parameterized reports

[alkhaef]

I've built some user queries that we're manually changing "inputs" on to get the info we want (for example, dates, providers, etc).

Is there any way to parameterize reports?

Thanks,
Al

[jordansparks]

We've tried and tried to build that framework. Report frameworks are tough. Our last attempt was RDL, which you can find in our manual. You might also try a 3rd party tool, like Crystal Reports or Access. We will try again, of course. Just not right now.

[alkhaef]

Well, I looked at the documentation and I was afraid you were gonna reply with the term RDL ... I'd looked at the docs, and I got a bit overwhelmed because I'm not familiar with it. Plus, figuring out how to define a query in some intermediate language looked a bit heavy for the simple usage I was looking for...

I was thinking something more like a simple tokenization so I could do something like allowing the following query:

Code: Select all

select * from procedure where procdate='$1';

...And then be able to define $1 upon RUNNING the report rather than upon defining the report...

Granted, this simple approach has its shortcomings (...ignoring input validation, usefulness only to advanced users that can cook up a query, choosing a proper string that wouldn't cause false-positive parameters...), but I think it's worth it...

Seeing as how this started off as a support request and kinda turned into a feature request... I guess I'll go my usual route and ask for a hook in the meantime. I don't have the code in front of me now, but just before the query is passed to the database layer, with the query string as a parameter so I can do my replacements .

Thanks!
-Al

[fdscadmin]

You should really look into iReports...http://jasperforge.org/projects/ireport. I have spent many hours looking for a good reporting solution and this is the best one I have found. It's not perfect, but it does do the job. The reporting engine can probably be embedded into OD if someone cared to do it, but I just use it as a stand alone app. If it was embedded it would allow us all to "share" reports we write which I think would be REALLY cool.

[jordansparks]

Wow, that is really nice. We initially dismissed it because it was Java instead of C#, but it is really coming along, and the language difference doesn't look like a problem. The next time we tackle reports, we will give Jasper a serious go.

[fdscadmin]

The report spec is actually open so if someone REALLY wanted to do this in C# they could, but I think it would be easier to just embed the java. I have written so many reports for this engine I would love this feature, but I think the biggest benefit would be the ability to share these reports with everyone else. There could even be a dedicated forum for this with report "packs" people can download. This would also allow us to really tap into the power of OD and that is the SQL backend. Collected data does nothing if we can't report on it. If I could attach something in this forum I could show some samples....

[Justin Shafer]

That looks very cool....

[Joseph Laudie]

Do any of you know why we can't share ireports yet? Currently is there any other product being used that works better. I'm ready to invest a lot of time with crystal reports or another software program to really get some good reports from opendental. Also does anyone know where I need to go to get a good map of the database and the relationship between tables?

[jsalmon]

The database documentation we give out can be found here: http://opendental.com/manual/programmingresources.html
It's not "...a good map of the database and the relationship between tables", but it's better than nothing.