Major Classes
Since there are a large number of classes in the Style Intelligence API, we will list the frequently used classes and packages. It is not necessary to understand all classes in the package to develop reports with Style Intelligence. Creating a professional looking report programmatically requires only a few function calls. In the latter part of this document, we will cover the advanced features in Style Intelligence and go into more details on the internals of the classes.
ReportSheet Class
The inetsoft.report.ReportSheet is the base class for report generation. Each report is represented as a ReportSheet object. Conceptually, a ReportSheet is a runtime report template that lays out the formatting of a report. The actual data in a concrete report can either be embedded in the report or be supplied with a lens object (e.g., TableLens, ChartLens, etc.). Creating a report involves a series of insertions of report elements onto the report. During this process, a set of global report attributes can be set and consequently adopted by the report elements inserted thereafter.
TabularSheet Class
The inetsoft.report.TabularSheet class extends the base ReportSheet Class. The TabularSheet is one of the two report types in InetSoft. It uses a grid layout model. Report contents are divided into grid cells. Each cell is independently processed. It is best suited for reports with contents divided into tabular sections.
StyleSheet Class
The inetsoft.report.StyleSheet class extends the base ReportSheet Class. The StyleSheet is one of the two report types in InetSoft. It uses a flow layout model. Report contents are laid out in one flow. The flow can be across pages, or through page areas defined by page layout. Conceptually, the behavior is very close to that of a regular word processor.