The JavaScript API exposed through Visualize.js allows you to embed and dynamically interact with reports, dashboards, and their input controls. With Visualize.js, you can create web pages and web applications that seamlessly embed reports and complex interaction. You can control the look and feel of all elements through CSS and invent new ways to merge data into your application. Visualize.js helps you make advanced business intelligence available to your users.
This chapter contains the following sections:
| • | Requesting the Visualize.js Script |
| • | Contents of the Visualize.js Script |
| • | Usage Patterns |
| • | Testing Your JavaScript |
| • | Cross-Domain Security |
Each function of Visualize.js is then described in the following chapters:
| • | API Reference - login and logout |
| • | API Reference - resourcesSearch |
| • | API Reference - report |
| • | API Reference - inputControls |
| • | API Reference - dashboard |
| • | API Reference - Errors |
The last chapters demonstrate more advanced usage of Visualize.js:
| • | API Usage - Report Events |
| • | API Usage - Hyperlinks |
| • | API Usage - Interactive Reports |
| • | Visualize.js Tools |
Requesting the Visualize.js Script
The script to include on your HTML page is named visualize.js. It is located on your running instance of JasperReports Server. Later on your page, you also need a container element to display the report from the script.
You must specify a domain name or IP address where your server is running, using localhost causes errrors.
The content of visualize.js is type='text/javascript', but that is the default so you usually don't need to include it.
You can specify several parameters when requesting the script:
| Parameter | Type or Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| userLocale | locale string | Specify the locale to use for display and running reports. It must be one of the locales supported by JasperReports Server. The default is the locale configured on the server. |
| logEnabled | true|false | Enable or disable logging. By default, it is enabled (true). |
| logLevel | debug|info|warn|error | Set the logging level. By default the level is error. |
| baseUrl | URL | The URL of the JasperReports Server that will respond to visualize requests. By default, it is the same server instance that provides the script. |
| _opt | true|false | When true, the Javascript is optimized (reduced in size). By default, this parameter is false. Turning on optimization also improves the encapsulation of the Visualize.js library and may reduce undesirable side-effects. See the example belo |
The following request shows how to use script parameters:
<script src="http://bi.example.com:8080/jasperserver-pro/client/ visualize.js?userLocale=fr&logLevel=debug"></script>[/code] |
If you notice undesirable side-effects when including the Visualize.js library, set the optimization flag to provide better protection, also known as encapsulation. For example, the Visualize.js functions might interfere with collapse functions on your menus. To turn on optimization and reduce side-effects such as this one, set the optimize flag when you load Visualize.js, as shown in the following example:
<script src="http://bi.example.com:8080/jasperserver-pro/client/visualize.js?_opt=true"></script>[/code] |
Contents of the Visualize.js Script
The Visualize.js script itself is a factory function for an internal JrsClient.
You write JavaScript in a callback that controls what the client does. The following code sample shows the functions of the JrsClient that are available to you:
These functions are described in the remaining API reference chapters.
Usage Patterns
After specifying the authentication information, you write the callback that will execute inside the client provided by visualize.js.
The following sample shows how to use the always callback:
Testing Your JavaScript
As you learn to use Visualize.js and write the JavaScript that embeds your reports into your web app, you should have a way to run and view the output of your script.
In order to load Visualize.js, your HTML page containing your Javascript must be accessed through a web server. Opening a static file with a web browser does not properly load the iFrames needed by the script.
One popular way to view your Visualize.js output, is to use the jsFiddle online service. You specify your HTML, JavaScript, and optional CSS in 3 separate frames, and the result displays in the fourth frame.
Another way to test your JavaScript is to use the app server bundled with JasperReports Server. If you deploy the server from the installer with the Apache Tomcat app server, you can create an HTML file at the root of the server web app, for example:
<js-install>/apache-tomcat/webapps/jasperserver-pro/testscript.html
Write your HTML and JavaScript in this file, and then you can run Visualize.js by loading the file through the following URL:
http://mydomain.com:8081/jasperserver-pro/testscript.html
Cross-Domain Security
After developing your web application and embedding Visualize.js, you will deploy it to your users through some web domain, for example bi-enabled.myexample.com. For testing, JasperReports Server accepts Visualize.js requests from any domain, and your web app will display embedded reports and dashboards. However, once you go into production, you should add security and make sure that the server responds only to Visualize.js requests from your web app. This is called cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection.
JasperReports Server includes a configurable whitelist of domains, and it only responds to Visualize.js requests from those domains. Add your web domain to this whitelist, and no other web apps on malicious domains can access your server. In addition to whitelisted domains, JasperReports Server always responds to requests that originate from the same domain as the server itself.
To configure the cross-domain whitelist:
| 1. | Log in as system administrator (superuser). |
| 2. | Select Manage > Server Settings then Server Attributes. |
| 3. | The server attribute named domainWhitelist contains a regular expression that matches allowed domains. Set it as follows: |
| • | When your Visualize.js web app is on another domain, such as in this example, create a regular expresion to match the protocol, domain name and port numbers. You can also match multiple subdomains or several port numbers as in this example: |
domainWhitelist = http://*.myexample.com:80d0
The server translates this simplified expression into the proper regular expression ^http://.*.myexample.com:80d0$. If you want to avoid the translation, put ^ $ around your value.
| • | When your Visualize.js web app is on the same domain as your JasperReports Server set the value to <blank> (no value) so that no other domain has access: |
domainWhitelist = <blank>
| • | It is also possible to limit the domains accessing the JasperReports Server for each organization. For advanced configuration details, see the section on cross-domain whitelists in the JasperReports Server Security Guide. |
For more information about setting attributes see the JasperReports Server Administrator Guide.
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