Chapter 1. Introducing BIRT Report Designers
There are two designer applications that you can use to create BIRT reports:
• BIRT Report Designer
A tool that a report developer uses to build a BIRT report design and preview a report. BIRT Report Designer is a set of Eclipse plug-ins that includes BIRT Report Engine, BIRT Chart Engine, and BIRT Demo Database. This tool supports Java and JavaScript customization. BIRT Report Designer requires multiple Eclipse platform components and a Java Development Kit (JDK).
• BIRT RCP Report Designer
A simplified tool that a novice report developer uses to build a BIRT report design and preview a report. BIRT RCP (Rich Client Platform) Report Designer includes BIRT Report Engine, BIRT Chart Engine, and BIRT Demo Database without the additional overhead of the full Eclipse platform. This tool supports JavaScript customization, but does not support Java customization or debugging.
Understanding BIRT components
BIRT Report Designer 2.6 consists of the following components:
• Eclipse Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.6
The SDK is a framework that supports the development of plug-ins and extensions to the Eclipse platform. The SDK includes the core platform, the Java Development Tools (JDT), and the Plug-in Developer Environment (PDE).
• Data Tools Platform (DTP) 1.8.0
The DTP is a set of development tools used to develop plug-ins that access data sources and retrieve data.
• Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) 2.6.0
The EMF supports the development of BIRT charts. The EMF includes the Service Data Objects (SDO), which is a graph-structured data object that supports applying changes to a graph back to the data source.
• Graphical Editing Framework (GEF) 3.6.0
The GEF is an Eclipse plug-in that the BIRT Report Designer user interface requires. This framework provides a rich, consistent, graphical editing environment for an application running on the Eclipse Platform.
• Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) 3.2
The WTP is a set of Eclipse plug-ins that support deploying the BIRT report viewer to an application server. The package includes source and graphical editors, tools, wizards, and APIs that support deploying, running, and testing.
Understanding Eclipse BIRT packages
Eclipse BIRT provides the following packages. These packages do not include the required Java 1.5 JDK.
• Report Designer Full Eclipse Install (All-in-One)
Contains BIRT and the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This all-in-one installation is the easiest way to install BIRT.
• Report Designer
Contains only BIRT for installing in an existing Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
• RCP Report Designer
Contains a simplified version of BIRT without the Eclipse IDE.
• Software Development Kit (SDK)
Contains the source code for the BIRT plug-ins, documents, and examples.
• Report Engine
Contains the run-time version of BIRT for installing in a J2EE application server.
• Chart Engine
Contains the stand-alone library that supports embedding a chart in a Java application.
• BIRT Web Tools Integration
Contains the plug-ins required to use the BIRT Web Project Wizard in a Web Tools Project, including the source code.
• BIRT Source Code
Contains the BIRT source code for a specific build. All source code is in a plug-in format ready to import into a workspace to build BIRT. These plug-ins are the required libraries for a standard BIRT installation. Additional libraries may be necessary. For example, this package does not include the Data Tools Platform (DTP) source code.
• BIRT Samples
Contains sample reports and charts, plus application examples that use the Chart, Report Engine, and Design Engine APIs.
• BIRT Demo Database
Contains the package for defining and loading the demonstration database into Apache Derby and MySQL, including SQL and data files. The demonstration database package is a convenient way to install the Classic Models database schema and data in the Apache Derby and MySQL systems. The package does not include any BIRT software. The Report Designer and the RCP Report Designer packages include the demonstration database for Apache Derby.
The demonstration database supports the following Apache and MySQL versions:
• Apache Derby version 5.1 or higher
• MySQL Connector/J version 3.1 or MySQL client version 4.x
About types of BIRT builds
The Eclipse BIRT download site makes several types of builds available for BIRT. The following list describes these builds:
• Release build
A production build that passes the complete test suite for all components and features. Use the release build to develop applications.
• Milestone build
A development build that provides access to newly completed features. The build is stable, but it is not production quality. Use this type of build to preview new features and develop future reporting applications that depend on those features.
• Stable build
A development build that is stable, but passes a reduced test suite. New features are in an intermediate stage of development. Use a stable build to preview new features.
The Eclipse BIRT development team builds BIRT every night. As BIRT is an open-source project, these builds are available to anyone. These builds are unlikely to be useful to a report developer.
If a certain feature that you require does not work in a nightly build, you can provide feedback to the development team by filing a bug report. Later, you can download a new build to confirm that the fix solves the problem that you reported.