I'm looking for a templating tool that allows powerful manipulation of data and report building. JasperReports is powerful, but is it the best out there? I generally don't need the ability for fancy colors or gradients, but I do need the ability to position data accurately and produce reliable, quick results. Ideally, generating a report shouldn't need to be driven by a visual tool, either, and should be entirely API based.
Does anyone have real experience with any major reporting framework in a large scale application? Some of the reporting tools I've seen deal primarily with BusinessIntelligence, and thus less direct programmatic control.
So in summary, I need
- Strong documentation and support
- The ability to control document output and print to PDF, programmatically
- Multiple layout formats
- Speed and efficiency
- Ability to last at least 4+ years
and I don't need
- Pretty colors
- Rich interfaces (HTML output/etc.)
In general, I'll be producing batch documents, which is why speed and efficiency are very relevant concerns.
Suggestions? Thoughts?