PDF Generation Library for Java
Based on my experience, I would suggest you to consider following Java PDF Libraries for creating PDF reports,
- DynamicReports
- Apache PDF Box
- iText PDF
- PDF Clown
For your requirement, I think DynamicReports would be the right choice. I have been using Dynamic Reports from last 3 years for all my PDF Reporting requirements. With a very less amount of code, you can easily create a truly dynamic PDF. Dynamicreports is a wrapper around Jasper Report. So, it internally makes use of Jasper report.
Docmosis allows you to create templates in Word or OpenOffice writer - separating concerns nicely and layout is then in the most familiar tools.
I have implemented a good solution where my software creates a format-independent "pure" XML file, then I give my boss the XSD and he puts it into Altova StyleVision where he can WYSIWYG design reports based on data he plucks out from the XSD. That software produces an XSLT. So my program:
- Produces the format-independent "pure" XML
- Transforms it with the XSLT, the output of which is XML-FO
- Use Apache FOP to convert the XML-FO into PDF
This is a really great solution, means no more do I (as a programmer) have to change my code each time my boss wants to change a color in the report, my job is simply to produce "pure" XML.
Update: I should also point out that I give my boss access to our SVN repository with Tortoise SVN which is sufficiently easy to use that he can use it without error. So he can check the XSLT files straight into SVN and run the build/deploy without even having to interrupt me from my work. Obviously that workflow only works with people who are sufficiently exact that they don't make mistakes etc., but it works out well for us in that case.
Give JasperReports a try. Use iReport to create the .jrxml files. JapserReports can handle complex layouts. For those parts of the report based on different queries have a look at using subreports embedded into the main report.
Just like @Adrian Smith's solution this approach will separate the report layout editing from the data sourcing.