Is there an inexpensive APEX report printer for invoices/checks/statements?

Question

I am considering using APEX for a billing/payments type system for a small company. BI Publisher is not an option for them due to cost. Has anyone used a free or low-cost product to successfully print detailed reports such as invoices, statements, checks, etc. from APEX?

Answer 1

Andreé,
o no problem
1)
first make an invoice layout with field holders placed in between ##
e.g. Dear Mr #CNAME# find here your latest invoce and so no
just make it in wordpad, word or openoffice
and save it in an RTF file
I then copied the RTF in a CBLOB field using TOAD
2)
load this clob in clob variable in a pl/sql procedure
mix your RTF with real data, f.i. #CNAME# will be replaced
using pl/sql : replace('#CNAME# , rec.name); and so on for all fields
the end result is the invoice as rtf
the idea comes from this application from oracle called mailmerge
found here : [http://htmldb.oracle.com/pls/otn/f?p=18326:44:3650339304424939::::P44_ID:1682]
it's an apex app where I based my work on
have a look at it and feel free to ak more questions:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE RIGHTSHOP.DOWNLOAD_INVOICE(p_id in number) AS
    Lob_loc     CLOB;
    i           integer := 0;
    v_length    integer;
    v_blob      BLOB;
    v_tot       FACTUUR.TOT%type;
    v_totexcl   FACTUUR.TOTEXCL%type;
    v_totbtw    FACTUUR.TOTBTW%type;
    v_docnr     FACTUUR.DOCNR%type;
    v_datum     FACTUUR.DATUM%type;
    v_klant_id  FACTUUR.KLANT_ID%type;
    v_mime      varchar2(48) := 'application/msword';
    v_file_name varchar2(2000);
    cursor  cur_artikels(p_factuur in FACTUUR_ARTIKELS.FACTUUR_ID%type) is
      select AANTAL, OMSCHRIJVING, BTW_CAT_ID, SERIENUMMER, NETTO_VERKOOPPRIJS
          , (aantal * NETTO_VERKOOPPRIJS) netto_bedrag
          , (select btw_waarde from btw_cats where id = btw_cat_id) btw        
        from factuur_artikels
       where factuur_id = p_factuur;
    rec_firma   firma%rowtype;
    str_gemeente varchar2(4000);
    v_knaam     KLANTEN.NAAM%type;
    v_kstraat   varchar2(4000);
    v_kbtw      KLANTEN.BTW_NUMMER%type;
BEGIN
    begin
    select rtf
      into lob_loc
      from factuur_layouts
     where id = (select flayout_id from firma);
    exception
      when others then
        htp.p(' error during select '||sqlerrm);
    end;
-- firma
    select NAAM1, NAAM2, ADRES1, ADRES2, POSTCODE_ID, EMAIL, WEBSITE, BTW_NUMMER, TEL1, FAX, GSM, REKENING       
      into rec_firma.NAAM1, rec_firma.NAAM2, rec_firma.ADRES1, rec_firma.ADRES2, rec_firma.POSTCODE_ID, rec_firma.EMAIL
         , rec_firma.WEBSITE, rec_firma.BTW_NUMMER, rec_firma.TEL1, rec_firma.FAX, rec_firma.GSM, rec_firma.REKENING
      from firma;
    select postcode || ' ' || gemeente
      into str_gemeente
      from postcodes
     where id = rec_firma.postcode_id;
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FNAAM1#', rec_firma.naam1);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FNAAM2#', rec_firma.naam2);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FSTRAAT#', rec_firma.adres1 || ' ' ||  rec_firma.adres2);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FGEMEENTE#',str_gemeente);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FEMAIL#', rec_firma.email);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FWEBSITE#', rec_firma.website);               
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FBTW#', rec_firma.btw_nummer);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FREKENING#', rec_firma.rekening);
--factuur
    select tot, totexcl, totbtw, docnr, datum, klant_id
      into v_tot, v_totexcl, v_totbtw, v_docnr, v_datum, v_klant_id
      from factuur
     where id = p_id;
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#BB#', to_char(v_totexcl, 'FM999G999G999G999G990D00'));
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#TB#', to_char(v_totbtw, 'FM999G999G999G999G990D00'));
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#TO#', to_char(v_tot, 'FM999G999G999G999G990D00'));
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FD#', to_char(v_datum, 'DD/MM/YYYY'));
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#FN#', to_char(v_docnr));
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#eenheid#', 'Aantal');
    v_file_name := 'factuur' || v_docnr;
-- klant
    select naam, adres1 || ' ' || adres2 as straat
         , (select postcode || ' ' || gemeente from postcodes where id = klanten.postcode_id) as gemeents
         , btw_nummer
      into v_knaam, v_kstraat, str_gemeente, v_kbtw
      from klanten
     where id = v_klant_id;
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#KNAAM#', v_knaam);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#KSTRAAT#', v_kstraat);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#KGEMEENTE#',str_gemeente);
    lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#KBTW#', v_kbtw);
-- factuur_artikels   
    for vc_curr in cur_artikels(p_id) loop
      i := i + 1;
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#AR' || to_char(i) || '#', rpad(vc_curr.omschrijving, 120, ' '));
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#AN' || to_char(i) || '#', to_char(vc_curr.aantal));
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#NE' || to_char(i) || '#', to_char(vc_curr.netto_verkoopprijs, 'FM999G999G999G999G990D00'));
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#BT' || to_char(i) || '#', to_char(vc_curr.btw) ||'%');
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#BE' || to_char(i) || '#', to_char(vc_curr.netto_bedrag, 'FM999G999G999G999G990D00'));
    end loop;   
    for j in i .. 9 loop
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#AN' || to_char(j) || '#', null);
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#AR' || to_char(j) || '#', lpad(' ', 120, ' '));
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#NE' || to_char(j) || '#', null);
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#BT' || to_char(j) || '#', null);
      lob_loc := replace(lob_loc, '#BE' || to_char(j) || '#', null);
    end loop;
    v_length := length(lob_loc);
    -- set up HTTP header
    -- use an NVL around the mime type and
    -- if it is a null set it to application/octect
    -- application/octect may launch a download window from windows
    v_mime := 'application/pdf';
    owa_util.mime_header( nvl(v_mime,'application/octet'), FALSE );
    -- set the size so the browser knows how much to download
    htp.p('Content-length: ' || v_length);   
    if v_mime != 'text/html' then
        -- the filename will be used by the browser if the users does a save as
        --htp.p('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' || v_file_name || '"');
        htp.p('Content-Disposition: filename="' || v_file_name || '"');
    end if;
    -- close the headers
    owa_util.http_header_close;
    -- download the BLOB
    v_blob := c2b(lob_loc);   
    --wpg_docload.download_file( Lob_loc );
    wpg_docload.download_file(v_blob);
    /*update factuur
       set printed = 1
     where id = p_id;
    APEX_UTIL.SET_SESSION_STATE('P9_PRINTED', '1');
exception
  when others then
    htp.p('other error : ' || sqlerrm);
END;
/