BIRT Report Engine and Java APIs

Features: Execution and Output Generation Services

The BIRT Report Engine generates and renders reports from XML report designs created by the BIRT Report Designers or other tools. It generates HTML, Adobe PDF, Word DOC, Excel XLS, PostScript, and PowerPoint PPT output and can be extended to support custom formats.

Execution Services

The BIRT Report Engine combines services that read a BIRT (XML) report design; gather and process report data; and create the corresponding report.

• Parameter service - reads the set of input parameters for a report and fetches the default values.
• Data Connection service - connects to the specified data source(s).
• Data Processing service - retrieves and processes the data; for example, sorting, grouping, aggregations, and other functions.
• Report Layout service - creates the resulting report layout for the data.
• Charting service - fetches data and creates the various chart types listed in the BIRT Report Designer section [link to BIRT Designers Report Layout and User Experience].
• Report Generation service - generates the report document which can be saved or viewed immediately using the appropriate viewer.

Output Generation Services

The generation services within the BIRT Report Engine provide a variety of output formats from which to view reports. These are all sourced from the same initial document, enabling the same content to be targeted for different delivery vehicles.

• Formatting service - generates HTML, Adobe PDF, Word DOC, Excel XLS, PostScript, and PowerPoint PPT.
• Viewing service - renders a report in HTML for online viewing, with APIs to retrieve report content page by page
• Sample viewer - leverages the Viewing service APIs as an example web application. The BIRT Exchange products BIRT Deployment Kit and iServer Express improve on this sample viewer.

Features Overview Next: Multiple Use Paradigms