Overview	Top

This topic covers two variants of Report List and Maintenance pages that are provided with LabVantage:

This topic concentrates on the operation and use of the LabVantage Reporting interfaces. As provided, LabVantage uses TIBCO Jasper Reports to generate Reports. Please see Execute Reports and List Page Integration of Jasper Reports. Accordingly, the topic Using Jaspersoft Studio with LabVantage is also provided to assist in generating custom Jasper Reports. This covers operations such as:

For a broad overview of LabVantage Reporting features, see Concepts of Reporting. Supported versions of reporting software are specified in the "Installation Requirements" section of the LabVantage Installation Documentation.

Reports	Top

Access the Report Maintenance page through the Report List page. There are several "Report List" pages. The example below is the SapphireReportList page at System Admin → Reporting → Reports:

The Report Maintenance page lets you register new Reports and define parameters (arguments):

Fields of the "Report" element:

Fields of the "Report Parameters" element:

At runtime for any Jasper report, LabVantage will automatically pass the below parameters to the report engine. You may use them in your report design as query criteria, parameter values to be printed, or simply as variables for conditional formatting. If you design a new report using a LabVantage template, these parameters will be defined for you to use as required.

Execute Reports	Top

"Run Report" executes the selected Report from the Report List page (System Admin → Reporting → Reports).

Some standard reports require parameters to be passed through. Examples of required parameters are KEYID1, RSETID, and SDCID. If LabVantage detects that your report accepts an RSETID parameter, LabVantage will require you to supply these. The report engine will return an error message if you do not give a required value. The SDCId and KeyId1 are always passed when you launch the report from a list page. These Reports cannot be run from Report List page (ReportExecList) because it does not pass an appropriate SDI or SDC into the Report parameters.

First, select a Report that does not expect an RSETID.

After selecting the Report, click "Run Report". This opens this "Report Execution" dialog offering options for output file location, file format and arguments to be satisfied in the Report.

A "Report Argument" example is shown above for the Sample Detail Report, which requires the SDI KeyId1 of the Sample to be input as an argument.

Output Format for Jasper can be "PDF", "XLSX", "XLS", "DOCX", "DOC", "CSV", "RTF", "HTML". For Business Objects it can be "PDF", "XLS", or "HTML". This depends on the Default and Alternate output format properties configured when you registered the report. If you require a PDF/A compliant format, see PDF/A Support for Jasper Reports.

"Output To" determines the destination of the generated Report:

Option	Description
View on local window	If the "Output Format" is "PDF", the Report opens in a dialog window as shown in the example below. "XLSX", "DOCX", and "CSV" stores the generated file in the browser's download location.
Print to Printer	Choose a Printer from the dropdown, choose the Report Arguments (if required), then click "Run Report". The Report is printed on the destination Printer.
Email to Address	Provide the email address to which the Report will be mailed. The default filename for Reports is reportid_[currentuser]_[currentdatetime] (such as SampleDetail_ss_Jul-24-2017-10-50-45.xlsx). You can also provide your own name in the "File Name" field. When specifying a filename, you can use the tokens [currentuser], [currentdate], and [currentdatetime]. You can also use [param1] and [param2] to indicate the value of parameters (arguments). Example: [currentuser]_[currentdatetime]_[param1]_report.
File Name to Export	The Report will be saved on the local machine. Specify the File Name.

Note that to run a Report, you must specify any required "Report Parameters" (arguments). If Report Parameter "A" depends on Report Parameter "B", choosing "A" automatically populates "B". To support this "cascading population", write your query in the Report Maintenance page using this example as a guideleine:

Here's how this example appears in the Report Maintenance page:

Since this example indicates that param2 is dependent on param1, choosing the value of param1 populates param2. This feature is intended to be compatible with pre-LabVantage R5.1 (DM0502) Report pages.

Here's how Report Parameter selection appears:

Note that the dropdown for param2 is empty. This is because param1 has not been chosen. If you choose a value for param1, the param2 dropdown of param2 will be populated based on the value chosen for param1.

LabVantage supplies 38 example reports with your installation. These are using the included Jasper reports engine. You may modify the report definitions found in LABVANTAGE_HOME\applications\APPLICATION_HOME\reports\OOB on your LabVantage server. Please see Using Jaspersoft Studio with LabVantage

List Page Integration of Jasper Reports	Top

Use the Button operations to convert the contents of a List page into a PDF or Excel report, and view one of these reports from the List page. The resulting *.jasper and *.jrxml files are stored in LABVANTAGE_HOME\applications\APPLICATION_HOME\reports\generated.

Custom Report buttons can be added to an SDI List page by defining them in the "Buttons → Standard Button Properties" collection of the advancedtoolbar Element for the List page. The output format is defined by the "displaytype" rc attribute of the "Link URL" property, e.g.,

Optionally, choose to leave off the displaytype when the Report defines its default type.

Using Jaspersoft Studio with LabVantage	Top

For an example configuration of Jaspersoft Studio for use with the LabVantage application, plus other information to assist in generating custom Jasper Reports, see Using Jaspersoft Studio with LabVantage.

Business Objects Report Registration	Top

As explained in Concepts of Reporting, LabVantage recognizes a Report only if you register it. During registration, LabVantage presents a lookup of Reports configured in the repository. After you specify a root folder in which all Reports will be stored, all Reports below this folder are shown in a Lookup page. You then choose a Report to register. After selecting the report, LabVantage looks in the BO repository to determine its parameters (arguments) and displays them in the "Report Parameters" detail. You then specify how LabVantage prompts for these values (including the Data Type). Options include dropdowns, SDC lookups, string entry, and dates. All of this is used during runtime execution of the report.

Any registered report can be executed and viewed through the URL

http://hostname:8080/labvantage/rc?command=viewreport&reportid=SampleDetail&displaytype=pdf

Note that "displaytype" can also be "xls" or "html".

Based on the registered prompts, LabVantage solicits information from the user. Below is a representative prompt page with a Sample Template dropdown.

Other prompt options can be chosen, such as SDC lookups and dropdowns. The report is executed after prompts have been answered and the user clicks OK. After executing the report, the corresponding file is returned from the BOServer and presented using the BO native viewer. Below is the PDF viewer showing report results.

To suppress any prompts generated by a Report:

The System Configuration User Options (System Admin → System Configuration) contain a"Test Connection" button that establishes a connection to the BO server and tests the BO-LabVantage connection and configuration.

Controlled Reports	Top

"Controlled Reports" refers to a process that generates a unique event whenever a report is:

The event records:

The Reports button (available on select list pages) opens the Report History Events dialog. This shows the details of Controlled Report Events.

See Button Operations for information about the operations available in this dialog.

In general, this feature works for both Jasper and Business Objects reports. However, the two differ in how the Controlled Report engine finds paramnames (arguments) and fieldnames corresponding to SDC and SDI keys. This is described in Passing SDCs to Reports.

Generating a Controlled Report creates a unique event for a ReportId, and populates these columns in the Report table:

The ReportEvent table holds events:

NOTE: Like the GenerateReport Action properties, this table also contains columns to specify Report destination (such as printerid, emailtolist, filename).

The ReportEventItem table holds:

These pages support maintenance of Controlled Reports. Both are described in the example following this section.

An example of how to create a Controlled Report:

2.	The Report List page opens.  Select one of the OOB Jasper Reports (this example uses SampleDetail), then click Edit.

3.

The Edit Report page opens: These are the fields applicable to Controlled Reports: In the Report detail: Field Description Generate Report Event Generates the events specified in the Report Event detail (next item below). In the Report Event detail: Field Description Auto Report Confirmation When the event is first triggered for a Report, sets the status of the event to "Confirmed". When not automatically Confirmed the confirmation must be done manually. Add Watermark When printing Controlled Reports with the "Auto Report Confirmation" field set to "No" and the "Add Watermark" field set to "Yes", the "Pending Confirmation" watermark is added in the background of the Report. Generate View Event Generates an event when the View button is clicked for a Report. Generate Reprint Event Generates an event when the Redo Event button is clicked for a Report. Log SDI Reported This is an optional feature to be chosen only if you have passed an SDC and its keys into the Report.  If so, specify the next four values, and read Passing SDCs to Reports below. SDCID Value SDC for the SDI being reported. Choose the subset of the Reports for a given SDCID using the Reports Dialog. KeyId1 Value KeyId2 Value KeyId3 Value Values of the SDI KeyId1, KeyId2, and KeyId3. Passing SDCs to Reports When passing in SDCId, KeyId1, KeyId2, and KeyId3: a. If the Report is populated by an SDI List page, the List page automatically passes in [sdcid] and [keyid1,2,3]. b. If you pass in a variable, functionality differs between Jasper and Business Objects (BO).  For example, if you pass in [mydepartment] to hold the KeyId1 value of a Department SDC, the report is checked to see if there is a paramname (argument) called "mydepartment":   (1) Jasper and BO:  If there is, it will get the value of the paramname.   (2) Jasper only:  If not, the report is checked to see if there is a fieldname called mydepartment.  If there is, it will get the value of the fieldname. For this to work, the sapphire.report.JasperReportScriptlet class (or its subclass) must be registered as the "scriptlet class" for the report.

Here is an example using one of the OOB Jasper Reports (Sample Detail).  Set and save these values, then go to the next section "Generating an Event". 

An example of how to generate an event:

2.	The Sample List page opens. Select a Sample, then click Print Sample Detail (Other Tasks Menu):

An example of how to view an event:

2.

The Report History Events page opens, showing the event: Button operations: Button Functionality Create New Report Lets you create a new Report. From the dropdown list choose the Report to create. Reports available in the dropdown list are determined by the selected SDIs SDCID value. Reports having the same SDCID field in the Report Maintenance page are displayed. View Provides a detailed view of the Report Event. Confirm Lets you manually Confirm the Report. Confirming the Report could either determine that the content is correct (a means of signing the Report) or simply confirm that the Report printed correctly. This Opens an ESig.  If you OK the ESig, the Disposition changes to Confirmed and the Pending Confirmation Watermark is removed (the stored copy of the Report for this event does not contain the watermark). The Report can be officially printed. Reject Opens an ESig.  If you OK the ESig, the Disposition changes to Rejected. ReGenerate Report Regenerates the selected Report. ReGenerating a Report reruns the Report with the same input parameters and creates a new Report Event entry. The status of the previous Report Event becomes "Replaced". The new Report Event references the previous Event in the "Replaces ID" column. A new version of the Report is stored and the version number in the ReportID is incremented by 1. The replaced Report is listed in the footer of replacement CofA Reports. Reset to Pending This is used if the Report was incorrectly Confirmed or Rejected, lets you reset the status back to "Pending". Opens an ESig.  If you OK the ESig, the Status changes to "Pending". You can only reset "Confirmed" or "Rejected" reports. To view the generated report, click the Report Icon within the list. Refresh The Report Event may not appear, as the system cannot always know when a Report Event has been created. In such cases, clicking the "Refresh" button refreshes the dialog and shows the new Report Event. NOTE:   The "Refresh" button is available in LabVantage 8.4.1 and higher LabVantage 8.4.x Maintenance Releases.

An example of how to view a list of events:

If you attempt to generate a Controlled Report for a KeyId that is already associated with a Report Event you are prompted with a warning to the effect that the Controlled Report already exists.

Adhoc Query Reports	Top

Adhoc Query Reports forward you to an Adhoc Query page. See Adhoc Queries for details concerning functionality and use.

Embedded Jasper Reports	Top

Embedded Jasper Reports are available when the report you want to register is not a self-contained singular file. An alternative to this approach is to use remote desktop or a file share to upload your files when available. If the report references a sub-report, image, or other external file, use the below steps to package these into a ZIP file for uploading through the Report Libraries detail.

1. Open your report in Jaspersoft Studio
   
   
   
2. Right-click the report in the navigation tree and select Export.
   
   
   
3. Select Archive File and click Next.
   
   
   
4. Make sure the main report is selected.
   
   
   
5. Find and tick to select any other files such as sub-reports, images, and others.  
6. Set a name and browse to a location where you want to export your archive file. Set the other options as shown above.
7. When ready, click the Finish button.
8. Verify that your files are present in the ZIP including any subdirectory files such as images.
9. Register your report in LabVantage as shown above. Using the Embedded Jasper type, provide the main report name in the location field.
   
   

   

   
   
10. After save, the Report Libraries tab is exposed allowing you to upload your ZIP file as shown below.
    
    

    

    
    
11. At the runtime, the system will do the following if the report type is "Embedded Jasper"...
1. Create a folder with reportid under the [applicationhome]/reports folder
2. Extract the zip into the folder created above
3. Set the actual location of the main report
4. Compile the report if using a .jrxml file and it has been changed since the last run or if a .jasper does not exist
5. If you change the zip attachment in the report definition, the system will clear the extracted folder and at runtime, extract it again