JReport Designer Installation Instructions

This video will help you install the JReport Designer for use with Interactive Reports in 25Live. You can also follow along with the instructions below.

Contact CollegeNET

Before beginning your installation, email your account manager at series25implementation@collegenet.com to receive the necessary setup information, including:

Links to this installation guide and other customer resources
A license key to install the JReport Designer locally
A username and password for publishing your custom reports to CollegeNET servers
Directories on those servers where your reports will reside

Your account manager will also be able to answer other questions about custom report setup or direct you to further support or training resources.

System Requirements

Check your system to make sure that all the requirements have been met before installation.

	Recommended Requirements	Minimum Requirements
OS:	Windows x64	Windows
CPU:	Intel Core 2	Intel P4 Xeon 3.0GHz
Free Memory:	4 GB	2 GB
Free Disk:	2 GB	1 GB
JDK:	Java 8, 32-bit (x86)	Java 8; 32-bit
Browser:	Latest version of Firefox or Chrome	Firefox v20, Chrome v23

Installation Steps

Java Development Kit

Make sure your Java environment is set up before installing the JReport Designer.

CollegeNET recommends the 32-bit Java 8 JDK. You can download a JDK version by looking for the file labeled Windows x86 at https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/javase-jdk8-downloads.html.
Install the Java file and make a note of the installation directory.
Update the PATH environment variable where JReport Designer will be installed.
1. Open the System Properties panel and click Environment Variables in the Advanced tab.
2. Under System Variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.
3. In the window that pops up, add the \bin directory for the folder where Java was installed, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_101\bin\
Copy Java executables from the \bin directory to the ~\Windows\syswow64 directory.
- java.exe
- javaw.exe
- javaws.exe

JReport Designer Java Support

The Interactive Reporting tool supports Java VMs from Sun and IBM. Other vendors' Java VMs may cause unexpected errors. Jinfonet technical support welcomes any feedback on the use of any other Java VMs.

JReport Designer

Download the designer installation zip file jrdesigner.zip from the following ExaVault link:
- https://collegenet.files.com/f/b777348c9c55390e
  PW: JR3p0rt1nstall3r!
Extract the zip file to find two items:
1. An executable installer, jrdesigner-13-up1-b201406271701-windows.exe
2. A 25LIVE_102020 folder, which will used to set up a local reporting environment after the installation
Run the installer and follow the prompts below under "Installation Prompts". If you encounter errors, see the Troubleshooting panel.
Troubleshooting JReport Installation
Windows error 2 occurred while loading the Java VM
You may receive a "Windows error 2" message when trying to execute the installation. This is caused by issues with the Java Designer Kit.
See the following article for resolution steps: Interactive Report Designer - Windows Error 2

Java Virtual Machine Required
If the installer fails to find a Java Virtual Machine it will not launch. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
- Set your PATH environment variable as described above in the Java Development Kit installation instructions
  OR
- Install the designer from a DOS command by specifying the LAX_VM option for the installer as follows:
  - Find the directory where the executable installer is located.
  - Open the command prompt as an administrator.
  - Use this command to navigate to the directory you just located, replacing INSTALLDIR with the directory on your machine.
    cd INSTALLDIR
  - Use this command to run the installation, replacing the path name with the directory from your Java installation:
    jrdesigner-13-up1-b201406271701-windows.exe LAX_VM "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_101\bin\java.exe"
  - Note: The JDK path should be an absolute path and be quoted in double quotes (" ").
After installing, follow the Local Reporting Environment steps below to set up the data sources required to work with Series25.
Launch the Designer from the shortcut created on your desktop or by running the JReport.bat file in the installation \bin directory. If there is no shortcut or you encounter an error running this file, see our article on Issues when installing JReport Report Designer on a Windows 10 machine.

Installation Prompts

Read and accept the terms of the License Agreement.

Enter the following credentials:

User ID: collegeNET
License Key: (please contact support@collegenet.com for your license key)

Jreport designer installation user id and license key fields

Check the boxes for JReport Designer and Server for Previewing Reports. This is a is a locally installed version of the JReport Server that will allow you to preview results without uploading files to 25Live.
Select the installation directory for the designer.
- Example: C:\JReport\Designer
Specify the browser that will be used for previewing reports. Firefox or Chrome are recommended.
Allow the installation to create the directory.

Jreport designer installation directory field

The installer will attempt to locate the Java Development Kit installation directory on your machine. The designer requires JDK version 6 or higher, with version 8 recommended

If the installer cannot find the JDK installation, use the Browse button to locate it.

If the JDK is not installed on your machine, follow the instructions above to download and install it. Be sure to follow the steps to update the path environment variable and copy executables.

Jreport designer installation jdk path field

The installer allows you to add additional class paths. Also, after installation, you can choose to add them manually into the JReport.bat or setenv.bat file in <install_root>\bin.

No action is required on this screen. Click Next.

Jreport designer installation add class path screen

This dialog is used when connecting to a JDBC data source.

Designing reports for use with 25Live uses an XML data source connection which does not require a JDBC driver.

Make note of the folder where the Designer is installed. You will use this in the following steps to set up a local reporting environment.

Local Reporting Environment

Find the 25LIVE folder (what is the suffix for the name of the folder?) from the jrdesigner.zip file from CollegeNET.
Copy the folder into the designer root installation directory recorded from Screen 7 in the installer.

What is this?

CollegeNET packages several tools with the JReport Designer to help you get started with custom reports, including:

Editable copies of all standard 25Live reports for you to use as a base for customization
A catalog file with all the necessary formulas and parameters to support these reports
Premade data sources that correspond to data available through Series25 Web Services
PDF versions of documentation available on this site

In more detail, here's what's in the folder you copied (and its subfolders):

\25LIVE_102020

This is the local reporting directory root folder. It contains PDF copies of the Quick Start Guide and Creating Custom Reports documentation.

\25LIVE_102020\Reports

This is the primary working directory. It contains report files ending in *.cls as well as a catalog file 25LIVE_WS.cat.The catalog file is preconfigured to match the standard reports.

Other files will be created in this directory as you edit reports, including files with the extensions .fml, .pre, .xml, and .bak. Do not remove them.

Only one catalog file at a time should exist in a report directory. As you customize reports you will make corresponding updates to the catalog. If you make copies or backups of the catalog file to use as the basis for new reports, save the catalog and reports to a different directory to avoid confusion. (Note: all reports you upload to 25Live must use the same catalog file.)

\25LIVE_102020\Schemas

This folder contains copies of the schema files ending in .xsd used to create each of the Interactive Reporting tool Data Sources. The schema files provide a description of the WebServices XML data structure. The Interactive Reporting tool uses the information in the schema file to build a relational model for the Data Source.

\25LIVE_102020\Data Source Documentation

This folder contains an HTML document DataSources.html which can be viewed in a browser. This document provides some detailed information about the data sources included with the 25LIVE_WS.cat catalog file.

Update License Keys

The license key for the Designer may need to be updated periodically. Follow these steps when instructed by CollegeNET Support to install a new key without reinstalling the product:

Find the \bin folder of the installation directory, e.g. C:\JReport\Designer\bin. This directory contains a script named rp.bat.
Open the command prompt and run the script.
1. Change the name of the directory if it is different on your machine:
  cd C:\JReport\Designer\bin
2. Run the script, replacing KEY with the provided license key:
  rp.bat collegeNET KEY

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