[Laszlo-dev] Printing...

[Oliver Steele]

This makes sense.  I can see this being used in a few different ways:
- To create standalone static reports, that are configured within a 
Laszlo application but displayed in a separate window (or tab).  The 
report (PDF or HTML) would display in a separate page; there aren't any 
issues of how to display it inside a Laszlo application.  Or, a CSV 
file might be downloaded.
- To create a dataset that is displayed within a Laszlo application, 
and can be further manipulated there --- for example, Laszlo controls 
are used to change the sort order or filtering, but maybe some 
manipulations go back to the server to request another dataset (a 
different report).
- To request an HTML or image that is displayed within the Laszlo 
application.  (Or --- with a huge amount of work -- PDF.)

On Jan 28, 2005, at 10:32 AM, Martin Wegner wrote:

>
> IMHO JasperReports can be difficult to learn at first but it is well
> supported and very powerful.  Using it within Laszlo would really be a
> boon for printing from web apps.  I think advanced users would find it 
> to
> be another reason to use Laszlo (as if there aren't enough already).
>
>
> --Marty
>
> --- Chris Lyman <clyman at apprenticeis.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I need your help in a reality check regarding printing.  What I'm
>> currently looking at is JasperReports, or some derivation there of.  
>> As
>> I see it, the flow would be something like this:
>>
>> 1)  The designer/developer creates the template for the printed page
>> using one of the various banded report creation software products (a 
>> few
>> of which run in Eclipse).  The output is XML and I'm guessing that it
>> would be possible to insert certain meta tags that would be filled in 
>> by
>> the Laszlo client runtime. i.e. <![CDATA[LPSBoogie:UserName]]>
>>
>> 2)  The user requests an app that will utilize the printing feature.
>> The user does his or her thing with the app.  Once the app is ready, 
>> it
>> will request the raw report file.  The app will then parse the xml 
>> file
>> and look for the special meta tags.  It may be easier to do this 
>> without
>> actually creating the XML object, just work over the string. The app
>> then passes back the modified report to the server.
>>
>> -or-
>>
>> After the app has done its thing, it passes back the user fields to 
>> the
>> server via a JSP page.  Then the JSP either creates a datasource for
>> JasperReports or modifies a copy of the report.
>>
>> 3)  The server then does its magic and creates a well formatted file,
>> which can then be downloaded by the client or the user.
>>
>> Two immediate issues I see are the preclusion of the ability to 
>> generate
>> free form printed reports on the fly.  This may or may not be an 
>> issue,
>> I don't know if people really want to free form printed pages.  
>> Anybody
>> have any input?
>>
>> The other issue is dealing with the return product.  The resultant
>> report would be PDF (PostScript), HTML, XLS, CSV or XML.  Meaning that
>> either the browser would be used to deal with the file OR some sort of
>> page parser would have to be built into the Flash runtime.
>>
>> Let me know what you think.  Is this even the direction that we want 
>> to
>> go?  Or do we want to do everything client side?
>>
>> Best Regards,
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>
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>
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