Accessing in client/server mode

Besides a web browser, JReport Enterprise Server supports three other viewers to browse report sets from a client: JReport Viewer, JReport Client API and JReport Viewer Bean. Since JReport Viewer, JReport Client API, and JReport Viewer Bean are based on the Client API, strictly speaking there are two viewers: thin-client through a web browser and thick-client using the Client API.

Reference: For details about the usage of JReport Viewer, Client API and JReport Viewer Bean, refer to JReport Viewer User's Guide in <viewer_install_root>\help\userguide if you have installed it on your machine. Also, you can go to Jinfonet website and read the online help at http://www.jinfonet.com/kbase/viewer9/userguide/index.htm.

Accessing via JReport Viewer

JReport Viewer is a thick-client way to connect to JReport Enterprise Server. It is based on the Client API but with a Swing based GUI. Compared with a web browser, it has better compatibility with JReport Enterprise Server, and allows faster access. You can view existing report sets in server either on a remote server or on your local disk. JReport Viewer also includes task scheduling functionality. With this you can schedule and view report sets at any time and as often as you want. Also, you can publish report sets to different formats. Finally, an important feature of the JReport Viewer is that it enables you to manage report sets such as adding/deleting report sets and defining their properties. However, it does not support using the JReport Web DHTML features such as sorting and filtering.

  1. Download JReport Viewer for Windows or for UNIX from Jinfonet website at http://www.jinfonet.com/downloadjreport/additional.htm. You need to use JReport Viewer and JReport Enterprise Server of the same version (the same build number).
  2. Follow the installation wizard to install JReport Viewer (by default, it is installed to C:\JReport\Viewer).
  3. Launch JReport Enterprise Server using the batch file JREntServer.bat in <server_install_root>\bin if it is not already running.
  4. After JReport Enterprise Server is started, launch JReport Viewer using the batch JREntViewer.bat (JREntViewer.sh on UNIX) in <viewer_install_root>\bin.
  5. In Connect dialog, enter the host, port number, servlet path, user name and password of JReport Enterprise Server. The default servlet path is /jrserver. If you want to connect to JReport Enterprise Server with SSL support, check the SSL option. Then, click Connect to complete the connection.
  6. After authenticated, you will see a resource tree in the Explorer tab of JReport Viewer (or alias resource tree if defined), which corresponds to that of JReport Enterprise Server.

    JReport Viewer contains basic features such as exploring the resource tree, viewing report sets and scheduling.

Accessing via Client API

The usual method to connect to JReport Enterprise Server is through a web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, or with JReport Viewer. However, what if you want to integrate the client viewer into your own applications? The answer is you can. Both JReport Viewer and JReport Viewer Bean are based on the Client API. Since the Client API and JReport Viewer Bean share some functions, you can call methods in either of them. However, JReport Viewer Bean is most often used in running report sets and exporting report set results to other formats or printers. Client API has more flexibility including the scheduling feature.

When you install JReport Viewer, the archive file JREntViewer.jar for Client API is also installed to <viewer_install_root>\lib at the same time. There are sample code files you can refer to in <viewer_install_root>\help\samples. For details about using the Client API, refer to JReport Viewer User's Guide in <viewer_install_root>\help\userguide.

Accessing via JReport (Client) Viewer Bean

JReport Viewer Bean is also based on Client API. JReport Viewer Bean enables you to connect with JReport Enterprise Server to run report sets, view report set results, and export report set results to other formats (HTML, PDF, XLS, RTF, PostScript, Text, CSV, Applet), e-mail and printer.

For the usage of JReport Viewer Bean, please refer to JReport Viewer User's Guide in <viewer_install_root>\help\userguide. You can go to http://www.jinfonet.com/downloadjreport/additional.htm to download JReport Viewer Bean in which some demo sample code files are included.