Arctic reports (reporting system - Windows)

srod · Post by **srod** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:01 pm

Version 1.0 beta 7. 30th Apr 2009.

Just a note to say that the final beta version of the nxReport library has just been released with lots of bugs fixed and some important additions.

Chief amongst these are a new control type (image from file) and the support for 'snapshot reports'.

These new reports act like regular nxReports and can be previewed and/or printed etc. but otherwise cannot be altered in any way (other than to change margins or clipping mode etc.)

A snapshot report would be created from an existing report and when viewed, looks identical to the original report in every way.
However, the snapshot report does not require any external data-sources etc.

Everything required to render the report is embedded within the snapshot report itself and reproduces the original report at the time the snapshot was created.

Snapshot reports are ideal for transmission across the web to clients for easy viewing of report(s) etc.

Tested on a 1000 page report (thanks Marco). The resulting snapshot report was 800 KB in size and loads and previews in milli-seconds. Contrast with the equivalent pdf file which sat at 3.6 MB and took considerably longer than milli-seconds to render!

A free viewer program will be released for anyone to download. This will allow anyone to view reports very quickly. I will also be investigating a browser plugin to allow reports to be viewed through our browsers etc. No guarantees on this one though!

nxReport is seeing some heavy use in various applications (commercial and otherwise) and seems to be holding up very well thus far!

Finally, the visual report designer (Pyrex) is now about 65% complete. Considerably more work than I originally envisaged, but then this is no longer the simple tool which I originally intended!

A few more weeks should see the release of Pyrex; at which point all discounted prices will be subject to intense scrutiny on my part!

Post by **Rings** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:57 pm

Can those snapshot reports be protected against simple Bit/Byte changing with a hex-editor, means have a crc check (or similar own method) on their self ? so that every change can be detected.Are they zipped/Packed ?

srod · Post by **srod** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:59 pm

Rings wrote:Can those snapshot reports be protected against simple Bit/Byte changing with a hex-editor, means have a crc check (or similar own method) on their self ? so that every change can be detected.Are they zipped/Packed ?

No crc checks but they are compressed yes and so it will be difficult to get anywhere with a hex editor.

Never considered applying some kind of crc check. My priority was always the speed of loading and rendering of these types of reports.

In fact I have just further refined the the saving and loading of these snapshot reports and it is even faster now! Huh, a brainwave whilst out jogging this afternoon! Who said running was bad for your health?

You think some kind of crc check would be of benefit?

JCV · Post by **JCV** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:14 pm

Thanks for the update.

The snapshots are packed/compressed so it will be hard to hex edit.

Post by **Rings** » Sat May 02, 2009 7:40 am

srod wrote:You think some kind of crc check would be of benefit?

Yes, if we can use those reports for the Medical/Food industry.

optionally you can set a flag for such in the file.

srod · Post by **srod** » Sat May 02, 2009 9:56 am

Rings wrote:
srod wrote:You think some kind of crc check would be of benefit?
Yes, if we can use those reports for the Medical/Food industry.

optionally you can set a flag for such in the file.

This will of course slow down the loading of reports etc. but yes I have added it to the quite extensive 'to do' list!

srod · Post by **srod** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:13 pm

Early preview of Pyrex - 5th June 2009.

There is now an early preview version of Pyrex (the visual report designer) available for download through the main nxSoftware site (although a direct link is provided here).

This is an incomplete version and certain functions have been disabled because this version of Pyrex will eventually 'morph' into a trial version.

I will update this version whenever a significant new feature has been added/completed. An etimated completion date for the first beta version is the end of June.

Latest update on 5th June 2009 (preview version 2).

Latest changes :

Controls can now be moved/sized; individually or as a group.

Download early preview of Pyrex

NOTE that the three reporting components; nxReport, nxViewer and Pyrex have been brought together as the 'Arctic reports system'. I thought this made sense as all products are inter-linked etc. Please see the nxSoftware site for a description of each component and of how they all fit together.

Note also that whilst the core reporting module (nxReport) is supported on all versions of Windows from NT 4 onwards, Pyrex will only be supported on versions of Windows from XP onwards.

srod · Post by **srod** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:45 pm

Early preview of Pyrex - 11th June 2009. Preview version 3.

Latest changes :

Moving / sizing controls has been refined - use the cursor keys or the direction buttons
Subreports can be added and/or removed
Controls can be added and/or removed. To add a control, check the relevant toolbar button representing the type of control you wish to add and then drag out a selection rectangle/line/ellipse as appropriate in the relevant subreport section.
To delete a group of controls simply hit the delete key or use the delete image button etc.

Download : http://www.purecoder.net/pyrexPreview.zip

Post by **Rings** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:56 pm

looks and feels good

Marco2007 · Post by **Marco2007** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:33 pm

That`s how a designer should look like...

srod · Post by **srod** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:32 am

Early preview of Pyrex - 15th June 2009. Preview version 4.

Latest changes :

Added a range of formatting tools (align controls etc.)

Download : http://www.purecoder.net/pyrexPreview.zip

Post by **flaith** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:42 am

Hard to wait the final version

srod · Post by **srod** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:37 pm

Pyrex version 1.0 alpha 1 available - 7th July 2009.

I am pleased to be able to finally announce the release of our first version of the Pyrex visual report designer, part of the Arctic reports system.

This first version is incomplete, but it is otherwise fully functional, and is to be considered a 'test version' only. Use it at your own risk!

This is made available to all registered users of the Arctic reports suite.

Pyrex is incomplete because I have yet to add some menu options allowing for the editing of preference settings and so on. Nothing which should prevent Pyrex from earning it's keep!

Please note that the core nxReport library is now out of beta and into it's first full release. A few minor modifications were forced upon nxReport by the Pyrex designer and these could break existing applications, though only in a very minor way. Please see the relevant 'history.txt' file in the download section over at the nxSoftware site for details.

It is worth noting though that reports created by Pyrex should really only be shipped with applications making use of this latest version of the nxReport dll. Older versions of nxReport are about only 95% compatible with Pyrex!

A preview version of Pyrex will be uploaded for general consumption when appropriate - perhaps later today. Done!

Please post any bugs that you find over at the nxSoftware forums. I would say that this is not the time for posting suggestions, better that we iron out all the bugs in this early alpha version first.

Please see the nxSoftware site for more details.

Regards.

Stephen.

Note that whilst the core reporting module (nxReport) is supported on all versions of Windows from NT 4 onwards, Pyrex will only be supported on versions of Windows from XP onwards.

DoubleDutch · Post by **DoubleDutch** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:39 pm

So (just to make it a little clearer

) nxReport will be supported on Win9x too? (not just NT core+)

srod · Post by **srod** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:52 pm

Nope.

If nxReport runs on Win 98 then I will be surprised!