Class ReportData

The class ReportData looks like the following code excerpt. As you can see it is possible to provide dynamic data for texts, images, barcodes and tables. This class is abstract and you cannot use it directly. You have to create your own derivation of that class.

from abc import ABCMeta

class ReportData(metaclass=ABCMeta):

   def on_text_data(self, text_frame):
      pass

   def on_barcode_data(self, barcode_frame):
      pass

   def on_image_data(self, image_frame):
      pass

   def on_table_data(self, table_frame):
      pass

The following sections show the possibilities of the ReportData class.

Naming frames

If you want to use a report with dynamic data provided by a derivation of ReportData you have to name the frames so that you can identify them when you create the real report with data.

Every frame class has an optional parameter frame_id that you can use the name the frames. Only the frames that you will use to fill with dynamic data need its own unique names. If you don’t provide a frame_id the library names the ids automatically (you can see that in the json-output of a report).

The following sample shows how to create a text frame with the name TEXT_1.

from PDFReport import *

# Create report instance
report = Report()

# Create a text frame into the body of the report
TextFrame(report.body, frame_id="TEXT_1")

Save the report structure

See Example 32

It is possible to save a report structure to a json file. The saved file can be loaded into an instance of the report class and you can use it to create a report with data from a dataprovider.

Just call the save function of the report class to create a json file out of a previously created report structure.

from PDFReport import *

# Create report instance
report = Report()

# Create report structure (frames)
...

filename = "output_32"
report.save(filename)

Create a report from a saved json file

See Example 33

Out of a saved json file you can create reports with data that will be provided by an instance of a class that you have derived from ReportData.

To use a saved report structure you have to define a class derived from ReportData as the following sample shows. The callback function will be called during the output function of the report.

class DataProvider(ReportData):

   def on_text_data(self, text_frame: TextFrame):
      if text_frame.frame_id == "TEXT_1":
         text_frame.text = "This ist the text for the frame named: Text 1"

You need to identify the frame and can than set the data for that frame. In the example code the text frame with the id TEXT_1 will be filled with some text.

Of course it is not necessary to use static data in the data provider. You can create more classes or functions to provide data from the program, some files or even a database.

The following code shows how the saved report is loaded into the report instance. Than an instance of the dataprovider will be created. It will be used to pass it to the output function so the report can callback to ask for data that should be use for named frames.

class DataProvider(ReportData):

   def on_text_data(self, text_frame: TextFrame):
      if text_frame.frame_id == "TEXT_1":
         text_frame.text = "This ist the text for the frame named: Text 1"

def sample():
    report = Report()

    filename = "output"
    report.load(filename)

    data = DataProvider()
    report.output(filename, True, data)