Integrating and Extending BIRT

Summary

The world-wide developer community has downloaded over three million copies of BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) from the Eclipse web site. Built on the open-source Eclipse platform, BIRT is a powerful reporting system that provides an end-to-end solution, from creating and deploying reports to integrating report capabilities in enterprise applications. The second of a two-book series on business intelligence and reporting technology,Integrating and Extending BIRT, Second Editionintroduces programmers to BIRT architecture and the reporting framework. BIRT technology makes it possible for a programmer to build a customized report using scripting and BIRT APIs. A programmer can also extend the BIRT framework by creating a new plug-in using the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment. This book provides extensive examples on how to build plug-ins to extend the features of the BIRT framework. The source code for these examples is available for download. The topics discussed include Installing and deploying BIRT Deploying a BIRT report to an application server Understanding BIRT architecture Scripting in a BIRT report design Integrating BIRT functionality into applications Working with the BIRT extension framework This second edition, revised and expanded, adds the following new content Updated architectural diagrams Expanded scripting examples Tag library descriptions In-depth description of BIRT Web Viewer Configuring BIRT to use a JNDI connection XML report rendering plug-in example Fragment plug-in localization example Open Data Access (ODA) plug-in example implementing the new Data Tools Platform (DTP) design and run-time wizards

Author Biography

The authors are members of the extended BIRT development team and have backgrounds in both computer science and technical writing. Collectively, they have many years of experience in technical consulting, training, writing, and publishing about reporting, business intelligence tools, and database technologies.

Foreword?	p. xix
Preface?	p. xxi
Acknowledgments?	p. xxix
Installing and Deploying BIRT	p. 1
Prerequisites for BIRT	p. 3
Downloading Eclipse BIRT components	p. 3
BIRT Report Designer software requirements	p. 5
About types of BIRT builds	p. 7
Installing a BIRT Report Designer	p. 9
Installing BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install	p. 9
Installing BIRT RCP Report Designer	p. 10
Troubleshooting installation problems	p. 11
Installing a language pack	p. 13
Updating a BIRT Report Designer installation	p. 14
Updating BIRT RCP Report Designer installation	p. 15
Installing Other BIRT Packages	p. 17
Installing Chart Engine	p. 17
Installing BIRT Data Tools Platform Integration	p. 19
Installing BIRT Demo Database	p. 19
Installing Report Engine	p. 21
Installing BIRT Samples	p. 23
Installing BIRT Source Code	p. 23
Deploying a BIRT Report to an Application Server	p. 27
About application servers	p. 27
Placing the BIRT report viewer on an application server	p. 28
Placing fonts on the application server	p. 33
Viewing a report using a browser	p. 33
Using connection pooling on Tomcat	p. 34
Using Eclipse BIRT Web Viewer	p. 39
Understanding Ec
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Excerpts

About this bookThe second of a two-book series on business intelligence and reporting technology,Integrating and Extending BIRT, introduces programmers to BIRT architecture and the reporting framework. Its companion book,BIRT: A Field Guide to Reporting, shows report developers how to create reports using the graphical tools of BIRT Report Designer. Built on the open-source Eclipse platform, BIRT is a powerful reporting system that provides an end-to-end solution, from creating and deploying reports to integrating report capabilities in enterprise applications.BIRT technology makes it possible for a programmer to build a customized report using scripting and BIRT APIs. This book informs report developers about how to write scripts that: Customize the report-generation process Incorporate complex business logic in reportsThis book also informs application developers about how to: Deploy reports Integrate reporting capabilities into other applications Extend BIRT functionalityA programmer can extend the BIRT framework by creating a new plug-in using the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment (PDE). This book provides extensive examples on how to build plug-ins to extend the features of the BIRT framework. The source code for these examples is available for download.The topics discussed in this book include: Installing and deploying BIRT Deploying a BIRT report to an application server Understanding BIRT architecture Scripting in a BIRT report design Integrating BIRT functionality into applications Working with the BIRT extension frameworkThis revised BIRT 2.2.1 edition adds the following new content: Updated architectural diagrams Expanded scripting examples Tag library descriptions In-depth description of BIRT Web Viewer Configuring BIRT to use a JNDI connection XML report rendering plug-in example Fragment plug-in localization example Open Data Access (ODA) plug-in example implementing the new Data Tools Platform (DTP) design and run-time wizards Who should read this bookThis book is intended for people who have a programming background. These readers can be categorized as: Embedders and integrators These individuals work with the software to integrate it into their current application infrastructure. Extenders These individuals leverage APIs and other extension points to add capability or to establish new interoperability between currently disparate components or services.To write scripts in report design, you need knowledge of JavaScript or Java. More advanced tasks, such as extending BIRT's functionality, require Java development experience and familiarity with the Eclipse platform. Contents of this bookThis book is divided into several parts. The following sections describe the contents of each of the parts. Part I, Installing and Deploying BIRTPart I introduces the currently available BIRT reporting packages, the prerequisites for installation, and the steps to install and update the packages. Part I includes the following chapters: Chapter 1. Prerequisites for BIRT.BIRT provides a number of separate packages as downloadable archive (.zip) files on the Eclipse web site. Some of the packages are stand-alone modules, others require an existing Eclipse environment, and still others provide additional functionality to report developers and application developers. This chapter describes the prerequisites for each of the available packages. Chapter 2. Installing a BIRT Report Designer.BIRT provides two report designers as separate packages, which are downloadable archive (.zip) files on the Eclipse web site. This chapter describes the steps required to install each