Evaluating Oracle Reports 9i

Question

I am looking for a reporting tool that can be used to build reports used via a Java Swing GUI AND via JSP/J2EE. I understand that Oracle Reports9i can do both...is this correct?
How do I call Oracle Reports 9i from my Java Swing GUI?
Also regarding the JSP reports....it seems as though I need to purchase an Oracle9iAS licence? Is this correct? Does anyone know how much this is...ball park? I would guess that this would make using Oracle Reports9i an expensive proposition.
Does anyone know what other reporting tools I can evaluate?
Kind regards,
Paul.

Answer 1

(1) TO CALL FROM JSP/HTML
Your jsp report
<%
int empNumber = technicianBean.getEmployeeNumber() ;
String desname = /home/user/worksheet + empNumber ; // A unique file for each employee
%>
<form action="http://hostname:8888/reports/servlet?report=/home/user/yourReport.rdf+userid=<dbuserid>+destype=file+desformat=html+desname=<%= desname %>+server=<serverName>+empno=<%= empNumber %> >
<input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>
<!-- empno is the user parameter which will change from user to user -->
<!-- hostname is the host where Reports OC4J instance is running -->
* After the user clicks the button, the report will be handled by report servlet and generated in a file and the batch process can mail it .
Instead you can specify destype=mail and Reports itself will mail it .
* Where clause can be handled by user parameters .
Eg Generate report for employeeNumber = 8118 , we set empno ( the user parameter ) as 8118 and run the request
(2) TO CALL FROM SWING GUI
When the user clicks the button add the following handler code
String[] cmdArray = { "C:/Program Files/Internet Explorer/iexplore", "http://hostname:8888/reports/servlet?report=/home/user/yourReport.rdf+userid=<dbuserid>destype=filedesformat=html+desname=<desname>server=<serverName>empno=<empNumber>" };
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmdArray);
This will open a browser and submit the request to reports servlet
Does this suffice for your requirement ?
Thanks
The Oracle Reports Team