In
the next chapter we will cover the various report components, their purpose, and
how each one is used in a report.
Now although we have not gotten into the topic of scripting in BIRT, it is worth
mentioning that the Palette does change when you open up the Script Editor in BIRT,
to give a simplified view of different low-level script objects that are available. If this
is a topic that we have not gotten to, why do I mention it here? Because this is one of
those things that I wish I had known early on in my BIRT development experiences,
which I didn't find out until later and kicked myself for not knowing about it. As
strange as that sounds, you will thank me when we get there.
The BIRT Environment and Your First Report
[ 40 ]
The following figure shows the BIRT Palette when editing script, showing available
functions and objects:
The Data Explorer
A report development environment would not be very useful if it didn't have a
means or mechanism to manage data connections. The Data Explorer is such a place.
The Data Explorer provides several different data-related functions. From here you
can manage data connections to your Data Sources. For example, this is one of the
locations where you can manage your database connections and drivers and any
sort of custom data adapters. You will also manage your data queries from this pane.
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