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  3. July 2021

Re: Opinions and experiences with ReportBro

Hi Nathan, end-users are not concerned at all about how conditional
expressions might be implemented on the back end. They are very concerned
if they should call us to fix a problem or add conditions.

The problems we are facing rigth now using xDocReport + FreeMarker are:
- the render engine in xDocReport sometimes fails when there are (very)
complex structures (the doc/odt document fails with unpaired tag on /span
or /print tags)
- end-users get confused implementig FreeMarker syntax (if/then/else/elseif
+ null or missing fields) because there is no help in syntax checking

Using RoportBro should fix both the problems, of course we have to pay a
license but, hopefully, we will have support.

Thanks again
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno mer 7 lug 2021 alle ore 17:10 Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>
ha scritto:

Marco and John,

Regarding the idea of preserving template capabilities that users currently
have, is there really a requirement that users provide inline code in the
report template (i.e. inline conditional expressions) paired with a
server-based engine that handles such expressions later, at runtime? What
if users were to simply put placeholders for fields in HTML templates and
provide a separate note to a programmer, delineating conditional
expressions? That wouldn't take capabilities from users. Or am I missing
something? In other words, are users really that concerned about how
conditional expressions might be implemented on the back end?

Users design documents and reports? Programmers implement conditional
expressions? I previously worked in an environment like that, which ended
up being a slick way to operate.

Nathan.


On Wed, Jul 7, 2021 at 2:34 AM Marco Facchinetti <
marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi John and Nathan.

Sorry Nathan but my English is what is it... and yes John nailed the
point,
our end-users HAVE to be able to handle templates. We cannot support them
for specific request, we can only provide a set of standard templates.
Our application provide data, if the end-user need a new condition (or a
new value in an existing field) we provide it as a new field (or value)
in
the data set.

What make my afraid is the fact the ReportBro implements what today for
me
is FreeMarker using Python.
But since they clearly states to install all Python libraries in a
"virtual
environment" to keep it separate from system wide installations I guess
they already considered stability to be more important than other
matters.

It remains to be determined if the complete installation can take place
on
a power machine or if you need to use an Intel platform. This is one of
the
reasons I asked if anyone had experience with ReportBro.

Best regards
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno mer 7 lug 2021 alle ore 06:22 John Yeung <
gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx> ha scritto:

On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 10:06 PM Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

It appears to me that ReportBro requires some Python knowledge and
skills.

The template designer doesn't. I think that is quite clearly explained
on the product page:

https://www.reportbro.com/product/index

And it's clearly the designer that Marco is focused on right now.

In regard to embedding logic within templates, I understand that some
people may prefer that. On the other hand, some people view that as a
departure from MVC architecture (i.e. placing 2-3 different types of
code
in the same file). I personally prefer a clear separation of
concerns,
thus
keeping HTML in one source file and RPG in another.

I don't think MVC is relevant here. You seem to have a hard time
accepting that Marco is trying to preserve the capabilities that his
users already have. They have been able to include logic in templates
for quite a long time now. They *like* being able to do that. And they
very well may *need* to be able to do that.

If you are saying that templates shouldn't be allowed to have any
logic in them, then that takes away capabilities from users and
increases the workload for developers (because any time a user wants
something beyond a static template, they will have to get it custom
programmed by a developer).

More often than not, so called low-code solutions end up requiring
code
to
achieve the results required by the application, or simply can't meet
all
the requirements.

Maybe so, but Marco's scenario isn't in the "more often" category
then. He already stated that the existing arrangement, where the users
have the capability to include logic in the templates, has been
working well for them for many years. I daresay being able to do that
*is* one of the requirements. And so Marco has expressed his doubts
that your solution meets *that* requirement, short of the users
learning how to program in RPG.

John Y.
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