<>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.

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