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A scriptlet is a Java class used to execute special elaborations during print generation. The scriptlet exposes a set of methods that are invoked by the reporting engine when some particular events, like the creation of a new page or the end of processing a detail row, occur.

One of the most useful tools of iReport is the Report Wizard , which lets you create reports using templates , a kind of prebuilt model to use as a base for new reports. In this chapter, I will explain how to build custom templates and how to add them to those already available.

As of iReport version 0.5.1, chart support in iReport has been completely rewritten to use new functionality within JasperReports. The previous implementation, based on manual creation of series via a scriptlet, is no longer supported.

Report generation is based on a single datasource (such as a query, a collection of JavaBeans, or an XML file). When you deal with a chart or a crosstab, this might not be sufficient, or it might simply be easier to retrieve the chart or crosstab data using a specific query or in general using another dataset. A subdataset is used to provide a secondary record set inside a report (performing an additional query using a new datasource). Currently, you can use a subdataset to fill only a chart or a crosstab. You can have an arbitrary number of subdatasets in a report.

A crosstab is a kind of table where the number of rows and columns is not known at design time, like a table that shows the sales of some products (rows) during different years (columns): Fruit/Year 2004 2005 2006 ... Strawberry Wild cherry Big banana ...

This chapter covers the various components of the iReport graphical interface that have not yet been discussed: the object library, the log window, and the list of active processes (see Figure 16-1), as well as rules and magnetic guidelines.

It is possible to extend iReport functionalities by means of plug-ins , external application modules designed to execute various tasks such as positioning elements using particular criteria or compiling a JASPER file and putting it in a BLOB database field.

In this chapter, you will learn how to solve some common problems related to using iReport and JasperReports; these are problems users frequently post about on the iReport forum and problems for which the JasperReports official documentation does not provide a clear solution.

This chapter focuses on the many iReport configuration options.