) The report tool needs to combine "report" and "table" perfectly.

Report reports, as the name implies, contain reports and tables, which are composed of reports and tables. "Report" refers to the summary statistics of the index data, which is sorted after the data is retrieved from the database and calculated according to certain rules. "Table" refers to the format. data must be placed in a grid to be clearly located, reflecting the layers and mappings between data. "Report" and "table" must be combined perfectly to solve the complete report problem.

At present, many reporting tools of international brands can basically extract the data from the database to form a dynamic variable-length statistical report, that is, the ability to "report" is good. However, the "table" function is not very good. Generally, You need to drag and drop controls to edit the table sample, and draw the Table Sample by matching and alignment of rectangular edges, A straight line needs to be spliced with multiple line segments, so it is too tired to create a multi-layer header, and it is also related to the resolution. It is difficult to draw lines on the screen and print them out neatly.

There is also a kind of imitation Excel product, which makes it easy to combine cells and set borders, and can quickly draw a report style in a complex format. Unfortunately, there is no data processing interface, in addition to simple intra-grid operations, statistical operations such as filtering and grouping that deal with databases must be done by yourself. The most terrible thing is that you cannot complete variable-length reports by yourself, you also need to program to dynamically Insert rows and columns. In the end, these report software separated by "report" and "table" bring a lot of painstaking efforts to users.

Report hardships

So what are the difficulties of Chinese reports?

A common saying is that the style of a Chinese report is complex (such as a diagonal line). In fact, the difficulty of a Chinese report is far more than that. In contrast, the style of diagonal lines is a small problem that can be solved as long as it takes a lot of time, while the Chinese reports still have a lot of time and it is extremely difficult to solve, which is summarized as follows:

"Use" means "application integration capabilities, that is, whether the report tool can be well embedded into the application system. Currently, high-end reporting tools in the industry adopt independent serversProgramCommunication must pass network protocols, seriously affecting performance and reducing control. independent servers have their own user permission management mechanism, which is never enough for applications, however, it is a waste of effort to move applications closer to this rule, and independent servers cannot enjoy the advantages of the server, such as shared connection pool and cluster capabilities.

"Report": "report" refers to the statistical summary capability. The most difficult part of a Chinese report is data statistics. Chinese reports have many characteristics such as multi-data sources, full table rule sharding, incomplete division, cross-row group operations, independent inter-grid operations, and row-column symmetry, which cannot be met by traditional report tools, it is often caused by writing requirementsCodePrepare data or splice sub-tables to create a complex report.

"Tables" are annoying. "tables" refer to display style capabilities. The complex format of the table sample is also a troublesome issue for Chinese reports. Chinese reports require neat grids and hierarchical multi-layer headers. Well-known report tools in the industry generally use a drag-and-drop control method, which is cumbersome and related to resolution. The screen and print are inconsistent, chinese reports have always high requirements on the print style.

"Fill" or "fill" indicates the report capability. Almost all reports in China require filling. The front-end must support various filling controls, such as editing style, automatic calculation, and legality verification; the entered data can be easily written into the database for further statistical summary. You also need to be able to support offline reporting and multi-level reporting. However, many report software does not support the Filling Capability. Generally, the filling solution cannot automatically handle the data warehouse receiving problem, resulting in a large programming workload.

Report puzzles

The complexity of Chinese reports is universally recognized. It is difficult to use traditional tools that are common in the industry to complete Chinese reports. But are these complex reports necessary or just mediocre?

A common view is that the complexity of Chinese reports is currently a reality, but it is not necessary because of business irregularities and low application levels, with the improvement of business and application level, these reports will be gradually simplified and even canceled.

What is the actual situation?

Unreasonable and complex reports due to business irregularities and low application levels exist. This is often true for industries with low informatization levels. However, when we examine the banking industry with a relatively high degree of informatization in China, few of its reports are simple and complicated, making it difficult to make these reports easier. It seems that complex reports have the advantage of clear information and are not unnecessary. They are not directly related to the degree of business specifications and application level.

One possible cause of this phenomenon is due to oriental cultural habits. Chinese characters in China are very complex, and there are thousands of frequently used words. Each word is made up of multiple strokes, while Spanish is made up of a limited number of letters, foreigners are used to splicing and Combining simple things, while we are used to organizing relevant information together.

In fact, we are never qualified to blame the demand, but should face up to these difficulties and solve them.

Report path

The difficulty of reports in China cannot be avoided, but some current report tools cannot meet the requirements of reports in China in many aspects. The development of the new generation of report tools should be considered from the following aspects:

First, fully consider the application integration requirements, so that the report computing engine can be easily embedded into the business system, and enjoy the advantages of the application system architecture, focus on report computing.

Second, we will abandon the Strip Data Processing Model of traditional tools and design a new mathematical model suitable for Chinese reports.AlgorithmIt fully supports the Statistical Features of multiple sources, shards, incomplete partitions, inter-grid operations, and row-column symmetry among other Chinese reports.

Then, we use a table display method similar to excel to fully reflect the regularity of the table. It is particularly important that it should be well integrated with the statistical algorithm, ensure that tables automatically change with data.

Finally, for the fill-in function, design the correspondence mechanism between cells and data table fields to adapt to any type of fill-in. The corresponding rules can be automatically copied to solve the problem of automatically entering data into the database. (E9)