BIRT provides a number of separate packages as downloadable archive (.zip) files on the BIRT downloads page. Some of the packages are stand-alone modules, others require an existing Eclipse environment, and still others provide additional functionality to report developers and application developers. This chapter describes the requirements for each of the available packages:
BIRT Chart Engine
BIRT Demo Database
BIRT Report Designer
BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install for Linux
BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install for Windows
BIRT Report Engine
BIRT Rich Client Platform (RCP) Report Designer
BIRT Samples
BIRT SDK
BIRT Test Suite
There are two designer applications that you can use to create BIRT reports:
BIRT RCP Report Designer
BIRT Report Designer is a stand-alone module for report designers who do not have programming experience. BIRT RCP Report Designer is a stand-alone component that only requires a Java JDK. BIRT RCP Report Designer appears on the BIRT download page as RCP Report Designer.
BIRT Report Designer
BIRT Report Designer requires Eclipse, a Java JDK, and several other components. BIRT Report Designer is useful for report designers who may want to modify the underlying Java or JavaScript code that BIRT uses to create a report.
You can install BIRT Report Designer in either of the following two ways:
Download and install an all-in-one archive file, which contains Eclipse, BIRT Report Designer, Graphics Editor Framework (GEF), and Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF).
The all-in-one archive file contains all the components necessary to run BIRT Report Designer except the Java SDK and itext-1.3.jar. The all-in-one archive file appears on the BIRT download page as BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install.
Independently download and install all the components that are required to run BIRT Report Designer.
To independently install the BIRT Report Designer component, you must first download and install Eclipse. After installing Eclipse, you must also download and install GEF and EMF. You must install itext-1.3.jar only after installing BIRT. The BIRT Report Designer archive file appears on the BIRT download page as Report Designer.
BIRT Report Designer and SDK
BIRT Report Designer and SDK is identical to BIRT Report Designer except that it also includes the Java source code for the plug-ins. The requirements for BIRT Report Designer and SDK are identical to the requirements for BIRT Report Designer.
This section describes the prerequisites for each designer package and lists the recommended versions for each component. Table 1-1 provides more information about supported configurations.
Because BIRT is a Java-based platform, installing a required component typically involves only unpacking an archive. Most BIRT components are packed in archives that have an Eclipse directory at the top level. As a result, you follow the same unpacking procedure for most modules. A common installation mistake that new BIRT users make is unpacking archives in the wrong directory. Before you unpack an archive, examine its structure to confirm that you are unpacking it to the correct directory.
The BIRT web site provides the most current information about BIRT installation. To get additional tips, access the BIRT newsgroup, or see an installation demo, visit the following URL:
BIRT RCP Report Designer requires the following software:
J2SE 1.4.2 or later
If you do not have J2SE 1.4.2 or later already installed, choose the latest release, and install it in an appropriate location on your system. The latest JDK download is available at the following URL:
The JDK is available as a self-extracting executable file for Windows operating systems and as an archive file for UNIX and Linux platforms.
iText
iText is a library that BIRT uses to generate PDF files. Download itext-1.3.jar from the following URL:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/itext/itext-1.3.jarCopy itext-1.3.jar into $RCP_BIRT/plugins/com.lowagie.itext_1.3.0/lib.
BIRT Report Designer Full Eclipse Install Release 2.1 requires the following software:
Java JDK J2SE 1.4.2 or later
If you do not have JDK 1.4.2 or later already installed, install the latest JDK release in an appropriate location on your system. The latest JDK download is available at the following URL:
The JDK is available as a self-extracting executable file for Windows operating systems and as an archive file for UNIX and Linux platforms.
iText
iText is a library that BIRT uses to generate PDF files. Download itext-1.3.jar from the following URL:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/itext/itext-1.3.jarYou copy iText to a directory that is created upon installing BIRT. You must therefore install iText after you install BIRT. Copy itext-1.3.jar into $ECLIPSE/plugins/com.lowagie.itext_1.3.0/lib.
BIRT Report Designer requires the following software:
Java J2SE 1.4.2 JDK or later
If you do not have Java already installed, choose the latest release, and install it in an appropriate location on your system. The latest JDK download is available at the following URL:
The J2SE JDK is available as a self-extracting executable file for Windows operating systems and as an archive file for UNIX and Linux platforms.
Release 2.1 requires J2SE 1.4.2 JDK or later and does not support earlier versions.
Eclipse Platform
BIRT Report Designer Release 2.1 is only compatible with Eclipse 3.2. BIRT Report Designer does not support earlier versions of Eclipse.
You can download and install Eclipse SDK 3.2 from the following URL:
http://www.eclipse.org/downloadsThe Eclipse SDK is an archive file that you must extract to your hard drive. The installation of Eclipse is complete once you extract the archive. Eclipse does not have a setup or install program.
The result of the Eclipse archive extraction is a folder named eclipse. You must specify to the archive extraction program where on your hard drive you want the eclipse folder to reside. You may extract the Eclipse archive to any location you prefer. A typical location for Eclipse is the root directory of the C drive. If you specify the root directory of the C drive, the result of installing Eclipse is the following folder:
c:/eclipse
GEF is an Eclipse plug-in that BIRT Report Designer’s user interface requires.
Download GEF 3.2 Runtime from the following URL:
http://download.eclipse.org/tools/gef/downloadsGEF is available as a ZIP archive file. Extract GEF to the directory that contains Eclipse.
Eclipse 3.2 requires GEF 3.2 and does not support earlier versions.
Eclipse Modeling Framework
EMF is a collection of Eclipse plug-ins that BIRT charts use. EMF download includes the required Service Data Objects (SDO) component. Download EMF and SDO 2.2 Runtime from the following URL:
http://download.eclipse.org/tools/emf/scripts/downloads.phpEMF is available as a ZIP archive file. Extract EMF to the directory that contains Eclipse.
Eclipse 3.2 requires EMF 2.2 and does not support earlier versions.
iText
iText is a library that BIRT uses to generate PDF files. Download itext-1.3.jar from the following URL:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/itext/itext-1.3.jarYou copy iText to a directory that is created upon installing BIRT. You must therefore install iText after you install BIRT. Copy itext-1.3.jar into $ECLIPSE/plugins/com.lowagie.itext_1.3.0/lib.
Table 1-1 lists the required configurations for developing report designs using BIRT Report Designer 2.1. You cannot use any other versions of any of the listed components.
The Eclipse BIRT download site makes available several types of builds for BIRT. The following list describes the types of builds that are available:
Release build
A release build is of production quality and passes the complete test suite for all components and features. Use the release build to develop applications.
Milestone build
A milestone build provides access to newly completed features. The build is stable, but it is not of production quality. Use this type of build to preview new features and develop future reporting applications that depend on those features.
Stable build
A stable build passes a reduced test suite. New features are in an intermediate stage of development in this type of build. Use a stable build to preview new features and provide feedback to the development team.
Nightly build
BIRT is built every night. As an open source project, these builds are available to anyone. These builds are part of an ongoing development process and are unlikely to be useful to report developers in general; however, if a certain feature that you require does not work, you can file a bug report. When the bug has been fixed, and the fix has been included in the build, you can download BIRT and confirm that the fix solves the problem that you reported.