Report generation

Rich,

I was browsing around for PostgresQL tools, and found that The Kompany makes
quite a few.

They have a schema modelling tool called Data Architect for designing and
reverse engineering PostgresQL databases. Here's the link:
http://www.thekompany.com/products/dataarchitect/

There is also a product called Rekall that lets you design database driven
reports. I'm sure checks (or cheques as we Canadians call them) would be
fairly simple. Here's the link:
http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/?PHPSESSID=9f4f579c44f94316ce6d259
7044d19fe

Both these products are quite reasonable (Data Architect is $40 US compared
to in the range of three to five thousand for Embarcadero ER Studio and
Designer, both for Oracle), though are probably not as full-featured.

David.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Shepard" <rshepard@appl-ecosys.com>
To: <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 5:32 PM
Subject: [GENERAL] Report generation

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or either

of

the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database, particularly

for

printing?

For example, I'm porting my old A/P module to postgres and C. How do I
print checks from data within the database? Or, print payable reports and
transaction journals? I've sereferences not en to report generators

anywhere

so I assume they have to be hand-crafted in C, perl, python or something
similar.

All pointers greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) |

rshepard@appl-ecosys.com

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, David Griffiths wrote:

There is also a product called Rekall that lets you design database driven
reports. I'm sure checks (or cheques as we Canadians call them) would be
fairly simple. Here's the link:
http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/?PHPSESSID=9f4f579c44f94316ce6d259
7044d19fe

Thanks, David. I'll consider this. There must be other options for coding
the various reports I want; after all, folks have been deploying postgres
applicaitons in production environments for quite some time.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

I thought I read somewhere but can't find it that the execution of the where
clause statements in up to the optimizer. Is there a way to affect that?

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Got something to say? Say it better with Yahoo! Video Mail
http://mail.yahoo.com

use explicit JOINs can get around this ... check out this thread in
pgsql-sql:

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-sql/2001-06/msg00318.php

I found it the other day as I had to remind myself how to do it :)

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, david blood wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I use Crystal Reports in Win32 with the Pgsql ODBC driver and it
works great!

Gavin

- -----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org
[mailto:pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Rich Shepard
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 5:32 PM
To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
Subject: [GENERAL] Report generation

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if
the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or
either of
the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database,
particularly for
printing?

For example, I'm porting my old A/P module to postgres and C. How
do I
print checks from data within the database? Or, print payable reports
and
transaction journals? I've not seen references to report generators
anywhere
so I assume they have to be hand-crafted in C, perl, python or
something
similar.

All pointers greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) |
rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

- ---------------------------(end of
broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 3: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate
subscribe-nomail command to majordomo@postgresql.org so that your
message can get through to the mailing list cleanly

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com&gt;

iQA/AwUBPGydrX9xeBXAlKqsEQIWiQCfSqPk4FY2cSD24bEPqD0MnIYS/2EAmgO2
4yCWJtE+0xiUyk0af9be7h1b
=VwGV
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, david blood wrote:

I thought I read somewhere but can't find it that the execution of the where
clause statements in up to the optimizer. Is there a way to affect that?

Yes. You can - for example - encourage it to use indexes (indices?) even
if it would prefer a table scan.

See the online docs:
Chapter 3. Server Runtime Environment
-> 3.4.1. Planner and Optimizer Tuning

--
PGP/GPG Key-ID:
http://blackhole.pca.dfn.de:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&amp;search=0xB5A1AFE1

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Rich Shepard wrote:

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or either of
the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database, particularly for
printing?

For example, I'm porting my old A/P module to postgres and C. How do I
print checks from data within the database? Or, print payable reports and
transaction journals? I've not seen references to report generators anywhere
so I assume they have to be hand-crafted in C, perl, python or something
similar.

Run a webserver and use Perl-CGIs or PHP, e.g. Apache+PHP.
+ No installation of client software needed.
- Not as "cute" as other solutions.

Install ODBC on your Clients and Crystal Reports or MS-Access
+ May look better (important for the ties).
[+ Is expensive (important for the ties).]
- License fees, a lot of work if there are many PCs where the client
  software has to be installed.

--
PGP/GPG Key-ID:
http://blackhole.pca.dfn.de:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&amp;search=0xB5A1AFE1

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Rich Shepard wrote:

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or either of
the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database, particularly for
printing?

Haven't tried it but I came across this.

http://datavision.sourceforge.net/

It is suppose to be Crystal Reports like.

Down side, to me at least, is it is Java. My success with Java
applications - the ones I really want - has been less that stellar,
therefore I haven't been willing to spend the time exploring this.

Regards,
Rod
--
Let Accuracy Triumph Over Victory

Zetetic Institute
"David's Sling"
Marc Stiegler

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Roderick A. Anderson wrote:

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Rich Shepard wrote:

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or either of
the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database, particularly for
printing?

We are using a combination of perl and latex for generating high quality
paper output. Advantages of latex

- the perfectly layouted output and
- several target-formats (Postscript, pdf or even html).

And of course it's open source.

Regards Herbie
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herbert Liechti http://www.thinx.ch
ThinX networked business services Adlergasse 5, CH-4500 Solothurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Gavin M. Roy wrote:

I use Crystal Reports in Win32 with the Pgsql ODBC driver and it works
great!

Gavin,

Thanks for the response. I forgot to mention in my original post (because
I keep forgetting that postgres has been ported to windoze) that we run only
linux systems here. It would be nice if there was a linux/*BSD equivalent of
Crystal Reports.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Holger Marzen wrote:

Run a webserver and use Perl-CGIs or PHP, e.g. Apache+PHP.
+ No installation of client software needed.
- Not as "cute" as other solutions.

Install ODBC on your Clients and Crystal Reports or MS-Access
+ May look better (important for the ties).
[+ Is expensive (important for the ties).]
- License fees, a lot of work if there are many PCs where the client
software has to be installed.

Holger,

I appreciate your thoughts. The UI for the accounting software (and most
other software I write for business use) is based on ncurses. Data entry of
text and numbers is so much quicker, easier and error-free from the keyboard
and without having to move the hands to a pointing device.

Personally, I do not like BUIs (Browser User Interfaces). I'm a
touch-typist and make the most use of the trackball as a means of selecting
the virtual console in which to type. That's why I prefer pine as my MUA,
emacs and LaTeX for document production, and so on.

We're Microsoft-free here and have been for four years now.

Thanks,

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Roderick A. Anderson wrote:

Haven't tried it but I came across this.

http://datavision.sourceforge.net/

It is suppose to be Crystal Reports like.

Down side, to me at least, is it is Java. My success with Java
applications - the ones I really want - has been less that stellar,
therefore I haven't been willing to spend the time exploring this.

Rod,

Thanks for the pointer. And, I agree about Java (despite having a friend
who's quite the expert with it). A few years ago I tried one app (it might
have been MoneyDance) that required me to get an earlier version of the JRE
in order to run. After wasting about an hour on it I gave up.

I think that it's probably about time to really dig into learning perl.
This will let me write any reports I want and integrate them into the
application. I'll probably be able to code ad-hoc reporting functions, too,
and make it work the way we need it to work.

But, I'll take a look at datavision.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

On Fri, 2002-02-15 at 15:20, Rich Shepard wrote:

Personally, I do not like BUIs (Browser User Interfaces). I'm a
touch-typist and make the most use of the trackball as a means of selecting
the virtual console in which to type. That's why I prefer pine as my MUA,
emacs and LaTeX for document production, and so on.

In a BUI there is a magic key <TAB>

And my end users don't have your talents!

And my end users are all on Macs...

We are looking for a report generation tool for Mac OS X too.

Cheers

Tony Grant

--
RedHat Linux on Sony Vaio C1XD/S
http://www.animaproductions.com/linux2.html
Macromedia UltraDev with PostgreSQL
http://www.animaproductions.com/ultra.html

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Roderick A. Anderson wrote:

On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Rich Shepard wrote:

I've been doing a lot of playing and learning with postgres, and if the
subject of report generation is in either the distribution docs or either of
the two books I've read, I cannot recall seeing the discussion.

What are my options for getting reports from a database, particularly for
printing?

We are using a combination of perl and latex for generating high quality
paper output. Advantages of latex

- the perfectly layouted output and
- several target-formats (Postscript, pdf or even html).

And of course it's open source.

Regards Herbie

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herbert Liechti http://www.thinx.ch
ThinX networked business services Adlergasse 5, CH-4500 Solothurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 15 Feb 2002, tony wrote:

In a BUI there is a magic key <TAB>

Yes, BUIs and GUIs can be coded that way. I know that I can do this with
gtk+.

And my end users don't have your talents!

Flatterer! :-)

And my end users are all on Macs...

My condolences. The only time I played with a Mac -- in 1989 using the
graphic artist's box at the company where I worked -- I crashed it solidly
in only a couple of minutes. When he asked in amazement how I did that, I
told him that I had no idea what the various pictures meant and I was just
clicking my way around when it died. Some of us are text-oriented, some
picture-oriented. I'm in the former group.

Everything's intuitive -- once you know how to do it. :-) Actually, the
nipple is the only truly intuitive interface, everything else is learned.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

On Friday 15 February 2002 15:13, you wrote:

We are using a combination of perl and latex for generating high quality
paper output. Advantages of latex

- the perfectly layouted output and
- several target-formats (Postscript, pdf or even html).

Might be worth trying Lout, too; it's table generation is (in my limited
experience) much nicer than TeX's.

ABS

--
Alaric B. Snell, Developer
abs@frontwire.com

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Rich Shepard wrote:

Rod,

Thanks for the pointer. And, I agree about Java (despite having a friend
who's quite the expert with it). A few years ago I tried one app (it might
have been MoneyDance) that required me to get an earlier version of the JRE
in order to run. After wasting about an hour on it I gave up.

I think this was one I tried also. There was a WebCDWrite application
that went nowhere too.

I think that it's probably about time to really dig into learning perl.
This will let me write any reports I want and integrate them into the
application. I'll probably be able to code ad-hoc reporting functions, too,
and make it work the way we need it to work.

I'm a CPF (Certified Perl Fanatic) but need to add unless you're going
to write a generic report writer don't expect a lot of flexibility for
'users'.
Back in my US Forest Services days I wrote lots of LaTeX some of it
from SQL queries and other databases with quite a bit massaged by perl.
The down side is it wasn't MS-simple so I had to do all the work.

But, I'll take a look at datavision.

A plus side I noted is it generates XML and I believe there is a
XML->LaTeX filter out there (written in Perl too?).

Best,
Rod
--
Let Accuracy Triumph Over Victory

Zetetic Institute
"David's Sling"
Marc Stiegler

I haven't followed this thread too closely, so forgive me if this is not what
you asked for.

http://agata.codigolivre.org.br/
http://datavision.sourceforge.net/

If you try them out, I'd be happy to hear your findings.

--
Kaare Rasmussen --Linux, spil,-- Tlf: 3816 2582
Kaki Data tshirts, merchandize Fax: 3816 2501
Howitzvej 75 �ben 14.00-18.00 Web: www.suse.dk
2000 Frederiksberg L�rdag 11.00-17.00 Email: kar@kakidata.dk

Rich Shepard wrote:

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Holger Marzen wrote:

Run a webserver and use Perl-CGIs or PHP, e.g. Apache+PHP.
+ No installation of client software needed.
- Not as "cute" as other solutions.

Install ODBC on your Clients and Crystal Reports or MS-Access
+ May look better (important for the ties).
[+ Is expensive (important for the ties).]
- License fees, a lot of work if there are many PCs where the client
software has to be installed.

Holger,

I appreciate your thoughts. The UI for the accounting software (and most
other software I write for business use) is based on ncurses. Data entry of
text and numbers is so much quicker, easier and error-free from the keyboard
and without having to move the hands to a pointing device.

Personally, I do not like BUIs (Browser User Interfaces). I'm a
touch-typist and make the most use of the trackball as a means of selecting
the virtual console in which to type. That's why I prefer pine as my MUA,
emacs and LaTeX for document production, and so on.

We're Microsoft-free here and have been for four years now.

Thanks,

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
+ 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
http://www.appl-ecosys.com

---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives?

http://archives.postgresql.org

Like you, four years ago frustrated with microsoft, not only because of the poor

performance of its operating system and the fact that I had spent so much money
in software, software that by the time I had mastered it was already obsolete,
but because it could never work properly in a network environment; I too found
this monster called Linux. Four months after the first test run I had a Linux
network and the IT team running Linux on their computers. The best part is that,

since I have always tried to stay within the realm of ANSI standard code,
converting most of the C++ code to work under Linux did not take long. It was
the midget "Visual Basic" what delayed the full conversion. Believe it or not,
training and educating users took less time than what I had expected. In sort it

took less than a year for us to get rid of Microsoft.
Now I can honestly say that for four years we have not had a single serious
problems with the network and there has not been one single virus in the system.

Needless to say, I am very, very happy to be using Linux.

Note: Remember that when Microsoft Windows 95 came out there was a message
saying "Where do you want to go today"? Well, we had a similar message in in our

system that read, "Free at last, free at last.... FREE AT LAST!".

My two cents