Almost any behavior found with ReportMill in your application can be reproduced in the ReportMill designer with the original template and an XML dataset file of the exact Java dataset used in your application. If you encounter a problem, simply add a call to write the dataset before or after your call to generateReport, using the same arguments:

// Write XML dataset for data causing unwanted behavior
new RMXMLWriter().writeObject(myDataset, "\\Temp\\Dataset.xml");

// Normal generate report call
myTemplate.generateReport(myDataset);

To get the quickest and best response from ReportMill support, isolate the problem that you see in your template. This basically means removing everything possible that is working correctly:

• Page headers/footers, such as titles, logos, page number tags, etc.
• Unneeded table rows, such as Header or Summary rows that don't effect the outcome
• Groupings that don't effect the outcome
• Peer columns that don't effect the outcome
• TableGroup peer or child tables that don't effect the outcome
• Template pages that are unrelated to the problem

Sometimes this process of removing everything that "is not" the problem is iterative - you might try removing a header row, hitting preview, and if the problem is still visible, you do a save. You might even employ a binary search technique for large templates - deleting half of the table group tables, test for the problem, and either do a save or revert (then repeat until the problem is pinpointed as best possible).

Customers can also sometimes edit their dataset, either from inside their program or in the XML dataset file to further reduce the extraneous data. By pinpointing the problem you are facing, you can improve ReportMill's ability to identity and solve the problem.

One at a Time

Though it seems sensible to group several questions in one mail to save traffic, it makes it harder to delegate specific problem to different engineers and harder to keep a cohesive response thread.

Don't feel bad about sending several small emails, each containing a separate issue. ReportMill works best with questions in this manner!