The main window of the designer is divided in 3 areas:
1. On the left side there are 2 views:
2. On the middle view (3) is located the report editor. Next to it (4) is the tools palette. Note if the palette is not visible you need to click on this icon:
3. On the right view (4) the properties of the selected object will be displayed.
The properties view on the right side of the window will display the properties of the selected object grouped by section.
The selected object can be:
Areas and fields can be selected in the editor. For example you select an area by selecting the ruler (blue or grey header) or the area background. You can also select the area in the outline view.
you select an object and view the properties by click on the field:
Report and master properties can only be displayed by selecting them in the Outline view.
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In the schema folder of the project
you can load the schema for the report. In the XML schema you have a tree structure which contains all possible elements of the input XML document.The schema file will be needed for the XPATH editor.
You need to load the schema into the folder by using the Settings tab of the editor and the „load schema“ button. Do not copy the schema file manually in the the folder, always use the button,
This folder contains the XML file that can be used for testing the report:
there can be one or several file in the folder. You can add files in windows by using copy and paste from windows explorer.
In order to use a file for testing the report you need to select the file in the report editor, setting tab.
Loaded files can be edited by double clicking on them:
Note however, the designer will not check the validity of the XML nodes you create or import, that is, you can create nodes that are not part of the schema or you can create them in the wrong sequence or position.
By double clicking on the xre file in the project you open the report editor:
The actions available in the tool bar are:
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Create new report project |
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Save report |
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Undo and redo actions |
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Delete, cut, copy and paste report objects |
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Open database |
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Database user
administration (enterprise license only) |
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Open report from database |
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Open previous version of report from the database |
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this button generates the XSL-FO output for the document. This output can then be used in your runtime environment, using Apache FOP. Note this button might be disabled in the evaluation version. |
Documentation button |
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save template to database (overwrite current version). |
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save template to database and create new version this button generates a PDF file using the current template. This button requires that you have loaded a test XML document in the test data panel. After generating the PDF document you have the option to open it manually or let the designer open the PDF document for you |
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Use this button to analyze the creation of the PDF file. This is a tool to assist debugging the PDF generation by tracing step by step the evaluation of the XPath expressions in the report. See the „Structure of the template“ chapter for a detailed description of this functionality. |
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this button generates a PDF file using the current template. This button requires that you have loaded a test XML document in the setting tab. After generating the PDF document it will be opened using the system‘s default reader. |
Generate the
Excel file locally (please read the restrictions on
Excel files) |
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Generate
the PDF file using a remote FOP server (J4L FOP Server
or APEX Listener/Rest Data Services). See preferences
window. |
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Generate
the Excel file using the FOP Server. See preferences
window. |
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Zoom editor work area |
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Toogle report‘s grid |
You can work with the project on the file system however you can also use the database. If you are working in a enterprise environment it can be useful using a central database.
By default FO Designer will use the local database (db subdirectory of the installation) however for team work you would probably use a central database (installed as part of the J4L FO Server). This can be setup it the Windows→preferences dialog. A central database can be set in the enterprise version (license) only.
use the button for connecting to the database, the default user and
password for the local installation are admin/admin
Once connected to the database you will be able save your projects:
Note files saved to the database have the database icon, the update of the icon is however not immediate.
The button should be used to retrieve projects in the database ,
the following screenshot shows the open report dialog:
Finally the user administration button can be used in a team work environment
The designer can keep track of the different versions of your templates by using a versioning system. Furthermore it keeps track of the modification date and the user that made the changes.
Whenever you want to open a template, the system always proposes the last version. As in this example it proposes version 2 for the EmployeesGroupFooter template.
You can however open an previous version of the currently open template using the button
. In the example below you would be opening version 1
A more powerful alternative to our central database is using Apache Subversion (https://subversion.apache.org/) which is a generic tool for code management. If your enterprise is already using subversion, this section will show how to install the plugin for the FO Designer.
After restart there will
be a new item in the windows menu:
Once added all SVN functionalities will be available. Some tutorials and videos are available under http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/documentation/gettingStarted.php
The xpath editor is used for selecting XML nodes in several object properties in the designer. The XPath editor does not only allow the selection of an XML element but it also lists a set of functions that can be applied to the XML elements.
When you use a schema file for the firs time, the system will ask you to select the root element are below:
The Editor has 3 parts:
At the bottom the output Xpath will be displayed.
When you select an XML node or you insert a function, there are 3 possible situations:
The Help menu can be used for displaying the products documentation (Help Contents) or product version (About FO Designer item)
Product version and license: