1. Abhisek Sinha Product Manager, Actuate
Who is BIRT? Solving Your Data Visualization Needs with Open Source Reporting
Abhisek Sinha
Product Manager, Actuate 1 1

2. Today’s Agenda and Goals
Background
The Emergence of the BIRT Project
Getting to Know BIRT: Demo
Architecture and Extensibility
Market Adoption
Deployment Options
BIRT Technology Family
Case Study
Summary

3. Business Intelligence and Reporting
Purchase Orders
Account Transaction Histories
Most applications have some type of data visualization need…
And the simple problems are easy, but…
Real-world data visualization is challenging…
Gather the data
Perform calculations, sort, group, aggregate, total…
Present information professionally
…and meeting user demand is crucial to the success of an application
Budget Reports
Supplier Status Reports
Sales Reports
Online and Printed Statements
Daily Work Order Task Lists
Shipping Manifests
Defect Tracking
Invoices
Network Outage Frequency
Assets Under Management
Utility Bills
Deviation from Service Level
Objectives
360° Customer Views
Sales
Commissions
Website Traffic Analysis

4. Traditional Approaches to the Problem
Crystal Reports
ReportNet
StyleReports
JReports
Buy
Closed-Source Commercial Products
Custom-Developed Solution
Build
JSP
JFaces
Java
HTML
XML
XSLT
JavaScript

5. Open Source Creates New Choices
Closed-Source Commercial Products
Buy
Open-Source-Based Products
Build using Open Source Code
Leverage Open Source in a Custom Solution
Open Source Products
Custom-Developed Solution
Build

6. Actuate Launches the BIRT Project
Actuate proposed and started
BIRT Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools Project
… a top-level Eclipse project
Actuate Joins Eclipse Foundation as Strategic Developer and Board Member
Adds BI and Reporting as Open Source Project
Professional open source Primary development resources funded by Actuate
Contributions from many sources IBM, Innovent Solutions and community
AUGUST 2004

7. Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools
A New Generation of Reporting and Data Visualization Technology
Makes all report development easy
Modern, web-page design metaphor
Open and standards-based
Flexible with rich programmatic control
Full support for libraries and reuse
Foundation for a range of solutions
Simplicity
that makes simple reports easy
Power
to create very complex layouts
BIRT

8. Six Major Releases since Project Launch
BIRT Release History
Six Major Releases since Project Launch
September 2004
BIRT Project proposal accepted, and project launched
June 2005
1.0
Eclipse Report Designer, Report Engine, Chart Engine
December 2005
2.0
Support for a wide variety of common report types
June 2006
2.1
Advanced parameters, ability to join data sets, …
June 2007
2.2
Dynamic crosstab support, web services data source, …
June 2008
2.3
JavaScript Debugger, BiDi Support, Charts in Crosstabs, …
June 2009
2.5
Page aggregates, Multiple drill-downs in Charts, ……..
Ground-up initiative: Innovative approach to layout and design
Enterprise-class, designed to handle real-world problems
Developed in the open with community feedback at all stages

9. Getting to Know BIRT
DEMO

10. BIRT Example Key Capabilities
Very Simple to Very Complex Layouts
Listings, cross-tab, dashboard, pixel-perfect, charts …
Grouping, advanced aggregations, sub-totals, calculations
Multi-section and sub-reports
Conditional sections and logic
Full programmatic control/scripting
Embedded images…
Comprehensive Data Access
SQL databases, Web Services, Flat Files, XML, scripted data sources …
Multiple data sources in one design…
Output Formats
HTML, PDF, Excel, Word, PowerPoint…
Internationalization of labels and text
Bi-Directional language display
Re-use and Developer Productivity
Library support for publishing and sharing components
Leverages common standards (SQL, HTML, JavaScript, Java, XML)
Cascading Style Sheets
Built-in debugger…
Interactivity and Linking
Data driven hyperlinks
Drill-through charts and graphics…
Multiple Usage and Productivity Aids
Graphical layout and design
Query & metadata editors
Formatting Builder
Grouping Builder
Customizable cheat sheets and templates…

11. BIRT Design Gallery Charts and Tables
Listing with Groups and Sub-Totals

12. BIRT Design Gallery
Crosstab and Charts
Crosstabs

13. BIRT Design Gallery
Forms
Calendar / Schedule

14. BIRT Design Gallery Multi-Language and Bi-Directional Dashboards
Multi-Language report shows Hebrew and English.
Dashboards

15. BIRT Chart Gallery

16. BIRT Chart Gallery

17. BIRT Chart Gallery

18. High-Level BIRT Architecture
BIRT Report Designer
Eclipse Report Designer
Eclipse
DTP,
WTP,…
Chart
Designer
Report Design Engine
XML Report Design
BIRT Report Engine
Report Document
Generation
Services
Charting
Engine
Data
Data
Services
Presentation
Services
HTML
PDF
Excel
Word
PowerPoint
PostScript …
Data

19. APIs and Extension Points
Extensibility is a key principle of the BIRT Project
Data source extensibility
Application specific design-time query builders
Custom design-time and run-time data access
Custom business logic extensibility
Incorporate complex business logic scripting
Access existing and new Java code
Visualization extensibility
Build new visual data presentation ‘widgets’
Extend charting with new chart types; new output formats
Rendering content for output
Target output for specific devices and formats

20. High Level BIRT Architecture: APIs
Design Engine API
BIRT Report Designer
Custom Report Designer UI
Eclipse Report Designer
Eclipse
DTP,
WTP,…
Chart
Designer
Chart UI API
Report Design Engine
XML Report Design
Report Engine API
BIRT Report Engine
Report Document
Generation
Services
Charting
Engine
Scripting API
Chart Engine API
Data
Data
Services
Presentation
Services
HTML
PDF
Excel
Word
PowerPoint
PostScript …
Data
Open Data Access
Emitter API

21. BIRT APIs Design Engine API (DE API)
Create and modify the XML report design
Report Engine API (RE API)
Create the report output based on XML report design file
Used by the Report Designer Preview and the Web Viewer
Chart Engine API (CE API)
Can be used as standalone package to create and render charts
Embedded in DE API and RE API

22. BIRT Momentum Downloads
Thousands of downloads
More than 6.5 million downloads through December 2008
BIRT Downloads
“BIRT is one of the top 10 most downloaded commercially supported open source applications and has a tremendous growth curve over the last two years.”
Andrew Aitken, Managing Partner, Olliance Group
BIRT technology is tried and tested in many applications

23. BIRT Momentum Sample BIRT Adopters

24. BIRT Momentum Publications
BIRT: A Field Guide to Reporting 2nd Edition
Integrating and Extending BIRT 2nd Edition
Practical Data Analysis and Reporting with BIRT
Eclipse BIRT: Business Intelligence und Reporting Tool

25. BIRT Project Users Easy Complex AUDIENCE FEATURES Report developers
Drag-and-drop authoring, charting
Advanced report developers
Scripting, script API
Runtime integration developers
BIRT Viewer and engine APIs
Report design integration
Design engine API
Extension developers
BIRT extension points
Core development
Eclipse development, open source 25

26. How is BIRT Being Used? BIRT Report Designer on Desktops
Use BIRT Report Designer as a desktop reporting solution
BIRT Report Designer
Usage Scenario
Desktop personal productivity tool
Users
Report developers
Advanced business users

27. How is BIRT Being Used? Integrated Data Visualization
Integrate Open Source BIRT Report Engine into application
Application
Integration Code
BIRT Engine
Usage Scenario
Add reporting and data visualization to applications
Users
ISV and Enterprise Application Developers
Java Developers, PHP Developers, …
Report Developers

28. How is BIRT Being Used? Business Intelligence
Leverage commercial deployment solution for BIRT Reports
Report Server
BIRT Engine
Usage Scenario
Automated report generation, distribution, …
Interactivity, security, …
Users
Report developers
Business users

29. BIRT Deployment Options
Web Applications
Web Viewer
Sample Web application that encapsulates BIRT APIs
Provides pagination, Table of Contents, PDF output etc.
Available within the Report Engine download
Custom Servlet
Write custom code for functionality provided by BIRT Viewer
Example available on BIRT Exchange
Access BIRT Report Engine API
RCP Applications
Web Viewer Plugin
Add BIRT Viewer plugin to list of required plugins
Add Report Engine plugin to list of required plugins
Standalone Java Applications

30. Deployment Scenarios - Web Viewer
Sample implementation of the BIRT report engine in a web application
Ajax-based Viewer – contains page navigation, TOC, parameter entry, export and print controls in the toolbar
Servlet mappings
/frameset – to create page navigation, TOC, parameter entry, export, and print controls to the toolbar
/run – to generate single-page HTML output, PDF documents, toolbar is not needed

31. Deployment Scenarios - Web Viewer
Deployment Steps
Download Report Engine from
Extract zip file to local folder
Deploy the birt.war file / Copy birt.war to the webapps directory (for Tomcat)
Examples
Access report bundled in birt.war -
Viewer with toolbar, TOC -
Viewer without toolbar, TOC -
Generate PDF - History by Product Line.rptdesign&__format=pdf
Pass Parameters -
Display only chart/table as a reportlet -

32. Deployment Scenarios – Custom Servlet
YourServletExample
logs
The default location for BIRT logs.
report
Default location of Report Designs
images
Default location for report images
WEB-INF
lib
Location for BIRT required jars. Copy from Runtime.
platform
plugins
BIRT required runtime plug-ins. Copy from runtime.
configuration
Location for OSGi configuration files. Copy from runtime.

33. Deployment Scenarios – Custom Servlet
WebReport.java: The servlet that handles report generation on a GET command.
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
//get report name and launch the engine
resp.setContentType("text/html");
String reportName = req.getParameter("ReportName");
ServletContext sc = req.getSession().getServletContext();
this.birtReportEngine = BirtEngine.getBirtEngine(sc);
IReportRunnable design;
try{
//Open report design
design = birtReportEngine.openReportDesign( c.getRealPath("/Reports")+"/"+reportName);
//create task to run and render report
IRunAndRenderTask task = birtReportEngine.createRunAndRenderTask( design );
task.getAppContext().put(EngineConstants.APPCONTEXT_CLASSLOADER_KEY, WebReport.class.getClassLoader());
//set output options
HTMLRenderOption options = new HTMLRenderOption();
options.setImageHandler(new HTMLServerImageHandler());
options.setOutputFormat(HTMLRenderOption.OUTPUT_FORMAT_HTML);
options.setOutputStream(resp.getOutputStream());
options.setBaseImageURL(req.getContextPath()+"/images");
options.setImageDirectory(sc.getRealPath("/images"));
task.setRenderOption(options);
//run report
task.run();
task.close();
}catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
throw new ServletException( e ); }}

34. Actuate BIRT Technology Family
Complementing and Extending Eclipse BIRT
BIRT Interactive Viewer
Actuate BIRT Viewer
Actuate BIRT Report Designers
iServer Express
iServer Enterprise
Deployment Kits
Actuate BIRT Report Studio
Deployment Tools
High-Scale Distribution
Development Tools
User Interactivity
Engage users with rich, interactive content
Skill-specific tools for developers and users
Manage, schedule, secure, run and distribute
Load-balanced, high availability for 100,000s of users
Eclipse BIRT
Meet core reporting requirements

35. Actuate BIRT Goes Beyond Eclipse BIRT
Visualizations
FlashChart report item
FlashGadget report item
FlashObject report item
266 Flash visualizations
HTML button report item
Data Sources
BIRT Report documents
Data connectors for SQL databases
Information Objects
Integration
JavaScript API
Packaging
Installer for BIRT Report Designer
Addison-Wesley books
Deployment
BIRT Reports for iServer
BIRT Interactive Viewer
BIRT Report Studio
Enterprise
Scale
Page Level Security
iServer Navigator
Built-in Information Object Designer

36. Actuate BIRT Report Studio
Easy to use… end-users do not know SQL… iterative development
Toolbar
Cut/Copy/Paste
Delete
Undo/Redo
Chart
Table
Insert
Group
Filter
Prompt
Format
Run
Print
Export
User-selected Information Object
Drag- and-drop palette
Data styles
Template objects
Grouping
and sorting
Format text and currencies
Calculated column

37. Actuate BIRT Interactive Viewer
Simple and advanced filters
Modify labels
Toolbar
Table of contents
Page navigation
Printing
Export data
Save
Grouping
Sorting
Custom calculations
Show/hide columns
Hide/show elements
Formatting text and currencies
Conditional formatting

38. BIRT Applications From Open Source and Embedded to Enterprise
Publish rich apps outside the firewall
Secure and support millions of users
Scale, performance, security, reliability
BIRT + iServer Enterprise
Implement security & management
Publish rich PM apps that satisfy users
BIRT + iServer Express
BIRT + Flash Widgets + …
Engage users and let them drive rich apps
BIRT Open Source
Free Open Source Tools
Embedded Applications
Department Applications
Enterprise Applications
Traditional BI Vendors
Actuate

39. Case Study – IBM Tivoli Maximo
Maximo is an enterprise software product within the Tivoli division of IBM (NYSE: IBM)
IBM Maximo Asset Management unifies comprehensive asset life cycle and maintenance management on a single platform.
Maximo provides insight for all of enterprise assets, Service Level Agreements, maintenance conditions and work processes, for better planning and control.

40. Case Study – IBM Tivoli Maximo
BIRT is embedded in the Maximo web application
Approximately 150 BIRT designs included in Maximo:
Work Order Details
Service Level Agreements
Asset Availability
Asset Failure Analysis
Software Usage …
BIRT security integrated tightly with Maximo Administration Application
BIRT is a key component of many Tivoli products

41. BIRT: What is Next? Eclipse BIRT 2.5.1 Release
Part of Eclipse Galileo simultaneous release
Development is underway now
See project plan for details
Actuate 11
More interactivity, deployment features, business user tools

42. Resources BIRT Exchange Community Site
Centralized knowledge hub for BIRT developers
Access demos, tutorials, tips and techniques, documentation…
Easy for users to contribute content, share knowledge
Enables developers to be more productive and build applications faster
Explore
Search/sort
Rate, comment
Forums
Download
Documentation
Software
Examples
Contribute
Report designs
Code samples
Technical tips

43. BIRT Exchange DevShare
Data Integration
BIRT Scripted Data Source Example
BIRT Connection Pooling
Web Services Data
Application Integration
Java Event Handler
Placing Java Classes
Run BIRT Reports at Command Line
Report Engine API
Using the BIRT Report Engine API
Calling the BIRT RE API
Execute BIRT Reports from Java class
API – Examples

44. BIRT Exchange DevShare
Web Viewer
Exploring BIRT Deployment Options
Using the Report Viewer
Deploying BIRT WebViewerExample in Tomcat
Birt Viewer 2.3 User Reference
BIRT URL Security
Custom Parameter page
Additional Integration Examples
Integrating BIRT with Hibernate and Struts
Using BIRT with Stripes
Using BIRT with JBoss Seam
Integrating BIRT with Spring
Deploying BIRT RCP App through Java Web Start
JBoss BIRT Portlet
Deploy BIRT on GlassFish

45. A New Generation of Reporting and Data Visualization Technology
Summary
A New Generation of Reporting and Data Visualization Technology
Top-level open source Eclipse project
Free with commercial friendly license
Powerful, extensible data visualization technology
Easy-to-use, web-centric design metaphor
Very active community with more than 6.5 million downloads
Actuate extends and complements BIRT with value-added technology

46. Who is BIRT? Solving Your Data Visualization Needs with Open Source Reporting
Q & A 46 46