Chapter 6
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This becomes a very important concept, especially when working with Data Sets that
are not JDBC Data Sets. Data Set Parameters are limited to JDBC Data Sets only. With
other types of Data Sets, Report Parameters will get linked to Filters, and not Data
Set Parameters. This is something to keep in mind when working in BIRT, as the
term parameter is used with both Report Parameters and Data Set Parameters, and
gets even more confusing when taking into consideration that later versions of BIRT
allow users to create Report Parameters directly from the Data Set Parameter Dialog.
The difference will become clear throughout this chapter.
Getting Input from the User
Let's take a look at an example. In the following exercise, we are going to build a
very simple query that will let us get the employee who has a particular Employee
ID. The user will be prompted to enter an ID number, and the report will return the
information relevant to that user.
1. Create a new report, and call it Employee-Chapter6.rpDesign.
2. Create a new Data Source from the Classic Cars Sample Database.
3. Create a new SQL statement Data Set called dsetEmployeeInfo based on the
Classic Cars Data Source.
4. Use the following SQL statement as your query. Be sure to keep the question
mark in the query, as it indicates to BIRT that a Data Set Parameter needs to
be created and used in its place.
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