OpenMFG, LLC is a company who markets a multiplatform ERP system for small to midsized manufacturing and distribution companies. You can read more about OpenMFG at www.openmfg.com. As part of our ERP, which is built with the PostgreSQL database and the Qt GUI client framework, we built our own report writer from scratch. Like the ERP, it runs equally well on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. We call it OpenRPT.

OpenRPT is released under the GNU General Public License. Please note: If you are a software or hardware OEM, and do not wish to be bound by the terms of the GPL, please contact OpenMFG sales to discuss a commercial license. This "dual license" approach allows us to provide OpenRPT for free to anyone without trying to second-guess your business objectives; it is your decision whether you wish to "opt out" of the GPL by purchasing a commercial license.

Thanks for your interest! - Ned Lilly (Project Admin), nedlilly at users.sourceforge.net

OpenRPT Features Report Definitions are saved in the industry standard XML format Stand-alone or Embeddable WYSIWYG Report Designer Embeddable Report Renderer renders to local printers, including PDF and Postscript distillers Support for All/Even/Odd/First/Last Page Headers and Footers Support for Multiple Column Detail Sections Support for static and database sourced images Support for static and/or database sourced watermarks and page identifiers Support for multiple detail sections and optional, multiple group heads and footers for each detail section Formats Supported Bar Code Formats Code 3of9 Code 3of9 Extended Code 128 UPC-A UPC-E EAN-8 EAN-13 Support for Avery Standard Labels Support for portrait or landscape, Letter, Legal and A4 documents Platforms Supported Operating Systems: Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP Linux Mac OS X xBSD Solaris AIX HPUX Databases (right now): PostgreSQL With a little work: DB2 Oracle SQL Server MySQL Generic ODBC connections

Screenshots Editing a barcode in a Packing List form, in Windows XP (above) and Linux (below).

Developer Notes:

1) Up until very recently, the writer was available only inside of the ERP system, and the renderer was built into the backend as well. You will probably still notice legacy behavior associated with this.

2) The writer (OpenRPT binary) is similar in functionality to Crystal Reports or the Microsoft Access report writer.

3) The renderer (RPTrender binary) lets you take your report definitions (created with the OpenRPT writer) and process them against a database to create printed reports.

4) The renderer uses a simple scripting language called 'MetaSQL' which allows you to write more dynamic SQL queries.

5) There's certainly a great deal of work left to do, but we hope you'll agree we're off to a good start. Some things on our TODO list:

• Add support for columns
• Print/preview feature
• Multi-lingual support
• Additional drawing primitives
• .PDF-generation support
• Additional supported databases
• Ability for OpenRPT to call RPTrender in order to test a report definition for proper results
• Ability to define report parameters at runtime, and save them in report's XML def
• Allow RPTrender to retrieve parameters from report def (see above) and display default values
• Auto read tables to create SQL and report definition objects
• Auto create SQL and MetaSQL
• Visually define table joins

We welcome any and all constructive feedback on both the software and the documentation - with the understanding that both are still very rough. Our goal is to make it especially useful for PostgreSQL users, as we're big fans of The World's Most Advanced Open Source Database - but we'll want it to be serviceable for those who want to use, ahem, other DBs as well.

Thanks very much for your interest and support. We look forward to working with you.