Background on sub-report does not display - background

Question

I'm using iReport 4.5.1 (unfortunately using a later version is not an option) and have a report that has multiple sub-reports associated. In the Background band of the main report, I have placed text to be used as a watermark - this displays fine on each report page. In one sub-report I want to display an additional watermark, so have added an additional text field element in the background band of this report.
When I run the report as a whole, the watermark text for the sub-report does not display, yet when I run the sub-report separately, its watermark text displays fine. Any ideas why this might be happening?

Answer 1

You can check this sample.
The master report design (in iReport):
I've placed 4 staticText on Background band.
The jrxml file for master report is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jasperReport xmlns="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/jasperreport.xsd" name="mainrep_watermark" language="groovy" pageWidth="595" pageHeight="842" columnWidth="555" leftMargin="20" rightMargin="20" topMargin="20" bottomMargin="20" uuid="ffeb1237-be4e-4cca-8a63-223aa5d8f3e6">
<parameter name="SUBREPORT_DIR" class="java.lang.String" isForPrompting="false">
<defaultValueExpression><![CDATA["/somepath"]]></defaultValueExpression>
</parameter>
<queryString>
<![CDATA[SELECT * FROM product ORDER BY id]]>
</queryString>
<field name="ID" class="java.lang.Integer"/>
<field name="NAME" class="java.lang.String"/>
<field name="COST" class="java.math.BigDecimal"/>
<group name="idgroup">
<groupExpression><![CDATA[$F{ID}]]></groupExpression>
<groupFooter>
<band height="28">
<subreport>
<reportElement uuid="710fe82b-fd08-4db3-bba1-929870f83fa4" x="100" y="0" width="200" height="27"/>
<subreportParameter name="productId">
<subreportParameterExpression><![CDATA[$F{ID}]]></subreportParameterExpression>
</subreportParameter>
<connectionExpression><![CDATA[$P{REPORT_CONNECTION}]]></connectionExpression>
<subreportExpression><![CDATA[$P{SUBREPORT_DIR} + "subreport_watermark.jasper"]]></subreportExpression>
</subreport>
</band>
</groupFooter>
</group>
<background>
<band height="802" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="0e7c3a54-8876-4523-9bad-2b582b1defb9" x="51" y="15" width="468" height="148" forecolor="#0033FF"/>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle" markup="none">
<font size="48"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Master watermark 1]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="584b9b65-c040-43a0-96ce-6fa14e9db597" x="51" y="174" width="468" height="148" forecolor="#0033FF"/>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle" markup="none">
<font size="48"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Master watermark 2]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="4f4f55b5-cbd4-4b10-bcf4-1e81d16bb537" x="51" y="344" width="468" height="148" forecolor="#0033FF"/>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle" markup="none">
<font size="48"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Master watermark 3]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="10b1534f-d880-4ca3-9a2f-847d68826011" x="51" y="524" width="468" height="148" forecolor="#0033FF"/>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle" markup="none">
<font size="48"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Master watermark 4]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</background>
<columnHeader>
<band height="20" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="d337add8-2a0d-4a9e-ad3c-3dfb322b715a" mode="Opaque" x="0" y="0" width="100" height="20" backcolor="#CCCCCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle">
<font isBold="true" isItalic="true"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Id]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="97ff3089-7082-4f30-850e-e59836ff48a2" mode="Opaque" x="100" y="0" width="100" height="20" backcolor="#CCCCCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle">
<font isBold="true" isItalic="true"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Name]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="ec4bc628-f6bb-40be-9e46-fd49327071f2" mode="Opaque" x="200" y="0" width="100" height="20" backcolor="#CCCCCC"/>
<box>
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle">
<font isBold="true" isItalic="true"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Cost]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</columnHeader>
<detail>
<band height="20" splitType="Stretch">
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="2b43cdac-3453-499e-a6e0-b33eef8bf3f9" x="0" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<box leftPadding="10">
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{ID}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="75ba99d4-646e-470c-b68b-fa111b702ac7" x="100" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<box leftPadding="10">
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{NAME}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="451db60d-5255-41fe-b5fe-8e523118fab3" x="200" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<box leftPadding="10">
<topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
</box>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{COST}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</band>
</detail>
</jasperReport>
And the subreport's design is (in iReport):
I've placed one staticText on Background band and rotate the text on 90 degrees.
The jrxml file of subreport is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jasperReport xmlns="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/jasperreport.xsd" name="subreport_watermark" language="groovy" pageWidth="555" pageHeight="802" columnWidth="555" leftMargin="0" rightMargin="0" topMargin="0" bottomMargin="0" uuid="cf5d8eca-6c3a-4e1f-a6c9-107436e0ac48">
<parameter name="productId" class="java.lang.String"/>
<queryString language="SQL">
<![CDATA[SELECT TOP 10 QUANTITY, PRICE FROM positions WHERE productid=$P{productId}]]>
</queryString>
<field name="QUANTITY" class="java.lang.Integer"/>
<field name="PRICE" class="java.math.BigDecimal"/>
<background>
<band height="95" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="f09a53bb-3b62-4e97-8e6b-2c592f469c3d" positionType="Float" stretchType="RelativeToBandHeight" x="78" y="0" width="100" height="95" forecolor="#FF3333"/>
<textElement textAlignment="Center" verticalAlignment="Middle" rotation="Left">
<font size="20"/>
</textElement>
<text><![CDATA[Subreport watermark]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</background>
<detail>
<band height="15" splitType="Stretch">
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="135d5748-db78-4272-a1c8-a94f5ce5549e" x="43" y="0" width="60" height="15"/>
<box leftPadding="10">
<topPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
</box>
<textElement>
<font size="8"/>
</textElement>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA["Quantity: " + $F{QUANTITY}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="8736b7b8-b7cd-4fd5-8494-9519cb55317c" x="103" y="0" width="60" height="15"/>
<box leftPadding="10">
<topPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<leftPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
<rightPen lineWidth="0.25" lineStyle="Dashed" lineColor="#3300FF"/>
</box>
<textElement>
<font size="8"/>
</textElement>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA["Price: " + $F{PRICE}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</band>
</detail>
</jasperReport>
The result will be (generated pdf in Adobe Reader):

Answer 2

Thanks Alex K. I found that my issue was actually due to having a page header defined on my main report. For some reason that seems to override the background band on sub-reports displaying. I have no idea why and would be very interested to know if anyone is aware of the reason. I was able to work around my issue by removing the page header from the main report. (user2756852/Deb)