This is useful because online reports have the tendency to require
multiple sub-reports, and very rarely can be captured in a single report. There is
more on using libraries and on linking in reports in Chapter 7.
Chapter 3
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Another useful function of the Navigator is that it gives you quick access to actually
run BIRT reports. This will actually run a report in a separate and interactive instance
with full export capabilities, which differs from the Preview tab under the Designer
pane. Things that you get with actually running a report instead of previewing are
the navigation features, pagination, table of contents functionality, and the ability to
see how reports would look in built-in BIRT Web Report Viewer. Running a report
from the Navigator is available from the report submenu when you right-click on a
Report design file under the Navigator, as illustrated in the following screenshot.
The Outline
Next on the agenda is the Outline. Now if there were one portion of the BIRT
perspective that is often overlooked, yet provides good return value when used, it
would be the Outline.
The Outline provides a hierarchical view of a reports structure that you can use to
select, edit properties, view events, and edit scripts. Oftentimes, it is the best way to
get access to particular elements of a report for editing with precision, without the
hassle of attempting to select them in the graphical Editor.
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