
Welcome to iReport 2 (the code name for java version of iReport)

With this version many features of iReport2 are already implemented.
This is NOT a complete release. I'm working on the final release that will
be ready for the end of summer. I'll release frequently new updates, but
the way for the final release is still long...

iReport 0.2.0 is not an upgrade of iReport 0.1.0. iReport 0.1.0 remains for
now the current "stable" release. The VisualJ++ version of iReport will be
no more officially mantained or supported.

All docs available on http://ireport.sf.net/docs.html could be outdated or
not directly applicable to iReport2.
The documentation is a big hole of iReport at this time. Be patient.
Tutorials and examples are welcome.

It's time for javing.


REQUIREMENTS
- Sun JDK 1.4 or greater
- Ant (required if you want recompile sources)
- JasperReports 0.4.6 (*)
- SAX 2.0 XML Parser (Apache Xerces 1.3 or later recommended) (*)
- Jakarta Commons Digester Component (version 1.1 or later) (*)
- Jakarta Commons BeanUtils Component (version 1.1 or later) (*)
- Jakarta Commons Collections Component (version 1.0 or later) (*)
- Jakarta Commons Logging Component (version 1.0 or later) (*)
- JDBC 2.0 Driver  (A MySql driver is already included) (*)
- iText - Free Java-PDF library by Bruno Lowagie and Paulo Soares (*)
- Jakarta POI (version 1.5.1 or later) 
- JFreeChart (version 0.9.8 or later) 

(*) a jar of this software is already included in this lib directory
of this distribution, so you have not to download it.


INSTALLATION
Extract the archive in a directory. Modify iReport.bat or iReport.sh 
for adjust your paths. Copy tools.jar from your JDK in the lib directory
of iReport (or simply add it to the CLASSPATH).
To start iReport using Ant:
ant iReport

To start iReport without Ant (for now only for Win32 users..., but it's
just a script...)
cd noAnt
startup.bat

If you want more TTF fonts, add your font directory to the classpath
(end restart iReport).

I have tested iReport on Win2000 and on Linux Mandrake with jdk 1.4.0_03


QUICK START:

1.  Menu -> Datasource -> Connections/Datasources;
2.  Create a new connection of type Database JDBC Connection and test it;
3.  Menu -> Build -> Set active connection;
4.  Select your JDBC connection;
5.  File -> Report Wizard...
6.  Follow the 5 steps to create a new report from a SQL query
7.  Save the report
8.  Menu -> Tools -> Option
9.  Set the PDF viewer selecting your prferred pdf reader
10. Apply and save your options
11. Return to the document and press the button with toolTip 
    "Run report using a connection"
12. Good Look.

To try a JRCustomDatasource, you have to write a class that as at least a 
static method without arguments and that return a JRDataSource.
1.  Menu -> Datasource -> Connections/Datasources;
2.  Create a new connection of type Custom JRDataSource;
3.  Select your class and the name of the method that must be called to
    retrive the instanced JRDataSource.
4.  Add fields (Menu -> View -> Report fields to the report that will be
    present in the datasource and add yout textfields to the detail band.
    
Please note that templates used by  the wizard are not definitive.
If you don't see fields, try to set "stretchWithOverflow" to true in
the element properties frame.        
________________
Thanks to try iReport.
Enjoy.

Giulio









	

