Templates with Jaspersoft iReport Designer

Video tutorial on using templates in Jaspersoft's iReport Designer.

A template is a report, typically empty, that is used as a base to create other reports.  Templates can make your reports consistent and make your report writing more productive.

Subreports with Jaspersoft iReport Designer

Video tutorial on using subreports in Jaspersoft's iReport Designer.

A subreport is a section of a report that is based a a different query.  Subreports are linked to reports by parameters and a subreport may contain subreports itself.

This example shows a report that issues 3 queries to each of 3 tables using subreports.  While a single query joining the 3 tables can create the same report using iReport's grouping capabilities, the subreport offers the following advantages:

1. Subreports can use datasources different than the parent report,
2. It may be easier to write individual queries, and
3. Subreports may be reused among reports.

A Custom Java RUNTIME Annotation

Everyone coding in Java today uses annotations, from the @Entity of a Hibernate app to the @Test of JUnit.  But projects often still rely on Maps or Spring config files rather than use a well-placed custom annotation.

Iterating Over a Java Collection with Talend Open Studio

When working with a third-party library of Java code in Talend Open Studio, you might have need to work with Java Collections.  This post shows how to pass a java.util.List around a Talend job, loop over its contents, and print them.