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DB2 Reporting and Document Generation

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Looking for the best way to manage your DB2 database? Creating fantastic reports from your DB2 database is simple, fast and flexible with Windward.

Windward’s interface allows you to select and sort only the data you choose in any manner you prefer. With Windward, you can also create and manage a large amount of table or query based reports and export them to every common format. There is no limit to what you can do with this DB2 reporting software.

Why Windward for SQL?

With Windward, you deliver better looking reports, on time.

Windward's solution brings advanced reporting and document generation functionality into your new or existing software application. The Windward Java and .NET engines engines quickly and easily embed into your codebase and connect with your SQL-based data source or sources.

By incorporating Windward's reporting and document automation solution, you get to take advantage of your SQL server's best features.

The advantages include:

Less Time Programming

The ability to apply your existing queries, views and stored procedures will let you get started quickly. Views and stored procedures allow you to reuse the queries you have already developed. Using SQL language queries directly in Windward tags enables you to harness the power of the large library of built-in functions. Windward takes advantage of these time-saving SQL features natively, allowing you to focus on template creation, not data selection.

Increased Data Selection Options

SQL’s functions provide you with a toolbox full of data selection options. Windward’s ability to use these functions natively extends those options,meaning less time crunching your data and more time using it.

Take Full Advantage of Joins

SQL’s joins are a great feature to link tables together by a common column. Building and perfecting them, however, is a time consuming process. Windward’s SQL wizard has a unique algorithm that will automatically create joins between your tables.

The algorithm scans your SQL Server’s meta data and distills those table relations for you. This is all bundled neatly in Windward’s SQL Wizard creating joins automatically based on the data you select.

Relax with Validated Security

You’ve worked hard to create the security layer of your SQL Server, so why use a product that doesn’t utilize it?

Windward connects and validates against your existing SQL Server security via the internal database or Active Directory enabling you to design and deliver your reports securely. Rest assured that your end users will only have access to the data they are allowed.

Easily Design Templates

Once your programming is completed, non-developer employees and other end users apply the Windward AutoTag design tool to create report templates in Microsoft® Office®. Novice users can apply Windward’s intuitive SQL wizard to create complex queries with simple drag and drop actions, directly linking their templates to your SQL-based data source.

They can then run and distribute those reports when and where they want, in widely used and widely accepted formats.

 

Key Benefits for DB2 Database Reporting with Windward

  • Accelerated report generation on any platform. Windward is available for Java (pure Java), .NET (100% managed code) and any other programming language you might want to use. In every platform, report generation is measured in terms of pages per second, not seconds per page.
  • Multi-threaded and modular applications. You can construct your applications in Java, C#, VisualBasic, C++, Python, or PHP, building and running them on desktop, server and embedded platforms.
  • Effortless use and incorporation. Incorporating Windward into your program can take as little as 14 lines of code. (Note: Template design is in Office but the engine does not use Office.) The SQL Wizard is so intuitive that someone new to DB2 reporting can generate almost any query, simple or complex.
  • Targeted and streamlined data access. Create datasets of complex views to provide simple tables to access that data. Commands to select data include a large number of equations and functions, and you can easily add your own for more power.
  • Template design, quick and easy. The non-banded design tool lets you do things that are impossible with other DB2 reporting tools. You design reports in Microsoft Word and Excel, so there’s little training or learning curve.
  • Significant time savings through reusable elements. Windward Pods give you a powerful way to drag and drop data tags and complex sub reports – with no limitation on the combination of documents and tags in the Pod. Plus, you can pull in additional text and documents with a single tag, repeat parts of the document, include conditional parts of the document, and more.
  • Simple user interface. You will never get lost using Windward’s UI. It is easy to use and superbly designed for document generation.
  • Lightning-fast report generation. Report generation is measured in pages per second, not seconds per page.

By treating your template as a free-form document and providing you with the most cutting-edge DB2 reporting tools currently on the market, Windward makes DB2 reporting and document generation easier than ever. Request a free demo. Or, download a free trial.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited! Try Windward with our 14-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Tags Start & End

Tags Can Start & End Anywhere

Appendix B

.NET code for multi-page image output

Appendix A

Java code for multi-page image output

Data Bin Search

The Data Bin can now be searched to find a table, column, node or other piece of data without scrolling through it all.

Shrink to Fit

This will shrink the contents of a cell until it fits the defined cell size.

Time Zone Conversion

A new Windward macro has been added to help with converting dates and times from UTC time to the local time zone.

Image Output Format

New image output formats added.

PostScript Output Format

PostScript, commonly used with printers and printing companies, has been added as an additional output format.

New and Improved Datasets (Designer, Java Engine, .NET Engine)

Datasets have been re-written from scratch to be more powerful and easier to use.

Stored Procedure Wizard (Designer)

This works for all tag types that are connected to a SQL-based data source (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, or DB2).

Boolean Conditional Wizard (Designer)

Before, conditional statements could only be written manually. Now they can also be built using our intuitive Wizard interface.

Reorganized Ribbon

The ribbon menus have been re-organized and consolidated to improve the report design workflow.

XPath 2.0 as Data Source

Adds various capabilities such as inequalities,descending sort, joins, and other functions.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

SQL Select Debugger

SQL Select  Debugger

  • The look and feel was improved
  • Stored Procedure Wizard
  • Improved Exceptions pane

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Tag Editor/Tag Selector

Added a Query tab as a field for typing or pasting in a select statement

  • Color Coding of Keywords
  • TypeAhead
  • Evaluate is now "Preview"

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Rename a Datasource

All tags using that Data source will be automatically updated with that name.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Connecting to a Data Source

New single interface to replace 2 separate dialog boxes

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Tag Tree

Displays of all the tags in the template, structured as they are placed in the template. This provides a simple & intuitive way to see the structure of your template. Also provides the capability to go to any tag and/or see the properties of any tag.

Added Javelin into the RESTful Engine

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Support for Google Application Engine Integration

The ability to integrate the Windward Engine into Google’s cloud computing platform for developing and hosting web applications dubbed Google Applications Engine (GAE).

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Additional Refinement for HTML Output

  • Improved indentation for ordered and unordered lists
  • Better handling of template header and footer images
  • Better handling for background images and colors

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Redesigned PDF Output Support

This new  integration will allow for processing of complex scripts and bi-directional  text such as Arabic.  Your PDF output  will be much tighter and more closely match your template, and we’ll be able  to respond rapidly to PDF requests and fixes.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

PowerPoint Support

Includes support for new ForEach and slide break handling, table header row repeat across slide breaks, and native Microsoft support for charts and images.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Tags are Color Coded

Tags are color coded in the template by type, making it easy to visually identify them.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Increased Performance

Version 13’s core code has been reworked and optimized to offer a reduced memory footprint, faster PDF generation and full documentation of supported features and limitations in the specifications for DOCX, XLSX and PPTX.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Advanced Image Properties

Documents can include advanced Word image properties such as shadows, borders, and styles.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Improved HTML Output

Windward has updated HTML output to reflect changing HTML standards.

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Version 13 New Data Sources

Windward now works with a slew of new datasources: MongoDB, JSON, Cassandra, OData, Salesforce.com

If you've just discovered us, we're excited. Learn more about Windward document automation software now.

Try Windward with our 30-day free trial and start creating documents in quick time with our low/no code solutions.

Generate Code

The Generate Code tool in the designer allows you to open an existing template and, with a click of a button, automatically create a window with the code needed to run your current template with all data sources and variables. Simply copy this code and paste into your application's code in the appropriate place. You now have Windward integrated into your application.

You only need to do this once. You do not do this for each template. Instead, where it has explicit files for the template and output, change that to parameters you pass to this code. Same for the parameters passed to Windward. This example uses explicit values to show you what to substitute in where.

Pivot Tables Adjusted in Output

Any pivot tables in an XLSX template are carried over to the XLSX output. The ranges in the pivot ranges are adjusted to match the generated output. So your final XLSX will have pivot tables set as expected in the generated file.

This makes creating an XLSX workbook with pivot tables trivial.

Imported Template Can be Set to Match the Parent Styles

In an imported sub-template, if its properties for a style (ex. Normal) differ from the parent template's properties for the style, the use in the sub-template can be set to either use the properties in the sub-template, or the properties in the parent.

You set to retain when you don't want the child template's styling to change when imported. You set to use the parent when you want the styling of the imported template to match the styling in the parent.

Any explicit styling is always retained. This only impacts styling set by styles.

Tags can be Placed in Text Boxes

Tags can be placed in text boxes. Including linked text boxes. This gives you the ability to set the text in a textbox from your data.

Tags can be Placed in Shapes & Smart Art

Tags can be placed in shapes & smart art. This gives you the ability to set the text in a shape from your data.

HTML Output Supports Embedded Images

When generating HTML output, the engine can either write bitmaps as distinct files the generate HTML references, or it can embed the images in the HTML providing a single file for the output.

Footnotes & Endnotes can Have Tags

You can place tags in pretty much any part of a template, including in footnotes & endnotes.

Document Locking Supported in DOCX & XLSX

Any parts of a DOCX or XLSX (PowerPoint does not support this) file that are locked in the template, will be locked the same in the output.

Specify Font Substitution

If a font used in the template does not exist on the server generating a report, the font to substitute can be specified.
In addition, if a glyph to be rendered does not exist in the font specified, you can specify the replacement font. This can be set distinctly for European, Bi-Directional, and Far East fonts.

Process Multiple Datasources Simultaneously

If you need this - it's essential. And if you don't need it, it's irrelevant.

Windward enables you to build a document by applying multiple datasources to the template simultaneously. When Windward is merging the data into a template, it processes the template by handling each tag in order, and each tag pulls from different datasources. (As opposed to processing all of one datasource, then processing the next.)

This allows the select tag to use data from another datasource in its select. For example, if you are pulling customer information from one data source, you can then pull data from the sales datasource using the customer ID of the customer presently processing to pull the sales information for that customer. If you're interested in patching together your data from multiple datasources, read this post on our blog.

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