JasperReport Tutorial for Beginners

The installation requires
Reporting interface will design
Create JasperReport Project
Create Data Adaptor
Design report
Calling JasperReport from Java Application

1. The installation requires

Jaspersoft Studio Plugin:

To program Jasperreport report you need to install JasperSoft Studio on Eclipse. You can see the instructions at:

Install Jaspersoft studio for Eclipse

LearningSQL

LearningSQL is a small database, used in many guidelines of o7planning.
Programming Guide of JasperReport also use the data on this Database. You need to create this database (only 5 minutes) as the instructions below:

Oracle:

Sample Oracle Database for Learning SQL

SQL Server

Sample SQL Server Database for Learning SQL

MySQL

Sample MySQL Database for Learning SQL

Database driver library (Oracle, MySQL, SQLServer) and usage:

Depending on which Database you use, you need that Database driver library (You need 3 minutes to complete), see the instructions for download at:

JDBC Driver Libraries for different types of database in Java

2. Reporting interface will design

No ADS

This is the raw data:

On the report, we group it to get a result as the following illustration:

And here is the reporting interface:

SQL:

Select Acc.Open_Branch_Id
     ,Bra.Name           Branch_Name
     ,Acc.Cust_Id
     ,Cus.Address        Cust_Address
     ,Acc.Account_Id
     ,Acc.Product_Cd
     ,Acc.Avail_Balance
From   Account  Acc
     ,Customer Cus
     ,Branch   Bra
Where  Acc.Cust_Id = Cus.Cust_Id
And    Acc.Open_Branch_Id = Bra.Branch_Id

3. Create JasperReport Project

No ADS

Open Perspective: Report Design.

Next, create a project:

File/New/Other..

Enter the name of the Project:

HelloJasperReport

Project has been created:

4. Create Data Adaptor

No ADS

Here I connect with Oracle database. You can do the same with MySQL or SQLServer. There is some differences in the using library and URL Connection String.

See more:
JDBC Driver Libraries for different types of database in Java

For Oracle, Enter:

JDBC Url: jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:db11g

Error emerges when you do not declare the classpath of Database Library Driver.

Just Add the jar file location, the JDBC Driver library for this database

OK, Data Adaptor was created.

5. Design report

No ADS

Create a new report

File/New/Other...

Enter the name of the report:

FirstJasperReport

Select Acc.Open_Branch_Id
      ,Bra.Name           Branch_Name
      ,Acc.Cust_Id
      ,Cus.Address        Cust_Address
      ,Acc.Account_Id
      ,Acc.Product_Cd
      ,Acc.Avail_Balance
From   Account  Acc
      ,Customer Cus
      ,Branch   Bra
Where  Acc.Cust_Id = Cus.Cust_Id
And    Acc.Open_Branch_Id = Bra.Branch_Id

The report is generated.

Outline View is very important. We often have to use it while designing a report.

A blank report page is created. In which, parts of content of Page Header, Column Header,Column Footer, Page Footer are repeatedly displayed on each page of the report. You can delete unnecessary parts of content by right-click on it and click Delete.

Here I deleted all of parts, except for Column Header & Detail in order to make it easy to design. We can recreate them if necessary.

Column Header: contains titles of data columns. It is duplicated in all pages by default.
Detail: contains records. It repeat numbers of records.

Rough design report

Drag and drop Rectangle object from Pallete to Column Header of the report. Then, fully spread out the width of Rectangle.

Next, adjust the height of Column Header so that it is equal to the height of newly-made Rectangle. The purpose is to erase unnecessary space in the report.

Results:

Change the background color of the rectangle:

Next, we create 2 groups in turn:

Group Branch
Group Cust

Their meaning is described in the following illustrative image:

On the Outline, right click to FirstJasperReport, select Create Group:

Next, we drag a Rectangle from Pallete to "Branch Group Header 1" area.

Change the background color for the rectangle you just created.

Next, we will drag drop respectively the Field Open_Branch_Id and Branch_Name into Rectangle on the block "Branch Group Header 1".

Similarly, we drag and drop Branch_Name next to Open_Branch_Id.

Next, Create Customer group:

After Customer Group is created, drag and drop Rectangle object into "Customer Group Header 1". Adjust and change background of Rectangle as the following illustrative image: