OBUG APEX SIG - Reporting
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Transcript of OBUG APEX SIG - Reporting
Reporting in Oracle APEXPatrick Hellemans – Competence Manager Technology
Geert Guldentops – Oracle APEX Solution Engineer
Agenda
Reporting possibilities
SWOT analysis
Demo
Conclusion
Q&A
Reporting possibilities in APEX
Cluster 1 – PL/SQL
PL/PDF
• License fee $600
• Supported formats: PDF
• Documents are build using PL/SQL
• Integrated with the Oracle database
• A lot of custom PL/SQL code is needed to create documents
Cluster 1 – PL/SQL
SQL WORD
• Documents are build using PL/SQL and ‘scriplets’
(Oracle PL/SQL Server Pages) in SQLWord Developer
• Supported formats: RTF
• License fee ???
• Runs on Oracle HTTP Server with mod_plsql
• Outdated architecture
SQL Word - architecture
Oracle
HTTP
Server
Database
mod_plsql
Cluster 2 – Apache FOP
Apache FOP (Formatting Objects Processor)
• Free Open Source license
• Supported formats: PDF, RTF, XML and TXT
• Documents are build in XML and XSL-FO
• Uses an XML based standard which could be used in other technologies
• Runs on most application servers (Tomcat, Glassfish, etc.)
• XSL-FO enables solutions for problems which are impossible to solve in othertechnologies (e.g.: Dynamic columns in a table)
• RTF2FO can be used to convert a word document to XSL-FO format whichspeeds up initial development time
• A lot of custom coding is required to create and adjust documents
• Standard FOP libraries need to be changed so it can be called from
Oracle APEX
Apache FOP - architecture
Cluster 2 – Apache FOP
Oracle BI Publisher
• Documents are build in Microsoft Word
• Supported formats: PDF, RTF, Microsoft Excel and HTML
• Runs on Oracle Weblogic Server
• Easy to use, even for end-users
• Easy to integrate with Oracle APEX
• License fee € 36.308 + € 7.987,72 maintenance per year
Oracle BI Publisher - architecture
Cluster 3 – JasperReports
JasperReports
• Free Open Source License
• Supported formats: PDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF, ODT, CSV and XML
• Documents are build in IReport using Java and Groovy
• Runs on JasperServer, a webapplication which can be installed on any
application server
• Relatively easy to create and adjust documents using IReport
• Easy to integrate with Oracle APEX
• Advanced features (eg. dynamic columns) not supported
• Knowledge of Java & Groovy might become necessary
JasperReports - architecture
(XLS)
JFreeCharts
(Charts)
Report Design Reporting Toolitext
(PDF or RTF)
Best buy ?
Demo
Configuration Development
Conclusion
Oracle solution => Oracle BI Publisher 11g
– Easy to use
– Lots of output formats
– Uses the Oracle Weblogic platform
– Comes with OBI
– Good integration with APEX
– License fee
Conclusion
Open source alternative => JasperReports
– Suitable alternative for most reports
– Open source and free to use
– JasperReports server
– Good integration with APEX
– Good report designer
– Not for end users
– Additional knowledge of Java might become necessary
Q&A