MySQL Forums - Reporting, Charting, and BI

Do you want more date time functions in reporting tool? (no replies)

David Becklery — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:19:10 +0000

Background
When designing a report, users often need a lot of date time functions. However, most reporting tools only provide some common functions as follows: functions today(), now() which are used to get current date or time, and functions year(), month(), day(), hour(), minute() or second() which are used to get corresponding year, month, day, hour, minute or second from a date time. In addition, there are some data type conversion functions, which are used to convert date time to string or convert string to date time.

However, that’s far from enough, as users may often have complex requirements like the ones below:
1. Calculate age accurately. Many reporting tools have no specialized function to do this. Some provide, but as the accuracy is only year or month, the result may be not exactly right. Take a child born in May 23, 2000 for example. He is only 7 years old, not 8 in May 20, 2008. It is easy to find that users can get the exactly right age only through a function with day accuracy.
2. Calculate the beginning or the end of a time period. With functions like weekbegin(), weekend(), monthbegin(), monthend(), yearbegin and yearend(), users can calculate the beginning or the ending of a week, a month or a year. Besides, calculating the beginning or the ending of a quarter is also very common. However, almost no reporting tool provides corresponding quarter functions.
3. Calculate the difference between two dates or two time points. For dates, users sometimes need to calculate the number of days between two dates, the date which is N days away from a specific date, or just last day, last month, last year and so on. The case for time point is similar. Requirements for these functions are common. However, most reporting tools neglect them. As a result, users have to write functions by themselves.

Solution
RAQ report is the best choice to solve these problems. For users’ convenience, RAQ Report provides much more date time functions specifically to meet users’ needs and wants.

Built-in dataset: an innovation in reporting tool (no replies)

David Becklery — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:32:52 +0000

Background
Users often ask for technical support when meeting difficult problems in designing reports. However, as technical support can’t link to users’ databases, they can’t preview users’ reports and find exactly the causes of the problems. Then technical support can only guess and give users advices like “Try method A”, “Or try method B” and so on. It’s not just a waste of time. What’s more, after trying again and again, users may still can’t solve their problems at last.
Is there any way to enable technical support to browse and debug a report without linking to user's database?

Solution
For users’ convenience, RAQ Report makes great effort to solve this problem. As a result, RAQ report invented a method－Built-in Dataset. It means to store the data of a report into the report template. Then, there is no need to link to user's database when previewing the report.
With the help of built-in dataset, technical support can solve users’ problems in shortest time.
Only built-in dataset may create another problem. When the dataset of a report is converted to built-in, users need to save the report as a new one, or else the original report would be covered and the dataset has to be edited again. Moreover, after the modified report is sent back by technical support, users have to modify the original report according to it again.
Don’t worry. In order to reduce users’ workload, RAQ report provides the function of Recovering Built-in Dataset. That is to say, users can recover datasets of SQL or other types when they are converted to built-in dataset.
Built-in dataset makes no obstacle between technical support and users. That’s great!

Easy Operation
In the configuration dialog box of dataset, users just need to click a button to convert a dataset to a built-in dataset or recover a built-in dataset.

BIRT Reporting - Actuate Tools Reviewed (no replies)

Paul Bappoo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:49:37 +0000

A review of the Actuate BIRT reporting tool set with tutorials and examples from an end users perspective plus comparisons between the open source Eclipse version and the commercial Actuate version.

After a great start with the free open source Birt reporting tools in the Eclipse IDE, it was time to download and install the Actuate Birt Reporting implementation and see what the difference was. I started out by taking a look at Birt-Exchange.com and found that there were several download options available so I had to make selections as to the best package components to download for review. Luckily there are some good online resources, including feature comparison charts where you can read up on the details of the different packages and where you can watch some BIRT videos showing the various elements of functionality contained in the different downloads.

After looking at the various Birt reporting examples the components I eventually settled on were:

BIRT Designer Professional
Interactive Report Viewer
iServerExpress

The downloads were a little hefty and it took an hour or so to get all the files but after that the installation was straight forward and I was up and running with the Actuate Birt report designer in no time. This allowed me plenty of time to look at some of the features, tutorials and examples of this report designer and compare them to the open source designer. Essentially they are very similar so if you are familiar with the BIRT perspective within Eclipse then you will pick this up very quickly. If you need an introduction to Eclipse then please see my earlier reports which are available from my web site. Having downloaded the Birt Reporting Actuate packages I ran through a few examples following some online Birt reporting tutorials and my existing experience of the Eclipse open source implementation. On the way I encountered a few little problems but found that I could figure out and implement a solution pretty quickly with only limited reference to the excellent online help being necessary.

Here is a list of the things I attempted:

Creating a project
Creating a report within the project
Creating a joint data source based on two separate data sources
Applying filters to the data source
Adding data to the report
Grouping data
Augmenting an existing data set
Simple report formatting
Computed columns
Flash charts

In conclusion the Actuate Birt report designer is an excellent piece of software which adds some nice touches to the open source version. I found myself going back to the pure Eclipse Birt implementation and feeling a little lost without the extras. Actuate have put a lot of thought and consideration about the end user experience into this and it is highly recommended.

To access the full version of this report on PDF with full step by step instructions and screen shots please visit http://www.BirtReporting.com and signup for your free site membership.

This is a complete guide to getting started with the commercial implementation of Actuate BIRT featuring detailed usage instructions for the software features indicated above and draws many comparisons between the open source version and the commercial version.

Holidaying in Vietnam through AsiaHotelBiz leaves a deep impression on visitors (1 reply)

nguyen nguyen — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:43:55 +0000

We at Asia hotel Biz offer you a wide selection of attractive tour packages, resorts and boutique hotels at Vietnam. With a huge range of discounted hotels and motels, accommodation and resorts, you can choose the best one for you according to your pocket. Our list covers almost every destination of Vietnam. Some of the exotic destinations of Vietnam include Hanoi City, Sapa City, Phan Thiet City, Ha Long City, Hoi An City, Hue City, Da Nang City, Nha Trang City, Da Lat City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau City and so on.

The traveler can select or book the accommodation in advance and plan the vacation, accordingly. Selecting from 1-star hotel to luxurious 5- star hotels, you can choose the best accommodation for you. For your last minute holiday planning, we offer you instant bookings through online or 24 / 7 Live Support Help Center. Be relaxed, as locating a hotel in Vietnam is no longer considered as a time consuming task. From the comfort of home or office, you can quickly book accommodation for yourself from the comfort of your home or office.

Scenic beauty, highly rich culture and custom of Vietnam leave a deep impression on visitors. Apart from this, our clients can enjoy comfortable tour in Vietnam, as we can assure them full visa information, travel and hotel services.

Asia Hotel Biz is a leader and a provider of travel information in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Cambodia, HongKong, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Brunei and South Korea.For more information about Hotels Vietnam visit http://www.asiahotelbiz.com

Connecting MySQL with Crystal Reports (1 reply)

Jody Williamson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:33:43 +0000

Need some help connecting MySQL to Crystal Reports. What connectors need to be installed to make this work? Please advise.

free ETL tool for files using MySQL (1 reply)

Benoît Carpentier — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:39:06 +0000

Dear all,

Benetl is a free ETL tool for files using MySQL (or either postgreSQL).

You can freely download it at: http://www.benetl.net

It is a freeware using a LGPL driver for MySQL.

Thanks for your interest.

Regards,

Performance for bind variables & Tuning (no replies)

krunal pala — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:16:46 +0000

I want to know all the best possible techniques for caching in MySQL.
I have very huge number of records probabaly in 1Tb. I want my system should perform faster.

2. I also want to know is it possible to cache query using bind variables and what are the ways to it.

I am using hibernate also at the application level. so can u suggest me any good techniques so that my systems performs faster.

Print web report immediately while loading report with RAQ Report (no replies)

Zhou Feng — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:46:05 +0000

For printing web report, users often need to print it by clicking the print button. However, sometimes users may want to print report immediately when loading the report on browser.

As a real Excel-like web reporting tool, RAQ Report provides a direct print function for users. You only need to use the tag in the JSP file to call the applet program directly. The solution is that write a print class, which inherits the direct print class DirectPrintApplet,and call the print program directly in the DirectPrintApplet.java. Then you can print the uploading report directly without the trigger program.

Easy operation

1. Write a print class, which inherits the direct print class DirectPrintApplet.(You can choose the DirectPrintWithoutShow name as you like).

2. Put the print class into runqianReport4Applet.jar. Remember to decompress runqianReport4Applet.jar firstly and delete the mete folder before compress it.

3. Sign the new runqianReport4Applet.jar.

4. Use the new class name instead of the called class name in the jsp when direct print while loading report.

This post is from freezea's blog.

Mysqlreport Results (no replies)

Nicholas Huanca — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:06:10 +0000

Hi, I am running a small AAA setup with FreeRADIUS and Mysql. I recently have been getting errors on the RADIUS server that appear to be caused by slow MySQL response or so I've been told.

I have provided here a copy of my "mysqlreport" output from when I had the server running at 8M key_buffer_size and now at 32M key_buffer_size.

What other things should I look at to determine if MySQL is causing these issues?

Thanks in advance - Nick
--------
MySQL 5.0.45 uptime 84 17:26:58 Wed Jul 29 15:07:12 2009

__ Key _________________________________________________________________
Buffer used 7.08M of 8.00M %Used: 88.48
Current 7.22M %Usage: 90.23
Write hit 59.23%
Read hit 99.86%

__ Questions ___________________________________________________________
Total 72.92M 10.0/s
DMS 37.01M 5.1/s %Total: 50.76
Com_ 35.36M 4.8/s 48.50
COM_QUIT 552.57k 0.1/s 0.76
-Unknown 11.62k 0.0/s 0.02
Slow 10 s 18 0.0/s 0.00 %DMS: 0.00 Log: OFF
DMS 37.01M 5.1/s 50.76
SELECT 28.09M 3.8/s 38.53 75.91
UPDATE 8.36M 1.1/s 11.46 22.58
INSERT 539.18k 0.1/s 0.74 1.46
DELETE 18.75k 0.0/s 0.03 0.05
REPLACE 202 0.0/s 0.00 0.00
Com_ 35.36M 4.8/s 48.50
change_db 34.76M 4.7/s 47.67
set_option 540.85k 0.1/s 0.74
show_fields 61.10k 0.0/s 0.08

__ SELECT and Sort _____________________________________________________
Scan 7.76M 1.1/s %SELECT: 27.61
Range 5.47M 0.7/s 19.46
Full join 28.37k 0.0/s 0.10
Range check 0 0/s 0.00
Full rng join 32 0.0/s 0.00
Sort scan 1.05M 0.1/s
Sort range 8.64M 1.2/s
Sort mrg pass 23 0.0/s

__ Table Locks _________________________________________________________
Waited 1.74k 0.0/s %Total: 0.00
Immediate 45.37M 6.2/s

__ Tables ______________________________________________________________
Open 64 of 64 %Cache: 100.00
Opened 44.39k 0.0/s

__ Connections _________________________________________________________
Max used 22 of 100 %Max: 22.00
Total 552.71k 0.1/s

__ Created Temp ________________________________________________________
Disk table 137.22k 0.0/s
Table 874.37k 0.1/s Size: 32.0M
File 33 0.0/s

__ Threads _____________________________________________________________
Running 1 of 7
Cached 0 of 0 %Hit: 0
Created 552.71k 0.1/s
Slow 1 0.0/s

__ Aborted _____________________________________________________________
Clients 264 0.0/s
Connects 12.63k 0.0/s

__ Bytes _______________________________________________________________
Sent 426.76M 58.3/s
Received 1.30G 177.5/s

__ InnoDB Buffer Pool __________________________________________________
Usage 304.00k of 8.00M %Used: 3.71
Read hit 84.42%
Pages
Free 493 %Total: 96.29
Data 19 3.71 %Drty: 0.00
Misc 0 0.00
Latched 0 0.00
Reads 77 0.0/s
From file 12 0.0/s 15.58
Ahead Rnd 1 0.0/s
Ahead Sql 0 0/s
Writes 0 0/s
Flushes 0 0/s
Wait Free 0 0/s

__ InnoDB Lock _________________________________________________________
Waits 0 0/s
Current 0
Time acquiring
Total 0 ms
Average 0 ms
Max 0 ms

__ InnoDB Data, Pages, Rows ____________________________________________
Data
Reads 25 0.0/s
Writes 3 0.0/s
fsync 3 0.0/s
Pending
Reads 0
Writes 0
fsync 0

Pages
Created 0 0/s
Read 19 0.0/s
Written 0 0/s

Rows
Deleted 0 0/s
Inserted 0 0/s
Read 0 0/s
Updated 0 0/s
----------------------------------
MySQL 5.0.45 uptime 0 2:12:28 Wed Jul 29 17:39:43 2009

__ Key _________________________________________________________________
Buffer used 3.17M of 32.00M %Used: 9.92
Current 6.79M %Usage: 21.23
Write hit 49.11%
Read hit 99.69%

__ Questions ___________________________________________________________
Total 98.01k 12.3/s
DMS 50.34k 6.3/s %Total: 51.36
Com_ 46.77k 5.9/s 47.72
COM_QUIT 935 0.1/s 0.95
-Unknown 36 0.0/s 0.04
Slow 10 s 0 0/s 0.00 %DMS: 0.00 Log: OFF
DMS 50.34k 6.3/s 51.36
SELECT 39.62k 5.0/s 40.42 78.69
UPDATE 9.96k 1.3/s 10.16 19.79
INSERT 738 0.1/s 0.75 1.47
DELETE 29 0.0/s 0.03 0.06
REPLACE 0 0/s 0.00 0.00
Com_ 46.77k 5.9/s 47.72
change_db 45.71k 5.8/s 46.63
set_option 872 0.1/s 0.89
show_fields 175 0.0/s 0.18

__ SELECT and Sort _____________________________________________________
Scan 10.39k 1.3/s %SELECT: 26.23
Range 7.01k 0.9/s 17.70
Full join 85 0.0/s 0.21
Range check 0 0/s 0.00
Full rng join 0 0/s 0.00
Sort scan 2.30k 0.3/s
Sort range 11.02k 1.4/s
Sort mrg pass 0 0/s

__ Table Locks _________________________________________________________
Waited 10 0.0/s %Total: 0.02
Immediate 62.33k 7.8/s

__ Tables ______________________________________________________________
Open 64 of 64 %Cache: 100.00
Opened 252 0.0/s

__ Connections _________________________________________________________
Max used 12 of 100 %Max: 12.00
Total 948 0.1/s

__ Created Temp ________________________________________________________
Disk table 351 0.0/s
Table 2.14k 0.3/s Size: 32.0M
File 5 0.0/s

__ Threads _____________________________________________________________
Running 1 of 11
Cached 0 of 0 %Hit: 0.11
Created 947 0.1/s
Slow 0 0/s

__ Aborted _____________________________________________________________
Clients 22 0.0/s
Connects 27 0.0/s

__ Bytes _______________________________________________________________
Sent 19.27M 2.4k/s
Received 7.10M 893.7/s

Cubes in MySql - XMLA to MySQL adapter (no replies)

Jay Party — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:57:12 +0000

We have some cubes in MySQL. We want to expose them via standards-based XMLA protocol. We are planning to write an adapter that does XMLA-SQL conversion. Is Mondrian really going to help me in this situation with any out-of-box solutions?

- Jayadev.

Cast Text Blob (no replies)

Emilie Durand — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:48:24 +0000

Hi,

I work on Framework Manager. I would like to join two tables:

Personne which comes from a DB2 base and InetPersonne which comes from a LDAP directory ( CIS tool extracts it to a MySQL base).

I must join the employee id from Personne which is a CHAR(6) with the employee id from InetPersonne which is a Text Blob.
Obviously, Framework Manager cannot compare this two types of data : I would like to transform the Text Blob in CHAR with an intermediate field.

Here is what I do :
CAST( [vue physique].[inetOrgPerson].[employeeID] AS CHAR( 6 ) )

The error message :
BMT-MD-0003 UDA-SQL-0107 Une erreur s'est produite pendant l'opération 'prepare'.
'coguda#cast_char' is not a recognized function. On line 1, column 394. [parser-2909505]

RQP-DEF-0177 Une erreur s'est produite lors de l'exécution de l'opération 'sqlPrepareWithOptions' état = '-9'.
UDA-SQL-0107 Une erreur s'est produite pendant l'opération 'prepare'.
'coguda#cast_char' is not a recognized function. On line 1, column 394. [parser-2909505]

Thanks

Has anyone used MySQL with MS Server OLAP? (no replies)

Keith Macdonald — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:08:07 +0000

we already have data warehousing and OLAP cubes on MS SQL Server 2008. We do not want to move the OLAP to MySQL. So we are looking for the easiest ways to link the new MySQL data into the existing OLAP cubes. Has anyone got any experience that they can share?

ANN: Nocsos releases myDBR 1.0 - Reporting solution for MySQL databases (no replies)

Kalle Ikkelä — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:52:42 +0000

Hi,

We are very pleased to announce that myDBR 1.0 has been released and is
available for free download at http://www.nocsos.com.

Summary:
-myDBR is PHP based reporting solution for MySQL databases
-Rich feature set: tabular reports, charts, graphs, networks, Google
Maps, extension API
-Very fast report authoring
-Report drilling & report network
-Supports latest smartphones (iPhone, Android, Symbian)

Read more about myDBR features, see online demo, and download for free
from http://www.nocsos.com.

We welcome any feedback and improvement suggestions you might have.

Thank you,

MySQL and Graphs (1 reply)

Syed Nabeel Anwer — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:13:24 +0000

is there any way to create static or dynamic graphs in MySQL?

Installing Crystall Report in Linux (no replies)

Raghavendra Challa — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:09:36 +0000

Hi Frnd..
Is anyone able to install crystall report in linux OS.

JSP Graphs (no replies)

Syed Nabeel Anwer — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:02:10 +0000

Is there any to plot graphs using MySQL and JSP ??

VS 2005 and Crystal Reports - dateTime (1 reply)

Keith Austin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:53:20 +0000

My problem is with Crystal Reports not displaying Dates.
Using Visual Studio 2005 SP1 with MySQL and .Net Connector 6.0.3.0

I am running a mysql query into a DataSet and then using the
MyDataSet.WriteXml(ReportName, XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema) function to create
xml file, such as:

http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">

the crystalReportViewer is in a Windows Form:

MySqlDataAdapter MyDataAdapter = new MySqlDataAdapter(rptSQL, MainForm.MyConn);
MySqlCommand MySELcmd = new MySqlCommand();
MySELcmd.CommandText = rptSQL;
MySELcmd.Connection = MainForm.MyConn;
MyDataAdapter.SelectCommand = MySELcmd;
rptDataSet.Clear();
MyDataAdapter.Fill(rptDataSet, rptSQL);
.....
ReportDocument cr = new ReportDocument();
Cursor = Cursors.Default;
cr.Load(ReportPath);
cr.SetDataSource(rptDataSet.Tables[0]);
crystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = cr;
crystalReportViewer1.Refresh();

=================================
OK

Now when I use the xml file as the datasource in Cystal Reports Designer , the xml schema:

shows up in Crystal Reports designer, if I Browse Field Data or Preview the report, date time data IS displayed,
BUT WHEN I RUN THE REPORT IN THE crystalReportViewer,
NO DATES ARE DISPLAYED (ALL OTHER DATA IS).

Now unless I'm insane, this worked in earlier versions of VS 2005 with crystal reports and Mysql .Net connector and I'm not sure when it stopped or what caused it to stop working!
HELP

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

Crystal Reports (no replies)

Lehlohonolo Moeketsi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:17:03 +0000

I have developed a system that connects to MySql database, and adds information to the database, but when I try to generate reports using Crystal Reports, i get a login pop-up screen.

I get this from both the localhost system & the other system connected to the network.

Beta call - MySQL query tool (no replies)

Itamar Sion — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:16:54 +0000

Hello All,

We got a new product we've recently launched, it's a query tool and its still in beta, and we're giving it for free to whomever participates in the program. This means you use it and send us quick feedback (one paragraph enough) You can read about it and download here:

http://www.nobhillsoft.com/MarieAlix.aspx

and, like we said. so long as its beta (for the next few weeks, we think), feedback gets you free copy. for life. Yes, we need your feedback that bad

Thank You

Nob Hill Software Support (support@nobhillsoft.com)

Reporting tool for MySQL-Non Web Based (no replies)

Preetha S — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:58:37 +0000

I m using a stand alone application, is there a open source reporting tool that can be used for the application, with features similar to the openreports like optional param, charts, list param, date param and easy query designer

Need a web based mysql reporting tool (2 replies)

Kaustubh Pathak — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:12:59 +0000

Hello everyone!

I'm a newbie to mysql so don't laugh at my question. I'm setting up a college alumni website using mysql to hold student/alumni data. I'm searching for a reporting tool that -

1. Is PHP based (preferably) so that it can run on the server.
2. Can let me perform search on multiple fields [i.e: Year of graduation + first name + favorite food etc.]
3. Output/Input should be customizable. I don't want fancy graphs. Just some output using html tables.
4. Better if it's got some AJAX in it :-)
5. Should have two levels of access: Superadmin and other with access limited to certain parts of the report.

Most importantly: It should be free / open source.

Could you please help?

Reporting (11 replies)

stefano pasquali — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:13:39 +0000

i'm new in mysql.
i've been using MS SQL Server 2005-08 ...

i need to have some resources similar, or even better, to MS Reporting Services.

there are some php o asp tools ?
possibly open source ?

thanks a lot

Pacca

Beta call (no replies)

Itamar Sion — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:36:20 +0000

Crystal Reports and mysql (no replies)

dimitrios t — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:40:27 +0000

Hello,

I have a table with numbers in mysql server. the fields are declared as double
My problem is that when i try to make my report the crystal report regognize the decimal separator of mysql as thousand separator. How can i solve this problem???
i try to change the properties of crystl report and i change the decimal separator from ',' to '.' but the result is the same.
e.g. I have the number 5.5 in database and in report 55,00 or 55.00

Thanks

The Excel-like Design Style of Reporting Tool (no replies)

Zhou Feng — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:08:34 +0000

Designing reports with traditional reporting tools of control drag and drop style, we are often troubled by the alignment of gridlines. Especially when the report has a multi-level complex report header, it has a huge workload and usually can not achieve a perfect effect.
With its unique spreadsheet design style, Excel avoids the trouble of the alignment of gridlines. Therefore, wide end users have a special liking to it, and ask for a reporting tool with an Excel-like design interface.

As a result, many report companies emulated Excel, and they thought the only thing was to add a table control.
However, end users are not so easy to be satisfied with only a table control, and they ask for various design capabilities of Excel. Such as merge/split cells, word wrap, shrink to fit, format painter, etc. Then, cell properties are even more, such as border, background, foreground, font, size, etc.
The ideal requirement of end users is an Excel-like reporting tool with a complete set of report operational models. With it, they can easily make all kinds of reports, no matter simple or complex. Simple report means linear report, such as freestyle report, grid report, group report, cross report, etc. Complex report means nonlinear report, such as multi-source report, irregular group report, symmetrical row/group report, etc. With operational capability, Excel design models will really become end users' favorite design style.

As end users like Excel so much, they may have made a great number of Excel templates before. When they are making reports, they hope that they can import these templates directly to avoid the trouble of designing again. Similarly, they also hope that they can export reports made with reporting tool to Excel templates to make a second operation conveniently.

Above is the relative perfect standard of Excel-like reporting tool. Perhaps some people will say that it is too hard, and there can not be such an ideal tool. Luckily, RAQ Report meets all the requirements above and becomes the leader of the new generation of reporting tools. Of course, besides the perfect Excel-like design style, RAQ Report has many revolutionary functions, such as strong correlation semantics model, multi-source input model, etc.

This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcomed cc it anywhere, and please indicate the source.

If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are also welcome to refer to my blog at http://freezea.blogspot.com/.

Small stand-alone MySQL report generator for Mac, Unix, Windows (no replies)

Mike Goyette — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:32:17 +0000

Crypto runs your scripts and other command-line reporting tools "hidden" in the background, and renders their output in HTML on its view window. No server required. 450k .exe windows app, or a 8k zipped executable JAR using your Java 1.5 libraries (all OS's).

Crypto is an application designed to create menus, data entry screens, and reports for the Mac, Windows, and Unix. It allows the user to create screens in simple HTML 4.0 (and CSS), and add commands like "launch excel.exe" to the hyperlinks (though you can still link pages normally), as well as capture HTML form data with ordinary scripts or programs written in any language. For instance, setting the action attribute of an HTML form to "capture.bat" and the method attribute to "post", allows form data to be posted to the input stream of an ordinary batch file, which Crypto will run "hidden" in the background so no DOS or shell screen pops up. Crypto then captures the output of the batch file, and renders it as HTML in a window. You even control the title and icon in the upper left corner of the window - the contents of your title tag appear verbatim.

Now anybody can turn an HTML form and a console script into a SQL querry driven report for any GUI.

This even works with C console programs, pl-sql scrips, etc.... They run in the background, and Crypto renders their output, which can include anything you might want to put in an HTML file, such as music, animation, tables, logos, whatever.

Crypto does not need a web server, or even an internet connection to run. It is a single, tiny stand-alone cross-platform program. And the same screen pages you create (in any HTML editor) will port directly to any platform which supports Java. That is, the you don't need to change anything to port it between all flavors of Unix, any version of Windows, or any Mac.

Crypto will run any program, in any language. One of my favorite tactics is to run small java programs that capture form data, and output HTML back to Crypto, which then renders them (quite fast, as well). I just add a hyperlink or image link, and replace the link address with a run command, like this "href=run java myclass myargs...", and clicking the link or image runs the program, and captures its output. No DOS or shell window appears at all, even with batch files!

Crypto can also run your existing CGI-bin code, with little or no modification. Sending a form GET is as simple as "action=myprog GET mydirs" or whatever arguments you need to pass, and Crypto will tack the form GET data to the end of the command line argument, just like a web-server does.

Crypto is $19.95, but you can try it for free.

http://sites.google.com/site/cryptoapp

Do more with less (no replies)

David Thielen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:45:06 +0000

In the present economic climate the mantra in most companies is do more with less. In all too many companies, hiring is frozen, there may even be layoffs, but at the same time the number of people in I.T. is frozen, there is more work required to keep the company going.

There are things we can all do to improve productivity. There are a number of things we can do to manage people so they are more productive (http://www.12simplesecrets.com/management.htm). There are a number of things we can do to better determine what must be done in each project, and equally important, what is not needed.

There are also programming tools that make programmers more productive. That is the focus of this post. The following are the items I have found to deliver a tremendous return on investment. The kind of help that does help you do more with less:

Dual 21" monitors. Numerous studies show as much as a 20% increase in productivity over a single monitor. If your dev team drops from 6 to 5 people but you get the monitors, you may end up even.
VmWare or Hyper/V. Having a virtual machine that is configured identically to the production system, and that can be rolled back to it's initial state before installing each new version, lets developers test their code in it's production state. This reduces the number of bugs in a developer's code.
Java developers - IntelliJ. The capabilities in the IntelliJ IDE far surpass Eclipse and the additional refactoring alone can save a developer hours to days a month.
C# developers - ReSharper. This is an AddIn to Visual Studio and provides live feedback to syntax errors while typing (giant time saver), refactoring, and more. Again, this can save hours to days of time each month.
Reporting - Windward Reports. By using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, & PowerPoint) as the design tool, developers can design reports in 1/10 to 1/20 the amount of time required by other reporting packages. For someone working fulltime on reports, that saves 36 - 38 hours/week.
Oracle Forms - FMB Merge. A diff tool for Oracle forms. It not only save the developer a lot of time, but it also reduces the bugs in modifications to the program.
PeopleSoft - Araxis. I think it would be impossible to merge PeopleSoft updates with local customizations without this. The difference in development time and reduced bugs is gigantic.
Windows forms - DevExpress. DevExpress is a gorgeous set of Windows forms controls that handle just about any need. The code is solid, fast, and their tech support is excellent. If you have controls that are buggy, incomplete, or poorly documented, this is a giant time saver.
Upgrading to the above should give you a clear measurable increase in productivity. It's not a silver bullet, but it does help. If you have any suggested additions to this list, please add as a comment. Originally posted at http://www.davidthielen.info/windward/2009/01/do-more-with-less.html

The function of data inputting in reporting tool (no replies)

Zhou Feng — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:04:30 +0000

With the continual development of information technology, the application of enterprise-level reporting tool is also improved gradually. (At first, it was stand-alone data operation, and on-line file processing later. Then, OA software appeared before the brilliant shining of standard financial software and QgESS software. After that, the concepts of business process reengineering appeared, such as MRPⅡ, ERP, EPM, BI, etc.) Today, there are a lot of reporting tools available.

However, too many choices only make users confused. Some industries need to flexibly submit data with different data types, and traditional reporting tools can not satisfy their requirements. Users of this kind are often in the industries like finance, consultation, chemical engineering, smelting, communication, etc. With the increase of this kind of application, users are eager for a reporting tool which can adapt dynamically.

The input model of RAQ Report is a professional tool which can develop all kinds of data acquisition systems quickly. It can implement all kinds of normal/complex input applications, and the design process is easy and efficient.
The input model of RAQ report divides data acquisition into two basic modes, Row Input and Freestyle Input.

Row Input is used to process simple quick input. It can add, insert, delete rows conveniently, and save the single-line data inputted instantaneously.

Freestyle Input can be used to make complex data input formats. Compared with Row Input, the input format of it is more flexible.
With Freestyle Input, you can implement data acquisition requirements of any complex format. RAQ Report provides complete data input proposal for data acquisition with great changes and flexible requirements, therefore, it can meet all kinds of WEB data acquisition requirements.

This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcomed cc it anywhere, and please indicate the source.

If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are also welcome to refer to my blog at http://freezea.blogspot.com/.

How to design report with high efficiency like Excel? (no replies)

Zhou Feng — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:28:44 +0000

Have you ever seen a reporting tool which has a more suitable interface to design static reports than Excel?

I believe that those who have made or read a certain number of reports will say no to this question. Exactly, Excel's interface is the best choice for static report design, as it has incomparable advantages in efficiency, operation and setting.

Then, drag and drop style and Excel-like style, which is better?

This dispute has once appeared in the professional reporting tool industry. After all, those senior reporting tools are using the drag and drop style. However, RAQ Report gives a resounding answer by releasing an Excel-like reporting tool: Even in professional reporting tools, the efficiency of Excel-like style reporting tool is much higher than that of drag and drop style reporting tool.

Even for non-professionals, Excel is a reporting tool easy to use. It only needs a little time to grasp the basic knowledge, and everyone can make a table with beautiful interface from scratch quickly. Next, with an example, we will see RAQ Report inherits the characteristic of Excel to what extent.

The main design interface at the left side is the most common Excel-like spreadsheet. If you set format there, you will find that RAQ Report is totally same with Excel in static style setting.

1. Cell's width, height, background, foreground, display format, line break, gridline, etc.
2. Content’s font, font size, bold, italic, and underline, etc.
3. Data’s horizontal alignment and vertical alignment.
4. Format painter.

In format definition, RAQ Report and Excel have no difference. Moreover, besides these inheritances in static format, RAQ Report also inherits the cell expression of Excel. For example, in Excel, if you want to make a summary of the data of A3-D3 in E3, you should write "=SUM(A3:E3)" in E3. Then, if you want to do this in RAQ Report, you will find that it is similar with that in Excel.

Like Excel, RAQ Report also can automatically adjust the expression in the cell whose position changed. If you insert a new column between B3 and C3 in the table above, then the expression in F3 (original E3) will adjust to "=SUM(A3:E3)" automatically. Similarly, if you insert a new row or column in RAQ Report, corresponding expressions will also adjust automatically. Moreover, flexible expressions, such as "A2+B3-A4" and "(A1+E2*D4)/C3", can also be operated correctly.

Besides inheriting the design style of Excel, RAQ Report realizes dynamic data extension which Excel can not realize.

In terms of efficiency, RAQ Report is certainly a powerful reporting tool to make reports like the one above. Due to the advanced Excel-like design style, RAQ Report can improve the efficiency by 90%. Compared with traditional reporting tools, RAQ Report exactly can improve the efficiency of Web report design, and shorten development cycle, and reduce development cost. As a result, RAQ Report is so popular with large report designers, programmers and project managers.

This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcomed cc it anywhere, and please indicate the source.

If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are welcome to refer to my blog.

reporting and front end to mysql (2 replies)

Andre Andre — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:23:51 +0000

I'm fairly new to mysql...

What is the preferred way to build a (simple) user interface to a mysql database, that will allow the user to enter data using forms and generate invoices and payment receipts?

I have looked at BIRT (not the All-in-One, but the RCP Designer) and it does seem to do the trick for doing receipts and invoices - just wanted to know if there are alternatives.