[!IMPORTANT] JasperReports Library 7 released!

The version 7 of the JasperReports Library introduces major refactoring of the project, which is needed for the Jakarta Migration. The changes help improving the dependency management by splitting the library into multiple optional artifacts (*.jar files) depending on the functionality they provide. Deprecated code has been removed and the backward compatibility of serialized/compiled *.jasper report template files has been deliberately broken.

More details about the changes can be found here.

JasperReports Library 7.0.0 Change Log

• removal of the Ant build system and replacing it with a Maven build system;
• deprecated code removed;
• breaking backward compatibility of serialized/compiled *.jasper report template files, mostly because of historical deprecated serialization code removal/cleanup mentioned above (source *.jrxml report templates need to be recompiled to *.jasper using the new version of the library);
• breaking backward compatibility of source *.jrxml report template files and *.jrtx style template files by replacing the Apache Commons Digester based parsers with Jackson XML object serialization. *.jrxml and *.jrtx files created with version 6 or older can no longer be loaded with version 7 or newer of the library alone. The conversion from the old file formats to the new file formats and back can be made using Jaspersoft Studio 7 and later versions of it;
• extracting various optional extension JAR artifacts from the the core library JAR artifact to allow the Jakarta Migration of certain of these optional features while also introducing better third party Maven dependency management of these artifacts;
• some Java package names have changed as a consequence of separating functionality into optional JAR artifacts;
• upgraded JFreeChart to version 1.5.4 which no longer has support for 3D charts. Reports having Pie 3D, Bar 3D and Stacked Bar 3D charts would continue to work, but will be rendered as 2D, all their 3D effects being ignored;

JasperReports® - Free Java Reporting Library

The JasperReports Library is the world's most popular open source reporting engine. It is entirely written in Java and it is able to use data coming from any kind of data source and produce pixel-perfect documents that can be viewed, printed or exported in a variety of document formats including HTML, PDF, Excel, OpenOffice, MS Word and other.

Documentation:

• Samples Reference
• Configuration Reference
• Functions Reference
• FAQ
• API (Javadoc)
• Discussion Forums

Older resources:

• JasperReports Ultimate Guide (version 3.0)

Jaspersoft® Studio - report designer for the JasperReports Library

The report templates for the JasperReports Library are XML files which can be edited using a powerful, free to use, Eclipse-based report designer called Jaspersoft Studio. Using Jaspersoft Studio, reports can be built out of any data source and can have their look and feel formatted for printing or on-screen reading, or can be deployed to a JasperReports Server instance, JasperReports IO repository or to a custom application using the JasperReports Library implementation and exported to a wide range of output document formats.

JasperReports Server - reporting and analytics server

JasperReports Server is a stand-alone and embeddable reporting server. It provides reporting and analytics that can be embedded into a web or mobile application as well as operate as a central information hub for the enterprise by delivering mission critical information on a real-time or scheduled basis to the browser, mobile device, or email inbox in a variety of file formats. JasperReports Server is optimized to share, secure, and centrally manage your Jaspersoft reports and analytic views.

JasperReports Web Studio - web-based version of the desktop Jaspersoft® Studio

JasperReports Web Studio is a new web visual designer that creates and edits report templates for the JasperReports® Library reporting engine and the whole Jaspersoft® family of products that use the open-source library to produce dynamic content and rich data visualizations.

JasperReports IO - reporting and data visualization in a world of cloud, microservices, and DevOps

JasperReports IO is a RESTful reporting and data visualization service built on JasperReports Library, designed for generating reports and data visualizations in modern software architectures. Just as the JasperReports Library offers a Java API to leverage a powerful and high quality reporting engine inside Java applications, JasperReports IO offers a REST API to leverage the same reporting engine from any other software development platform.

Building the JasperReports Library Project

The JasperReports Library project consists of one core JAR artifact and a number for optional extension JAR artifacts.

The build system relies entirely on the Maven build tool.

Building the core JAR artifact and the optional extension JAR artifacts can be performed from root folder of the project using the following command:

mvn clean install source:jar javadoc:jar

Building the core and extensions JAR artifacts having local non-committed Git modifications requires the suppression of the build number plugin check as follows:

mvn clean install -Dmaven.buildNumber.doCheck=false

From time to time, verifying that the core and extensions artifacts are still compatible with JDK version 1.8 is needed and this is done by turning on the enforcer plugin while building these artifacts:

mvn clean install -Denforcer.skip=false -pl '!ext/ejbql, !ext/hibernate, !ext/servlets'

The project has a separate artifact for tests under the /tests, which can be run using the following command:

mvn clean test

The project documentation consists of general overview, configuration reference, samples reference, functions reference and the aggregated Javadoc. It can be all generated using the following command in the /docs folder of the project:

mvn clean compile

The generated documentation is to be found under the /docs/target/docs folder of the project.

Running the samples

The project shows and documents many of its features using a set of samples which are themselves Maven projects that can be run from command line. Some of these samples make use of a demo HSQLDB data base that needs to be started before the respective reports are run.

Starting the HSQLDB demo database containing demo data is done using the following command in the /demo/hsqldb folder of the project:

mvn exec:java

The samples are each in a separate subfolder in the /demo/samples folder of the project and can be run either individually or all at once. To run an individual sample, the following command should be run in the respective sample folder:

mvn clean compile exec:java

This exec:java Maven goal is calling the test() method of the sample application main class. Calling individual methods from the sample application main class can be performed using a command like the following:

mvn exec:java -Dexec.args=pdf

which calls the pdf() method of the sample application main class to export the reports to PDF. Multiple methods can be called in sequence like this:

mvn exec:java -Dexec.args="pdf xls"

Viewing the source JRXML report design is done using the following command:

mvn exec:java@viewDesign

The compiled *.jasper report template file can also be viewed using something like:

mvn exec:java@viewDesign -Dexec.args=target/reports/I18nReport.jasper 

The generated *.jrprint report file can be viewed using either:

mvn exec:java@view

or a more explicit command like:

mvn exec:java@view -Dexec.args=target/reports/I18nReport.jrprint

which would also work for XML exported report files:

mvn exec:java@view -Dexec.args=target/reports/I18nReport.jrpxml

Some samples use additional services that need to be started before the actual sample reports are run. To make sure all required steps are performed in right order, an alternate way to run the sample is as follows:

mvn clean compile exec:exec@all

This command is also the one that can be used to run all the samples at once, but it needs to be launched from the /demo/samples folder:

mvn clean compile exec:exec@all