Exporting pdf from Jasper (problem with unicode)

In my other post I described how to export from Jasper.

There is potential problem if you need to use unicode fonts.

In order to export Jasper to pdf, you need TrueType font that has all the characters that your exported pdf is going to contain.
I had a lot of trouble to find free font that has all the glyphs I need.
Found it on myfonts.

euro-sans-pro

All you need to write in jrxml file is:

<font pdffontname="myPathToFonts\fontFileName.ttf" pdfencoding="Identity-H">

Getting serious (Exporting PDF from Jasper)

Ok, ok... Blogging is good for your health :) 
My boss asked me today did I use JFlex and can I provide quick tutorial.
I used JFLex, JCUp... made some compiling efforts back then. But I can't remember a thing.
So, my first effort in getting serious :) will be my work in progress, using JasperReports and IReport.


IReport crash course
Ok, what is important.
Go to View->Fields. Field names are in my example "myObjectAttribute1" and "myObjectAttribute2". I'll use them later in Java for my data source method "getFieldValue(JRField jrField)". And thats all for simple report! :)
Put some static text, some pictures... and your text fields for "myObjectAttributes". Something like this:

Now save as "MyTemplateName.jrxml".
Compile.
Put it where your Java code can find it.
That's all.
What you need in your Java code
First you need a DataSource for your report. I needed swing table in my report so I'm getting my table model  ArrayList and making MyDataSource:

 
public class CustomJasperDataSource implements JRDataSource {

MyObjectInMyTableClass chartEntry;

Iterator iterator;

ArrayList chartEntries;

public CustomJasperDataSource(ArrayList chartEntries) {
this.chartEntries = chartEntries;
iterator = chartEntries.iterator();
}

public Object getFieldValue(JRField jrField) throws JRException {
if (jrField.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("myObjectAttribute1")) {
 return chartEntry.getMyObjectAttribute1();
}
if (jrField.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("myObjectAttribute2")){
 return chartEntry.getMyObjectAttribute2();
}
...
return null;
}

public boolean next() throws JRException {
boolean hasNext = iterator.hasNext();
if (hasNext) {
 chartEntry = (MyObjectInMyTableClass) iterator.next();
}
return hasNext;
}

}

Invoking Jasper
This is called when you press some swing button:

 
protected void jButtonCreatePdfActionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

 JasperPrint jp = generateReport(myArrayListOfData);
 JasperViewer jasperViewer = new JasperViewer(jp, false);
 jasperViewer.setVisible(true);

}

And this is how generateReport method looks like:

 
private JasperPrint generateReport(ArrayList data) {
    JasperPrint jasperPrint = null;
    String templateName = "MyTemplateName.jasper";
    try {
        jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(templateName,
                new HashMap(), new CustomJasperDataSource(data));
    } catch (JRException e) {
                  doSOmeExcCatching();
    }
    return jasperPrint;
}