Taking a long time to export a report to PDF in web app

Question

Hi,
I downloaded CR for Eclipse 2.0 to integrate a "Create PDF Report" option into our web application. The original .rpt files were created using CR 2008. I used the sample online code to do this:
ReportClientDocument reportClientDoc = new ReportClientDocument();
reportClientDoc.open(REPORT_NAME, 0);   
// .. set report params here..
ByteArrayInputStream byteArrayInputStream = (ByteArrayInputStream)reportClientDoc.getPrintOutputController().export(ReportExportFormat.PDF);
I was able to successfully run this and generate a PDF output file, however the report takes over 2 minutes to complete, whether there were only 2 records or 75 records!
From CR 2008 on a Windows machine, the export to PDF option takes about 2 - 3 seconds for the exact same report.
Our web servers are very powerful Linux blade servers from Dell.
Why is there such a delay? Does it have to do with the licensed version versus the free version? Or is this just a limitation of being in a web app?
-Mike

Answer 1

We created a version of the same test report that only generates two PDF pages.It has cut the time down, but it still takes it about 16 seconds to open the .rpt file and another 6 seconds to export to PDF and write it out to a file. [Total of about 22 seconds.]
When we run the same report on CR2008 on a Windows laptop, it takes less than 1 second to load the .rpt file, under 1 second to generate the report and another 1 second to generate the PDF. [Total under 3 seconds.]
Our question still remains: Why is there a considerable time difference between CR2008 and CR4Eclipse [3 secs vs 22 secs] and is there anything we can do on the web app side to decrease the report output time?
Here are the "highlights" from the verbose logs (the full logs were about 32K). I tried showing where there were obvious time gaps. If there is a big time gap between statements separated by ".... " it was just doing it's regular work (evaluating functions, etc). If you provide me an email address I can send the complete logs as an attachment.
2009-09-04 16:18:32,212 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - begin hub/TestReportsAction
2009-09-04 16:18:32,213 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - 1-calling new ReportClientDocument();
2009-09-04 16:18:32,215 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - 2-calling .open(REPORT_NAME
2009-09-04 16:18:33,193 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - FieldManager
2009-09-04 16:18:33,194 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NDatabaseFields: 63
2009-09-04 16:18:33,195 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - Field: {INVOICE_HEADER_VIEW.INVOICE}, NBytesInField: 8, ValueType: number
2009-09-04 16:18:33,288 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - Field: {%Unit_Price}, NBytesInField: 131070, ValueType: string
2009-09-04 16:18:33,289 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NOlapDimensionFields: 0
2009-09-04 16:18:33,289 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NOlapGenerationFields: 0
2009-09-04 16:18:33,290 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NULL Field
2009-09-04 16:18:37,141 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - FieldManager
2009-09-04 16:18:37,142 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NDatabaseFields: 8
2009-09-04 16:18:37,177 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NOlapGenerationFields: 0
2009-09-04 16:18:37,177 INFO reportloading.saveddata (?:?) - NULL Field
2009-09-04 16:18:39,333 INFO formulas.Compiler (?:?) - Formula {@Record_Selection} compiled.
2009-09-04 16:18:39,340 INFO formulas.Compiler (?:?) - Formula {@Saved_Data_Selection} compiled.
2009-09-04 16:18:47,868 INFO ReportCommand.SetReportDateCommand (?:?) - SetReportDateCommand,24667963,Exit perform,<document=ReportDocument:<report=main><reportPath=/webdata/webapps/tcmIS/reports/invoice_header_en.rpt>>;
2009-09-04 16:18:48,042 INFO formulas.Compiler (?:?) - Formula {@Invtest} compiled.
2009-09-04 16:18:48,045 INFO formulas.Compiler (?:?) - Formula {@Load column names} compiled.
2009-09-04 16:18:48,701 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - opened report: /reports/invoice_header_en.rpt
2009-09-04 16:18:48,702 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - 3-calling getParameterFieldController() - setting params
2009-09-04 16:18:48,792 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - 4-calling export(ReportExportFormat.PDF);
2009-09-04 16:18:48,794 INFO reports.queryengine (?:?) - Connection logon:Database DLL=s(crdb_oracle.dll);PreQEServerName=s(tcmprod);Server=s(tcmprod);Tru
sted_Connection=b(false);Password=;User ID=s(sskidmore)
2009-09-04 16:18:48,812 INFO driverImpl.jdbc (?:?) - Connection Opened null
2009-09-04 16:18:48,829 INFO reports.queryengine (?:?) - Connection logon successfully
2009-09-04 16:18:48,835 INFO reports.dataengine (?:?) - Create new report state
2009-09-04 16:18:48,838 INFO reports.dataengine (?:?) - Need to recompile formulas, the number of formulas needed to recompile is 1
2009-09-04 16:18:55,202 WARN Simplifier.Fields (?:?) - Field {INVOICE_HEADER_VIEW.BILLING_ENTITY_ADDRESS_LINE_1} is null. Interrupting formula evaluation.
2009-09-04 16:18:55,203 INFO formulas.Evaluator (?:?) - Formula {@-suppressSection-13} evaluated to: null
2009-09-04 16:18:55,302 INFO formatter.paginator (?:?) - Page 2 formatted.
2009-09-04 16:18:55,303 INFO lightmodel.FCMFormattedContentModeller (?:?) - FCM: modelling contents
2009-09-04 16:18:55,344 INFO lightmodel.FCMFormattedContentModeller (?:?) - FCM: modelling contents
2009-09-04 16:18:55,981 INFO formatter.paginator (?:?) - Moving to Page 3
2009-09-04 16:18:56,015 WARN Simplifier.Fields (?:?) - Field {INVOICE_HEADER_VIEW.BILLING_ENTITY_ADDRESS_LINE_1} is null. Interrupting formula evaluation.
2009-09-04 16:18:56,016 INFO formulas.Evaluator (?:?) - Formula {@-suppressSection-12} evaluated to: null
2009-09-04 16:18:56,019 WARN Simplifier.Fields (?:?) - Field {INVOICE_HEADER_VIEW.BILLING_ENTITY_ADDRESS_LINE_1} is null. Interrupting formula evaluation.
2009-09-04 16:18:56,020 INFO formulas.Evaluator (?:?) - Formula {@-suppressSection-13} evaluated to: null
2009-09-04 16:18:56,024 INFO formulas.Evaluator (?:?) - Formula {@-suppressSection-11} evaluated to: b(true)
2009-09-04 16:18:56,087 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - exported report to stream
2009-09-04 16:18:56,089 INFO reports.basicdataengine (?:?) - Invalidating controller
2009-09-04 16:18:56,090 INFO reports.basicdataengine (?:?) - Invalidating controller
2009-09-04 16:18:56,091 INFO reports.basicdataengine (?:?) - Invalidating controller
2009-09-04 16:18:56,094 INFO reports.queryengine (?:?) - Connection logoffServer:
2009-09-04 16:18:56,095 INFO driverImpl.jdbc (?:?) - Connection Closed null
2009-09-04 16:18:56,185 DEBUGaction.TestReportsAction (?:?) - Successfully exported report to /webdata/html/reports/invoice_PGE_465.pdf
Edited by: Mike Najera on Sep 5, 2009 12:13 AM