Book Review : iReport 3.7

This is a review of book titled iReport 3.7 written by Shamsuddin Ahammad and published by Packt Publishing. This book tells us about designing and producing report for Java application with iReport 3.7. Shamsuddin Ahammad writes this book with a very clear step-by-step visual explanation which makes this book is very nice to read and easy to understand. Reading this book while practising the examples in the computer is very recommended because the screenshots in this book are really helpfull so we wouldn't get 'lost' while exploring the 'crowded' interface of iReport Designer.

From Chapter To Chapter

Now, let's see what will we learn from each chapter.

• The first chapter will introduce us about iReport especially for someone that never heard about it before. This chapter tells us about what is iReport, what it used for, and also the main interface and features of it.

• In chapter 2 until 10 we will explore and learn deeper about using iReport Designer for creating the report. These chapters are the most important part of this book. Reading these chapters thoroughly can give us a strong basic and skill in using iReport Designer.

  There are so many interesting techniques in these chapters which can be applied while we creating the report such as:

  • Using one or more parameters to produce the dynamic report.
  • Grouping the report data which can make the report provides clearer information.
  • Working with subreport to create a report with a master-detail relation.
  • Working with chart so the report can be displayed in visual shape and easier to read.
  • Displaying images in the report so the report will not only display text as the information but also the images.

• The last two chapters, 11 and 12, might be the chapters which most Java developers look for. We all know that the report can't stand alone by itself because it needs the other application to run. Because of that, this book also explains about how to call the report from Java desktop application. Although there is no detail example or sample application about how to call the report from web application like JSP, the method to do that, by exporting the report to HTML or PDF document, is still discussed here. Besides that, we will also learn how to install iReport Designer plugin in Netbeans IDE. By doing this, we can design the report inside the Netbeans IDE. This is important for Java developers because the application development process can become more convenient.

• The Appendix chapter of this book is about the sample database which is used by all examples in this book. The sample database given here is also a good example for sample cases because we can practise to create the report from a simple one to a complex one based on that database. This chapter also explains how to use MySQL GUI tools for the basic MySQL database administration like creating database and also backing up and restoring the database.

Conclusion

This book will be a very good guidance for iReport beginners and also Java developers who want to learn about iReport and build Java application that needs a reporting feature. All explanations and examples in this book can give the readers strong basic and skill in using iReport and integrating the report with the Java applications.

More Detail Information

The detail information of this book can be found here.

And, the sample chapter about "Report Layout And Formatting" is available for download at Packt Publishing website.