What is a view?

[steveo250k]

I'm writing user documentation and trying to come up with some definitions.  This is going to sound very basic and newby'ish, but what is meant by a "view"?  In the JS Ultiimate Guide the word view is used everywhere, but never defined.  For example, "When running a view that relies on a Domain, ..."  earlier is the statement, "If your end-users experience time out messages for views or reports ..."

So a view is not a report.  It's not a domain or a topic.  What is meant by it?

[elizam]

In pro, there is an Ad Hoc Editor, and the things you create there are Ad Hoc Views.  If you look at the Ad Hoc chapter in the Ultimate Guide, you will see pictures of them.

Ad Hoc views are not available in community.

[steveo250k]

That still doesn't define a view.  I can have Ad Hoc Reports too.  What is the difference between a view and a report?

[steveo250k]

BTW, thanks for the quick response.  We are using the professional version.  The documentation uses view and report everywhere, but not interchangably.  SSo I'm thinking there is something different about a view.  They even say things like you can "view a view".  If I'm viewing a view and it's not a report, what am I viewing?

I can save a view and create a report from it.  What's the difference?

[H Mendoza]

Hi there -

The views are created from the Ad Hoc Editor.  The Ad Hoc Editor is dynamic and interactive, giving you the ability to drag fields (registered as part of the query) in a designer.  The View can be saved so that you don't have to start over later, should you need to make changes to it.  From this View, you can create Reports, which can then be accessed and viewed, as well as formatted to some degree, right from the JasperReports Server.  The Ad Hoc Editor is your designer, the platform from which you work to produce reports.    

Thanks, Hugo

[djohnson53]

Steve,

You're right. There isn't an explicit definition anywhere. That's why folks are telling you all this other stuff.

My best attempt is to liken it to a  SQL View. It's virtually constructed to look and act like a table, but isn't.  It takes more work on the DB Server to utilize SQL views, but for temporary uses, it works well.

The Ad Hoc View is like this as well.  Much ad hoc querying is done with less worry about all of the formatting and presentation that a Report may have. Its mainly done as a one-off that very well may not be used again, or possibly needs more development before its finished.  When it is deemed finished and useful as a production report,  an Ad Hoc View can be the basis of a Jasper Report.

Then you can use Jaspersoft Studio to refine the report.

Hope that helped.

 

 

 

[steveo250k]

Thanks.  That does help.  I was heading in this direction as I compared the Ultimate Guide on Views (chapter 2) and Reports (chapter 3).  I was getting confused because they share much of the same functionality and steps.

As a user it seemed like extra work. Create a view then create a report, that looks almost exactly like your view.  As a software developer it makes sense now, I can see the steps.

I usually use iReport or JasperStudio to create reports and upload them to the server.  I often create a domain from that SQL for my users to use as a data source for their own reports.

I was writing some end user documentation and got stuck trying to explain the purpose of the view.  I don't usually work with views or Ad Hoc reports, so it was new to me as well.

Thanks again to all.  I'm impressed with the rapid response from everyone.