jasper-reports

#jasper-
reports
Table of Contents
About 1

Chapter 1: Getting started with jasper-reports 2

Remarks 2

Versions 2

JasperReports library 2

IDE for designing reports 3

Examples 4

Installation or Setup 4

JasperReports Library 4

Jaspersoft Studio (IDE) 4

iReport Designer (IDE) 4

JasperReport Commuity resources 4

JasperReports Library FAQs 4

Source code 4

Tutorials 4

Samples 5

References 5

Official Bug Tracker 5

Work flow 5

Understanding the different report bands 5

Title 5

Page Header 5

Column Header 5

Detail 6

Column Footer 6

Page Footer 6

Last Page Footer 6

Summary 6

Group Header 6
Group Footer 6

Background 7

No Data 7

Jasper report file formats 7

Chapter 2: Compile JasperReports .jrxml to .jasper 8

Examples 8

With IDE (Integrated development environment) 8

With Apache Ant 10

With Java 11

With Apache Maven 11

Chapter 3: Export to pdf 13

Remarks 13

Examples 13

With IDE (Integrated development environment) 13

JasperSoft Studio 13

With Java 14

Export single JasperPrint (single jrxml) to file 14

Export multiple JasperPrint's (multiple jrxml) to single file 15

Chapter 4: Export to xls/xlsx 16

Examples 16

With Java 16

Adding autofilter for columns 16

Chapter 5: Fill report 18

Parameters 18

Examples 18

With IDE (Integrated development environment) 18

JasperSoft Studio 18

Fill JasperReport Template using Java 19

Common Requirements 19

Using a Database Connection 19

Using a Custom Data Source 19

Without Data Source, unused Detail Band 20

Chapter 6: Font-extensions 21

Examples 21

Creating and using font extensions 21

What are font extensions? 21

Default font extension 21

Common Issues 21

Chapter 7: Using subreports 23

Parameters 23

Remarks 23

Examples 24

Passing connection to subreport; return values back to the master report 24

Passing datasoure to subreport 24

Credits 25
About
You can share this PDF with anyone you feel could benefit from it, downloaded the latest version
from: jasper-reports

It is an unofficial and free jasper-reports ebook created for educational purposes. All the content is
extracted from Stack Overflow Documentation, which is written by many hardworking individuals at
Stack Overflow. It is neither affiliated with Stack Overflow nor official jasper-reports.

The content is released under Creative Commons BY-SA, and the list of contributors to each
chapter are provided in the credits section at the end of this book. Images may be copyright of
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the property of their respective company owners.

Use the content presented in this book at your own risk; it is not guaranteed to be correct nor
accurate, please send your feedback and corrections to info@zzzprojects.com

https://riptutorial.com/ 1
Chapter 1: Getting started with jasper-reports
Remarks
There are several libraries used JasperReports Java API for creating reports with Java:

• DynamicReports
• DynamicJasper

This libraries/frameworks can build reports "on fly" with or without using report's template (jrxml
file)

Versions

JasperReports library

Version Release date

6.3.0 2016-06-20

6.2.0 2015-11-11

5.6.0 2014-05-27

5.5.0 2013-10-24

5.0.4 2013-03-26

5.0.0 2012-11-12

4.8.0 2012-11-05

4.7.0 2012-07-02

4.6.0 2012-05-21

4.5.0 2011-12-06

4.1.1 2011-04-18

4.0.0 2010-12-31

3.7.6 2010-10-27

3.7.5 2010-09-22

3.7.0 2009-12-08

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 Version Release date

3.6.0 2009-08-31

3.5.3 2009-07-29

3.5.0 2009-03-25

3.1.4 2009-02-10

3.1.2 2008-11-04

3.1.0 2008-09-17

3.0.1 2008-08-07

3.0.0 2008-05-19

2.0.5 2008-03-12

2.0.3 2007-12-12

2.0.0 2007-08-14

1.3.4 2007-06-11

1.3.0 2006-12-22

1.2.8 2006-11-14

1.2.0 2006-02-06

1.1.0 2005-10-21

1.0.3 2005-10-10

1.0.0 2005-07-20

0.6.8 2005-05-31

0.2.3 2002-02-06

IDE for designing reports

The current version of designer is based on Eclipse: Jaspersoft Studio.

The previous version of designer was based on NetBeans: iReport Desigher.

The first version of iReport Designer was independent appliсation - iReport Classic

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Examples
Installation or Setup

JasperReports Library
JasperReports is a open source Java based reporting tool. The JasperReports Library can be
downloaded from the Jaspersoft Community for the latest release.

In recent releases the third-party jars in the lib folder are not distributed, they need to
be download from public repositories, see distributed pom.xml for dependencies. Maven
can be used to retrieve all dependencies including the transient ones in the
target/dependence folder.

mvn dependency:copy-dependencies

Jaspersoft Studio (IDE)

Jaspersoft Studio is the official design client for JasperReports--built on the Eclipse platform--to
replace iReport Designer.

iReport Designer (IDE)

iReport Designer is the previous report designer for JasperReports. Version 5.6.0 (released in May
of 2014) was the last official version; vendor support ended at the end of 2015.

JasperReport Commuity resources

JasperReports Library FAQs

• FAQ

Source code

• JasperReports Library source code

Tutorials

• Tutorials Point
• JasperReports Ultimate Guide

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Samples

• Sample Reference

References

• Official documentation
• Community Wiki

Official Bug Tracker

• Bug Tracker

Work flow

The work flow in jasper-reports is:

1. Design the report, create the jrxml file that defines the report layout. The jrxml can be create
by using a simple texteditor but normally an IDE (JasperSoft Studio or iReport) is used both
to speed up report development but also to have a visual view of layout.

2. Compile the report (the jrxml) to get a .jasper file or a JasperReport object. This process can
be compared with a .java file being compiled to .class.

3. Fill the report, pass parameters and a datasource to the report to generate the print object
JasperPrint that can also be saved to a .jprint file

4. View, print and/or export the JasperPrint. The most commons export format are supported
as pdf, excel, word, html, cvs etc.

Understanding the different report bands

Title
This band is showed once at the beginning of the report. It can be used as first page by setting the
attribute isTitleNewPage="true"

Page Header
This appears at the beginning of each page excluding first page if Title band is used and last page
if Summary band is used with setting isSummaryWithPageHeaderAndFooter="false"

Column Header

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This appears before the detail band on each page.

Detail
This section is iterated for each record in datasource supplied. It is allowed to have multiple detail
band (detail 1, detail 2 .. detail n), the are iterated as follows

Row 1
detail 1
detail 2
detail n
Row 2
detail 1
detail 2
detail n

Column Footer
This appears below the detail band on each page where detail band is present. The default setting
is end of page (before Page footer) but this can be switch to under last detail band (last record) by
setting the attribute isFloatColumnFooter="true"

Page Footer
This appears at the bottom of each page excluding title band, summary band (without page footer)
and last non summary band if Last Page Footer is used.

Last Page Footer

This appears on last page (if not summary band without page footer) instead of normal Page
Footer

Summary
This appears at the end of the report in new page if isSummaryNewPage="true" is set and with page
header and footer if isSummaryWithPageHeaderAndFooter="true"

Group Header
This section appears if a group is defined every time the group expression change, before the
detail band.

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Group Footer
This section appears if a group is defined every time before the group expression change, after
the detail band.

Background
This band is displayed on every page as background to all other bands.

No Data
This appears only if no datasource was passed or the datasource is empty (0 records) and
whenNoDataType="NoDataSection" is set.

Jasper report file formats

• .jrxml is the report design file, it's format is in human readable XML, it can be complied into
a JasperReport object and saved as a .jasper

• .jasper is the compiled version of the .jrxml and can be loaded directly into a JasperReport
object ready to be filled with data

• .jrprintis the serialized JasperPrint object, a report that have already been filled with data
and can be loaded to be printed, viewed and/or exported to desired format.

• is the XML rappresentativo of a JasperPrint object it can be modified and then

.jrpxml
unmarshaled to retrieve the JasperPrint object

Read Getting started with jasper-reports online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-

reports/topic/3594/getting-started-with-jasper-reports

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Chapter 2: Compile JasperReports .jrxml to
.jasper
Examples
With IDE (Integrated development environment)

In IDE Jaspersoft Studio (JSS) or the older version iReport Designer it is sufficient to press
Preview.

The JasperReports design file .jrxml will automatically be compiled to .jasper in same folder as
.jrxml if no errors are present.

Another way is to press "Compile Report" button in JSS

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or use the context menu "Compile Report" called from Report Inspector in iReport

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With Apache Ant

<target name="compile" description="Compiles report designs specified using the 'srcdir' in

the &lt;jrc&gt; tag." depends="prepare-compile-classpath">
<mkdir dir="./build/reports"/>
<taskdef name="jrc" classname="net.sf.jasperreports.ant.JRAntCompileTask">
<classpath refid="project-classpath"/>
</taskdef>
<jrc
srcdir="./reports"
destdir="./build/reports"
tempdir="./build/reports"
keepjava="true"

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 xmlvalidation="true">
<classpath refid="sample-classpath"/>
<include name="**/*.jrxml"/>
</jrc>
</target>

Apache Ant build tool needs to be correctly installed on your system

With Java

While it is possible to compile .jrxml files into .jasper files using Java code, this incurs a
performance hit that is best avoided by pre-compiling .jrxml files using the IDE. With that in mind,
compiling .jrxml files can be accomplished using the JasperCompileManager as follows:

JasperCompileManager.compileReportToFile(
"designFile.jrxml", //Relative or absoulte path to the .jrxml file to compile
"compiled.jasper"); //Relative or absolute path to the compiled file .jasper

With Apache Maven

The JasperReports-plugin by Alex Nederlof is a good alternative of abandoned

org.codehaus.mojo:jasperreports-maven-plugin plugin.

The adding of plugin is a typical, simple procedure:

<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>com.alexnederlof</groupId>
<artifactId>jasperreports-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>process-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>jasper</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
<configuration>
<sourceDirectory>src/main/resources/jrxml</sourceDirectory>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/jasper</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>

The command for compilation with Maven:

mvn jasperreports:jasper

The jasper files will be created in ${project.build.directory}/jasper folder (for example, in

/target/jasper)

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Read Compile JasperReports .jrxml to .jasper online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-
reports/topic/4943/compile-jasperreports--jrxml-to--jasper

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Chapter 3: Export to pdf
Remarks
To render fonts correctly in pdf font-extensions should always be used (in classpath)

Examples
With IDE (Integrated development environment)

JasperSoft Studio
In Preview, run report by clicking green arrow, if no errors the export menu will be enable, click the
export button (disk image) and select "Export As Pdf"

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With Java

To export a you need to fill the report to get the JasperPrint object.

Export single JasperPrint (single jrxml) to file

// 1. Create exporter instance
JRPdfExporter exporter = new JRPdfExporter();

// 2. Set exporter input document

exporter.setExporterInput(new SimpleExporterInput(jasperPrint));

// 3. Set file path for exporter output

exporter.setExporterOutput(new SimpleOutputStreamExporterOutput("/path/filename.pdf"));

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 // 4. Create configuration instance
SimplePdfExporterConfiguration configuration = new SimplePdfExporterConfiguration();

// 5. Associate configuration with exporter

exporter.setConfiguration(configuration);

// 6. Fill export and write to file path

exporter.exportReport();

Export multiple JasperPrint's (multiple jrxml)

to single file
Only the first steps differ from the previous set:

List<JasperPrint> jasperPrintList = new ArrayList<>();

jasperPrintList.add(jasperPrint1);
jasperPrintList.add(jasperPrint2);

JRPdfExporter exporter = new JRPdfExporter();

exporter.setExporterInput(SimpleExporterInput.getInstance(jasperPrintList));

The remaining steps are the same:

exporter.setExporterOutput(new SimpleOutputStreamExporterOutput("/path/filename.pdf"));
SimplePdfExporterConfiguration configuration = new SimplePdfExporterConfiguration();
exporter.setConfiguration(configuration);
exporter.exportReport();

See SimplePdfExporterConfiguration API for configuration details.

Read Export to pdf online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-reports/topic/4190/export-to-pdf

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Chapter 4: Export to xls/xlsx
Examples
With Java

Export to xlsx format

try (InputStream inputStream = JRLoader.getResourceInputStream(path)) { // read report as

input stream
JasperReport jasperReport =
JasperCompileManager.compileReport(JRXmlLoader.load(inputStream)); // compile report

Map<String, Object> params = new HashMap<>(); // init map with report's parameters
params.put(JRParameter.REPORT_LOCALE, Locale.US);
params.put(JRParameter.IS_IGNORE_PAGINATION, true);
JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(jasperReport, params, connection);
// prepare report - passs parameters and jdbc connection

JRXlsxExporter exporter = new JRXlsxExporter(); // initialize exporter

exporter.setExporterInput(new SimpleExporterInput(jasperPrint)); // set compiled report as
input
exporter.setExporterOutput(new SimpleOutputStreamExporterOutput(destFile)); // set output
file via path with filename
SimpleXlsxReportConfiguration configuration = new SimpleXlsxReportConfiguration();
configuration.setOnePagePerSheet(true); // setup configuration
configuration.setDetectCellType(true);
exporter.setConfiguration(configuration); // set configuration
exporter.exportReport();
}

Adding autofilter for columns

The using of net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.auto.filter property allow to add autofilter in

generated xls file.

<columnHeader>
<band height="30" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="100" height="20">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.auto.filter" value="Start"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[First column with filter]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement x="100" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<text><![CDATA[Second column with filter]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement x="200" y="0" width="100" height="20">
<property name="net.sf.jasperreports.export.xls.auto.filter" value="End"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Third (Last) column with filter]]></text>
</staticText>

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 <staticText>
<reportElement x="300" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<text><![CDATA[Fourth column without filter]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</columnHeader>

The property can be set in Jaspersoft Studio with help of context menu or manually by editing
jrxml file.

Read Export to xls/xlsx online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-reports/topic/5008/export-to-xls-xlsx

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Chapter 5: Fill report
Parameters

Parameters Column

jasperPrint The output of the fill process that can be exported to desired format

reportTemplate The compiled design file .jasper

parameters The parameter Map, that if defined can be references inside report by
$P{key}

datasource A net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRDataSource

connection A database connection java.sql.Connection

Examples
With IDE (Integrated development environment)

JasperSoft Studio
1. If datasource or database connection is needed to fill report, create your Data Adapter in
Repository Explorer by right clicking "Data Adapters" selecting "Create Data Adapter"

2. Enter preview mode by selecting the Preview tab (no errors in deign need to be present)

3. Select desired dastasource (if no datasource is required select "One Empty Record"

4. Set parameter as desired

5. Fill report by clicking the green arrow "Run the report"

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Fill JasperReport Template using Java

Common Requirements
All reports, regardless of how the data is presented, take a path to the report template and a
parameter map. The variables are used in all examples that follow:

// Parameters passed into the report.

Map<String, Object> parameters = new HashMap<>();

// Arbitrary parameter passed into the report.

parameters.put("KEY", "Value");

// The compiled report design.

String path = "path/to/template.jasper";

Using a .jrxml file incurs an extra compilation step that isn't necessary in most situations. Unless
you've written custom software to change the .jrxml before the report runs (e.g., adding or
removing columns dynamically), use the .jasper file as shown in the subsequent examples.

Using a Database Connection

// Establish a database connection.
Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);

// Fill the report, get the JasperPrint that can be exported to desired format.
JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(
path, parameters, connection);

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Using a Custom Data Source
// Populate this list of beans as per your requirements.
List<Bean> beans = new ArrayList<>();

// Wrap the beans in a beans in a JRBeanCollectionDataSource.

JRBeanCollectionDataSource datasource = new JRBeanCollectionDataSource(beans);

// Fill the report, get the JasperPrint that can be exported to desired format.
JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(
path, parameters, datasource);

Without Data Source, unused Detail Band

// Fill the report, get the JasperPrint that can be exported to desired format.
JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(path, parameters);

Without a datas ource, the attribute whenNoDataType="AllSectionsNoDetail" on the

JasperReport element must be set, otherwise an empty (blank) report will be generated.

Read Fill report online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-reports/topic/3958/fill-report

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Chapter 6: Font-extensions
Examples
Creating and using font extensions

Create a font extension using the IDE. See the iReport or Jaspersoft Studio documentation for
details. The font extension can also be created manually.

What are font extensions?

Using a textElement you can specify a font (if not specified default font SansSerif is used)

<textElement>
<font fontName="DejaVu Sans"/>
</textElement>

To calculate font-metric (for line breaks, alignment etc) and render the font correctly, the font
needs to be mapped in the JVM (Java virtual macchine). You could install the font file directly to
the JVM but this is not encourage

From the JasperReport Ultimate Guide:

We strongly encourage people to use only fonts derived from font extensions, because
this is the only way to make sure that the fonts will be available to the application when
the reports are executed at runtime. Using system fonts always brings the risk for the
reports not to work properly when deployed on a new machine that might not have
those fonts installed

Default font extension

JasperReports provide a default font-extension (see maven distribution jasperreports-fonts.jar).
Adding this to classpath you can use the following fontName's without creating your own font-
extension

DejaVu Sans
DejaVu Serif
DejaVu Sans Mono

Common Issues
Issues to consider when using font's in pdf (itext):

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 • When exporting to PDF, if the text is not rendered correctly (missing parts, characters not
showed, not wrapping or sized correctly), the font-extensions are likely missing.

• Is the actual .tff supported (OpenType) and can the font actually render the character?
Not all fonts render all characters in UTF-8.

• Is the correct encoding passed to iText? In doubts (or in general) use the encoding
Identity-H this is recommend for newer PDF standards and gives you the ability to mix
different encoding.

• Is the font embedded so that a PDF shared across computers can display the content even
if the font is not installed? If the font is not one of the 14 Standard Type 1 fonts always
embed it.

Note the version of iText used by jasper report will not render all fonts (ligaturizer problem), You
can test the ttf font and encoding directly see How can I test if my font is rendered correctly in
pdf?

Read Font-extensions online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-reports/topic/5773/font-extensions

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Chapter 7: Using subreports
Parameters

Parameter Details

parametersMapExpression The Map with parameters. Not required

The pair of name and value (set with

subreportParameter subreportParameterExpression). Not required. Several
parameters can be passed to subreport

connectionExpression Connection for getting data. Not required

dataSourceExpression Expression for passing Datasource. Not required

The subreport's path/URI or even JasperReport object. Not

subreportExpression
required

The pair of name and value. Not required. Several values can
returnValue
be returned from subreport to master report back

Remarks
• Subreports can be used for constructing complex reports. The reusing of existing reports is
another goal of using subreports.

• The subreport will be shown as a part of master report in case using of <subreport> element.

• The value of subreportExpression parameter is differ for using at JasperReports Server or

just by JasperReports framework (some API using or using in IDE).

For JasperReports Server it looks like:

<subreportExpression><![CDATA["repo:subreport.jrxml"]]></subreportExpression>

For using by just JasperReports engine:

<subreportExpression><![CDATA["/somePath/subreport.jasper"]]></subreportExpression>

The great explanation by @AndreasDietrich can be found at JasperServer: Unable to locate the subreport
exception post

• For some reasons the subreport can be used as a common report - without calling from the
master report (with help of <subreport> element). The subreport is always a report.

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Examples
Passing connection to subreport; return values back to the master report

This is a snippet of master report. Two parameters and the connection (for example, jdbc) are
passing to the subreport. One value is returned from the subreport back to the master report, this
value (variable) can be used in master report

<subreport>
<reportElement x="0" y="80" width="200" height="100"/>
<subreportParameter name="someSubreportParameter">

<subreportParameterExpression><![CDATA[$P{someMasterReportParamter}]]></subreportParameterExpression>

</subreportParameter>
<subreportParameter name="anotherSubreportParameter">
<subreportParameterExpression><![CDATA["Some text - constant
value"]]></subreportParameterExpression>
</subreportParameter>
<connectionExpression><![CDATA[$P{REPORT_CONNECTION}]]></connectionExpression>
<returnValue subreportVariable="someVariableInSubreport"
toVariable="someVariableInMasterReport"/>
<subreportExpression><![CDATA["$P{SUBREPORT_DIR} +
"subreport.jasper"]]></subreportExpression>
</subreport>

Passing datasoure to subreport

This is a snippet of master report. The datasource is passed to the subreport with help of
net.sf.jasperreports.engine.data.JRBeanCollectionDataSource constructor

<field name="someFieldWithList" class="java.util.List"/>

<!-- ...... -->
<subreport>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="200" height="70"/>
<parametersMapExpression><![CDATA[$P{REPORT_PARAMETERS_MAP}]]></parametersMapExpression>

<dataSourceExpression><![CDATA[net.sf.jasperreports.engine.data.JRBeanCollectionDataSource($F{someField

<subreportExpression><![CDATA[$P{SUBREPORT_DIR} +
"subreport.jasper"]]></subreportExpression>
</subreport>

Read Using subreports online: https://riptutorial.com/jasper-reports/topic/5452/using-subreports

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Credits
S.
Chapters Contributors
No

Getting started with

1 Alex K, Community, Dave Jarvis, Petter Friberg
jasper-reports

Compile
2 JasperReports .jrxml Alex K, Dave Jarvis, Petter Friberg
to .jasper

3 Export to pdf Alex K, Dave Jarvis, Petter Friberg, RamenChef

4 Export to xls/xlsx Alex K

5 Fill report Alex K, Dave Jarvis, Petter Friberg

6 Font-extensions Dave Jarvis, Petter Friberg

7 Using subreports Alex K

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