~budgester/irm/trunk

IRM Modular Reports System

As of 0.9c.1 IRM featured a modular reports system.  This allows third-parties

to develop report modules that work regardless of the version of IRM (almost).

Reports are scripts which probe the database and generate interesting

statistics, outputting in HTML and graphics (GIF,PNG).  A small demo

report was included with IRM, default.php3.  It contains some useful

starting code for making your own reports. 

This document mainly talks about how to create and install your report. 

1. Creating the Report Module

-----------------------------

This is mainly up to you.  You can build it however you please, but

using some IRM functions may make your life easier.  First off, include

irm.inc and reports.inc.php3.  Second, use 'connectDB();' to establish

a connection to the database.  There is no need to use commonHeader("diz");

and commonFooter(); in your report, make your own (printer friendly :)) 

layout.  Those functions would just produce a screwy menubar which doesn't 

work.

Also, don't be fooled by default.php3, you can make your report modules

spread over several scripts.  This is needed for making graphs on the

fly.

2. Installing Your Report Module

--------------------------------

This is incredibly simple.  Open up the file reports.inc.php3 in your 

favorite text editor, and add a simple two lines (or just make a script

so end users can run that).  You have to add two lines to correctly

install the module, these are the 'file' line and the 'name' line.  

First, add a 'name' line.

$report_list["<name of your report>"]["name"] = "<name of your report>";

Replacing the stuff in the <> markers. Note the ; mark, and avoid quotes

in your name.

Next, add a 'file' line.

$report_list["<name of your report>"]["file"] = "reports/<filename>.php";

Replacing filename with the appropiate filename.  Keep the module name to 

.php3, keeping uniformity in extensions.  Also note that the file is in 'reports'

(in /users).  Please try keeping your modules here, so it keeps the directory

layout cleaner and allows for easier upgrades.

That should be it!

Yann