Use Birt and Eclipse to extract information from the database

Business reporting and analysis is a complex process, and it's always hard to get the perfect result when you want to produce a seemingly professional report. It is even more difficult to repeat the exercise regularly with new or updated data. Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) is a set of plug-ins for Eclipse, which allows you to extract information from a database, analyze that information, and then generate summaries, graphs, and analyses for the report.

Before you start

This tutorial can help you better understand how to use Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) If you have a program that collects or generates data, and you need to use data from various report analyses. This tutorial assumes that you have a basic understanding of Eclipse and Apache Derby. The test database is implemented by deploying the sample application on Apache Geronimo.

About this tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Birt in a Java EE application by creating and developing reports using Birt and Eclipse's Rich-Client Platform (RCP) technology. You will install BIRT and create the first report that will be involved, obtain its data from the Derby database, and build subsequent reports that analyze data from the same dataset from different perspectives. We will create a sample application that collects data from bank transactions. The cashier and the bank manager will enter the transaction using a Web browser. The transaction includes the employee's title, margin or amount and date of withdrawal. The end result is that data can be analyzed online at any time from several angles. So, in the tutorial, you will be a bank administrator and will use BIRT to view and analyze the transactions performed in the bank.

Prerequisite conditions

You need to use the following tools. Note that this tutorial is written using the microsoft®windows® machine. However, the specifics of writing on another machine should be very small.

Eclipse and birt--This tutorial uses BIRT RCP Designer V1.0.1. This version uses RCP. The Birt RCP build provides everything you need to use Birt, including Birt V1.0.1, Java 2 JDK V1.4.2, Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary V3.1, GEF Runtime V3.1 and EMF V2.1.0. All you need to do is unzip the download file and walk away. You can download the Birt RCP Designer from the Birt Release build page.

Birt report engine--need to make Birt reports Engine able to view Birt.

geronimo--This tutorial uses the Geronimo M5 to deploy the sample application and the embedded BIRT report object that is used to view the report.

Java technology is required for Java--birt, Geronimo, and sample applications. In addition, the sample application needs the Java EE for the servlet that will be created. This tutorial uses Java v1.4.2_09 and EE V1.4. However, any higher version of these tools should also be competent. Download the collection of Java technology bundle.

derby--download Derby and make sure that the received. Jars is added to the CLASSPATH.

DB2 drivers--This tutorial uses IBM db2®universal Drivers to connect to Derby.

ant--needs to use ANT to build the sample application because it simplifies the build process for the WAR file for Geronimo.

Overview

This section provides a high-level overview of what you will learn from this tutorial.

BIRT Report

Traditional reports allow businesses to graphically display data that others can read. BIRT helps automate the process of creating reports in a well deployed Java EE application. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a report that will use your application deployment.

Sample Application

When a customer comes to a bank to make withdrawals or remittances, the transaction is usually performed by a bank clerk. The sample application for this tutorial is a user interface (UI) that receives transaction details and stores them in a Derby database. The transaction details that are logged include the transaction date, the transaction title, the employee number, the transaction type, the amount of withdrawals or remittances, and so on.