BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

John Ward

• Verlag: Packt Publishing
• Jahr: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781849511667
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Ciencia de la computación
• Thema: Programación web

In Detail

BIRT is an Eclipse-based open source reporting system for web applications based on Java and Java EE. To address a wide range of reporting needs within a typical application, ranging from operational or enterprise reporting to multi-dimensional online analytical processing (OLAP), you need to know BIRT from head to toe. If you wish to start making reports easily and quickly, and also want to be up-to-date with the latest developments in BIRT, then this book is for you. It will guide you from scratch to develop reports using the Eclipse BIRT project. You will learn how to connect to data, use report items to display and format data, and use scripting to build advanced reports and charts.

The book steers you through each step of report setup, to creating, designing, formatting, and deploying reports with data from a wide range of data sources. Its focus is on familiarizing you with the most visible and familiar product built with the BIRT framework - the BIRT Report Designer. It starts by introducing the concepts of business intelligence and open source software, and different installation methods. It will introduce you to the various visual report elements that can be used to design BIRT reports, such as the Palette and Grid components. You will learn the details of the data components of BIRT (the Data Source and the Data Set), different types of source data that BIRT supports such as XML files, flat text files, and databases, and the creation of all of the elements while connecting to Data Sources in reports and Report Projects. By the end of the book, you will be able to enhance the presentation of your report using Charts, Hyperlinks, and Drill Through. You will also be able to take advantage of the scripting capabilities that BIRT has to offer with Expressions and Event Handlers and successfully deploy BIRT reports.

The book includes a case study at the end along with a real-world example that runs throughout the book.

Learn to develop reports quickly using BIRT 2.6

Approach

This book is a concise and practical guide aimed at getting the results you want as quickly as possible. It steers the reader through each point of reporting from setup to scripting, designing, formatting, and deploying BIRT reports using a common example that runs through the book.

Who this book is for

If you are a Java developer and want to create rich reports using BIRT, then this book is for you. You will need a basic understanding of SQL to follow along.

BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

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Table of Contents

BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Started

Introduction to BI

The current state of the BI market

The need for open source reporting

Why BIRT?

What is BIRT?

The origins of BIRT

Features of BIRT

Eclipse framework

BIRT distributions

Conventions used in this book

Summary

2. Installing BIRT

BIRT prerequisites

Software requirements

Hardware requirements

Where do I get BIRT?

Installing BIRT from the All-In-One package

Installing BIRT All-in-One under Linux

Installation of BIRT through the Eclipse Plugin update program

Building BIRT from source

Summary

3. The BIRT Environment and First Report

A basic scenario

The BIRT perspective

The BIRT workbench

The Navigator

The Outline

The Palette

The Data Explorer

Resource Explorer

Property Editor

Report Designer

Setting up a simple project

Creating a simple report

The hidden views

Getting access to cheat sheets and the simple listing report tutorial within Eclipse

Summary

4. Visual Report Items

Labels

Images

Text and Dynamic Text

Grid

Aggregation

Summary

5. Working with Data

BIRT data capabilities

Understanding the data components of BIRT

The Data Source

XML Data Source

Flat file data adapter

The JDBC Data Source

Datasets

Dataset for flat files

JDBC Datasets

Joined Dataset

Creating data using the data store

Tables

Creating tables using drag and drop

Creating tables manually

Groups

Lists

Aggregations

Web service Data Source

Adding additional data aware components to the palette

Summary

6. Report Parameters

Why parameterize reports?

Dataset parameters and report parameters

Getting input from the user

Creating parameter binding the easy way

Dynamic Report Parameters and Filters

Cascading parameters

Parameter grouping and reports with multiple parameters

Setting default parameter values

Summary

7. Report Projects and Libraries

Report projects

Creating new Report Projects

Importing and exporting Report Projects

Other project options

Libraries

Creating a new library

Adding components to a library

Adding a data source to a library

Adding a visual element to a library

Using components stored in a library

Updating components in the library to update reports

Adding existing components in reports to libraries

Master Pages

Summary

8. Charts, Hyperlinks, and Drilldowns

Pie chart

Pie chart with explosions

Pie charts—working with percentages

Gauge chart

Bar chart

Summary

9. Scripting and Event Handling

Types of Scripting

Expressions

Event Handling

Contexts

Adding elements to report

Removing elements from a report

Adding sorting conditions

Affecting behavior of report rendering based on condition through script

Scripted data source

Using Java objects as Event Handlers

How Chart Event Handling differs from other report items

Chart events and the bookmark property for interactivity

Multiselecting parameters and binding them to a dataset through Property Binding

Using the MultiSelect parameter in an Event Handler

Using the Innovent Custom Script Libraries for query binding

More scripting examples

Summary

10. Deployment

BIRT Viewer

Installing reports into the Web Viewer

Accessing reports in the Web Viewer

Command line tools

Report Engine API

Outputing to different formats

Summary

Index

BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: July 2010

Production Reference: 1090710

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-849511-66-7

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Vinayak Chittar (< [email protected]>)

Credits

Author

John Ward

Reviewers

Moncef Maiza

Meenakshi Verma

Jason Weathersby

Michael Williams

Acquisition Editor

Douglas Paterson

Development Editor

Dhiraj Chandiramani

Technical Editor

Gaurav Datar

Copy Editor

Sanchari Mukherjee

Editorial Team Leader

Gagandeep Singh

Project Team Lead...