Integrate with Reckon Data in JReport Designer



Create charts and reports based on Reckon data in JReport Designer.

The CData JDBC Driver for Reckon data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports as if Reckon were a relational database, allowing you to query Reckon data using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to connect to Reckon data as a JDBC data source and create reports based on Reckon data in JReport Designer.

Connect to Reckon Data

  1. Edit C:\JReport\Designer\bin\setenv.bat to add the location of the JAR file to the ADDCLASSPATH variable:
    ...
    set ADDCLASSPATH=%JAVAHOME%\lib\tools.jar;C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Reckon 2016\lib\cdata.jdbc.reckon.jar;
    ...
    
  2. Create a new data source by clicking File New Data Source.
  3. In the resulting dialog, create a name for the data source (CData JDBC Driver for Reckon), select JDBC, and click OK.
  4. In the Get JDBC Connection Information dialog you will configure your connection to the JDBC driver:
    • Driver: Be sure that the Driver box is checked and fill in the name of the class for the driver: cdata.jdbc.reckon.ReckonDriver
    • URL: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:reckon: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

      When you are connecting to a local Reckon instance, you do not need to set any connection properties.

      Requests to Reckon are made through the Remote Connector. The Remote Connector runs on the same machine as Reckon and accepts connections through a lightweight, embedded Web server. The server supports SSL/TLS, enabling users to connect securely from remote machines.

      The first time you connect to your company file, you will need to authorize the Remote Connector with Reckon. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide.

      Built-in Connection String Designer

      For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Reckon JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

      java -jar cdata.jdbc.reckon.jar

      Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

      When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

      Below is a typical JDBC URL:

      jdbc:reckon:User=RCUser;Password=RCUserPassword;URL=http://remotehost:8166;
    • User: The username to authenticate with; typically left blank.
    • Password: The password to authenticate with; typically left blank.
  5. In the Add Table dialog, select the tables you wish to include in your report (or in future reports using this data source) and click Add.

    Click Done once the dialog has completed loading the tables.

  6. In the Catalog Browser, you can create the queries that you will use to populate your reports. You can do this now, or after you create your report. In either case, expand () the data source (CData JDBC Driver for Reckon), right-click on Queries, and select Add Query.
  7. In the Add Table/View/Query dialog, expand () the JDBC URL and Tables and select the table(s) you wish to use in the query and click OK.
  8. In the Query Editor dialog, you can select the columns you wish to include or simply click the SQL button and manually input your own query. For example:
    SELECT Name, CustomerBalance FROM Customers
    

    With the query built, click OK to close the Query Editor dialog. At this point you are ready to add Reckon data to a new or existing report.

    NOTE: Now that the query is built, you can create a Business View based on the query. With a Business View, you can create Web reports or library components based on the query. For more information on this, refer to the JReport tutorials.

Add Reckon Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with Reckon data.

  1. Create a new report (File New Page Report) or open the Chart Wizard for an existing report.
  2. Select the Query (or create a new one; see above).
  3. Assign a Category and Value for the chart from the columns in your Query and click Finish.
  4. Click the View tab for your report to see the chart.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Reckon Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Reckon Accounting Icon Reckon JDBC Driver

Complete read-write access to Reckon enables developers to search (Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts, etc.), update items, edit customers, and more, from any Java/J2EE application.