Jinfonet Adds Interactive Elements to Reporting Tool

Published: July 27, 2010

by Alex Woodie

Users of Jinfonet Software's JReport business intelligence reporting tool gain new ways to explore data with the latest version 10 release. Unveiled last week, JReport 10 includes a new Web-based report viewer that makes it easier for users to get pertinent information by filtering data and slicing and dicing reports. Overall, the improvements make for a more visual and interactive online reporting experience, the Maryland company says.

JReport is a lightweight suite of business intelligence tools that runs on any Java-based Web application server, and is typically utilized as an embedded reporting tool for other Web applications. The suite is composed of JReport Designer, a Swing-based drag-and-drop design tool; JReport Server, which provides report management, distribution, and administration, and JReport Server Live, which bolsters the core JReport Server component with self-service reporting, ad hoc analytic, and multi-dimensional "cube" functionality.

With version 10, Jinfonet has focused on bolstering the product's capabilities when a user consumes reports within a Web browser. To that end, the company added an entirely new Web interface to the JReport Server Live component called the JReport Studio, which complements the pre-existing JReport viewer and provides a second option for consuming reports.

The used of AJAX technologies in the new JReport Studio makes the pages more visual, more interactive, and more responsive than the old viewer. With the new JReport Studio, users can see more information by using on-screen filters to sift through data, or by scrolling through charts and tables using the new AJAX-based graphical controls. The use of cascading parameters and automatic refreshes of data help to make the experience even more satisfying to the user, the vendor says.

The new JReport Studio also gives users the capability to modify reports by adding columns or groups, or pivoting or filtering the data. Users can make these changes and switch between different chart types, without requiring the services of a developer, the company says. Web-based reports can be created and modified in either the JReport Studio or JReport Designer.

Jinfonet senior product manager Greg Harris says that "actionable information" is the foundation of the new release. "JReport 10 takes maximal advantage of the capabilities of modern browsers and the processing power of client computers to provide a Web 2.0 rich Internet application experience for end users, while drastically improving scalability," he says.

JReport 10 also brings new visual elements like multi-axis bullets and bubble charts, which users can add to reports and dashboards. The new release also integrates with geographic maps, which allows users to drill down on a map to see more details.

JReport 10 runs on any server that can run JDK 6, including Power Systems servers running IBM i. For more information, see www.jinfonet.com.

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