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Create a Report

Create a report using DynamicPDF Designer.

In this tutorial, you use the DynamicPDF API's Designer to create a report. If you have not completed the first tutorial, Create A Page, then you should complete that tutorial before this tutorial.

Here we expand upon the first tutorial to also include creating a simple dynamic report.

tip

If you wish to understand how to create this tutorial's cover-page, but have not already completed the Create a Page tutorial, then complete that tutorial first.

Reports​

While a page is helpful for non-repeating, single-page pages in a DLEX document, a report is where DynamicPDF Designer truly shines. You use a report to generate a PDF that contains dynamic data that describes a dataset's data. A report consists of header, details, and footer sections. The header and footer, like a page, contain top-level non-repeating JSON fields, while the details section contains repeating data fields that comprise the report's content.

  • Place static, top-level JSON elements in a report's header or footer.
  • Place dynamic repeating data in a report's details section. That repeating data is a top-level JSON element (the details section's name).
  • Each JSON field in the array consists of one or more fields. These fields are the data repeated in a report's details section.
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Every JSON field must have a field name; DynamicPDF Designer does not support unnamed JSON data elements.

Report Data​

Recall in the first tutorial, we had a JSON document that contained the data for a hypothetical coffee shop.

{
    "ReportName": "Monthly Beverage Order List",
    "Date": "09/21/2021",
    "Author": "John Doe",
    "Coffees": [
        {
            "ProductID": 568,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 120,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 235,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        }
    ]
}

The instructions document corresponds to the following sections we will create in our DLEX template. The header and footer are top-level (non-repeating) fields from an instructions document while the details section contains the actual repeating data elements.

Figure 1. Example report data and corresponding sections.

We already used the top-level fields to create a cover page in the previous tutorial. Here we reuse those top-level fields (ReportName, Date, and Author ) to generate a header and footer for our DLEX report.

We use the Coffees array as the report's dataset name.

tip

The JSON array for a report's data array must be a named array, in this dataset that is the Coffees element. Anonymous arrays are not supported in DLEX templates.

Each row in the details section corresponds to a field in the Coffees array (ProductID, Type, Variety, and Price). We use the details section for the repeating data, where each record in the Coffees array repeats each row for each field in the array.

tip

If creating a header with static top-level JSON fields, consider using a Subreport rather than a header or conditional header. See (Subreports Using Designer).

Required Resources​

Before beginning this tutorial, you must add the creating-a-report-designer samples folder to your cloud storage space in the File Manager.

  • Login to the Portal and open the File Manager.
  • Select the samples folder and then click the Add Samples button.
  • Check the creating-a-report-designer project to add the folder containing the resources needed for this tutorial.

  • If you do not already have the creating-a-page-designer sample project already added, then also add that project to your samples folder.

tip

The steps in this tutorial assume you are creating the resources. If you wish to follow along, and not duplicate this tutorial's steps, then simply review the sample project's files. Otherwise, follow these steps from the previous tutorial (Create a Page).

Now that we have the resources, let's add a report to our DLEX document from the previous tutorial.

Start Report​

  • Delete the creating-report.dlex file from the creating-a-report samples project.
  • Move the creating-page.dlex file in the creating-a-page samples project to the current project.

  • Change the name to creating-report.dlex

  • Double-click to open the file in Designer.

Figure 2. The creating-page.dlex opened in Designer.

Now that we have our new DLEX file, let's add the data to the report.

info

If you moved the create-report.json data file to the project, then this data is already loaded by Designer.

Add JSON Data​

  • Open the Layout Data Editor.

Figure 3. The Layout Data Editor containing the JSON for tutorial.

  • If the data does not appears as follows, then replace the layout data with the following JSON.
{
    "ReportName": "Monthly Beverage Order List",
    "Date": "09/21/2021",
    "Author": "John Doe",
    "Coffees": [
        {
            "ProductID": 568,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 120,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 235,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        }
    ]
}
  • Save the JSON data as creating-report.json.
  • Run the report and only the cover-page appears.

After ensuring the cover-page and JSON data renders correctly, we can now add the report to our DLEX template.

Add Report​

In the previous tutorial, we stopped after creating a cover page. Let's modify the previous tutorial's output to expand the cover page and include a dynamically generated report.

  • Ensure you have creating-report.dlex open in Designer and that you have already added the creating-report.json layout data to the report.
  • Click Add Report to add a report to the document.

Figure 4. The Add Report button adds a report to a document.

  • Scroll down and you see the report's three sections: header, details, and footer.

Figure 5. A report's three sections.

Add Report Data Source​

  • Scroll to the top of the document and select Report1 to ensure the Document Explorer pane lists the properties for Report1 .
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The Document Explorer pane is context sensitive to the element you have selected in the layout window and displays the properties relevant to the selected element.

  • With Report1 still selected, add Coffee as the report's dataName from the JSON dataset.

Figure 6. Assigning a report's data field.

Complete Report Header​

Now let's add the header to the report. A header is, well, a header. A report's header section, like a page, contains non-repeating data. The header is displayed at the top of a report's page. If the dataset is more than can fit on a single page, then the header is repeated for each page of data.

  • Add a label to the header section and assign the text Product ID to the label.

Figure 7. Adding a label to a report header section.

  • And three more Label elements to the header.
  • In the labels, add the text: Variety, Coffee Type, and Price per Pound to each label.
  • Change the four labels to have the following x values: 10, 130, 285, and 400.
  • Change the y value for all four labels to 2.
  • Add a line below the labels in the header.
  • Set the line's x1 value to 10 and y values to 2.
  • Resize the header's height to 25.

The template should appear as follows.

Figure 8. Setting a report's header values and format.

  • Run the report and it generates the PDF with the newly added header, albeit the report is blank.

image here

Figure 9. Running the report with only the header values.

Complete Report Details​

Now let's add the repeating data for the report's details section.

  • Add three RecordBox elements and one RecordArea element to the details section.

  • Add the ProductID to the first RecordBox and set the element's x position as 10 and y position as 2.

  • Add Variety to the second RecordBox and Type to the third RecordBox. Assign the x values as 130 and 285. Assign the y values as 2.

  • To the RecordArea element, add the following text $#Price# and assign its x value as 400 and y value as 2. Also, set the alignment to right alignment.

  • Resize the details section so its height is 20.

Figure 10. Adding and formatting fields in report's data section.

  • Run the report and note the created PDF.

Figure 11. The generated report.

Let's create the report's footer. A report's footer, like its header, contains non-repeating data, only it is displayed at the bottom of a report section's details. A footer is repeated for each page of data.

  • Add a ReportArea to the footer section and add the following text: Report created by #Author#.
  • Change the area's font size to 8 and font to HelveticaOblique.

Figure 12. Adding and formatting field in the report's footer section.

After completing all three sections, the report contains all the needed JSON fields.

Figure 13. All three report sections completed.

Generate PDF​

  • Generate the PDF and review the created report.

Figure 14. The completed report with cover page.

Add More Records​

Of course, most data-driven reports contain more data than can be displayed on a single page. DynamicPDF Designer facilitates multi-page reports by continuing data across multiple pages and by repeating the header and footer. Let's illustrate by adding more data to the JSON dataset.

  • Replace the JSON data with the following data. 
{
    "ReportName": "Monthly Beverage Order List",
    "Date": "09/21/2021",
    "Author": "John Doe",
    "Coffees": [
        {
            "ProductID": 568,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 120,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 235,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 568,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 124,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 239,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 522,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 122,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 321,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 222,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 244,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 111,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 134,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 441,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 451,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
       {
            "ProductID": 235,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 568,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 124,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 239,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 522,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 226,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 344,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 12,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 18,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 17,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 97,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 53,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 87,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 178,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 183,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 173,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 927,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Arusha",
            "Price": 7.99
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 593,
            "Type": "Arabica",
            "Variety": "Blue Mountain",
            "Price": 12.21
        },
        {
            "ProductID": 887,
            "Type": "Robusta",
            "Variety": "Italian Espresso",
            "Price": 15.22
        }
    ]
}
  • Generate the PDF and note the header and footer repeats for each page of data.

Figure 15. The completed report with three pages of data.

info

Do not be misled by this tutorial's simple example, headers and footers can also display dynamically generated data, specific to each page of data. Future tutorials demonstrate these capabilities.

Discussion​

In this tutorial, we expanded on the simple cover-page in the first tutorial and created an actual report. A report contains a header, a footer, and a details section. We added static top-level data to the report's header and footer and then added the repeating data to the report's details section. Again, be certain to remember the limitations of a JSON dataset when creating a report in Designer; only top-level data fields can appear in a report's header or footer. Moreover, only child fields in a top-level array field can appear in a report's details section. And the JSON data array must be assigned an element name; anonymous arrays are not supported in a DLEX template.

info

Remember, only top-level data fields can appear in a report's header or footer. Moreover, only child fields in a top-level array field can appear in a report's details section.

Of course, many real-world reports require more than one level of repeating data. DynamicPDF Designer facilitates reports with multiple levels of data through its Subreport functionality. We illustrate Subreports in the next tutorial: Create A Subreport.