NAME

       jodreports - use libjodreports-java directly from the command line to merge OpenDocument text with data

SYNOPSIS

       jodreports <template-document> <data-file> <output-document>

DESCRIPTION

       jodreports  is  a  java  program  that merge OpenDocument text with data by using libjodreports-java. The
       command line tool is especially useful to test templates while you are adding instructions to  them.  You
       use  a .properties or .xml file to contain the <data-file> to be merged into the template. The <template-
       document> needs to be an existing OpenDocument text with simple fields. A field  that  will  be  replaced
       with the value of a variable passed can be specified using the standard FreeMarker expression notation by
       typing the variable name into the document as follows

       Hi ${name}!

       here name will be replaced with the value passed in at runtime.

       However,  mixing  processing  instructions  and  normal  text  into the document may become confusing and
       clutter the layout. So JOOReports provides an alternative way of  inserting  fields.  You  can  insert  a
       visual  field  in OpenOffice.org Writer from the menu Insert / Fields / Other... (or just press Ctrl+F2),
       then click on the Functions tab and select Input field. Change the field Reference to  JOOScript  and  in
       the  following  field  Content  enter  the  variable  name  (e.g.  "$name"). This field will typically be
       displayed by Writer as a grayed rectangle with the variable name, while moving the  mouse  over  it  will
       reveal the field reference.

       This  is  a nice way of keeping processing instructions separate from the document layout and is thus the
       recommended approach. Whatever you specify as the field Reference will be treated as a FreeMarker  ${...}
       expression, so it could also be something more complex than a simple variable name.

       To insert more advanced instructions, e.g. for conditionally displaying a portion of text, or repeating a
       table row for each item in a collection, you can use FreeMarker directives.

       A simple directive is assign. You can use it to define a new variable, for example

       [#assign totalPrice = unitPrice * quantity]

       Note that we always use the alternative (square bracket) syntax for FreeMarker directives.

       While  it  may  be  possible  to  insert this directive directly as text into the template, this does not
       always work (for reasons we'll see below) and as mentioned mixing instructions into  the  document  is  a
       practice  we  want  to avoid anyway. For this reason, JOOReports lets you insert FreeMarker directives as
       scripts. You can insert a script in Writer from the menu Insert / Script..., then change the Script  type
       to  JOOScript  and insert any FreeMarker directives in the script Text box. A script will be displayed by
       Writer as a small green rectangle, and you can double click on it to open it and modify it.

       So you directive will be executed at the point where the  script  has  been  inserted.  This  is  ok  for
       something like assign but as we'll see will not work for something like list.

       Alternatively,  you  can  insert  a  FreeMarker directive in OpenOffice.org Writer from the menu Insert /
       Fields / Other... (or just press Ctrl+F2), then click on the Functions tab and select Input field. Change
       the field Reference to JOOScript and in the following field Content enter the directive  (e.g.  "[#assign
       title='Mr.']"). Sample Open Document Template

       Again  this  provides  a  nice  way  to  insert  processing instructions and keept them separate from the
       document layout.

       The <output-document> is also an OpenDocument text and will be created as the result of the merge.

       JOOReports uses FreeMarker as its template engine.

FILES

       /usr/share/java/jodreports.jar

AUTHOR

       jodreports was written by Mirko Nasato <mirko@artofsolving.com> and Terry Liang <terry@polonious.com.au>.

       jodreports was packaged for the Debian project by Sascha Girrulat <sascha@girrulat.de>.

       This manual page was written by Sascha Girrulat <sascha@girrulat.de>, for the Debian project (and may  be
       used by others). Most of the used information are reused from http://jodreports.sourceforge.net.

User Manuals                                    January 30, 2011                                   JODREPORTS(1)