Report Generation API For Java?

[Sourabh Mhaisekar]

I am developing tool for analysis of office data, for which I need to generate reports as per database entries.
Report generation API should be able to draw various graphs such as Pie, Bar etc.

Does anyone have any suggestion about what library should I use ?

Thank you !

- Sourabh M.

 

[Eric Sosman]

I am developing tool for analysis of office data, for which I need to generate reports as per database entries.
Report generation API should be able to draw various graphs such as Pie, Bar etc.

Does anyone have any suggestion about what library should I use ?

There's JFreeChart <http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/>, which
can draw many kinds of charts in Swing applications. I think it
can also render them as PNG or PDF. The gotcha (last time I looked)
is that the library and JavaDoc are free, but the "How To" book
costs money.

Google Charts <https://developers.google.com/chart/> lets you
embed graphs in HTML documents, using Javascript libraries. You
can write the HTML from any language you choose, including Java,
and any modern browser can display them (without needing Java).

OpenOffice.org has API bindings for various languages that would
let you generate OOo documents directly from your Java code. It's
quite un-Java-like, possibly because of the other language bindings
it needs to support. I don't know whether it works with LibreOffice,
or whether LO has similar API's.
<http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/OpenOffice.org_Developers_Guide>

 

[Roedy Green]

I am developing tool for analysis of office data, for which I need to generate reports as per database entries.
Report generation API should be able to draw various graphs such as Pie, Bar etc.

Does anyone have any suggestion about what library should I use ?

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/graph.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/reportgenerator.html

 

[Roedy Green]

Where is Eclipse BIRT?

http://mindprod.com/jgloss/reportgenerator.html

thanks for the tip.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

There's JFreeChart <http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/>, which
can draw many kinds of charts in Swing applications. I think it
can also render them as PNG or PDF. The gotcha (last time I looked)
is that the library and JavaDoc are free, but the "How To" book
costs money.

JFreeChart is actually quite nifty.

If OP need some examples, then I have some on the shelf.

(I will need to check them against current version though as
JFreeChart API is not completely stable)

OpenOffice.org has API bindings for various languages that would
let you generate OOo documents directly from your Java code. It's
quite un-Java-like, possibly because of the other language bindings

UNO is like COM and CORBA.

it needs to support. I don't know whether it works with LibreOffice,
or whether LO has similar API's.
<http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/OpenOffice.org_Developers_Guide>

LO support UNO as well.

http://api.libreoffice.org/

Arne

 

[Arved Sandstrom]

JFreeChart is actually quite nifty.

If OP need some examples, then I have some on the shelf.

(I will need to check them against current version though as
JFreeChart API is not completely stable)

[ SNIP ]

Yes, JFreeChart is good. I was prepared to recommend it as a solid
alternative for a client last year, if they didn't go with a commercial
alternative. They eventually purchased LogiInfo/LogiStudio products,
which are seriously more high-powered than JFreeChart. But JFreeChart is
a good choice.

I have some JFreeChart examples also.

The OP should not underestimate the amount of effort that implementation
takes with something like JFreeChart, however. Particularly for first or
second or third projects by people new to the library. Given a chart
design and a datasource accessible by some technique, the better
commercial offerings make it possible to knock out a very sophisticated
user-input driven dynamic chart in less than an hour. Creating a similar
chart with JFreeChart would take days.

So it's a very good idea to do some early implementations, even as early
as application requirements gathering, as a proof-of-technology and an
effort-estimation guide.

AHS