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Integrating and Extending BIRT, 3rd Edition

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Integrating and Extending BIRT, 3rd Edition

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Description

  • Copyright 2012
  • Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/4"
  • Pages: 880
  • Edition: 3rd
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-321-77282-2
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-321-77282-4

<>The world-wide developer community has downloaded over ten million copies of BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools). 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.


Integrating and Extending BIRT, Third Edition, introduces programmers to BIRT architecture and the reporting framework. BIRT technology makes it possible for programmers to build customized reports using scripting and BIRT APIs. This book also includes extensive examples of how to use the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment to build plug-ins to extend the features of the BIRT framework. The source code for these examples is available for download at www.eclipse.org/birt.


Key topics covered 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 revised and expanded third edition features the following new content

  • Updated architectural diagrams
  • Expanded scripting examples
  • Debugging event handlers
  • Developing an advanced report item with data binding
  • Developing a data extraction extension
  • Developing a charting extension


Readers may also be interested in this book’s companion volume. BIRT: A Field Guide, Third Edition, is the authoritative guide to using BIRT Report Designer, the graphical tool that enables users of all levels to build reports, from simple to complex, without programming.

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

Integrating and Extending BIRT: Using Scripting in a Report Design

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 7 and Index)

Table of Contents

Foreword        xix

Preface          xxi

Acknowledgments          xxix

Part 1: Installing and Deploying BIRT         1

Chapter 1: Introducing BIRT Report Designers         3

Understanding BIRT components     3

Understanding Eclipse BIRT packages     4

About types of BIRT builds     5

Chapter 2: Installing a BIRT Report Designer         7

Installing BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install     7

Installing BIRT RCP Report Designer     8

Troubleshooting installation problems     9

Installing a language pack     10

Updating a BIRT Report Designer installation     11

Updating BIRT RCP Report Designer installation    12

Chapter 3: Installing Other BIRT Packages          15

Installing Chart Engine     15

Installing BIRT Data Tools Platform Integration     17

Installing BIRT Demo Database     17

Installing Report Engine   19

Installing BIRT Samples   21

Installing BIRT Source Code    21

Installing BIRT Web Tools Integration     22

Chapter 4: Deploying a BIRT Report to an Application Server          25

About application servers      25

Placing the BIRT report viewer on an application server     26

Placing fonts on the application server     31

Viewing a report using a browser     31

Using connection pooling on Tomcat     32

Part 2: Understanding the BIRT Framework          37

Chapter 5: Understanding the BIRT Architecture         39

Understanding the BIRT integration      39

About the BIRT applications     43

About the types of BIRT report items     46

About the Report Object Model (ROM)      47

About the types of BIRT files      47

About custom Java applications     49

About extensions to BIRT     50

Chapter 6: Understanding the Report Object Model       51

About the ROM specification    51

About the ROM schema    53

About the rom.def file     53

Understanding ROM elements     58

Part 3: Scripting in a Report Design          61

Chapter 7: Using Scripting in a Report Design         63

Overview of BIRT scripting     63

Events overview     64

Event order sequence     71

Chapter 8: Using JavaScript to Write an Event Handler         83

Using BIRT Report Designer to enter a JavaScript event handler     83

Using the reportContext object     86

Using the this object     93

Using the row object     96

Getting column information     97

Getting and altering the query string     98

Changing data source connection properties     99

Getting a parameter value     100

Determining script execution sequence     101

Tutorial 1: Writing an event handler in JavaScript     103

JavaScript event handler examples     107

Calling external JavaScript functions    111

Calling Java from JavaScript     112

Calling the method of a class in a plug-in     114

Chapter 9: Using Java to Write an Event Handler        117

Writing a Java event handler class     117

Writing a Java event handler    123

Understanding the BIRT interfaces    128

Java event handler example    135

Debugging a Java event handler    142

Chapter 10: Working with Chart Event Handlers    143

Chart events overview    143

Understanding the Chart script context    145

Understanding when chart events fire    150

Writing a Java chart event handler     164

Writing a JavaScript chart event handler     167

Using the simplified charting API     169

Chapter 11: Using Scripting to Access Data         173

Using a Scripted Data Source     173

Tutorial 2: Creating a scripted data source     175

Creating a web services data source using a custom connection class     184

Chapter 12: Debugging Event Handlers          187

Checking the syntax of JavaScript expressions     188

Debugging JavaScript event handlers code     190

Debugging Java event handler code     194

Debugging report execution exceptions    194

Creating a debug configuration     196

Tutorial 3: Debugging a report that contains Java and JavaScript code     198

Part 4: Integrating BIRT into Applications           215

Chapter 13: Understanding the BIRT APIs          217

Package hierarchy diagrams      218

About the BIRT Report Engine API      219

About the Design Engine API   226

About the BIRT Chart Engine API         239

Chapter 14: Programming Using the BIRT Reporting APIs            257

Building a reporting application    258

Generating reports from an application    262

Programming the structure of a report design   289

Chapter 15: Programming Using the BIRT Charting API          307

About the chart engine contents    307

About the environment for a charting application    308

About the charting API and the chart structure    310

Using the charting API to create a new chart    312

Modifying chart properties    312

Using a chart item in a report design     321

Using the BIRT charting API in a Java Swing application    334

Understanding the chart programming examples     340

Part 5: Working with the Extension Framework          347

Chapter 16: Building the BIRT Project         349

About building the BIRT project     349

Installing a working version of BIRT     350

Configuring Eclipse to compile BIRT and build the viewer JAR files     350

Downloading and extracting the correct version of the BIRT source code     353

Importing, building, and testing the BIRT project     354

Building new JAR files to display BIRT output     356

Chapter 17: Extending BIRT         359

Overview of the extension framework     359

Understanding the structure of a BIRT plug-in     359

Working with the Eclipse PDE     366

Creating the structure of a plug-in extension    370

Creating the plug-in extension content    373

Building a plug-in extension    377

Deploying the extension plug-in   381

Downloading the code for the extension examples    384

Chapter 18: Developing a Report Item Extension           387

Understanding a report item extension    387

Developing the sample report item extension    389

Understanding the rotated label report item extension     404

Deploying and testing the rotated label report item plug-in     412

Developing an advanced report item    416

Chapter 19: Developing a Report Rendering Extension          465

Understanding a report rendering extension     465

Developing a CSV report rendering extension     466

Developing an XML report rendering extension     494

Chapter 20: Developing an ODA Extension           509

Understanding an ODA extension     510

Developing the CSV ODA driver extensions    511

Implementing the CSV ODA driver plug-in    513

Understanding the sample CSV ODA driver extension    522

Developing the CSV ODA user interface extension    530

Understanding the sample CSV ODA user interface extension    537

Testing the CSV ODA user interface plug-in    548

Developing a Hibernate ODA extension    554

Chapter 21: Developing a Data Extraction Extension          601

Understanding a data extraction extension    601

Developing an XML data extraction extension    602

Chapter 22: Developing a Fragment          635

Understanding a fragment     635

Developing the sample fragment     636

Creating a fragment project     637

Understanding the sample fragment     640

Building, deploying, and testing a fragment     641

Chapter 23: Developing a Charting Extension             647

About BIRT charting extension points   648

Setting up the build environment    650

Extending the chart model      652

Glossary             707

Index            779

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