BIRT

What BIRT provides

BIRT is an open source reporting project hosted by Eclipse. It provides two things, and the split between them is the key to understanding where it fits.

A designer. An Eclipse based application where a report layout is created. It produces a design file describing the layout, the data the report needs and any logic attached to it.

A runtime engine. A Java library that takes a design file plus data and produces the finished document.

There is no requirement for a report server. That absence is the defining characteristic.

Why the embeddable engine is the point

Consider a Java application that must produce a document. An order confirmation, a delivery note, a statement.

One approach is to install a reporting server, publish reports to it and have the application call it. That is another system to deploy, secure and keep running.

BIRT's approach is to include the engine as a library. The application generates the document itself, in its own process, with no network call and no separate service.

For a product being shipped to customers, that matters a great deal. Requiring customers to run a reporting server alongside your software is a significant thing to ask. Bundling a library is not.

Designs as separate files

A report design is a file, distinct from the application's own code.

That separation is quietly valuable. Document layouts change for business reasons rather than technical ones, and often more frequently than the application around them.

Keeping the design as its own artefact means a layout change can be made and deployed without rebuilding and redeploying the application, and it can be made by somebody who works on reports rather than on the codebase.

Data sources and data sets

A design declares where its data comes from and what queries supply each part of the report.

The report is therefore self describing. It carries the knowledge of what it needs, and the engine executes those queries when the report runs, rather than the application assembling the data and passing it in.

Scripting

Layout and data settings cover most requirements. When they do not, logic can be attached to report elements.

As with any reporting tool that allows this, restraint pays off. Business logic buried inside a report design is difficult to find later, and is better placed in the application or the query where it belongs.

Who uses BIRT

BIRT is used by Java development teams that need document generation inside their own applications, and by organisations producing operational reports from Java based systems. Its users are generally developers rather than analysts, because embedding the engine is a development task.

Points to consider

It is closely tied to Java. For a team working in another language, that is decisive.

The designer being an Eclipse application is convenient for teams already using Eclipse and an additional tool for those who are not.

As with any long established open source project, checking the Eclipse project page for current release activity is worth doing before adopting it for new work.

Getting started

The Eclipse project page links to downloads and documentation covering the designer, the design file format and the runtime engine interfaces. Building a simple design against a database query and running it through the engine covers the whole path.