Refining the Report Book

You can further refine the report data to make your report easier to use, by sorting on additional fields, and by adding pages to the book to introduce each of the sorted sections.

Sorting on Additional Fields

At this point, you could run the report, but the data it returns is sorted by City, which you established in Creating and Adding Reports to the Report Book. To better organize the data, you can now modify the report query to sort by Country as well.

To add a filter to a report in a report book:

1. In the Project Explorer, double-click to open content_page_one.jrxml in the designer.
2. In the Outline view, right-click the Parameters folder and select Create Parameter.
3. In the Properties view, change the name to country.
4. In the Designer, click and modify the query to say:

Select * from orders where shipcountry = $P{country} order by shipcity

5. Click OK to return to the designer.
6. Click the Preview tab at the bottom of the designer to open Input Parameters.
7. In the country field, enter Italy and run the report. The report preview displays only data related to Italy, sorted by city.
8. Click the Design tab, then save and compile your report.
9. Open Sample_Book.jrxml in the design tab, and click to select Content_Page_One.jasper in the Content group.
10. In the Data tab in the Properties view, click Edit Parameters to open the Report Part Parameters window, and click Add.
11. In the Parameter Configuration Dialog, enter country as the parameter name.
12. Click to open the Expression Editor, and click Fields in the left panel.
13. Double-click SHIPCOUNTRY Field String to add it to the expression, then click Finish.
14. Click OK in the Parameter Configuration Dialog, then Finish in the Report Part Parameters window.

Adding Section Introductory Pages

You can insert pages in your reports to introduce each section of data, as determined in Sorting on Additional Fields. These pages can include text, images, charts, or any number of other elements, pulled from a data source.

We'll place an introductory page before each country section and include the country name and a chart representing the number of orders for each city in the country.

To add introductory pages to your report:

1. Click to open the Wizard selection window.
2. Expand the Jaspersoft Studio folder and select Jasper Report. Click Next.
3. In the Report Templates window, select the Blank A4 Landscape template. Click Next.
4. In the Report file window, select the MyReports folder and change the Blank_A4_Landscape.jrxml file name to Country_Intro.jrxml. Click Next.
5. In the Data Source window, select Sample DB – Database JDBC Connection, and enter the following query and click Next:

select count(*) c, shipcity from orders group by shipcity

6. In the Fields window, add the following Dataset fields to the Fields panel and click Next.
•      C
•      SHIPCITY
7. In the Group By window, click Finish. The Country_Intro.jrxml appears in the Design tab.

Now you can determine what data appears on the intro pages.

To modify the data on the intro pages:

1. With Country_Intro.jrxml open in the Design tab, click the Title band and increase its height to 350 pixels.
2. In the Outline view, right-click Parameters and select Create Parameter.
3. In the Properties view, change the Name from Parameter 1 to Country.
4. In the Designer view, click to open the Dataset and Query Dialog.
5. Modify the query to say:

select count(*) c, shipcity from orders where shipcountry = $P{Country} group by shipcity

6. Click OK.
7. Save Country_Intro.jrxml.
8. In the Outline view, drag Country from the Parameters list into the Title band.
9. Click the Country parameter ($P{Country}).
10. In the Properties view, click Text Field. Increase the font size to 26.
11. Click outside the parameter element.

Next, you can add a chart to the intro pages, that provides a graphical representation of the data in the section.

To add a chart to the intro pages:

1. In the Palette view, select and drag HTML5 Charts from the Components Pro section and place it under the parameter element in the designer view.
2. In the Chart type selection dialog, scroll down and select Pie. Click OK.
3. Resize the pie chart to fit the space. See Creating a Simple Chart for more information.
4. Double-click the chart element to open the Chart Properties.
5. Click the Chart Data tab, then click the Configuration tab.
6. In the Categories Levels section, double-click Level1.
7. In the Expression text box, delete "Change Me" and click .
8. Select Fields from the first column, and double-click SHIPCITY Field String to add it to the expression.
9. Click Finish.
10. Update the Name field to "City" and click OK.
11. Back in the Chart Properties dialog, update the following information:
•      Name: Number of orders.
•      Label Expression: "Number of orders"
•      Calculation: Nothing
•      Value Expression: Delete new Integer1, click , and double-click C Field Long, then click Finish.
12. Click OK, then save the report.
13. Compile Country_Intro.jrxml to create a .jasper file.

Now, you can add the Country_Intro page to your book, and configure it to display the correct data.

To add and configure the intro page::

1. Open Sample_Book.jrxml in the Design tab.
2. Drag Country_Intro.jasper from the Project Explorer into the Content group of Sample_Book.jrxml, and place it to the left of the Content_Page_One.jasper file.
3. In the Design tab, click to select Country_Intro.jasper.
4. In the Properties view, click Edit Parameters.
5. In the Report Part Parameters window, click Add to open the Parameter Configuration dialog.
6. In the Parameter Name field, enter REPORT_CONNECTION.
7. Click to open the Expression Editor.
8. In the first column, select Parameters.
9. From the center column, double-click REPORT_CONNECTION parameter connection to add it to the editor field, and click Finish. The expression appears in the Parameter Expression field.
10. Click OK and confirm the parameter has been added to the Part Parameters list.
11. Click Add to open the Parameter Configuration dialog again.
12. In the Parameter Name field, enter Country.
13. Click to open the Expression Editor.
14. In the first column, select Fields.
15. From the center column, double-click SHIPCOUNTRY Field String to add it to the editor field, and click Finish. The expression appears in the Parameter Expression field.
16. Click OK and confirm the parameter has been added to the Part Parameters list, click Finish.