As a workaround, I add a new "No Data" band, set the"print when expression" to "new Boolean (false)" and then I put a static field in the band.
REM SVN Revision Information: DO NOT REMOVE
REM $Revision: 2593 $
REM $Author: pchiu $
REM $Date: 2017-08-28 19:39:41 -0400 (Mon, 28 Aug 2017) $
This works as long as I don't need to display anything when the report is empty.
