Jaspersoft interview question and answers

1.      Question 1. What Is The Difference Between Ireport And Jasperreport?

Answer:

Basically iReport is the report designer and JasperReport is the reporting engine.

2.      Question 2. How Are Jasperreports And Ireports Created?

Answer:

Jasper Reports are created manually using jrxml file and compliling it. On the other hand iReport gives one the more user-friendly environment for developing reports.

3.      Question 3. How To Determine The Version Of Java Used By Ireport Designers In An Environment?

Answer:

In order to determine the specific version of Java used by the installation of iReport designer, the setting in thecon/ireporpro.con or in the ireport/etc/ireportpro. con should be used.

4.      Question 4. What Are The Steps For Identifying The Default Java Version Used For Generating Ireport?

Answer:

When iReprot designer is using the default Java installation for the environment, opening a command line and executing the following command would help – java-version

5.      Question 5. What Is The Command Line For Setting Jdkhome Specifically For Ireport?

Answer:

When the jdkhome is set specifically for the iReport, opening a command line and going to the bin directory within the listed directories in the setting for executing the command java-version would help identifying the java version.

6.      Question 6. How To Change The Version Of Java Used By The Ireport?

Answer:

To change the version of Java used by iReport, the following setting has to be added or updated.
<irepor-install-directory>/fonf/ireportpro.conf
or <ireport-install-directory>/ireport/etc/ireportpro.conf.
The use of the command line would depend on the installation made.

7.      Question 7. What Are The Restrictions For Using Command Line For Changing The Version Of Java Used By Ireport?

Answer:

User must ensure that the command line does not have any hash at the beginning of the line after it is updated. Because in such case it would no more be command line but would become comment only.

8.      Question 8. Can Jre Be Selected To Generate Ireport?

Answer:

JRE was created using the JSmooth and one can modify the file ireport/etc/ireport.jsmooth using the jsmooth to force use of particular JVM.

9.      Question 9. How To Solve The Problem Of Running Ireport When It Generates Java Error?

Answer:

The config file is available in the etc folder where the jdkhome has been set. The path that is to be given there is the jdk path and not jre path. Installation of jdk is essential for the purpose.

10.  Question 10. How To Resolve The Windows Installer Problem In Java?

Answer:

User has to first check whether he or she is running the program in a container or as standalone. Checking this would enable the person to get the right JAVA_HOME version for running the iReport.

11.  Question 11. How To Add User Defined Functions In Ireport?

Answer:

User can use Java code in iReport using the scriptlets.

12.  Question 12. What Is Achieved By Scriptlets?

Answer:

Scriptlets are the bridges that get the Java Code in iReport. iReport.scriptlet is a Java class that extends JRDefaultScriptlet where one can write user defined functions that can later be accessed easily in the report.

13.  Question 13. How To Run User Defined Functions In Ireport?

Answer:

A few simple steps help to run the user defined functions. The first step is to go to Tools-options- claspath tab –ADD Jar- choose Jar file. In iReport the Scriptlet node in Report Inspector chooses the property named ‘Scriplet Class’. Keying in the location of the user defined function would help.

14.  Question 14. What Is Jar?

Answer:

In iReport JAR is made on building the project containing the Scriptlet.

15.  Question 15. What Is The Specific Necessity Of The Class Containing User Defined Function?

Answer:

The class containing the user defined functions needs to be extended by the JRDefaultScriptlet.

16.  Question 16. What Is The Parameter For Using User Defined Function In Ireport?

Answer:

The parameter in iReport for using the user defined function is $P{REPORT SCRIPTLET} which is a predefined parameter for the user.

17.  Question 17. What Is The Process Of Using User Defined Function In Ireport?

Answer:

The user defined function is used with the $ P{REPORT SCRIPTLET}.userDefinedFun(). This function returns values from the scriptlet.

18.  Question 18. What Are Other User Defined Functions Used In Ireport?

Answer:

Other user defined functions in iReport are $P{REPORT SCRIPTLET}.userDefinedfun($F{field}). These functions give fluidity to Java from the Jasper to Java code.

19.  Question 19. Is There Any Way To Know How The Report Looks?

Answer:

There is a PDF export that would show exactly how the report looks.

20.  Question 20. Is It Possible Using Multiple Parameters For The Query In Ireport?

Answer:

Yes it is possible using a set of controls in Java. The user has full control on what he or she passes and what he or she received in Java.

21.  Question 21. Is It Necessary Installing Additional Files After Installing The Standard Version Of Ireport?

Answer:

Setting up the JAVA_HOME environmental variable with path as C:\Program Files\jasperserver-pro-3.7\java\jre can address the problem.

22.  Question 22. What Is The Process Of Documentation Of Ireport In Java?

Answer:

The documentation of iReport should be carried out by the user and not with some readymade packages that are mostly not fruitful for the purpose.

23.  Question 23. Is It Good Using Packages For Ireport Documentation?

Answer:

If at all; only quality documentation package should be used and the iReport should not have any circular references that would create unnecessary problems.

24.  Question 24. What If The User Cannot Find Java.exe Or (null)jrebinjava.exe Nor (null) Binjava.exe While Trying To Generate Ireport?

Answer:

It is not necessary installing JasperReport in the system. Instead searching the system and setting the java.exe and set it to JAVA_HOMW would take care of the problem.

25.  Question 25. What Is Basically Ireport?

Answer:

Basically is a visual designer for the JasperReports.

26.  Question 26. What Are The Main Features Of Jasperreport?

Answer:

JasperReports is the best IMHO or open source reporting engine that is available for Java community.

27.  Question 27. What Are Two Main Features Of Ireport?

Answer:

Two main features of iReport are it supports 98% of JasperReport tags and it has an built in editor with syntax highlighting for write expression.

28.  Question 28. What Languages And Codes Are Supported By Ireport?

Answer:

iReport supports Unicode and much non Latin language (Russian, Chinese, Korean). It also supports different fonts.

29.  Question 29. Has The Ireport Any Integrated Features?

Answer:

Integrated compiler and exporter are the integrated features in iReport. The other one is the document structure browser.

30.  Question 30. What Are The Databases And Data Source That Is Supported By Ireport?

Answer:

iReport supports all JDBC compliant databases and also all kinds of JRData Source. It also supports sub reports as well as templates.

31.  Question 31. Are There Any Facilities For Having Backup In Ireport?

Answer:

Yes. The user can backup data and information with iReport.

32.  Question 32. What Is The Link Where Information About Ireport Would Be Available?

Answer:

It is the iReport home page where user can get all information about the application and its uses.

33.  Question 33. What Are The System Requirements For Ireport?

Answer:

Some of the system requirements for the iReport are Sun JDK 1.4 or greater, Ant, JasperReports 0.4.6, Sax 2.0 XML Parser, a host of Jakarta commons components and Acrobat Reader.

34.  Question 34. What Files Are Required By Ireport For Configuration?

Answer:

XML files are required for configuration of iReport.

35.  Question 35. What Is Jaspersoft?

Answer:

Jaspersoft is a commercial open source software vendor focused on business intelligence, including data visualization, reporting, and analytics. Jaspersoft provides commercial and open source software, support, services, and licensing around the JasperReports, JasperReports Server, Jaspersoft Studio, iReport, and Jaspersoft ETL products. Jaspersoft’s main related product is JasperReports Server, a Java web application that provides advanced report server capabilities such as report scheduling, permissions, ad hoc reporting, dashboards, and multi-tenancy. It is offered in a community open source edition as well as under several commercial editions with broad support for various databases and data sources, including NoSQL and other big data datasources.

36.  Question 36. What Are The Main Features Of Jaspersoft?

Answer:

o    Pixel Perfect Reporting : Highly formatted reports containing interactive charts, images, sub-reports, expressions, and more. Reports from any data source including JDBC, XML, CSV, Hibernate, POJO. Reports published in PDF, XML, HTML, CSV, DOC, ODT.

o    Ad Hoc Reporting : Web-based, drag-and-drop report designer. Crosstabs, tables, and chart-based reports. Semantic layer against relational or non-relational data sources.

o    Advanced analytic functions : Ability to analyze data across multiple attributes and time periods. Multidimensional Expression Language (MDX) support lets users run complex analytic queries. Addition of calculations at runtime or within the relational OLAP model.

o    Interactive user interface : Intuitive web-based interface lets users drill down, drill across, drill up, filter, pivot, sort, and chart. Ability to use MS Excel as a front-end client to your OLAP environment. Granular security access down to the cell and column level.

o    Performance and scalability : Sophisticated caching of data and dimensions reduces query latency. Relational database storage architecture. Aggregate-aware architecture simplifies setup and improves user response times.

o    Graphical design environment : Business-oriented models for early design collaboration. Drag-and-drop process designer. Activity monitoring console tracks job execution and performance.

o    Connectors : Native connectivity to ERP and CRM applications such as Salesforce.com, SAP, and SugarCRM. Support for mainframe, transactional, and analytic databases. Connectivity to Hive for Hadoop environments.

o    ELT support : ELT connector support for Oracle, DB2, Postgres, IBM/Netezza, EMC/Greenplum, Teradata, and SAP/Sybase IQ. Merge, filter and rollback functions. ELT template jobs for re-use.

37.  Question 37. What Is The Use Of Jaspersoft?

Answer:

Jaspersoft empowers people every day to make better decisions faster by bringing them timely, actionable data inside their apps and business processes. Its embeddable, cost-effective reporting and analytics platform allows anyone to quickly self-serve to get the answers they need, while scaling architecturally and economically to reach everyone. Thanks to a community that is hundreds-of-thousands strong jaspersoft’s commercial and open source software has been downloaded millions of times and is used to create the Intelligence Inside apps and business processes.

38.  Question 38. What Is Jasperreport?

Answer:

JasperReports is an open source Javareporting tool that can write to a variety of targets, such as: screen, a printer, intoPDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF, ODT, Comma-separated values or XML files.It can be used in Java-enabled applications, including Java EE or web applications, to generate dynamic content. It reads its instructions from an XML or .jasper file.

Features of Jaspersoft Report: JasperReports is an open source reporting library that can be embedded into any Java application.

39.  Question 39. What Is Ireport?

Answer:

iReport is the free, open source report designer for JasperReports and JasperReports Server. Create very sophisticated layouts containing charts, images, subreports, crosstabs and much more. Access your data through JDBC, TableModels, JavaBeans, XML, Hibernate, CSV, and custom sources. Then publish your reports as PDF, RTF, XML, XLS, CSV, HTML, XHTML, text, DOCX, or OpenOffice.

40.  Question 40. What Is The Difference Between Jasperreports Server Community Edition And Jasperreports Server Professional?

Answer:

JasperReports Server Community Edition is Jaspersoft’s free, open source reporting and analysis server, based onJasperReports Library,Mondrian, JPivot and Spring. It is licensed under the GPLv2. JasperReports Server Professional Edition is a commercially licensed reporting and analysis server based on JasperReports Server Community Edition. It is “visible” source – code comes with Professional Edition, but it is not free.

The Professional Edition extensions beyond the Community Edition include:

o    Interactive web based “ad hoc” report development and data exploration (AJAX) against any data source.

o    End user query through the browser, based on “data domains” which include data level security. A web based domain designer is provided. JDBC only at this stage.

o    In-memory data access and calculation engine to support ad hoc. Includes server management like query governing.

o    Dashboards made up of multiple reports, images and external web content can be designed through the browser (AJAX).

o    User profile based data level security for OLAP analysis, beyond simple roles.

o    Performance tuning and management tools.

o    Multi-tenant enabled to support “business intelligence as a service” for SaaS vendors and organizations that share JasperReports Server across customers or departments.

o    Complete translations of the JasperReports Server user interface and documentation for English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese (Chinese coming soon)

o    Out of the box support to allow JasperReports Server to run in a large variety of application servers and databases for the repository. JasperReports Server Community Edition and Professional Edition can connect to a wide variety of databases for reporting and analysis through JDBC.

41.  Question 41. What Is The Use Of Jasper Report?

Answer:

Jasper Reports is used to generate the reports from the Database. A powerful report-generating tool that has the ability to deliver rich content onto the screen, to the printer or into PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV and XML files. Its main use is to help creating page oriented, ready to print documents in a simple flexible manner.

42.  Question 42. What Is Ireport Designer?

Answer:

There are several ways to add reporting capabilities to an application. For many web developers, to create a report just means to create a web page, which produces good results on screen but poor results when printed to paper. And to create a report in PDF means write more code tons of code, making the reports hard to maintain and long to write.

When working with other technologies the problem does not change very much. For example, Java provides an extensive API for printing, but there is still a lot of work to write specific code for each document format.The answer to this problem is to use a reporting library.JasperReports Library is the world’s most popular open source Java reporting library, and iReport Designer is a visual report designer for JasperReports.

The library is a report engine that can be integrated in your open or commercial application to generate the reports designed with iReport Designer, display them on screen or export them in a final format like PDF, OpenOffice, DOCX and many others. Alternatively, you can stream the result through a web application or send the final document directly to a printer.

JasperReports is in some way the core of iReport Designer. JasperReports is extremely easy to integrate in an Java application, but if you need an environment to use the reports without having to write a custom application, you may consider using JasperReports Server.

JasperServer provides a web based interface to manage, schedule, and run the reports; a repository to store all the report resources like images, fonts, data sources and much more; a security service to decide who can execute which report; and a web services API to execute the reports from external applications (so you can generate reports from any kind of environment, like PHP or .NET).

In the big picture, iReport Designer allows you to design reports, JasperReports allows to execute them and generate output in a Java application, and JasperServer allows both end users and external applications to access, view, and publish your reports securely. JasperServer also makes reports interactive by adding drill down and drill up capabilities to your documents.

43.  Question 43. What Is Jaspersoft Etl?

Answer:

Jaspersoft ETL is a complete and ready-to-run ETL job designer with an extensive set of data integration capabilities. It consistently and accurately extracts and transforms data from multiple systems and loads it into data stores optimized for reporting and analysis such as star or snowflake schema data marts and warehouses. And it easily keeps pace with the performance of other leading ETL tools.

With JasperETL, database architects and operational data store administrators can: Use the business modeler to access a non-technical view of the information workflow. Display and edit the ETL process with Job Designer, a graphical editing tool. Define complex mappings and transformations with Transformation Mapper and other transformation components.

Generate portable Perl or Java code that can be executed on any machine. Track ETL statistics from start to finish with real-time debugging. Allow simultaneous output from and input to multiple sources including flat files, XML files, databases, web services, POP and FTP servers with hundreds of available connectors. Configure heterogeneous data sources and complex file formats including positional, delimited, CSV, RegExp, XML, and LDIF with metadata wizards. Use the Activity Monitoring Console (AMC) to monitor job events (successes, failures, warnings, etc.), execution times, and data volumes.

44.  Question 44. Who Are The Customers Of Jaspersoft?

Answer:

The Jaspersoft’s customers come mainly from the ISV sector. But basically the companies that creates their own application. So a very wide range of organizations is there, even from the public sector. Creating Dashboards and Reports is basically what customers do with Jaspersoft software. Those are static reports or interactive HTML5 charts. The reports and dashboards can be accessed from any mobile device, which provides a neat overview. You also have the option to get a deep analytical view.

Few basic questions

Q1: Explain what is Jasper Reports?
A1: Jasper Reports is used to Generate the reports from the Database. A powerful report-generating tool that has the ability to deliver rich content onto the screen, to the printer or into PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV and XML files.

Q2: How to set dynamic main report width when using crosstab?
A2: For a single crosstab use the attribute ignoreWidth=”true”

Q3: Main features of JasperReports?
A3: Some of the main JasperReport features include:

Has flexible report layout.

Multiple ways to present data, it can present data textually or graphically.

JasperReports can generate watermarks.

Developers can supply data in multiple ways.

JasperReports can generate subreports.

JasperReports can accept data from multiple datasources.

JasperReports is capable of exporting reports to a variety of formats.

Q4: Name any three main Jasper Managers classes?
A4: net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperCompileManager: Used to compile a JRXML report template

net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperFillManager: Used to fill a report with data from a datasource

net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperPrintManager: Used to print the documents generated by the JasperReports library

Q5: What is JasperReports Server?
A5: Typically, JasperReports Server refers to both the core server functionality (creating and managing users and roles, assigning permissions, scheduling reports, etc) and to the Business Reporting functionality which is enabled by JasperReports.

Q6: How to change date format (month name) in iReport?
A6: To display dates in different formats, one option is to format dates based on locales. For example, the following expression uses the current user’s locale:
DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.LONG, $P{REPORT_LOCALE}).format($F{currentDate})

Q7: What is the difference between .jasper, .jrprint, .jrpxml, .jrxml JasperReport file formats?
A7:

• .jrxml is a human readable XML file that contains the report template i.e. report structure and its formatting rules.
• .jasper is the compiled report template i.e. compiled .jrxml file. You use this file as the template argument in the JasperReports API.
• .jrprint is a serialized JasperPrint object i.e. an actual report instance i.e. a template that has been filled with data. This file can be deserialized back into a JasperPrint object.
• .jrpxml is a human readable XML represenatation of a JasperPrint object i.e. an XML version of a template that has been filled with data. This file can be unmarshalled back into a JasperPrint object.

Q8: How you will avoid null values in jasper reports?
A8: By set the property isBlankWhenNull to true.

In iReport check the Blank When Null checkbox when your field is selected.

In jasper jrxml file: <textField isBlankWhenNull=”true”>

Q9: How Are Jasperreports And Ireports Created?
A9: Jasper Reports are created manually using jrxml file and compliling it. On the other hand iReport gives one the more user-friendly environment for developing reports.

Q10: What Are The Steps For Identifying The Default Java Version Used For Generating Ireport?
A10: When iReprot designer is using the default Java installation for the environment, opening a command line and executing the following command would help – java-version

Q11: How To Change The Version Of Java Used By The Ireport?
A11: To change the version of Java used by iReport, the following setting has to be added or updated.
<irepor-install-directory>/fonf/ireportpro.conf
or <ireport-install-directory>/ireport/etc/ireportpro.conf.
The use of the command line would depend on the installation made.

Q12: Can Jre Be Selected To Generate Ireport?
A12: JRE was created using the JSmooth and one can modify the file ireport/etc/ireport.jsmooth using the jsmooth to force use of particular JVM.

Q13: How To Run User Defined Functions In Ireport?
A13: A few simple steps help to run the user defined functions. The first step is to go to Tools-options- claspath tab –ADD Jar- choose Jar file. In iReport the Scriptlet node in Report Inspector chooses the property named ‘Scriplet Class’. Keying in the location of the user defined function would help.

Q14: Is It Possible Using Multiple Parameters For The Query In Ireport?
A14: Yes it is possible using a set of controls in Java. The user has full control on what he or she passes and what he or she received in Java.

Q15: Jaspersoft Characteristics
A15:

Criteria	Result
Ad hoc reporting	Web-based user defined reporting
Integrated solution	In-memory/OLAP analysis, dashboard, reporting, ETL and data integration tool combined into one.
Distinguishing features	Flexible, cost effective, end-to-end BI capabilities

Q16: What is the difference between JasperReports Server Community Edition and JasperReports Server Professional?
A16: JasperReports Server Community Edition is Jaspersoft’s free, open source reporting and analysis server, based on JasperReports Library, Mondrian, JPivot and Spring. It is licensed under the GPLv2. JasperReports Server Professional Edition is a commercially licensed reporting and analysis server based on JasperReports Server Community Edition. It is “visible” source – code comes with Professional Edition, but it is not free. The Professional Edition extensions beyond the Community Edition include:

• Interactive web based “ad hoc” report development and data exploration (AJAX) against any data source.
• End user query through the browser, based on “data domains” which include data level security. A web based domain designer is provided. JDBC only at this stage.
• In-memory data access and calculation engine to support ad hoc. Includes server management like query governing.
• Dashboards made up of multiple reports, images and external web content can be designed through the browser (AJAX).
• User profile based data level security for OLAP analysis, beyond simple roles.
• Performance tuning and management tools.
• Multi-tenant enabled to support “business intelligence as a service” for SaaS vendors and organizations that share JasperReports Server across customers or departments.
• Complete translations of the JasperReports Server user interface and documentation for English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese (Chinese coming soon)
• Out of the box support to allow JasperReports Server to run in a large variety of application servers and databases for the repository. JasperReports Server Community Edition and Professional Edition can connect to a wide variety of databases for reporting and analysis through JDBC.

Q17: What is iReport Designer?
A17:

• There are several ways to add reporting capabilities to an application. For many web developers, to create a report just means to create a web page, which produces good results on screen but poor results when printed to paper. And to create a report in PDF means write more code tons of code, making the reports hard to maintain and long to write. When working with other technologies the problem does not change very much.
• For example, Java provides an extensive API for printing, but there is still a lot of work to write specific code for each document format.The answer to this problem is to use a reporting library. JasperReports Library is the world’s most popular open source Java reporting library, and iReport Designer is a visual report designer for JasperReports. The library is a report engine that can be integrated in your open or commercial application to generate the reports designed with iReport Designer, display them on screen or export them in a final format like PDF, OpenOffice, DOCX and many others.
• Alternatively, you can stream the result through a web application or send the final document directly to a printer. JasperReports is in some way the core of iReport Designer.JasperReports is extremely easy to integrate in an Java application, but if you need an environment to use the reports without having to write a custom application, you may consider using
• JasperReports Server.JasperServer provides a web based interface to manage, schedule, and run the reports; a repository to store all the report resources like images, fonts, data sources and much more; a security service to decide who can execute which report; and a web services API to execute the reports from external applications (so you can generate reports from any kind of environment, like PHP or .NET).
• In the big picture, iReport Designer allows you to design reports, JasperReports allows to execute them and generate output in a Java application, and JasperServer allows both end users and external applications to access, view, and publish your reports securely. JasperServer also makes reports interactive by adding drill down and drill up capabilities to your documents.

Q18: Who are the customers of Jaspersoft?
A18: The Jaspersoft’s customers come mainly from the ISV sector. But basically the companies that creates their own application. So a very wide range of organizations is there, even from the public sector.
Creating Dashboards and Reports is basically what customers do with Jaspersoft software. Those are static reports or interactive HTML5 charts. The reports and dashboards can be accessed from any mobile device, which provides a neat overview. You also have the option to get a deep analytical view.

Q19: What is Jaspersoft ETL?
A19: Jaspersoft ETL is a complete and ready-to-run ETL job designer with an extensive set of data integration capabilities. It consistently and accurately extracts and transforms data from multiple systems and loads it into data stores optimized for reporting and analysis such as star or snowflake schema data marts and warehouses. And it easily keeps pace with the performance of other leading ETL tools. With JasperETL, database architects and operational data store administrators can:

• Use the business modeler to access a non-technical view of the information workflow.
• Display and edit the ETL process with Job Designer, a graphical editing tool.
• Define complex mappings and transformations with Transformation Mapper and other transformation components.
• Generate portable Perl or Java code that can be executed on any machine.
• Track ETL statistics from start to finish with real-time debugging.
• Allow simultaneous output from and input to multiple sources including flat files, XML files, databases, web services, POP and FTP servers with hundreds of available connectors.
• Configure heterogeneous data sources and complex file formats including positional, delimited, CSV, RegExp, XML, and LDIF with metadata wizards.
• Use the Activity Monitoring Console (AMC) to monitor job events (successes, failures, warnings, etc.), execution times, and data volumes.

Q20: What is iReport?
A20: iReport is the free, open source report designer for JasperReports and JasperReports Server. Create very sophisticated layouts containing charts, images, subreports, crosstabs and much more. Access your data through JDBC, TableModels, JavaBeans, XML, Hibernate, CSV, and custom sources. Then publish your reports as PDF, RTF, XML, XLS, CSV, HTML, XHTML, text, DOCX, or OpenOffice.