Drawing Reports by Dragging and Dropping

   Many Report Development Tools, especially the products with a little color of BI, often claim to end-users that their products are simple to use, they can finish the reports just by dragging and dropping, even make the end-users create various statistical reports as desired.
   It is incredibly that the report development has become so easily and simple!
   In fact,programmers still fight for tough battle against various reports, there is little opportunity to use the products directly for end-users whether they bought the report tools or use OLAP products, they still use the easy MS Excel to make report.
   It is just wishful thinking to hope the end-users to make various statistical reports by the using of pure dragging and dropping reporting tools. Of course, some simple Web reports, like row grouping or simple cross tab, can be make in this way. But most complex reports make the programmers feel afraid, it is nearly impossible for end-users who don’t understand the relationship of data structure to complete the reports by “dragging and dropping”.
   It just can set the paper position of the data items by dragging and dropping, there is no help for the summary condition, classifying rules and operational formula of the complex report that must be dealt with. The problems should be settled by writing abstract expressions in the event, this needs end-users to understand the operational model of report beforehand and no more simpler than coding. Moreover, it is hardly to set the position by dragging and dropping, most of the current report tools’ editing styles are based on the controls, this way is a general chart editing scheme which completely failed reflecting the regularity of the table. Theoretically speaking, it can draw reports, but it is very fussy and often not align properly. Truly successful table products like Excel are not used the way to drag and drop controls.
   Then, it is impossible to make Web reports by themselves for the end-users? It is possible of course! But it can only make very easy reports directly based on the universal dragging and dropping report tools. It is possible to use the program tools with industry colors for the complex industry reports, that is to say, it needs programmers use the report tools based on some technology, integrate the industry experience, set various template styles or wizards of the report, and the end-users choose to fill in the corresponding parameters to generate various complex statistical reports. This work’s difficulties depend on the function and integration of the report development tools.
   For the complicated report requirements at present, it is easier said than done for drawing report by dragging and dropping.

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   RAQ Report—Free Java Reporting Tool http://www.raqsoft.com/

The New Departure of the WEB Reporting Tool

   The global informatization has been at least 20 years, but the reports is always a major problem in the information system, the developer will do nothing but arrange some programmers to make reports painfully at each phase-out period, but now there are various professional web reporting tools not less than 20 kinds in the market, add the tools developed by some companies themselves, the reports controls used in the project, the programs and so on, it is not going too far at all to describe the kinds of reporting tools as hundreds and hundreds. Obviously, the good solution is not found (or the situation of the reporting tools as a hundred schools of thought contend won’t happen), but the products of the professional reports vendors seem can’t satisfy 50% of the users’ demands, what’s this about?

   The reports vendors can’t settle down to research the demand of complex reports, they can’t bear lonesome of long-term developing, they also be stimulated by the incomes in the short term, perhaps, lacking in self-confidence – can we really develop the tools answer our needs well? Bring becomes the easiest and the fastest way: modifying and packaging either on the open-source products or the third-party controls, then covered with "to solve the complex reports", "web reporting tool", a new reporting tool was born. Most of the professional vendors do that, let alone the system developers with low demands.

   This is the root cause of the reporting tools are hard to use generally.

   Look around, there are many reports vendors with the software copyright certificate all round the world. Comparatively speaking, the RAQ Report is like a bitterness kid coming from the grass-roots level, which known by users depends on perseverance step by step. 

   The RAQ Report took up the research of complex report in 2000 and has plentiful experience in various industries and thousands of reports, it has been keep researching and developing the reporting tools independently .The RAQ Report claims "a tool starting from the demands of the globalreport and really suit to the complex reports".

   The RAQ Report offered a new departure to solve the problems of global reports,the independent innovation is the correct road of the  reporting tool.

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   RAQ Report—Free Java Reporting Tool http://www.raqsoft.com/

The Classification of Reporting Tool – Implementation Technique

    The J2EE technology leads an important position in B/S application development at the present time, the support for JAVA is an important examination index for the reporting tool. In this sense the reporting tool can be classified into pure JAVA and non-pure JAVA.

    The pure JAVA reporting tool has obvious advantages. The product can integrate with the J2EE application seamlessly, make the deployment and installation simple and easy-going. Meanwhile, it makes full use of the capacity of cluster load balancing and sharing management of J2EE application server, suitable for the large-scale application which supports many users.

    Because the java has cross-platform capacity, it can migrate the whole application system from the low-end system to the high-end system easily, just need to replace the system unit such as hardware, operating system, database and so on, with little or no rewriting software.

    Non-pure JAVA reporting tool, in contrast, often only run under Windows, the same application in different scale may need two solutions; it can’t integrate with the J2EE application seamlessly, it needs extra network protocol to communicate, which leads to low efficiency.

    Because it can’t enjoy the cluster mechanism of application server, it can’t support large application with multi-user.

    Besides the techniques being used, the original degree of technology is another more significant measurement, which represents the development capabilities of the company and the following upgrade capacity to a certain extent. The vendor without original technology can not control the product completely, whose development will be disciplined by others seriously.

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   RAQ Report—Free Java Reporting Tool http://www.raqsoft.com/