Data source value for data source reportData was null

Question

hi i'm using struts 2 and jasperreports my problem is
it generate a pdf file with labels but no data in it..
and when i try to look at the logs of my sun application server
it says Data source value for datasource reportData was null.
reportData is an ArrayList of Personnel object.
here is my code..
public class EIS_HR_004_JASPER extends eisSupport {
    private String reportId;
    private String dateStart = null;
    private String dateEnd = null;
    private String pdfFile;
    private final static String _REPORT_FOLDER = "EIS_HR_003";
    private Report thisReport;
    private String dateRange;
    private ArrayList<Personnel> reportData;
    public String execute(ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form,
            HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws Exception {       
        ReportBean reportBean = new ReportBean();
        setThisReport(reportBean.getReport(getReportId()));         
        reportData=new ArrayList<Personnel>();
        Personnel p1=new Personnel();
        p1.setSurname("Dela Cruz");
        p1.setFirstname("Juan");
        p1.setExamcode("CSC111");
        p1.setExamdate("January 1,2003");
        Personnel p2=new Personnel();
        p2.setSurname("Cruz");
        p2.setFirstname("Miguel");
        p2.setExamcode("CSC222");
        p2.setExamdate("December 2,2003");
        reportData.add(p1);
        reportData.add(p2);
     try {
          JasperCompileManager.compileReportToFile(
                    "apps/reports/templates/hr004.jrxml",
                    "apps/reports/templates/hr004.jasper");
     } catch (Exception e) {
          e.printStackTrace();
          return ERROR;
         return SUCCESS;
    public ArrayList<Personnel> getReportData() {
       // setReportData();
        return reportData;
    here is part of my struts.xml
<action name="EIS-HR-004_JASPER" class="eis.report.EIS_HR_004_JASPER">
            <result name="error">/apps/reports/ReportNotFound.jsp</result>
            <result name="success" type="jasper">
                <param name="location">apps/reports/templates/hr004.jasper</param>
                <param name="dataSource">reportData</param>
                <param name="format">PDF</param>
            </result>
        </action> i dont know why it doesnt retrieved the data from the ArrayList?
please help me..Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,
Looking at the code, it seems you are compiling a JRXML and that is all.
Instead, you should fill it with data and then export the result to PDF.
No wonder you don't see any result.
You need to learn more about how JasperReports work. For a start, I can tell you that you could compile JRXML files as part of the application build process using an Ant task, and not dynamically, like you did. But no matter how you compile the report template, you actually need to fill it with data, using the JasperFillManager and then export it to PDF using the JasperExportManager.
You can see all this in our samples in the /demo/samples folder that is part of our project distribution package. There is even a sample Web application in the /demo/samples/webapp folder.
I hope this helps.
Teodor