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  • Version Control of JasperReports Server

    Scott Andersen

    By Scott Andersen

    • Edited on:
      • Features: JasperReports Server Version: v7.8 Product: JasperReports® Server
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    One aspect of implementation of JasperReports® Server that needs to be considered is that of version control.  This Wiki article reviews possible approaches to accomplishing this.

    Requirements

    There are several ways to produce Jaspersoft content.  Jaspersoft Studio is the primary tool to create pixel perfect, complex reports.  Artifacts can also be created using JasperReports Server itself.

    Inside JasperReports Server there are multiple resources that may need to be versioned.

    • Pixel perfect reports.  These can be jrxml files or JasperReports Server report packages.
    • Ad hoc reports
    • Data sources
    • Domains
    • Topics
    • Other resources
    • Input controls
    • Queries
    • Images

    Report developers create, modify, test and deploy to JasperReports Server from Jaspersoft Studio via JasperReports Server REST services.

    The JasperReports Server REST API can be used to update:

    • Repository contents: report units, data sources domains
    • Users
    • Roles
    • Permissions
    • Audit
    • etc

    The JasperReports/Studio and JasperReports Server changes within the JasperReports Server repository are to be version controlled.

    Reports and other artifacts need to deployed into different JasperReports Server environments:

    • Development to test to production
    • A hotfix in production needs to pushed back into other versions and environments

    The deployment process to JasperReports Server environments is to be automated and leverage version control.

    There are environment specific settings within the repository and in the JasperReports Server that need to be updated during deployments.

    There are also processes like upgrades and hotfixes that change the JasperReports Server repository and server.

    Design

    Base idea for this approach is to have the JasperReports Server repository structure in a Git repo. Resources only should be maintained.

    Developer creates a branch for themselves

    Repeatedly

    • Developer updates the JasperReports Server repository in their local environment.
    • js-export changes to the branch
      • Always export their full repository to the file system of the JasperReports Server repository
      • Repeated exports of the same resources will show only files that have changed
      • Use of universal encryption key
    • Commit

    Get from Git into JasperReports Server repository

    • Get branch
    • js-import into JasperReports Server repository
      • Everything from Branch
      • Selectively
        • Create a working repository and import branch into it
        • Create exports of individual objects
        • Import the individual object exports into the target JasperReports Server repository

    Secured values need to be maintained separately for each JasperReports Server repository

    Pull requests and merges

    • Dev -> Test -> Prod
    • Hotfix back into development

    Can revert changes in Git, then re-import.

    Jaspersoft command line functions

    Export 

    js-export --uris /public --output-dir /path/to/cloned/repo --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret

    Secured values change on every export.

    Import 

    js-import --update --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret --input-dir "/path/to/cloned/repo"

    Import using the universal encryption key

    Update the secured values separately with environment specific values ie. passwords

     

    Processes

    Push the initial JasperReports Server repository to Git

    Have an existing JasperReports Server repository database available with the resources you want to save into Git.

    Set up a central Git repository for the JasperReports Server resources.

    Set a branch or leave as master.

    Clone the Git repository to a directory in the local environment. Say “/path/to/cloned/repo”

    Work at the command line in a JasperReports Server buildomatic directory. 

    js-export --uris /public --output-dir /path/to/cloned/repo --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret

    Commit the updates to the central Git repository from /path/to/cloned/repo

    New repository database set up from Git

    Work at the command line in a JasperReports Server buildomatic directory.

    Update default_master.properties with the repository database connection details. 

    A new encryption key and a new keystore are about to be created. Any previously created key and keystore 
will become invalid and the corresponding passwords unusable. If you think this JasperReports Server 
instance already has a keystore configured by another OS user, stop this process and configure the path 
in keystore.init.properties file, then run this command again. See the JasperReports Server Security Guide 
for details. Do you want to continue? (y/N)

Y

js-ant create-js-db
js-ant init-js-db-pro
js-ant import-minimal-pro

    Clone the central Git repo locally and set the branch.

    js-import --update --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret --input-dir "/path/to/cloned/repo"

    Ensure configuration to use an existing repository

    Before starting, ensure the keystores files relevant for the particular repository are available in the local environment.

     If you have to deploy from a fresh machine, follow this process to configure the keystore files for the existing repository: https://community.jaspersoft.com/wiki/encryption-jasperreports-server-75#Updating_Keystore_files

    Delete keystore.init.properties

    Update default_master.properties with the repository database connection details. 

    js-ant clean-config
js-ant gen-config

    Clone the central Git repo locally and set the branch.

    js-import --update --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret --input-dir "/path/to/cloned/repo"

    Developer/admin updates the repository and Git

    Edit/publish to the repository via JRS processes. 

    js-export --uris /public --output-dir /path/to/cloned/repo --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret

    Always export the full repository!

    Commit the updates to the central Git repository from /path/to/cloned/repo

    Developer/admin gets updates from Git into a repository

    Get latest updates of the central Git repository or clone.

    Use branches. 

    js-import --update --keyalias deprecatedImportExportEncSecret --input-dir "/path/to/cloned/repo"

    Saving Server level Attributes

    With attributes set, they can be exported to a zip file and then imported into target JasperReports Server environments.

    As the superuser, go to Server Settings > Export.

    Note the attributes and server settings check boxes below.

    pic1_0.png.6cead9bc47812df8bcf85f88f49f94fe.png

    These export zip files can only be imported into environments that have the same keystore as the original environment.

    Saving Organization level Attributes

    Superuser selects Manage Organizations > select an Organization

    Right click > Export

    A tenant administrator can do export for their organization.

    pic2_0.png.ec79220c350763d9c8203d3320aa5b10.png

    Maintaining Environment specific resources

    There are resources in the repository that contain values specific to an environment.

    The best method to preserve these values is to use the server, organization and user attributes which are maintained separately from the repository resources.

    There could also be environment specific resources which would be updated via the Git to repository import process. These will have to be exported separately and then imported after an update from Git has occurred.

    Dev/Test/Prod, Hot fixes

    Developers work in a branch.

    Use merges and pull requests to move resource versions between different branches.

    Deploy to different environments using branches.

    Repository changes related to a hotfix are committed to the production branch and then merged or pull requested into other branches.

    Conflicts

    Conflicts can happen.

    Given the nature of the repository resources, it will be difficult in many cases to selectively merge the contents of individual resources with Git and then have a working repository.

    Exports into Git must be of the same complete areas of the repository, because of dependencies and the fact that the export machinery will not do an export of an object or folder, say, into Git will not respect the greater repository structure and disable the ability to import from Git. If a subset of the repository is exported to Git, that commit will have to be reverted for subsequent imports from Git to work.

    Current examples of version control with Jaspersoft

    Jaspersoft Studio

    Jaspersoft Studio defines projects containing JRXMLs and other resources that can integrate automatically with version control through the file system. In recent versions of Jaspersoft Studio, Git integration is installed by default.

    When you create a project in Jaspersoft Studio you can pull it from a variety of version control providers (CVS, SVN, Git)

    Version control of exports

    Export artifacts from the repository into zip files.

    Version control the exports.

    Import the exports into target environments.

    Use of command line tools:js-export/import

    Or REST services

    • Export
    • Import

    Maintenance with REST services

    Use of JasperReports Server REST APIs

    • resources

    • organizations

    Coding and scripting.

    Targeted versioning

    Versioning raw resources and jrxml ...pulling it...building an export file from scratch and then importing it

    BASH scripts

    Use BASH scripts to pull stuff from GIT and push to Jaspersoft via REST to automate.

    Other Information

    Various clients have implemented version controls in a number of ways.  Contact us for more details / references.

    pic1_0.png.daee2b5c5a0eb88d805f1c7e70c65c0d.png

    pic2_0.png.3e0b7c9998db8c1ffdd86e4d9338d931.png

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    eflores_4

    Hello, how can a developer edit a report once it is pulled from GIT??

    the exported directory contains names like "myreport.jrxml.data" instead of just "myreport.jrxml" and Jasper Studio doesn´t recognize it as a jasper file.

    Best regards.

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