) to create custom reporting objects? For example, I might need to subclass an Image component to draw a bar code or some other graphic on the fly.
Modify the end-user designer to incorporate subclassed components (e.g., adding icons for them, handling drawing in the designer, visibility in the property inspector, etc.)?
Maybe Xojo Inc. should make a deal with “Bernardo Monsalve” and then replace Xojo’s report designer with DBReport. Then it might be a win win case for both parties.
dilema: how about the users that pay for?
Yes, I know, this is a stupid question: do they pay for the exclusive use ?[/quote]
That’s a good option, wait for 2014, then release an open source scheme, looking that way the dilemma not sounds like stupid question, don’t you think?.
[quote]Greg:
I have two questions for you. With DBReport is it fairly easy to:
1.Subclass components (e.g., the Image component) to create custom reporting objects? For example, I might need to subclass an Image component to draw a bar code or some other graphic on the fly.
2.Modify the end-user designer to incorporate subclassed components (e.g., adding icons for them, handling drawing in the designer, visibility in the property inspector, etc.)?
[/quote]
It’s easy subclassing components, it’s easy incorporate subclassed components too, but printing or more accurately “render” is the big problem, i’ll thinking on that but i had first some issues: Subreports, change the drawning in the end-user designer (ugly, ugly blinking in windows) and other stuff, that consumes considerable time.
[quote]Jhon:
Maybe Xojo Inc. should make a deal with “Bernardo Monsalve” and then replace Xojo’s report designer with DBReport. Then it might be a win win case for both parties.
[/quote]
Maybe you can make the contact, I’ll even consider donate the component or idea or whatever.
Don’t misunderstand me, my concern is a better report designer, the need are there, the options rising, only need to talk about money, how about the quality, support or even bitcoins? I consider receiving bitcoins. How about of HARD work of programmers like valentina or RSReports or Shorts? just f.uc.k4d! I see a post for a better opensource listbox, i’ll glad donate time for that project. It’s for good of all, I’ll will donate some little controls soon, but DBReport it is a little most bigger, would be good 2 or more people involved in the opensource project.
[quote=37182:@Bernardo Monsalve]I’ll even consider donate the component or idea or whatever.
…my concern is a better report designer, the need are there … how about the quality, support … I consider receiving bitcoins. How about of HARD work of programmers like valentina or RSReports or Shorts? … DBReport it is a little most bigger, would be good 2 or more people involved in the opensource project.[/quote]
My point of view is:
You need to finish it and make some docs. point. You deserve some reward, money. Forget bitcoins. point.
Set up a page, set a fair value, and sell it there. fastspring.com ?
Make a kind of license forbidden disclosing, reselling and modifications of the sources of the version 1.x.
The other guys aren’t f#$%#$. They need to do something better than you did. They can, maybe they will do.
At some point, you change the license, donate the sources to the community as you wished opening the v2.0 community effort.
Put it on GitHub, and manage the project, with time, you could share responsibilities with other developers there naming more admins.
Another option which I have dabbled with is JasperSoft’s JasperReports http://jaspersoft.com . They offer both opensource (GPL) and various commercial versions. The software works on Mac, Linux, or Windows. It also supports any database that has a JDBC driver. It doesn’t have direct integration into Xojo, but can be made to look (to a degree) seamless.
The report editor is a webbased application. They have a report server that allows you to view/print the reports via a web browser as well. You should be able to use a Xojo HTML Viewer control to allow access to the reporting system. It also has the benefit of allowing managers to review reports from iPads during meetings using the Safari browser.
In addition, the servers do have some REST / SOAP APIs that can be used to integrate into a Xojo app.
A solution like this may be a bit of overkill for small application with a small 1-2 user deployments. However, for larger enterprise style apps where you can justify a dedicated reporting server [virtual] machine, the solution works.
JasperReports does require Java for the backend servers.
after some times reading this, I have suddenly a question:
I know what looks the Xojo Report Editor (in the programmer point of view), but I have a trouble. What looks like the ‘Report Editor’ from the user point of view: user only saw what the programmer want or is he able to make the report reports what he want (say customize its report) ?
I hope this is clear: I have problems expressing myself here
It has already been mention but I would like to add some comments.
MS Excel is an excellent report generator and its options to connect to various data sources are very good.
We can create templates (file suffic *.XLT) that are easy to distribute and easy to maintenance.
We can fully automate the whole report process and we can also create an advanced distribution system.
Today we can create and manage server-side Excel solutions where we don’t need to have MS Excel on the server.
But there is a gap between the Windows version and the version for Apple’s desktop. We can create reports but less advanced if we target both desktops.
Buying MS Office is expensive but instead of buying the suite we can buy a standalone license for MS Excel.
After nearly 30 years with MS Excel I find Excel as a report generator to be the #1 of all its features.
I can’t believe no one mentioned DynaPDF? A few years ago when we considered using RB/XOJO for production work, the biggest drawback we encountered was reporting. We tried everything that was available but there was nothing that provided the level of detail that our users demand. I’m not talking lists, I’m taking reports that contain multiple levels of subtotaling, report summaries, and tax forms (you know, the kind that IRS gives you free of charge).
We finally decided to take a look at DynaPDF and found the following:
Yes, there is definitely a pretty sharp learning curve.
It is basically a limitless product because it will allow you to do whatever you can imagine.
Some might think that printing directly to a PDF file is, well, strange, but you know what, our users love it because they can zoom, search, email, and leave the report open on the screen while review the data they entered in our app. And, there are ways to print directly to the printer (which we do) using an open source PDF viewer (Sumatra) that we distribute with out app.
Depending on your needs, you’ll have to decide if the time it takes to get proficient with DynaPDF is worth it to you and your users, but I can honestly say that after trying all the rest, it’s the only one we found that could meet our use case requirements.
