Dynamic Invoicing/Receipt Reporting tools for Android? - android

I m a Doctor ,(Ophthalmic) i.e Eye Surgeon learning Android Online out of interest, This is my second question on Stack Overflow & I realize that this is one of the most efficient way of not getting stuck and learn from experienced developers & Move Ahead So thank yo SO.
My Last Question was about android so is this one.
I m making a simple application on mobile in which user is going to store his inventory & client details. Now the next requirement is the user should be able to generate invoices/prescriptions from the application itself.
When i made this application for Desktop using Java & Swing , I had used Jasper Reports to dynamically pass Data from J-Table & Other parameters usin a hashmap and passing it to the jrxml design template which i designed using ireport Designer community.jaspersoft.com/project/ireport-designer.
I want to do the same for android, not that i did not search or try something before asking a question up here. I couldn't find much documentation & Tutorials to do so.
I m new to SO , hence i don't have enough reputation to insert more than 2 links in the questions this i m marking the links bold & italic to be viewed and explored.
This stackoverflow.com/questions/8890340/android-what-are-the-good-reporting-tools-to-design-and-generate-reports-from Question on SO is asking the same thing.
The answer to it is itext & generation of reports over server.
So can we use itext the same way in android as we used in java SE applications ?
Also i have found other alternatives like
itextG : itextpdf.com/product/itextg
Jaspersoft Mobile - Android Sdk : community.jaspersoft.com/project/jaspermobile-android
Regarding itextG or itext-core i did not find too much other one video on youtube and simple documentation but that i guess is just a PDF creating tool, couldn't find any tutorials on it.
Please help me if you find anything more on it.
& Regarding Jaspersoft Mobile, If m not wrong says it uses Jasper Server for creating reports etc. which means its again network dependent so it is time consuming as well as one cannot generate reports offline ?
But I m sure there are solutions available because there are android applications available in market which are generating reports taking data from SQlite. Until and unless they are native apps there is a solution , Please someone help me out with what it is.
The apps on the store are
Invoice2go
Invoice Maker
& Invoice Maker is Remarkably Fast & Effective.
So Summarizing the long story short
Are there an easy to use offline reporting tools available for android and ios development with documentation & Tutorials to follow ?
Can we itext simply the same way we use it in Java applications?

There's a new standard for e-invoices. It's called ZUGFeRD and you can find more about it here. As you can see, there is a whole book in the works on how to create invoices with iText. The book isn't finished yet (although you may get an unrevised draft if you mail iText Group directly), but the examples can already by consulted here.
The idea is that you implement one of the following interfaces:
BasicProfile
ComfortProfile
If you implement the Basic profile, you can create the ZUGFeRD XML automatically, but you still have to write code to create your invoice. If you implement the Comfort profile, the ZUGFeRD XML contains all the necessary info to create the invoice. In chapter 5 of the book, we convert the XML to HTML using XSL. In chapter 6 of the book, we convert that HTML to PDF. That's a very powerful way to create invoices that (1) are future proof, (2) can be accessed by machines in an EDI context, and (3) are accessible for the blind and the visually impaired (Section 508).
iTextG is an Android port of iText. If you have iText code to create invoices in a Java environment, you can use the same code with iTextG. However: I would never create invoices on a mobile device. I would have the mobile device connect to a server where the invoices are created in a secure way.

Related

Android/iOS Wikitude PhoneGap Plugin - Custom POI CSS/styles

I've spent days searching Google, forums, everywhere for any direction but have not been able to find anything remotely close to answering my question or even giving any clues where to go from here so I am hoping that one of the wonderful community members would be able to assist me as this has been frustrating me for nearly a month trying to figure everything out. My question/problem is this: As directed by my boss at work, I was tasked with creating both an Android and an iOS Augmented Reality application. I decided that PhoneGap utilizing the Wikitude Plugin for PhoneGap would be the best solution for us due to it being minimally Java-based and primarily HTML/CSS/Javascript-based which is wonderful for our purpose since our Web Development department are at home with HTML, etc. Anyway, I digress.
After a large amount of confusion upon first downloading the Wikitude PhoneGap plugin, I was successfully able to get the foundation of our use down: using the Wikitude SDK's "POI From Web Service" to dynamically push out the POI markers to the device for the GPS locations around our campus (I work for a university) via a dedicated JSON URL sitting on our web server, so that part was very straightforward.
Now we come to the 3 big issues that I desperately need assistance with as they are the core functions necessary in our application.
1.) The university's campus is home to 30 buildings campus-wide. In our JSON file we have the coordinates for each of those 30 buildings..however, when I load the JSON data from our server on my Galaxy S3 test device even when I'm at home (3 miles from campus) and I load up the app all of the POIs being pulled down from the server are crowded together/overlapping (you can only read the first 8 characters of the closest POI's name which any text after the first 8 characters is followed by three dots (...) and also you can only see the 8 characters of the closest POI to you because the closest overlaps all of the others making the text of the others unreadable) so I need help with the "crowding" that is occurring. How can I space them out more or have only the N closest points shown at any given time?
2.) The second issue that I've been trying to find more information on is how to customize the POI markers (such as color, size, shape, making it an image, etc.). Is it via the local CSS in the POIFromWebService folder? Is it via the index.css file from the main index.html loader page?
3.) My third issue is regarding viewing POIs in the AR View. In the example of the actual Wikitude app available from the Google Play and Apple App Stores which lets you view local attractions, etc. how would I be able to 1. code the distance from where I'm at to a given POI marker and 2. have the description/more information area be displayed on click of the POI as in the Wikitude app?
Assistance with any or all of these questions would be a VERY VERY huge help as right now I am baffled as to where to go from here even after spending days scouring the Internet searching for answers.
Many thanks to all of the members of the Stackoverflow community who would be able to help me resolve this issue.
Check if the phonegap location you are getting is the correct one. To do this see: http://docs.phonegap.com/en/3.0.0/cordova_geolocation_geolocation.md.html#Geolocation.
Title is appended with a ... if it gets longer as 10 characters. See marker.js:30 and adapt it to your needs.
Every object in the AR scene is created by calling the ARchitect JavaScript API. It allows you to create locations, GeoObjects and define how the GeoObjects are visualised. Please have a look at other examples and the JavaScript API Reference. In the mentioned example the markers are created inside the marker.js file (see function Marker(poiData))
There are additional examples included in the main SDK package (for iOS, Android or Architect Tools) that demonstrate how to add a distance slider, radar and detail page. Please have a look at those at http://developer.wikitude.com/download. These example will make it into the phonegap packages in the future.

Android Simple application development question

New to the group and new to Android development. At our site we are starting to look into Android application development and as I have the most programming background here I have been tasked with learning to develop on Android.
My programming background includes RPG and CL, (AS/400), Pick DataBasic, Paradox ObjectPal, Basic in a variety of flavors, (of course), a little C and C++, Comal, a little dabbling in Visual Basic and AutoIt scripting language. I have worked a lot in Oracle, Informix and some MS-SQL.
I have installed and configured Eclipse and the Android SDK.
I have an idea for what I think would be a fairly simple application to get my feet wet as it were.
We have a variety of documentation that is in PDF and Epub.
I would like to create an application where the APK contains all the specified documentation for a given application with the following criteria. When the user installs the APK file it would do the following:
Create a folder on the SD card called SystemDocs,
Create a subfolder under System Docs for the a given system say Accounting for example
Create two subfolders under accounting one for PDF files and one for Epub documents
Check to ensure that the user has a suitable application installed for reading PDF and Epub documents and if not find it on the Android Market and ask the user to install it.
Copy the Epub and PDF documents to their respective folders
Exit
Based on the above I was looking for some recommendations as to where to go from here. I am the type that likes to just dive in and start trying to write something useful as opposed to the
10 For x = 1 to 10
20 Print “My First Basic Program”
30 Next X
40 End
Kind of thing. Any thoughts, advice, recommendations, or example code would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Gordon
I would suggest visiting the following link:
http://developer.android.com/resources/index.html
One nice thing about a few of the tutorials, is that they give you base code to start with, and have you add in extra information. This is nice because it cuts out some of the repetitiveness, yet if you wanted you could still type it all yourself.
After that if you have questions, stackoverflow is a great place to get advice on code or any troubles you may have.
Other than that, searching google for tutorials (or blogs that main contain tutorials,) and I'd even recommend youtube. Good luck with your ventures!

Develop client-server app for android ... where do i start?

First, let me say that I know nothing. I am reasonably intelligent, and I can learn .... but what I need to know is what exactly it is that I need to learn. Consider me a hobbyist that just got started. I have a degree in math so logic makes sense to me, but it was all abstract math so I never even used Matlab once in school.
I want to develop an application for android. I want this application to take input (text and camera images) from the user, and store that input along with certain meta-data (i.e. time of input, geo-location of device when inputted). I also want that data to be transferred to a server (I have complete admin access to a server, but haven't learned much about it yet either) and stored there in a manner which can be accessed by a desktop or web application which I will also need to develop. The android device may not always have an internet connection at the time of input (but will be taken to a wi-fi hotspot for uploading when completed), and after uploading the data to the server I will have no further need for the data on the device.
I have done a bit of research, and discovered the following gaps in my knowledge, and remedied them in the following ways:
a) I'm going to need to know how to program in android - I have worked through these tutorials at developer.android.com, purchased and partly read this book(1), and just purchased this book(2).
b) I believe I am going to need to know something about JSON - I have just purchased this book(3), after reading just a little bit about JSON on the web.
c) I will need to learn what I need to with the server to prepare it for the data - No idea where to start.
d) I will need to decide how to access the data, and learn how to develop whatever it is. - No idea where to start.
I am not able to post multiple links, so I have moved all the books down here ...
1 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780321741233
2 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780321749673
3 google.com/search?q=isbn+9780470526910
My question(s):
If this was your project, how would you go about doing this? What languages will I have to learn? Can you recommend any books, online tutorials, etc. for each of those languages in the way that they would apply to my project?
Thank you for taking the time to read my query, and thank you for any help you may provide.
Book: Pro Android 2. I have it, I've read it, and it shows you how to do just about everything. I bought it for the sole purpose of developing a client/server application in Android, and I completed the app in two weeks.

projecting / starting medical information app on Android

I would like to create a custom open source information management application, that I could adapt to practical needs of a psychiatrist. (and also would really like to avoid inventing the wheel). Could someone advise me what would be a good way to start? I have some amateur programming experience (see below), but I have little experience with java and eclipse (which I have set up with Android SDK plugin on my linux PC).
What I would like to achieve is a simple app where I could relatively easily re-program/rearrange information presenting screens. I would like the major development stages to be something like:
Basic framework of the app is done Main information is added
through the programming environment
basic formatting (bold, color, lists) should be supported
I imagine this would be through HTML/CSS markup Hierarchical (not
too deep) screens with concise information about conditions,
treatments; easy, not too cumbersome navigation is a must.
Possibility to attach own notes from android device
on every piece of information (e.g. on medical condition, on medication,
list of differential diagnoses, etc)
A desktop application that allows for easy adding and editing
of the content
initially could be even sqlite manager or something similar
possibility for adding images,
possibility to add rating scales, which would calculate scores
maybe also possibility to print through some android print driver
* in essence I envision this as a sort of an integrated website with a relatively simple database behind it (sqlite?) running on android. My models would be epocrates and medscape apps, but the content would be more specific to everyday psychiatric practice. It would include aspects of psychological therapies as well.
In about a years time, I think, the content would be interesting enough to see whether the app should go on the market.
My (limited) experience:
I am a MD - a Psychiatrist. I have some amateur development experience (php, html, css, Perl, bash, sed, sql, Access and some time ago - AS/400). I would like to start an app that I could modify as I go - in order to have the most useful info at my fingertips, when I need it in my work. I have considered some databases (e.g. HandDB) but my experience with them is that you get very constricted with their user interface and this hinders fast information retrieval when you need it. Adding information can be clumsy as well.
Why I am asking for help here
Most of tasks above seem pretty standard. I imagine that people with lots of programming experience here, probably would be able to point me towards some information that would help me to get started.
Many thanks for considering this :)
Are you going to develop this app? Everything you mentioned can be easily done by reading the android documentation. Although if its you doing the coding i recommend buying a book
You will find a lot of samples and other support in the android doc
Printing can be also setup using Google Cloud print
If you want to open source your application you can always use google code.
You have asked a really broad question here. But i guess the above information is good to get you started.

allow users to create forms within android survey/data collection app

I'm trying to develop an Android app that could be used by advocacy groups or campaigners such that they would be able to create their own forms (surveys) for which they can go out canvassing and collect opinion data from people who don't have Internet connections and thus can't take surveys/polls online. Could also be used at events or anything else that requires data collection "in the field"
The benefit is allowing data collection on the spot without having to transfer data from paper to the office computer by hand.
I've been looking over this tutorial by Frank Abelson: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/tutorials/x-andddyntut/section6.html
And have also been pouring through the Open Data Kit, but the ODK is a little more intense than I am prepared for and the Abelson tutorial doesn't discuss much how users could create their own forms.
I suppose users could just create their own XML files for custom forms in the office and store them on the server, but I was wondering if there was a way for them to do this on the Android app?
Just a hint about possible architecture or simple resources would be helpful, I am having a hard time picturing the solution at the moment.
i'm one of the developers of open data kit. odk has been successfully deployed by organizations all around the world for exactly what you describe.
we have a graphical form designer (and good alternatives in purcforms and xls2xforms), a server to host the forms, and an android mobile client (and good alternatives in javarosa). all the pieces are free, open source, and are driven by an active community.
if you could list what specifically about odk doesn't fit your needs (say, a need form design on the phone), i'd be could recommend alternatives...
ODK is a fantastic open source solution. A potential commercial alternative you can also try is Canvas at http://www.gocanvas.com which allows you to replace paper based forms with your mobile device.
It currently runs on Android, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry with iPhone and iPad support coming soon.
To get a quick overview of how to use Canvas:
Build a standard data collection app in 5 minutes and see it running on BlackBerry
Build a signature capture app in 5 minutes and see it running on Android
Hope that helps some,
-Chris
You should look into Fulcrum. I believe there is a 30 day trial period see if this software works for you. This is a one stop shop for mobile data collection teams. You can easily build your data collection forms right from your web account to include photo fields, text entry fields, choice fields, form sections, and repeatable sections. Repeatable, meaning parent-child relationships within a single data point.
They even have an App Gallery with a exemplary apps (forms) that allow you to use as a sort of "cheat-sheet" to get started. Here is the political canvassing survey they posted.
-P.Reyes
Check my project here: https://github.com/AndreiD/surveylib
PROS: Simple solution, open source, without any overkill, you don't have to display any logos, it doesn't cost a thing, it's easy to be extended, material design etc.
CONS: You must have the server part, for the transmission of the answers data.

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