Remote JDBC driver in NextReports 4.0

NextReports 4.0 has been released.

From this version, both designer and server will have the same major number. One of the new functionality from designer is the possibility to create a data source of type NextReports Server.

This means designer will use a driver found on the server. You do not need the driver on your computer. This JDBC driver is implemented using Web Services.

Driver's url has a special form jdbc:nextreports:@<server url>;<server data source>. When you edit the url you will have to select a NextReports Server and then you can browse the data sources tree on the server:

To be able to browse the data sources, the user and password entered for driver connection will be used.

This functionality is very important for companies which do not want to expose their databases.

NextReports Server : Profile Configuration

NextReports Server uses a profile concept which is attached to users that are not administrators.

A profile specifies two things :

1. what sections can be seen by users with such profile

NextReports Server has 7 sections : dashboards, reports, charts, data sources, monitor, scheduler and security. Any defined profile can contain one or more sections. By default , NextReports Server uses following profiles :

·         Analyst : all sections

·         Business user : Dashboards, Reports, Monitor sections

·         Reports : Reports and Monitor sections

·         Dashboards : Dashboards section

2. what actions need to be hidden  for users with such profile

Even if the actions are shown regarding the permissions on a specific entity (report, chart, data source and so on), some of them must be hidden for a profile.

Configuration may be done in an xml file like this :

<bean id="reportsProfile" class="com.asf.nextserver.security.Profile">
   <property name="name" value="reports"/>
   <property name="displayName" value="Reports"/>
   <property name="sectionIds">
      <list>                                 
        <value>section_class</value>
        . . .            
      </list>
   </property>
   <property name="hiddenActionContributorIds">
      <list>
   <value>contributor_class</value>
         . . .  
      </list>
   </property>
</bean>    

In this way it is very easy to add new profiles with your desired sections and visible actions making NextReports Server integration with your application as easy as possible.

NextReports Server : search for invalid sqls

As inside NextReports Designer, NextReports Server 4.0 allows to look for reports or charts with invalid sqls.
This is done from search action and it is the best way to find all such sqls  from a folder.

NextReports Server : Embedded Widgets revisited

For generated iframe tag a width and a height parameters can be entered. They are passed to the open flash chart to draw at specified size.

NextReports: check your sqls

A needed feature to come in NextReports is sql validation.

If some columns, tables or views where deleted or renamed, you can see a warning. Every query, report or chart can be checked without open it. But the real plus is when you do a bulk check on all your queries, reports or charts. In this way you can see very fast what sqls are not running anymore. And then you can open those, if any, and resolve the problem.

'Validate Sql' action can be found inside explorer tree on one of the following nodes:

1. any query, report or chart node
2. queries root
3. reports root
4. charts root
5. any folder found inside queries, reports or charts root

All queries, reports and charts which are invalid will be seen inside explorer tree with warning bullets over their icons.