Re: [DataVision-users] Newbie with questions about options for using DataVision in a web app

[Warrick W. <wa...@cw...>]

I'd appreciate that! I was just looking at how the HTML output is 
created, and figuring out how the template creation app works thru a 
little trial and error. I figured out some alignment problems, column 
sizing issues, etc.

What's interesting is the comparative file size - the same data and 
report, with different output styles - PDF is 140 KB, CSV is 181 KB, 
XML is 1.9 MB, and HTML is 3.7 MB.

> 
> I've submitted to Jim a rewrite of the HTML layout engine that uses 
CSS
> instead of tables, which I believe will address your concern about 
web
> output.
> 
> I'm not sure where Jim is in review process of the code but I could 
send you
> a copy of the source if you wanted to give it a try yourself....
> 
> On 2/17/06, Warrick Wilson <wa...@cw...> wrote:
> >
> > I have to agree with Robert Haack - I've managed to come a long 
way in
> > a short time by using DataVision, and with some timely and critical
> > answers from Jim M. and Frank Z.
> >
> > So now I'm sort of the victim of my own success. I got a "proof of
> > concept" system working where I hooked DataVision into a system 
we've
> > developed. Basically, it's a server-based system that's accessed 
by a
> > Swing applet we developed. Communications is primarily via XML-RPC.
> >
> > I've sort of used Frank Zametti's article as a jumping off point, 
and
> > my current implementation has DataVision on the server. A call from
> > the applet sends in a parameter file, so the applet has the report
> > parameter requirements hard-coded for now. I prep the report on the
> > server using the HTML layout engine, and then send the resulting 
HTML
> > back to the applet as the output of the XML-RPC call that started 
the
> > whole thing, and finally show the HTML in a JEditorPane. It works,
> > it's not terribly flexible right now, and we want to extend the 
types
> > of data we can return to include Excel spreadsheets, etc. Part of 
the
> > reason I've done it this way is it minimized my learning curve for 
a)
> > Java, b) our existing system, and c) DataVision. I've got a MySQL
> > database that has _most_ of the data I'm reporting from, but 
there's
> > some data that I'll need to retrieve during my preparation that is 
in
> > another database. So my query isn't just one "SELECT * FROM ..." 
type
> > of query. I need to do some sort of pre-population from a different
> > system to get the most up to date values for some information and 
then
> > report against my historical database. There's also a certain 
level of
> > increased security (I think) by doing it this way. Users have to 
sign
> > in to the system to get at the applet, and we do security checks on
> > our transmissions to try and avoid spoofing, unauthorized access, 
etc.
> >
> > My first task is to improve the HTML output - my reports don't 
look so
> > hot. Columns wrap at odd places. I notice that every column has 
fixed
> > size, and that there's a lot of repeated information in the HTML 
tags.
> > That's probably easy for me to deal with.
> >
> > However, I'm interested in comments on how I might structure my 
setup
> > differently to allow me to use DataVision more flexibly. I'd love 
to
> > use the Swing viewer, but I'm not sure I understand enough on how 
I'd
> > do that without directly connecting to the database across the
> > Internet, and we don't want to expose that.
> >
> > A further challenge down the road is an "ad hoc" query builder that
> > will let users make their own queries and reports. I'll cross that
> > when I come to it - the "requirements" people have expressed from
> > different parts of our organization clash, and aren't really based 
on
> > any actual customer input, but more on "gut feel", "sense of the
> > industry", etc.
> >
> > Anyway, thanks for the product, thanks for the help, and I look
> > forward to your commnents, if any...
> >
> >
> > --
> > Warrick Wilson
> > wa...@cw...
> >
> >
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> >
> 
> 


-- 
Warrick Wilson
wa...@cw...