# What is the best for to do reports in Rails?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 9, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381 "2007-06-09T12:22:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/1 "2007-06-09T12:22:52Z")

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Hello,

Whats best to do reports in rails:

A) ruport: [http://rubyreports.org/](http://rubyreports.org/)  
B) PDF:Writer : [http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/)  
C) …

Thanks any help.  
Helder

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/2 "2007-06-09T21:37:41Z")

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JasperReports + Rails  
[http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/HowtoIntegrateJasperReports](http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/HowtoIntegrateJasperReports)

On Jun 9, 12:22 pm, Helder H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/3 "2007-06-10T03:11:21Z")

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On Jun 9, 6:22 am, Helder H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Whats best to do reports in rails:
> 
> A) ruport:[http://rubyreports.org/](http://rubyreports.org/)  
> B) PDF:Writer :[http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-pdf/)  
> C) …

Someone else mentioned JasperReports which is probably the best choice  
if you already have reports written or would prefer to define your  
reports in XML. Ruport is a pretty low level toolset, but many of our  
users are pretty happy with it, especially because we make integration  
with ActiveRecord pretty easy via acts\_as\_reportable.

I would not recommend using PDF::Writer directly for anything at this  
point. Even if you don’t use any other functionality in ruport, our  
Formatter::PDF adds interface improvements while fixing a number of  
serious issues in PDF::Writer at the same time. Most of these patches  
came from Austin, but do not exist in the released PDF::Writer code.  
(Memory patches, bug fixes, etc)

It really depends on what you’re trying to do and how much you want to  
roll up your sleeves. Searching through the Ruport archives for Rails  
might prove helpful, and if you have any questions, just let us know  
on the list. ([http://list.rubyreports.org](http://list.rubyreports.org))

-greg

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/4 "2007-06-10T11:23:53Z")

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Why not fork PDF::Writer if you can’t get the original maintained. It  
would be useful to have a PDF system that worked cleanly with Rails.

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/5 "2007-06-10T15:36:24Z")

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On Jun 10, 5:23 am, Neil W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Why not fork PDF::Writer if you can’t get the original maintained. It  
> would be useful to have a PDF system that worked cleanly with Rails.

You wouldn’t be the first, second, or third to suggest that we do  
that. We don’t really want the added responsibility and are trying to  
be diplomatic about it. We’ve even tried to find a maintainer to work  
with Austin, but things are moving very slowly. If a fork happens,  
we’d be willing to patch back all the stuff that’s in Ruport, though.

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**Author:** ![helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@helderam](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/helderam)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-best-for-to-do-reports-in-rails/106381/6 "2007-06-10T03:16:21Z")

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On Jun 9, 9:10 pm, Gregory B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I would not recommend using PDF::Writer directly for anything at this  
> point. Even if you don’t use any other functionality in ruport, our  
> Formatter::PDF adds interface improvements while fixing a number of  
> serious issues in PDF::Writer at the same time. Most of these patches  
> came from Austin, but do not exist in the released PDF::Writer code.  
> (Memory patches, bug fixes, etc)

By the way, if there is sufficient interest, we can think about moving  
these patches into their own gem, like pdf\_writer\_fixes or something  
of the like…
