BIRT

Diana Peh, Nola Hague, and Jane Tatchell 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      xix
Preface      xxiii
Acknowledgments     xxix

Part I: Installing BIRT      1 Chapter 1: Introducing BIRT Report Designers      3Understanding BIRT components      3
Understanding Eclipse BIRT packages      4
About types of BIRT builds     5
Chapter 2: Installing a BIRT Report Designer      7Installing 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
Part II: Getting Started      15Chapter 3: Learning the Basics     17About BIRT reports     17
Overview of the report design process     17
About the report design environment      19
Tutorial 1: Building a simple listing report     24
About report files and supported formats      45
Viewing sample reports     48
Chapter 4: Planning Your Report      51Identifying the content of the report      52
Determining how the report will be viewed      53
Considering international reporting requirements     54
Deciding the layout and format of the report     54
Drawing a mock-up       56
Considering reuse of report components     56
Managing report design resources      57
Deciding how the report will be deployed     57
Part III: Accessing and Binding Data      59Chapter 5: Connecting to a Data Source       61About BIRT data sources      61
Connecting to a database using JDBC      62
Connecting to a text file     68
Connecting to an XML file      70
Connecting to a web service     72
Creating reusable data sources      73
Setting connection properties when a report runs     77
Troubleshooting data source problems     84
Chapter 6: Retrieving Data     85About data sets      85
Selecting data      86
Viewing and changing output columns      107
Adding a computed field to a data set      108
Joining data sets     110
Verifying the data returned by a data set     112
Specifying the data to retrieve at run time     113
Chapter 7: Binding Data     117Understanding column bindings     117
Creating column bindings     120
Editing and deleting column bindings     122
Copying data elements     123
More about column-binding expressions      124
Part IV: Designing Reports     125 Chapter 8: Laying Out a Report      127Understanding the layout model      127
Creating the sections of a report      130
Placing report elements      138
Chapter 9: Displaying Text      149Types of textual elements      149
Deciding which textual element to use      151
Using a dynamic text element     153
Using a label element     155
Using a text element       155
Displaying text from right to left      159
Chapter 10: Formatting Report Content     163Formatting data     164
Formatting with styles     171
Formatting data based on conditions      181
Alternating row colors in a table     186
Specifying alignment of content in a table or grid      189
Adjusting the spacing of content in a report      190
Specifying auto-expand layout for HTML output      195
Displaying data values in one row     197
Displaying content across multiple columns     200
Specifying alternate values for display     202
Hiding elements based on conditions     204
Chapter 11: Sorting and Grouping Data 207Sorting data     208
Grouping     213
Tutorial 2: Grouping report data      232
Chapter 12: Aggregating Data       253Types of aggregate calculations     254
Placing aggregate data     257
Creating an aggregation     259
Filtering aggregate data     265
Calculating percentages     267
Creating a summary report     271
Chapter 13: Writing Expressions     277Basic concepts      278
Using the expression builder      279
Manipulating numeric data      282
Manipulating string data     285
Manipulating date-and-time data      294
Using Boolean expressions      297
Chapter 14: Filtering Data       299Filtering opportunities     299
Specifying conditions on row retrieval     300
Filtering data after row retrieval     304
Chapter 15: Enabling the User to Filter Data     317About report parameters     317
Planning to use report parameters     318
User filtering options     319
Enabling user filtering at query run time      319
Enabling user filtering after data retrieval     326
Designing the presentation of report parameters     329
Testing the report parameters      351
Tutorial 3: Creating and using report parameters     352
Chapter 16: Building a Report That Contains Subreports     367Creating the report structure      367
Tutorial 4: Building a report containing side-by-side subreports      372
Chapter 17: Using a Chart     399Surveying the types of charts      399
Tutorial 5: Creating a stand-alone chart      406
Exploring the chart builder     419
Using a chart in a table       423
Chapter 18: Displaying Data in Charts       427Linking data to a chart       427
Understanding the axes of a chart     430
Grouping and sorting category data     434
Grouping optional Y value data     438
Using multiple y-axes     442
Transposing chart axes       443
Filtering data      444
Changing default report parameters      444
Creating data bindings      445
Previewing data and chart      445
Creating a combination chart      447
Defining a meter chart      449
Chapter 19: Laying Out and Formatting a Chart       453Overview of formatting     454
Formatting specific types of charts      454
Setting chart area format attributes     472
Formatting the chart legend, plot, and title       478
Formatting axis titles, markers, lines, and labels     488
Formatting a series      500
Chapter 20: Presenting Data in a Cross Tab 511Tutorial 6: Creating a cross tab     512
Setting up data for a cross tab      527
Building a cross tab      537
Displaying empty rows and columns     550
Displaying user-defined values in row and column headings     551
Sorting cross tab data       554
Limiting the amount of data the cross tab displays      556
Chapter 21: Presenting Different Views of the Same Data     559Ways to share data     560
Building a dashboard report     561
Part V: Enhancing Reports     575Chapter 22: Designing a Multipage Report     577Planning the page layout      577
Controlling pagination     578
Customizing the master page      587
Using multiple master pages     598
Chapter 23: Adding Interactive Viewing Features       601Creating hyperlinks     601
Creating a table of contents     611
Adding interactive chart features     614
Adding interactive elements to an HTML report       618
Identifying report elements for data export     620
Chapter 24: Building a Shared Development Framework      623Sharing report elements using a library      624
Designing libraries for a shared environment      629
Using a library      635
Sharing a report layout as a template     643
Chapter 25: Localizing Text       651Overview of the localization process     652
Assigning a resource file to a report      653
Assigning resource keys      655
Editing a resource file      664
Previewing a report in different locales      665

Glossary     667
Index      739