On Monday 25 May 2009 05:33:27 pm Roger Lovelock wrote: > Hi All, > A thought I had! The most common enhancement to my dabo application is > new report formats (changes or additions). Because of the nature of the > report writer and the way reports are run it means adding code to the main > app and redistributing an updated version to all users. My thought was that > if a generalised report runner was included in my app I would only need to > distribute text and/or xml files to add new reports. To explain - if I had > an xml or text file per report which included the descriptive name of the > report, connection name, sql statement and report definition file name then > a generalised routine (optionally stand-alone or alternatively embedded in > the application) could do the following :- read all report text files > display a drop down list of available reports (descriptive > name) upon selection of a list item > get the connection > create a dataset from the sql statement > run the specified report and display the pdf > To add a new report would just need the relevant report text file, cdxml > file and rfxml files loaded in the app directory. > > Of course two other thoughts come to mind > - all the data in the report text file could be included in > the rfxml file. - A stand-alone user friendly ad-hoc report generator could > be developed from this base utilising the report designer as a starting > point. > > Has anyone else had thoughts or done anything along these lines? Any > suggestions? > > Roger
Larry and I are doing something very similar. Although, your description does not cover all the issues. For example you need more than just a dropdown to select a report. You need a way to interact with the user. Most reports will need input from the user - such as date ranges or client names. IOW the params for the sql. BTW that is not as easy as it may sound. Dynamically, displaying textboxes, date boxes, spinners, dropdowns can be a pain and remember that you can have ranges and may need to provide validation along with lookups for each control. That said, are you going to limit the reporting tool to PDF's? Most apps these days need to email, create spreadsheets, SMS text?, and of course printing. BTW how would you handle the connection problem for remote users? If the connection is within the report then it would be likely that the connection would be wrong for the remote users. I'm not shooting down the idea. I like it (or I wouldn't be doing something similar). But there is much more than what you described required. -- John Fabiani _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-users Searchable Archives: http://leafe.com/archives/search/dabo-users This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/[email protected]
