Best way to deal with multiple datasources

[monojetski]

Hi guys

I have a report that will gather information from 3 webservices. I have successfully achieved this in jasperser server. My problem is that I don't know if I'm writing the report in the correct nature or whether jasper is the correct technology choice. Here is what I have done

I created a datasource that will call 3 webservices and return the results. The funny thing is that the results from the webservice is basically a preformatted report that I'm not allowed to alter. So I get 3 items returned to the report and then I display those 3 items on the page.

So really Im calling 3 webservices and apending the results together, and adding paging , titles etc.

What I would have preferred to do is to have 3 seperate datasources and use 3 subreports and combine that on a master report, that way I can get reuse out of the datasources for different reports. But I haven't been able to create multiple datasources in a report and from my research I dont think it is possible?

So is what Im doing the simplest way to achieve what I need? or is there another jasper server way. Is it possible to have many datasources on a report? could I use a scriptlet to achieve this? or would using straight itext be a simplier solution.

The thing I like about jasperserver is that I can add or edit reports in production without redeploying systems that use the reports,

[ernestoo]

 Hey,

This post explains how to do a master report and sub-reports with different data sources: http://jasperforge.org/plugins/espforum/view.php?group_id=112&forumid=102&topicid=44794 - see post @ 08/25/2008 04:57 PM

That's one way. Another way is to use the ETL product (http://jasperforge.org/projects/jasperetl) to grab data from your 3 sources and "normalize" it to run reports.

Let me know if method #1 works for you or not.

[monojetski]

thanks ernestoo for the help... So it looks I can use a scriptlet to call my datasource.. I'll give that a whirl and report back. I'll try the ETL if that fails.

[kkumlien]

See this article for a summary of current options: http://community.jaspersoft.com/wiki/how-use-multiple-data-sources-jaspersoft-studio-or-jasperreports-server