Book Image

BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

By : John Ward
Book Image

BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting

By: John Ward

Overview of this book

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.

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BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting
John Ward
Jul, 2010 | 360 pages
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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting
BIRT 2.6 Data Analysis and Reporting
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started
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
Installing BIRT
BIRT prerequisites
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
The BIRT Environment and First Report
A basic scenario
The BIRT perspective
The BIRT workbench
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
Visual Report Items
Labels
Images
Text and Dynamic Text
Grid
Aggregation
Summary
5
Working with Data
Working with Data
BIRT data capabilities
Understanding the data components of BIRT
The Data Source
XML Data Source
Flat file data adapter
Datasets
Creating data using the data store
Tables
Groups
Lists
Aggregations
Web service Data Source
Adding additional data aware components to the palette
Summary
6
Report Parameters
Report Parameters
Why parameterize reports?
Dataset parameters and report parameters
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 and Libraries
Report projects
Creating new Report Projects
Importing and exporting Report Projects
Other project options
Libraries
Master Pages
Summary
8
Charts, Hyperlinks, and Drilldowns
Charts, Hyperlinks, and Drilldowns
Pie chart
Gauge chart
Bar chart
Summary
9
Scripting and Event Handling
Scripting and Event Handling
Types of Scripting
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
Summary
10
Deployment
Deployment
BIRT Viewer
Command line tools
Report Engine API
Outputing to different formats
Summary

About the Reviewers

Moncef Maiza is a technologist, with years of experience in designing and building products and services that are used by some of the largest corporations in the world. Currently Mr. Maiza is a Principal at DataSieve, where he identifies, develops, and manages the technical products and services to further to achieve company's goals. Previously Mr. Maiza was the first employee at digiMine, where he played a crucial role in getting the company started and played a leading role in developing a world class infrastructure for the pioneering WebHousing Application Service Provider.

Prior to working with digiMine, Mr. Maiza served as the president and CEO of ISTC Corp—a software development and business intelligence consulting company. During his tenure at ISTC, Mr. Maiza lead the company in building applications, data warehousing systems, and on-the-edge reporting systems for companies such as Ford Motor Company, Liberty Mutual, UPS, 3M, and SEARS Roebuck.

Before that Mr. Maiza was of Director of Information at CPHA—a pioneering company in the field of medical informatics that hosted the data of more than 2000 leading U.S. hospitals. CPHA was later bought in part by HCIA Inc. Mr. Maiza played the lead role in moving the company to adopt modern data warehousing and management techniques. He also helped in developing innovative techniques to mine data from the enormous CPHA/HCIA data warehouses.

Mr. Maiza holds graduate degrees in mathematics and computer sciences from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Meenakshi Verma has a been part of the IT industry since 1998. She is experienced in deploying solutions across multiple industry segments using SAP BI, SAP Business Objects, and Java/J2EE technologies. She is currently based in Toronto, Canada and is working with Enbridge Gas Distribution.

Meenakshi has been helping with technical reviews for books published by Packt Publishing across varied enterprise solutions. Her earlier work includes JasperReports for Java Developers, Java EE 5 Development using GlassFish Application Server, Practical Data Analysis and Reporting with BIRT, EJB 3 Developer's Guide, Learning DOJO, and Websphere Application Server.

I'd like to thank my Father (Mr Bhopal Singh) and Mother (Mrs Raj Bala) for laying a strong foundation in me and giving me their unconditional love and support. I also owe thanks and gratitude to my husband (Atul Verma) for his encouragement and support throughout the review of this book and many others, to my four-year old son (Prieyaansh Verma) for giving me the warmth of his love despite my hectic schedules, and to my brother (Sachin Singh) for always being there for me.

Michael Williams graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Kansas in December of 2004. He has been working with BIRT since 2008. Currently, he works as a BIRT-Exchange Evangelist for Actuate Corporation named The People Behind BIRT, and spends much of his time creating technical content for the website (www.birt-exchange.org), attending conferences, and answering forum questions.

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