Programming Interfaces

Report Data Sources

Allegra comes with a number of report templates and datasources. If you cannot create your own, special custom report using the standard datasources that come with Allegra you need to program your own. With custom datasources you can create any report conceivable.

A report consists of

  • a report datasource that queries the database and returns the data in XML format.
  • an optional report configuration view that permits you to select filter conditions (e.g. data from last month, or any other criteria). This view is completely customizable, you can program anything you like to make life easy for your users.
  • a presentation view based on a template.

You work with Jaspersoft Studio to develop your own report templates, using existing report datasources. You can also create your own handcrafted views when you are willing to do a little programming. A report datasource provides the first two items, namely the data in XML format and optionally a configuration view. To create new report datasource types you need to know how to program in Java, using the Allegra API. To get started download the Developers Manual listed below and go to Chapter 4. Just follow the instructions there.