Report generation is one of the most important tasks for database and e-commerce applications. Current report tools typically provide a set of predefined components that are used to specify report layout and format. However, available layout options are limited, and WYSIWYG formatting is not allowed. This paper proposes a four-phase report generation process to overcome these problems. The first phase retrieves source tables from the database. The second phase reorganizes the layout of the source tables by transferring the source tables into a set of new flat tables (in the first normal form). The third phase restructures the flat tables into a nested table (report) by specifying the report structure. The last phase formats the report with a WYSIWYG format editor supporting a number of formatting rules designed specifically for nested reports. Each phase of the proposed process supports visual programming, giving an easy-to-use user interface and allowing very flexible report layouts and formats. A visual end-user-programming tool, called TPS, is developed to demonstrate the proposed process and show that reports with sophisticated layouts can be created without writing low-level report generation programs.
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Woei-Kae CHEN, Pin-Ying TU, "A Report Generator for Database and Web Applications" in IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information,
vol. E95-D, no. 9, pp. 2265-2276, September 2012, doi: 10.1587/transinf.E95.D.2265.
Abstract: Report generation is one of the most important tasks for database and e-commerce applications. Current report tools typically provide a set of predefined components that are used to specify report layout and format. However, available layout options are limited, and WYSIWYG formatting is not allowed. This paper proposes a four-phase report generation process to overcome these problems. The first phase retrieves source tables from the database. The second phase reorganizes the layout of the source tables by transferring the source tables into a set of new flat tables (in the first normal form). The third phase restructures the flat tables into a nested table (report) by specifying the report structure. The last phase formats the report with a WYSIWYG format editor supporting a number of formatting rules designed specifically for nested reports. Each phase of the proposed process supports visual programming, giving an easy-to-use user interface and allowing very flexible report layouts and formats. A visual end-user-programming tool, called TPS, is developed to demonstrate the proposed process and show that reports with sophisticated layouts can be created without writing low-level report generation programs.
URL: https://global.ieice.org/en_transactions/information/10.1587/transinf.E95.D.2265/_p
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@ARTICLE{e95-d_9_2265,
author={Woei-Kae CHEN, Pin-Ying TU, },
journal={IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information},
title={A Report Generator for Database and Web Applications},
year={2012},
volume={E95-D},
number={9},
pages={2265-2276},
abstract={Report generation is one of the most important tasks for database and e-commerce applications. Current report tools typically provide a set of predefined components that are used to specify report layout and format. However, available layout options are limited, and WYSIWYG formatting is not allowed. This paper proposes a four-phase report generation process to overcome these problems. The first phase retrieves source tables from the database. The second phase reorganizes the layout of the source tables by transferring the source tables into a set of new flat tables (in the first normal form). The third phase restructures the flat tables into a nested table (report) by specifying the report structure. The last phase formats the report with a WYSIWYG format editor supporting a number of formatting rules designed specifically for nested reports. Each phase of the proposed process supports visual programming, giving an easy-to-use user interface and allowing very flexible report layouts and formats. A visual end-user-programming tool, called TPS, is developed to demonstrate the proposed process and show that reports with sophisticated layouts can be created without writing low-level report generation programs.},
keywords={},
doi={10.1587/transinf.E95.D.2265},
ISSN={1745-1361},
month={September},}
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TY - JOUR
TI - A Report Generator for Database and Web Applications
T2 - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
SP - 2265
EP - 2276
AU - Woei-Kae CHEN
AU - Pin-Ying TU
PY - 2012
DO - 10.1587/transinf.E95.D.2265
JO - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
SN - 1745-1361
VL - E95-D
IS - 9
JA - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
Y1 - September 2012
AB - Report generation is one of the most important tasks for database and e-commerce applications. Current report tools typically provide a set of predefined components that are used to specify report layout and format. However, available layout options are limited, and WYSIWYG formatting is not allowed. This paper proposes a four-phase report generation process to overcome these problems. The first phase retrieves source tables from the database. The second phase reorganizes the layout of the source tables by transferring the source tables into a set of new flat tables (in the first normal form). The third phase restructures the flat tables into a nested table (report) by specifying the report structure. The last phase formats the report with a WYSIWYG format editor supporting a number of formatting rules designed specifically for nested reports. Each phase of the proposed process supports visual programming, giving an easy-to-use user interface and allowing very flexible report layouts and formats. A visual end-user-programming tool, called TPS, is developed to demonstrate the proposed process and show that reports with sophisticated layouts can be created without writing low-level report generation programs.
ER -