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Showing posts with label jaspersoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jaspersoft. Show all posts

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

How to resolve can't add a cell error - While Exporting to excel in Jasperserver

This is an error which you get while exporting the data from the Jasperserver in the Excel Format.

Something of this sort






For resolving this you should check some of these errors:

1. Number to string cast exception:
This means that a number is wrongly appended to a string in which wrongly cast number into string.
In order to fix this, you will have to use the command as

new DecimalFormat("##,#0.00").format(number).toString()
This will cast your number into two decimal places with the thousand separator.


2. Another error that can be checked is of any other cast errors, or formatting of the data in the report.


Cheers!!


Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Setting mail account for Subscription of scheduled Jobs in JasperServer.


I wanted to document the process from a long time but due to crunch of time I could not, but now I will like to explain the process in simple easy to follow steps.

First of all I would like to give an idea to problem addressed in the blog, basically when a report runs as a daily status or daily count one need not run it manually it could be scheduled, but when the report is scheduled the export in desired form is exported on jasper server.

But wait a minute do we really login and see what the results came as in the PDF, Excel etc. export, no we need not the problem is handled by mail subscription attached to the scheduler, which will automatically send the Exports to the subscribers on their email accounts and send a confirmation to the administrator.

So lets cut the explanation and lets jump directly into how to do.

Prerequisites -

1. You should have working copy of JasperServer community/pro
2. You should have uploaded a report to the server
3. Choose you favourite text editor  (Windows(default) - Notepad/MacOS(default) - TextEdit)
4. Shut down the jasper server so that no sort of errors come in case of Editing/Saving documents.

after following the above prerequisites now we head on to edit two files as follows.
Both these files will be found at the location
<directory of Jasperserver on Disk>/apache-tomcat/webapps/jasperserver/WEB-INF/

1. js.quartz.properties
   - Edit the file with the Text Editor
 
Change the portion of the document as (Please select your own server details I have used a gmail account )

report.scheduler.mail.sender.host=smtp.gmail.com
report.scheduler.mail.sender.username=testpanda@gmail.com
report.scheduler.mail.sender.password=password
report.scheduler.mail.sender.from= testpand@gmail.com
report.scheduler.mail.sender.protocol= smtp
report.scheduler.mail.sender.port= 587
  - Make the changes and save the file.

2.   applicationContext-report-scheduling.xml

  -  Locate the bean reportSchedulerMailSender
  -  Locate the property javaMailProperties
  -  Do the changes as below - This will enable java to interact the smtp/startls authentication.      

         <props>
                <prop key="mail.smtp.auth">true</prop>
<prop key="mail.smtp.starttls.enable">true</prop>
            </props>
  - Now save the document.

Now the report subscription is ready for run, just start the Jasper Server and you are good to go.

Cheers!!

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

How to export and import a Jasper Server Repository on a remote system

In this blog I have explained the steps to import and export the JasperServer Repository (In the steps below I have used a Remote Linux Machines accessed via windows machine)

Before following the steps there would be requirement of following softwares-
1. WinSCP - To browse the files in Linux machine
2. PuTTy - To run the commands for export/import in the Linux shell



Steps Export reports in Jasper Reports

1. Open PuTTy - and key in the IP address 
2. Enter the username and password.
3. Navigate to the folder /opt/jasperreport-server-5.0/buildomatic
4. Run the command  ./js-export.sh --uris <Path of the Report>  --output-dir <Name of the folder to be exported>
5. Open the WinSCP, and key in the  IP Address as well as the credentials and set the Protocol as SFTP .
6. Navigate to the folder /opt/jasperreport-server-5.0/buildomatic
7. Drag and drop the folder created earlier to the local machine.



Steps Import reports in Jasper Reports

1. Open the WinSCP, and key in the  IP Address as well as the credentials and set the Protocol as SFTP .
2. Navigate to the folder /opt/jasperreport-server-5.0/buildomatic
3. Drag and drop the folder downloaded with the report.
4. Now Open PuTTy - and key in the IP address 
5. Enter the username and password.
6. Navigate to the folder /opt/jasperreport-server-5.0/buildomatic
7. Run the command  ./js-import.sh --input-dir <name of the folder copied earlier>

Monday, 12 January 2015

Fresh setup of Jasper Reports from scratch - For beginners

I have been thinking to compile  a document which outlines the complete process of installation and setup of the connection because generally when one starts they do not find much of material and they tend to get stuck on a trivial issue.

So the post will have two portions, namely Installation and Setup.


Installation 

This document will apprise you with the basic installation software, which would act as a prerequisite to run Jasper Report.
  1. Java
    As Jasper Reports is built on Java platform, so a proper installation of Java Development kit (jdk) is required. For official steps to install java one can refer to the link
    https://www.java.com/en/download/help/windows_manual_download.xml
  2. iReport Designer
    This is a third party Jasper Report designing software. iReport is the most popular visual designer tool for JasperReports Library and JasperReports Server (Business Intelligence).
    The software can be downloaded in an exe run able format for windows machine, or other types of files as per the platform demands.
    http://community.jaspersoft.com/project/ireport-designer/releases


  3. Jasper Server
    This is the software which acts as the interface which provides web touch to the reports rather makes it interactive in terms of external links and the drill downs
    Below is the link from where the file could be downloaded.
    http://community.jaspersoft.com/project/jasperreports-server/releases

  4. Database  Server -
    The database server or the datasource which serves the purpose of feeding data to the report, in this projects case the setup was in the SQL Server 2008, which could vary from project to project .
     
  5. Netbeans(Optional)

Netbeans is the development environment where in you could create sciptlets for customization purposes in the Jasper Reports. You could even go on to make customizations on the charts, where in you could use the
https://netbeans.org/downloads/ (Download the SE version)



Setup and Connection

Below are the steps for the setup, which would act as a prerequisite to run Jasper Report.
  1. Java
    Download and install java 7, please do mind not to install Java 8 as it is yet not supported by iReport.
  2. iReport Designer
    After installing the iReport, first thing you need to do is that the inclusion of java connector

    Below is the process to include the Java Connector

    i.  Download the Java connector for the Datasource, as we have the SQL Server datasource we need to download
    http://www.java2s.com/Code/Jar/s/Downloadsqljdbc120jar.htm
    For more info on the Connector follow the link -- https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19501-01/819-3658/gcfoy/index.html

    ii.  Navigate to Tools—> Options  Classpath
    And select the Add JAR, and then browse to the downloaded path of the connector

    Now we  need to add a JDBC datasource

    i. Click on  the icon shown below on the top of the iReport window




  1. ii.  In the popup select New  Select The Datasource type as Database JDBC Connection

    iii. Now Enter the name of the connection, select the SQL Server driver and enter the name of the database in the url of the database, also key in your credentials, refer to the screenshot below





    iv. Now test the connection, it will say the connection successful.

    We are now ready to create reports.

  2. Jasper Server
    After installation in order to run Jasper Server open the browser and key in
    localhost:8080/jasperserver
    Then login using the credentials jasperadmin/jasperadmin

    Then setup the connection, righ click on the node and add a datasource
    Enter the details below,  for the connector and setup the datasource.



The above steps are pretty basic and gives a fair idea as to what all basic necessities are there to process the installation and setup.

Friday, 21 November 2014

Jasper Report- JRException: Image read failed

 This Exception comes generally when you try to export the report on Jasper Server in PDF Format, or from iReport, then due to the error in some of the image or all the images, which is producing the error.

So to overcome this issue, you could set following properties of the image:

1. Firstly you could simply setting the Cache Property to true
2. If that does not resolves the issue then you can set the property Error type to Blank


Hope that this helps.

Cheers!!


Monday, 3 November 2014

Jasper Reports Server's unique Source Code Management System


Jasper Reports Server is basically a stand alone as well as embedded  reporting server which can be easily used for deploying the Jasper Reports. It provides a way to embed reports as well as analytics into a web or mobile application, as well as act a informational hub.

Server is made to securely share and manage the Jasper reports and analytic views. The security feature is implemented via role management and user creation facility in Jasper Server.

Now there are two ways you can use Jasper Server
1. Standalone application
2. Embed into services, or applications.

Now moving on to the Source Code Management,


    What benefits do Source Code Management tools provide?

SCM tools help development teams in many ways:
  • Collaboration: SCM tools prevent one user from accidentally overwriting the changes of another, allowing many developers to work on the same code without stepping one each other's toes.
  • History: SCM tools track the complete development history of the software, including the exact changes which have occurred between releases and who made those changes.
  • Release notes generation: Given the tracking of each change, the SCM can be used to generate notes for their software releases which accurately capture all of the changes included in the new release.
  • Documentation and test management: SCM tools can be used to manage not just software source code, but also test suites and documentation for their software.
  • Change notifications: To keep interested members of the team informed when changes occur to the source code.

   Who uses SCM tools?

SCM tools are used by:
  • Project developers who are writing source code.
  • Project testers who need to download the very latest changes.
  • Advanced users who want to try out code that is not yet stable, mature or released.

In JasperServer, the SCM is managed very intelligently, whenever you draw a report for viewing in then you always get a version of the report, so you are not really modifying what is there on server. 

Jasper Server always keeps the original content on the server and provides the user with an instance of the report which is directly stored in the Temp folder, and if you need the modified version you have created as the current version then you need to replace the report with the current version of the report, by right clicking on the report in the repository and then replacing the report.

In light of this feature there is also a extreme care to be taken that which version is being replaced, because if once replaced the version of the report will be changes and it would be not possible to roll back the change.

This feature is really very great when you need to work on the small modification in the report as you can draw a copy on the local system and work onto that until you get the desired modification as well as you can simultaneously compare the previous version of the report and if you get the desired changes executed you can replace the report and have a new version of the report.

Hope this information helps you a lot!!
Cheers!!

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Getting to know CrossTabs and how to implement in Jasper Reports


CrossTabs are used for creating statistical view of a large sample data.

They allow you to summarize a huge unorganized data to be organized in terms of commons between the data.

Suppose You have a data containing two columns Year, Brand of the car sold

Some thing like this 

                                                          
 

Now if you have to tell the total sales of Audi  in 2000,2001,2002. It will be a long and tedious process, so to show it Schematically We can have Distinct Years and Distinct Car Brand Names for representing the data as they are the are the common attribute to the data .

So the statistical data will look like this






In the table above you could easily determine the Number of car sold for either of the brands and in which specific year. Also The last column where the the two totals converge i.e. 16 shows you the total value of the sample. 

Now let me quickly move on to implementation of Cross Tab in Jasper Reports rather iReport.
For the tutorial I would be using the iReport v5.6.0


1. The data needs to be retrieved from a datasource (either JDBC/JavaBeans/Custom Datasource/Excel/CSV... etc)
2. For the demonstration purposes I will be using the Excel File as the datasource.
3. After defining the datasource, we need to add the CrossTab element from the pallete.
4. Pallete could be accessed, Window( Menu Bar) --> Pallete, then from there the CrossTab could be found under the Report Elements.
5. As soon as we drag the Pallete, we get an wizard as below,


  •     Select the datasource, if subdataset is created then we can use that or simply the main dataset could be used. For the tutorial Main dataset is used
  • Next will appear the grouping criteria for the rows which in short means that which field(s) will come on the Rows of the Cross Tab. We need the car companies on as the rows which are unique.

  • Next will appear the grouping criteria for the Columns which in short means that which field(s) will come on the Columns  of the Cross Tab. We need the Years on as the rows which are unique
  • Next will be the Measure or the count of the value in particular grid.
    Which in our case would be the number of cars of a particular company in a particular Year

  • Then will come the window to select the layout of the crosstab, this means here we can customize the looks of the cross tab by defining the colors and which columns to show/hide.





    6. Now this brings to the completion of the crosstab, now we could see that a tab at the bottom left corner appeared showing the name of the Crosstab, as Crosstab 1. There we could see the columns and design of the Crosstab.


    7. Now a very critical point is placement of the crosstab, this should be really placed in a report band wherein the data is calculated already and then is to be shown in crosstab, the most favorable band to show the CrossTab is Summary band, else it will throw an Error Incrementing crosstab dataset/ Crosstab already been processed.

    Now to Explain the exception
    What "Crosstab data has already been processed" exception means?
    This exception is thrown if more data is added to the crosstab dataset after the crosstab has already been rendered.
    This usually happens when a crosstab element is linked to the main dataset of the report (does not use a subdataset run) and the resetType attribute of the crosstab dataset does not match the place where the crosstab is rendered.
    Crosstabs are special components that display aggregated data. And when they are linked to the main dataset of the report, you simply cannot put them in the detail section, because there is no data to aggregate from a single record.
    Such crosstabs could only reside on a group footer or on the summary section of the report and have the appropriate resetType value, so that their dataset is initialized each time after they are rendered.
    If you still think you need to render one crosstab for each detail in the master document, then almost certainly this crosstab should be linked to a subdataset and not to the main dataset of the report.




How to set up the tutorial Report:

1. Unzip the file downloaded from the above link.
2. The Zip contains sampleds.xls, CrossTabTut.jrxml and TestRun.pdf
3. Open iReport and set up the Excel Datasource using the sampleds.xls
4. Then open the sample report and its ready to run.


Hope that this helps!!
Cheers!!






Monday, 24 March 2014

Using Styles in Jasper Reports

We have been accustomed to use style sheets or CSS in our HTML codes, parallel to that we can use Styles in Jasper Reports also. It provides same utilities like conditional, non -conditional and could be applied on  any element in the Report.

Now how to create styles, there are two methods basically:
1. External Style Sheet (jrtx file)
2. Declaring Internal Styles in the report itself.

The advantages of using external Style sheet is that it provides modularity and re-usability of the style over large number of reports using similar kind of styles. On the other hand, Internal styles would only contains the styles definitions for a particular report.

How to apply styles in the reports(iReport).

1. Locate the Styles node in the Report Inspector.
2. Right Click on the node and add a new Style
3. Then you could define the properties of the Style in the in the properties pane. Properties like background-color,forecolor, outline,.. etc/
4. You could even click on the Style and add a conditional Style and define conditional styles, like alternate coloring and much more.
5. After defining the styles now in the application part, locate the element onto which you want to apply the style.
6. Select the particular style in the property called Style(could be found in the properties pane) of the Element.

I have created a simple tutorial video demonstrating the Styles in Jasper Reports. Click Here

Download the sample demonstrated in the video tutorial from here. The ZIP file contains :
1. The JRXML File
2. The jrtx Style.

The Sample uses the Sample database so no need to worry about the datasource.

Happy Coding.

How to display the Username of the user who logged into JasperServer

Many a times we require the name of the person who logged into the Jasper Server and according to this information we are able to show/hide the elements on report, or simpley to log the user name we can use it.

So how to achieve this ? 


We can create parameters in our report, with a specific name and datatype. Then these parameters will be automatically filled when the report is executed by JasperReports Server.
LoggedInUsername (java.lang.String), with no default value. Then, we can use $P{LoggedInUsername} in a text field, in a query, in a printWhenExpression, etc ...
This is a built in parameter which gets filled with the User Details when report is run on Jasper Server.
Note that the report if run in iReport, would get a null value. So for the correct results it is necessary that we deploy the report onto JasperServer.



Parameter Name
Type
Notes
LoggedInUser
User
Not usable in query input control,
 but is used as parameter to report
LoggedInUsername
String
Of logged in user
LoggedInUserFullName
String
Of logged in user
LoggedInUserEmailAddress
String
Of logged in user
LoggedInUserEnabled
Boolean
Is logged in user enabled?
LoggedInUserExternallyDefined
Boolean
Is logged in user externally defined?
 ie. authenticated externally
LoggedInUserTenantId
String
Of logged in user. Only relevant in 
Pro/Enterprise.
LoggedInUserRoles
Collection<string>
Current set of roles of logged in user. 
Useful for $X parameter
LoggedInUserAttributes
Map<string, string>
Not usable in query input control, but is 
used as parameter to report.
 Empty map if no attributes
LoggedInUserAttributeNames
Collection<string>
User profile attribute names. Useful for
 $X parameters. Empty collection if no
 
attributes
LoggedInUserAttributeValues
Collection
-
LoggedInUserAttribute_<attribute name>
String
Attribute value for matched attribute name (like "att1") on the user. Empty string if no match. Only provided if defined in a query or as a report parameter.

Using the above parameters we could easily get various important information which could help in defining the roles. 

Happy Coding.!!

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Cascading Parameters in Jasper Reports

Cascading, what does one mean by saying cascading, literally it means anything that resembles a waterfall or especially seeming to flow. Now where to implement this in Jasper Reports?    

Right, it could be used in parameters, or rather the filters which are dependent on each other. You can find these kind of filters in online shopping websites, wherein we can choose on various filters like if we want to buy the laptop first filter would be Laptop next filter would be the company chosen among the companies which sell Laptops, and then we chose for the specifications like processor,ram etc. each have separate filters but the boundaries of the parameter depends on the previous parameter.

Before getting into the setup of Cascading Parameters in Jasper Report there are few things which we need to know before hand - 
Usage of     $X{IN, feild, parameter} in the SQL Query used in the Where clause, which filters the data based on the selection. Let me go one by one in explaining the components
field - Now this is the field in the database upon which the find will be done
parameter - Now this is the parameter selected by user and will be queried or looked in the field. This enable for multi select also in the parameters.

Now in  order to achieve this in Jasper Reports we need to follow few steps.

  1. First of all you need to design a Jasper Report and identify the parameters to be cascaded
  2. Then we need to define the expression for parameters,  and mind one thing that each of the parameter need to be of type java.util.collection if you want to enable multi- select.
  3. Next and very important thing is that the cascading parameters could not be tested in iReport / JasperSoft Studio, this  needs to be deployed on Jasper Server in order to check the correct functionality. Though could be run in iReport or JasperReports with default values hardcoded.



I have created a working sample which could be simply deployed, and checked for the functionality and working.
The Zip file could be downloaded from here  - LINK TO ZIP FILE

The Zip file contains
1. Cascade Parameter Report (JRXML File)
2. SQL DUMP, could be extracted using MySQL or any other tool
3. Table Creation Script in a notepad file, this will allow you to create the require table in the database.

For setting up the sample report you need to-
1. Create a schema in you database and create the table using the script command
2. Then run the JRXML file using iReport/Jaspersoft Studio
3. Then set the datasource referring to Persons table in the database.
4. Then deploy the JRXML  on the Jasper Server, and set the datasource and input controls. Do remember the names of the parameters used in the report should exactly match the input controls declared on the Jasper Server.

If you miss on some step then you could follow a YouTube video of mine which  will serve as a tutorial.
Below is the video where in you could see all the steps.




Please put your views or questions or suggestions below, I will be more than happy to hear them.Happy Coding!!

Friday, 17 January 2014

All you want to know about Scriptlets!!


First question which comes to mind after coming across this word Scriptlet is that does it have any relationships with scripts, if yes then what scripts, the answer  to this question is No it does not have any relation with scripts.    Scriptlets basically act as an interface between the Jasper Reports and Java. It provides much of flexibility to the reporting as now we can introduce user defined functions.

Scriptlet is nothing but a java class which is extended with either
1. net.sf.jasperreports.engine. JRAbstractScriptlet
2. net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRDefaultScriptlet.

Now we need to identify which class we need to extend based upon the usage, JRAbstractSriptlet contains a number of abstract methods that must be overridden in every implementation, developer must implement all the abstract methods whereas JRDefaultScriptlet contains default empty implementations of every method in JRAbstractScriptlet, a developer is only required to implement those methods he/she needs for their project.

Now following listed are the methods that will be called by the report engine at the appropriate time, during report filling phase.

public void beforeReportInit()
Called before report initialization.
public void afterReportInit()
Called after report initialization.
public void beforePageInit()
Called before each page is initialized.
public void afterPageInit()
Called after each page is initialized.
public void beforeColumnInit()
Called before each column is initialized.
public void afterColumnInit()
Called after each column is initialized.
public void beforeGroupInit(String groupName)
Called before the group specified in the parameter is initialized.
public void afterGroupInit(String groupName)
Called after the group specified in the parameter is initialized.
public void beforeDetailEval()
Called before each record in the detail section of the report is evaluated.
public void afterDetailEval()
Called after each record in the detail section of the report is evaluated.



Except these we can also use User defined custom functions, I have already posted about them in my previous post here is the link-

Few important facts which need to be kept in mind using scriptlets are-
  1. When we do a System.out.println in any of the function then it does not directly print in the report, many a times people have some misconception but to remind System.out.println  is a console command and prints the value in the Report console, that is called the Report output window.
  2.  These functions are fired when the Jasper Print object is created, and it is created when a JRXML runs.


Now after creating our scriptlet classes and packaging  it into a jar file we are ready to use it in our Jasper Report created either in iReport or JasperSoft Studio.

Follow the following  steps to implement scriptlets in iReport
  1.  Add the Scriptlet jar file in the classpath by clicking on the Tools(Menu Bar) à Options à Classpath Tab  and add the Jar file here.
  2.  Locate the Report Inspector Window
  3.  There is a node called Scriptlet, expand the node and we could see REPORT
  4.  You can create a another scriptlet label by right clicking the scriptlet label and then select Add
  5. Now locate the new element called Scriptlet1 under the node SCRIPTLET. (Check Fig-1)
  6.  Navigate to the properties of the Scriptlet1 there could be seen Name, Scriptlet Class and Description.
  7. Now you can enter the desired name for the scriptlet.
  8.  Scriptlet Class  is the fully qualified path of the scriptlet class in the JAR File.
  9.  Description is for the describing the role of the scriptlet ( Check Fig-2)



Follow the following  steps to implement scriptlets in  JasperSoft Studio
  1.  Add the Scriptlet jar file in the classpath by clicking on the Project(Menu Bar) à Properties, then select Java Build Path and external JAR File.
  2.  Locate the Outline window
  3.  There is a node called Scriptlet, expand the node and we could see REPORT_SCRIPTLET
  4.  You can create a another scriptlet label by right clicking the scriptlet label and then select Create Scriptlet (As in Fig 1)
  5. Now locate the new element called Scriptlet_1 under the node SCRIPTLETS.
  6.  Navigate to the properties of the Scriptlet_1 there could be seen Name, Class and Description.
  7. Now you can enter the desired name for the scriptlet.
  8.  Class is the fully qualified path of the scriptlet class in the JAR File.
  9.  Description is for the describing the role of the scriptlet.  (As in Fig 2)




Now until now we have success fully linked the scriptlet JAR with the iReport/JasperSoft Studio, now we need to understand that how can it be used in the report in order to get the desired outputs from the scriptlet or basically from the JAVA end.

To use the scriptlet functions in either iReport/ JasperSoft Studio following are the steps:
  1.  When we successfully create a new scriptlet under the scriptlet node, and define the properties of the scriptlet we could  see a new parameter formed under the Parameter node.
  2.  Locate the scriptlet parameter, you can find the parameter as by default it is named as ( {name of the scriptlet defined}_SCRIPTLET )
  3. Then wherever you want to use any function of the scriptlet, you just need to use as:
    ( {name of the scriptlet defined}_SCRIPTLET ).function Name


That is all we need to implement to use scriptlet in Jasper Reports, hope that the above description and methodology helps to grasp important points.

Here is a sample using the sample database, you can try the above customization too.

                                            ======SAMPLE========


Hope this clears your doubt for this topic. Still if you face any issues or problems then you can add a comment below.


Happy Coding!!

Friday, 20 December 2013

How to set datasource in iReport using a JRDatasource Provider as well as custom JRDataSource - Along with sample and Video Tutorial

JRDataSource is interface that represents the abstract representation of a JasperReports data source. All data source types must implement this interface.

We could create   JRDatasource using java code, but there is a stipulation that the class made as the datasource needs to implement JRDataSource interface.

Now, in this article I will talk about:
1. Setting the datasource using custom JRDataSource.
2. Setting the datasource using JRDataSourceProvider.

To start with, 
Setting the datasource using custom JRDataSource.
The prerequisites for the creating a custom datasource are:
1. JRDataSource
2. Factory class setting the JRDataSource.



Setting the datasource using JRDataSourceProvider
The prerequisites for the creating a custom datasource are:
1. JRDataSource
2. JRDataSourceProvider implemented class.


For showing setting of each of the methods I have created a youtube video.
                                                ==VIDEO LINK==

In the sample I have created, what I intend to do is that I want to know the names, is directory(boolean true/false) and the size on disk, of the folder whose path is passed in the constructor of the datasource. Now in my datasource I have 3 columns NAME, SIZE and IS_DIRECTORY.

In both the cases we need to create a JRDatasource class .. that is the class which implements JRDataSource, so in the sample it looks like this 

/**
* JR DataSource Class
* @author Ankur Gupta
*/
public class JRFileSystemDataSource implements JRDataSource {
File[] files = null;
int index = -1;
public JRFileSystemDataSource(String path) {
File dir = new File(path);
if (dir.exists() && dir.isDirectory()) {
files = dir.listFiles();
}
}

@Override
public boolean next() throws JRException {
index++;
if (files != null && index < files.length) {
return true;
}
return false;
}

@Override
public Object getFieldValue(JRField jrf) throws JRException {
File f = files[index];
if (f == null) {
return null;
}
if (jrf.getName().equals("name")) {
return f.getName();
} else if (jrf.getName().equals("IS_DIRECTORY")) {
return new Boolean(f.isDirectory());
} else if (jrf.getName().equals("totalSpace")) {
return new Long(f.length());
}
// Field not found...
return null;
}

/**
* This method is responsible for setting the field names in the provider.(Required for the provider)
* @return
*/
public static String[] fieldNames() {
String[] fieldNames = {"name", "IS_DIRECTORY", "totalSpace"};
return fieldNames;
}
}
CODE SCRIPTLET #1
The  fieldNames()  method is not required for custom JRDataSource , but is required for JRDataSource Provider.

Now for the custom JRDatasource
1. The JRDataSource as shown above.(Remove the last method not required.)
2. The Factory Class for the custom JRDataSource looks like.

/**
*
* @author Ankur Gupta
*/
public class FactoryClassDataSource {

/**
* Factory Class responsible for setting the JRdatasource.
* @return
*/
public static JRDataSource generateDS(){
return new JRFileSystemDataSource("Path of the desired folder");
}
}
CODE SCRIPTLET #2

This is it, now you can compile these two classes , and place the jar file in the class path.

Now for the  JRDatasource Provider.
1. The JRDataSource as shown as above in the code scriptet #1.
2. Next is the JRDataSourceProvider class shown as below.


/**
* JRDatasource Provider
* @author Ankur Gupta
*/
public class JRFileSystemDataSourceProvider implements JRDataSourceProvider{

@Override
public boolean supportsGetFieldsOperation() {
return false;
}

@Override
public JRField[] getFields(JasperReport jr) throws JRException, UnsupportedOperationException {

ArrayList fields = new ArrayList();
String [] fieldNames = JRFileSystemDataSource.fieldNames();
for (String s : fieldNames) {
JRDesignField field = new JRDesignField();
field.setName(s);
field.setValueClassName("java.lang.String");
fields.add(field);
}
return (JRField[]) fields.toArray(new JRField[fields.size()]);
}

@Override
public JRDataSource create(JasperReport jr) throws JRException {
return new JRFileSystemDataSource("Enter the path of folder");
}

@Override
public void dispose(JRDataSource jrds) throws JRException {
}

}
CODE SCRIPTLET #3

Now, you can compile the classes and get the jar and place it in the classpath of iReport.

This was the portion you need to complete in creating the JAR file, now we need to set the datasource in thr iReport .
For setting the datasource as custom JRDataSource, you need to enter the qualified path of the factory class. In iReport it looks like :

 
Custom JRDataSource

Now you need to create the fields in the iReport by doing a right click on the field node and remember that the name of the field should be same as in the datasource . In the sample we need to create 3 fields as  name, IS_DIRECRTORY,totalSpace. 
And then place these fields in the detail section of the report and then preview the report and then you could see the contents of the folder(In the sample the folder path is set to C drive.)

For setting the datasource as JRDataSourceProvider, you need to set datasource by selecting to create a new datasource of type JRDataSourceProvider. In the sample it looks like
JRDataSourceProvider

Now the difference in the custom JRDataSource and JRDataSource Provider is that in this function you will not be worried for creating the field  you could directly fetch it by going to the Report query, navigate to DataSource Provider tab and click on Get Fields from dataSource , it will display all the fields in case of this sample it look like :



You then use the fields in the report and you can obtain similar structure of folder.


Here is the sample ZIP file 

                                                              ==ZIP FILE==
This ZIP  file will contain
1, TestRun PDF
2. JRXMLs for both the custonm JRDataSource as well  as JRDataSource Provider
3, JAR file which is needed to be placed in the classpath of iReport.

You could follow the video and sample and learn how to set the datasource with JRDataSource easily.

Please put you questions or demands for clarification in the comments section below.

Happy Coding.,,,!!!