I am trying to implement a system which sends out email alerts based on certain changes in the database - for instance, if the revenue for a certain store drops below 50% of the 30-day average, we'd like to automatically generate an alert to the relevant decision makers, so they can check what's going on. (Fictional example, we don't have stores)
Does JasperReportc Server 4.5 (or any other related tool) provide any functionality which could accomplish this? If not, is there any open-source solution which would be suitable? Ideally we'd like a user-friendly frontend to define the criteria and design the alert mails.
Or can it be possible at database level?
Thanks.
I have to mention that Jasper is just a reporting tool. It does not send any email alerts or anything. All it can do is generate dynamic reports at different times.
Perhaps your application itself can use SMTP or IMAP to send emails. You can code the necessary conditions in your application itself.
You can use Jasper in your application when you want fast-building dynamic reporting solutions. It takes less time on Jasper to create a report than building it in the application. Also, Jasper can have your report exported in PDF or Excel format also without having to jack around with API files. Jasper also offers charts and other graphical reporting structures.
Related
I'm working on an application that stores a large amount of user-entered data in a MySQL DB regarding their performance in a competitive activity. We have a web interface that provides data visualization in the form of charts and graphs.
We're looking for a way to generate a PDF from a user's data using a provided UserID in our ASP.NET backend that users will be able to download.
The team's current thinking involves using a reporting tool like SSRS, generating the .rdl file from a template using the UserID, rendering the report as a PDF in the backend, and sending it to the user to download.
I'm very unfamiliar with report generation, but the more research I do, the more I wonder if a dynamic SSRS report is the right strategy for what we're trying to accomplish. If I were just doing this myself, I'd probably build a new view of the data using a print css stylesheet, but I'm not sure what the downsides to that strategy would be relative to building a report.
I hope someone here can help.
I have a requirement from my client who is an ISV. They want to develop a solution whereby they want to offer their customer an ability to create any reports from the customer specific database.
What I mean is, we publish the dataset on a portal the customer can then drag and drop the tables they needed, create the joins to create the required report.
Is it possible to do this in PowerBi or SQL Server Reporting service?
Many Thanks
Service Content Pack
It is possible in Power BI by developing an online service content pack. This allows online services to give their customers insight into their own data via the PowerBI.com cloud service. The ISV pre-builds the data model (and some initial charts); the end user doesn't have to worry about joins at all. They can drag & drop the fields that the ISV makes available.
There are some base requirements (it has to be a SaaS application that has an API accessible via the public internet).
More information: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-developer-content-pack-overview/
Embedding
If the ISV is building their own portal, they can embed SSRS reports on their own website (and use parameters that pass the customer ID from the website directly to each report). This looks like a good place to start: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/application-integration/integrating-reporting-services-into-applications. One downside to this solution is that SSRS doesn't allow the end-user to change the reports themselves (no dragging or dropping fields).
You can also embed Power BI reports onto an externally facing website. More information here: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi-embedded/
There may be other solutions, such as tools that allow external access directly into SSAS, but I've limited the scope of my response to the two tools you've asked about (SSRS and Power BI).
I managed to create a typical SSRS report by building one through MSSQL BI development environment. I used a simple procedure to retrieve a list of databases that reside on our SQL servers. My question would be...would SSRS allow me to build a native UI app in displaying SQL procedure results in a more user friendly way?
For instance, I am currently manually running procedures to retrieve information about our backend systems, and I wonder whether SSRS would be an ideal tool to automate the process by allowing a user to view the information that the procedures produce in a more user friendly way?
I'm not 100% sure about your question, when you ask (emphasis mine):
would SSRS allow me to build a native UI app in displaying SQL procedure results
In any case, SSRS isn't meant for nor very good at functioning as an "App" with proper UI/UX. If you're just after basic features for letting the user pick a stored procedure and then reporting the results back to the user SSRS may suit your needs.
You continue:
I wonder whether SSRS would be an ideal tool to automate the process by allowing a user to view the information that the procedures produce in a more user friendly way?
Whether it's "ideal" really depends on your context.
Finally, the last bit is somewhat confusing: "more" than what? Running queries directly in SSMS? Then probably yes.
Bottom line: if you stick with using SSRS for reporting purposes (possibly interactive, to a certain degree), then SSRS may be the ideal tool for your case.
I'm after a tool to generate decent-looking documents from templates, that needs to:
be invoked through code (not interactively)
run on Windows, ideally invoked from code within a web-server
process standalone* report files that contain their own internal data definitions, query options, etc (i.e. ideally so that we can push simple report files to the server, and it simply work - where report/document maintenance is not necessarily a developer activity)
access data from a database (SQL Server 2005) based on parameters (ids etc) that we pass in
export (again, through code) to pdf or similar
*= where standalone simply means that the report is fully self-describing; it is fully expected that additional reporting runtime components will be required to execute the report. Contrast to rdlc which uses the data-sets from the local VS project.
I looked at the rdl/rdlc options (Visual Studio 2008), but rdlc seems to be coupled to the assembly (not standalone), and rdl seems to lack the code-based export ability. The version of Crystal Reports included in VS2008 seems very similar to rdlc - presumably the full Crystal Reports offering has more functionality, but has a non-trivial price tag too...
I'd welcome any suggestions for an appropriate, professional looking tool that might be suitable and recommended...
I think SQL Reporting Services fully support all of your requirements.
I have build some sophisticated solutions myself with SSRS.
(Example)
Fully manageable through code (via SSRS WS) (Upload, execute and export Reports)
Used SQL Server as database
Queries are defined in RDL (or Stored Proc) and based on parameters
There are other solutions like Telerik Reporting or Data Dynamics ActiveReport, but they are not free.
Let me know if you need more informations
SSRS WS: With that I mean the Web Service Interface (Report Server Web Service
). There is also a URL Access method, but I don't think it's a solution for you
I dont think you can satisfy all requirements. Number 3 especially is the killer.
On one reading, I see it as adhoc reporting generating it's on SQL. On another, it is giving users "empowerment" to do roll their own within some limits you define?
You may have looked already... but have you thought about using the ReportBuilder functionality to set up the basics and leave users to do the rest? You'll need a report monkey at some point anyway to set soemthing up.
Edit, after comment:
Reporting Services it is then.
It comprises a web service that renders RDL files uploaded from VS.
Report Builder is a template for users to hack and bash their own within the limits and environment you set.
Architecture of RS 2008
Our Data Dynamics Reports product sound like it is for you. It is a fully programmable reporting component for .NET / Visual Studio. View the documentation on the API here. You can export the reports to any of our various formats, including PDF, HTML, and Excel and it also includes an end user designer control that you can embed into your own applications to let end users modify or create their own reports.
The reports are stored in RDL - the same XML dialect that Reporting Services uses - in fact you can take any existing RDL files and open them in Data Dynamics Reports. In addition to compatibility with RDL, we add many more features, such as "themes" to consistently style your report, master reports (think ASP.NET master pages for reports), and several other built in controls such as a calendar, barcode, and dashboard controls to name a few.
Now lets look at your requirements one-by-one and see how Data Dynamics Reports might solve them:
be invoked through code (not interactively) - Data Dynamics Reports includes comprehensive API.
run on Windows, ideally invoked from code within a web-server - You can use Data Dynamics Reports in client-based, or ASP.NET applications, it even support medium trust ASP.NET applications (webservices are fine).
process standalone* report files that contain their own internal data definitions, query options, etc (i.e. ideally so that we can push simple report files to the server, and it simply work - where report/document maintenance is not necessarily a developer activity) - Data Dynamics Reports uses standard RDL (not rdlc) which includes all information bout how to retrieve data from your datasource. We also include an end user designer control to allow you to emebed a design environment for these standalone files into your own applications.
access data from a database (SQL Server 2005) based on parameters (ids etc) that we pass in - Data Dynamics Reports includes comprehensive support for parameters (even get the "valid values" from a query.
export (again, through code) to pdf or similar - Data Dynamics Reports supports exporting to PDF, HTML, Excel, Word, images, and XML.
I hope it works out for you, and let me know if you have any additional questions.
Scott Willeke
Data Dynamics / GrapeCity inc.
I think, based on all the criteria, you likely need to look at Crystal Reports, since you want the reports to be standalone, although, you could also create a report designer out of XtraReports or ActiveReports Pro and have much of the same functionality.
As for running it on the fly and having it generate, distribute, and archive the reports that run, check out our product at www.versareports.com. It should work with any .NET report designer you want to use and provides the enterprise-class report server framework you likely need.
I would like to use SQL Reporting Services 2008 to generate my reports, but I want to use my own UI for specifying the report type, columns, parameters and everything. I want to be able to take these criteria, and then kick off an asynchronous request to SSRS and have the report emailed to me. Is this possible? I don't want to go all the way down the road of researching SQL Reporting Services 2008 only to find that it doesn't do what I need it to do. Also, I will have a ton of DB partitions that the data will need to be pulled from. Some reports will need to pull data from only one of these, but other ones may actually need to span different databases. Is it possible when sending a report request to SSRS to specify what servername/database to pull the data from? Is it possible to tell it to take the data from multiple databases and combine it? Thanks.
Like Crystal Reports, ActiveReports and other report generators, SSRS has two basic elements behind each report: the SQL query and the report layout. No matter what tool you use for the SQL -- it can be inline SQL in the report or a call to a stored procedure -- it's going to be the same query. Multiple databases are fine as long as you can specify them up front.
You can have parameterized queries, so the user is prompted to input the relevant filters (customer ID, product group, date range, whatever).
Doing the report layout is similar to other tools -- you drag and drop controls like labels onto the report, and set their formatting.
SSRS does provide a lot of options for distributing the report, including email. You can embed the report in an ASP.Net web page, leave it on the report server site for users to browse to, run it in the wee hours of the morning and cache it so every user doesn't have to wait for the lengthy query to run.
It's a great tool. I think it will be worth your effort to experiment with it. I would wait on creating the customized UI until you've exhausted the possibilities inherent in the tool.
SSRS is not designed with this scenario in mind, for that matter I am not sure that any out of the box reporting solution is going to have an elegant solution for this. While SSRS can do what you are asking (as well as others), it is by no means quick or easy. You seem to be looking for an advanced ad-hoc solution with dynamic sourcing of the data. I would first question the requirements and determine if the business scenario really justifies such an implementation. I would weigh custom building a solution vs your learning curve with a BI reporting solution. You may find that it is easier to just build something on your own.
I think the heterogeneous dynamic database mashup is probably going to be the most challenging part.
Depending on what your scalability requirements are, one place that has that part covered, and a report writer, is Access. (Duck! Incoming!)
I think you may be creating a rod for your own back to a certain extent as RS ships with a few interfaces for report creation.
Mind you the end product is an rdl file which is nothing but xml, so you can write them by hand if you really like.
Multiple data sources are supported, but combining them on a single control/chart/etc are not, so you'll need to configure yourself a cross database capability from one of your data-sources prior to the report request if you want to do that.