ActivePDF-like Reports w/ Apache? 63
Martin71a asks: "I have recently been tasked with managing our website. I come from a mainframe and VB background and have a team of 3 people to work with. Our manager is having us switch from IIS to an Apache web server later this year. In the more immediate future, I need a solution to distribute print to our customers through our website. Previously, we had developed our reports using HTML, but we need more professional looking reports with more basic printing functionality, such as paging, built in. We have been testing ActivePDF in which we develop the reports in Crystal then use ActivePDF to send [those reports] to a virtual PDF printer, which allows the user to view them. We like the solution because it doesn't require our customer to download anything, other than a PDF viewer. We've also experimented with Crystal Enterprise, although it was an older version that required either a Java plug-in, or ActiveX download. My concern is that AcitvePDF does not appear to be supported for an Apache server. Does any know of a similar solution that would be appropriate for an Apache server?"
PHP + PDF generation (Score:5, Informative)
Damien
Re:PHP + PDF generation (Score:5, Informative)
Anyone know something that does that and flattens remaining form fields (to limit size)?
Re:PHP + PDF generation (Score:3, Informative)
Re:PHP + PDF generation (Score:2, Informative)
Soon delivering PDFs and all the output formats you guys can imagine.
PHP + FPDF (Score:5, Informative)
Re:PHP + FPDF (Score:5, Informative)
pdflib [pdflib.com] - SUCKS, the API is a pain in the ass. I liken it to doing your own dental work -- in the dark. You can circumvent this a little using the pc4p wrapper, but it's fickle.
fpdf [fpdf.org] - It's pretty good, although it doesn't natively support any sane ways of dealing with text in tables - I was trying to use it to generate PDF invoices and quotations. It would barf and break columns when my text should wrap to the next line. The only way around this would be writing custom extensions to the class.
r&os [ros.co.nz] - This is what I really recommend using. Like fpdf, it doesn't require any additional libraries to be installed - everything runs within PHP itself. The documentation is pretty good and I've really enjoyed using it.
Re:PHP + FPDF (Score:4, Informative)
ob_start();
-do pdf creation and output here-
$pdfcontents=ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
$fp=fopen("/path/to/pdf/file.pdf","w[b]");
fwrite($pdfcontents);
fclose($fp);
You only need the b in the fopen if you are running php/apache on windows as a file needs to be explicitly binary on that platform.
try this (Score:3, Informative)
PHP (Score:3, Insightful)
PDF's in Apache? No problem (Score:3, Informative)
Same Problem (Score:5, Informative)
I work at a large bank. We had reports we needed to produce in PDF format with nice graphics. We tried many solutions including print-to-HTML from Excel [microsoft.com], Crystal Reports [crystaldecisions.com], Ephiphany [epiphany.com], and Insightful's S-Plus [splus.com].
The best solution for a compact format was a scripted solution (VBA / COM) that prints XLS, DOC, PPT, etc. to a file with thus creating a postscript file, then using ghostscript to convert
S-Plus required lots of programming and display was not compact enough. Ephiphany likewise. Crystal has a HUGE HUGE IMMENSE VAST WAY-BIG Learning curve and still didn't do what we wanted. Alas.
For all it's worth.
-- Kevin J. Rice, justanyone.com
Re:Same Problem (Score:2)
Crystal has a HUGE HUGE IMMENSE VAST WAY-BIG Learning curve
It does?! I must be a genius since I picked it up after a couple days... ;-P
Re:Same Problem (Score:1)
Please tell me you're joking.
*looks around*
This has to be a troll, right? Right?
Crystal, while limited, is not the trickiest piece of reporting software.
Re:Same Problem (Score:3, Informative)
One of my teammates who I believed to be rather bright (but didn't work with her that long) was constantly harping on how it didn't work the way she expected it to, either.
One thing she worked for a week on was a gui control that didn't look like it could be changed. Turns out Crystal had a 1 YES ONE pixel down-arrow
Re:Same Problem (Score:1)
For simple queries, I always thought it had a rather intuitive interface. In fact, I'm looking at setting up a web offering with their tool so users can go in and build quick and dirty reports.
Heavy lifting will have to come inside, though.
Re:Same Problem (Score:1)
xml(dot)apache(dot)org (Score:2)
I use FOP in a production environment. Look at Cocoon. Roll your own XSL solution. Build the reports in OpenOffice.
Save yourself a few bucks.
Re:xml(dot)apache(dot)org (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:xml(dot)apache(dot)org (Score:3, Informative)
Performance is very robust. We build 400 page documents and batch runs of short reports customized for thousands of data points.
I will second the recommendation for FOP (Score:2, Informative)
You can get thouroughly anal about positioning, attributes, etc.
We are using it to generate Product spec sheets, provide a more "polished" look to invoices, order status inquiries... all sorts of stuff.
The really nice thing is that because it's java, you can start messing with it now, then have a pretty simple conversion when you upgrade to apache.
John
Re:xml(dot)apache(dot)org (Score:1)
Apache FOP (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Apache FOP (Score:2)
Re:Apache FOP (Score:2)
Re:Ridicukous question (Score:2)
Not only a Troll but an AC Troll at that!
(PDF is an open standard)
PDF, XML, Java (Score:3, Informative)
Built on our popular Java PDF library, the Report Writer adds functionality including:
Re:Please add a PLUG disclaimer when you advertise (Score:1)
Re:PDF, XML, Java (Score:2)
A free version somewhat similar to this is Jasper Reports. The negative side is that documentation is severely lacking. (I'm seriously thinking of writing a book on it when this project is finished.)
Since you did mention Java already, I presume you're already comfortable with it.
found at http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/
Free print-to-pdf (Score:5, Interesting)
Works great. It's free. Infinitely configurable.
PDF for web distribution (Score:5, Interesting)
In either case, Ghostscript will produce a PDF for you, from a PS (Postscript) data source. A fairly trivial transformation.
This leaves "printing" to a Postscript printer, which Windows, Unix *and* Mainframe is capable of.
I assume that since you have (somehow) "outgrown" HTML encoding and features, that you probably need somewhat more advanced formatting than most direct PDF generation libraries will (easily) provide.
I also assume that you want to reduce furture maintainance. With these two goals in mind, the PS->PDF transformation is most reasonable, giving you the flexibility to choose how to "print" the PS.
Ratboy.
FPDF (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.fpdf.org/
Apache FOP + IText (Score:1, Informative)
Crystal Enterprise (Score:1)
Saying that, Enterprise has never been anythng other than a complete pain to use and I would find it hard to recommend it to anyone.
Tk
PHP+pdflatex (Score:3, Informative)
JasperReports (Score:3, Interesting)
To work on your apache server you will need to install apache-tomcat. Of course if you have never programmed in Java you might be better off looking at one of the PHP solutions mentioned elsewhere.
CSS (Score:5, Informative)
It's possible to switch "media" (from screen to print), and do absolute layout, without a second library.
No vector art, but for layout, it can be done.
S
Re:CSS (Score:3, Interesting)
My company makes a web based project management tool, and we got fed up with using 3rd party reporting engines and now just use print media style sheets for printing reports.
Re:CSS (Score:2)
However if you find a simple form that suits you and can manage users changing margins etc. it can do just fine. XHTML table headers could be a simple and effective way to get multi-page layouts.
Another solution: Excel/Openoffice Calc (Score:3, Informative)
Another option that makes for flexible and interactive reports is to output a spreadsheet document rather than a PDF, complete with calculated fields and modifiable fields that allow the user to experiment with options (where appropriate). If you format them well, spreadsheets can print very nicely.
You can generate documents in Microsoft Excel format using the Jakarta POI HSSF API [apache.org], and of course OpenOffice Calc files are just XML documents zipped up with a manifest, easy to produce with just about any toolset.
Are you willing to do your own page layout? (Score:2)
It's not Crystal Reports, by any means. It comes without all that baggage :-)
Reportman.sourceforge.net (Score:2, Informative)
I use this in production at the hospital where I work. The project is mature, full featured, and free. It can work basicly as a Free replcement for Crystal.
iText java libraries worked great (Score:3, Informative)
Re:iText java libraries worked great (Score:2)
Our team uses iText directly, though we have investigated many of the Java-based reporting packages noted earlier by others. We found plain iText to be much more flexible in dealing with our documents. Lay the code out properly, and it's easy to extend your class to support customizations that your customers may require.
Actuate (Score:2)
The good: Actuate is a very robust, powerful report generating machine. It is relatively simple to get the basics, but some more of the advanced features and such might take some time to get. The real plus is that it natively generates DHTML, Excel, and PDF - and does a good job with each.
The bad: This monster is written ar
mod_python and (Score:4, Informative)
You can find a nice article detailing its usage here [ibm.com]
You could write your own (Score:3, Informative)
Python + Reportlab (Score:3, Informative)
Your apache install probably already has python enabled for cgi. You might consider modpython, which adds the interpreter in for quicker load times.
Share and Enjoy!
web service... (Score:2)
You now have a web
ReportMill (Score:2)
--Paul
Apache Cocoon (Score:2)
Easy : HTMLdoc (Score:2)
FPDF + Sodipodi SVG templates = sexy reports (Score:1)
I wrote quite a bit of code to do Sodipodi SVG files as templates into PDF using FPDF.. Theres quite a long description on my blog [akbkhome.com] with Code [akbkhome.com] and example usage [akbkhome.com] and the svg files [akbkhome.com]
The current code had chinese language support and some support for vector graphics (lines and boxes work perfectly ok)