[wellylug] SugarCRM and JasperReports on Linux

[David Harrison]

On 18/10/2006, at 8:30 PM, William Hamilton wrote:

> Hi all.  has anyone installed JasperReports on Linux before?  I am  
> looking for a bit of guidance. I am not a Java person and  
> documentation I can find does not cover much on the install/ 
> setup... rather, the design of reports.

JasperReports is a reporting library for Java and not really an  
'application' that you install.

> Install will be on Debian which has SugarCRM already working etc.

I'm guessing the Debian box you are referencing is a server in which  
case you would probably be running JasperReports from within an  
application server (like Tomcat) or on a regular basis from the  
command line using a plain old Java app and Cron. Either way a  
vanilla JasperReports setup requires a lot of coding, for a Tomcat  
example checkout this page: http://devzone.skillfusion.com/ 
jasperArticle8.php (definitely not for the Java uninitiated)

Setting up Tomcat can also be very painful depending on the use  
requirements :-(

> Any constructive suggestions welcome :)

What you may want to checkout is OpenReports, its a Web front-end to  
JasperReports:
http://oreports.com/

Its not as powerful as raw JasperReport building but for the non-Java  
type its definitely the easiest way to get started.
OpenReports runs within Tomcat so once you've learnt how to deploy a  
Java web-app getting it running is relatively easy (he says with a  
wry smile).....

You might be better off describing your use-case as there are  
possibly better tools around for what you want to achieve.
JasperReports is a very good reporting library for Java but its not  
the only option out there.


David