phoenix/project/project_plan_R2_3_0.php - gerrit/www.eclipse.org/birt - Git at Google

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 <p class="head">Draft BIRT Project 2.3 Plan</p>


 <p>Last revised September 21, 2007</p>


 <h2><a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h2>


 <p>This document lays out the feature and API set for the next
 feature
 release of the Eclipse BIRT project after 2.2, designated release 2.3.</p>


 <ul>


   <li><a href="#Deliverables">Release deliverables</a></li>


   <li><a href="#Milestones">Release milestones</a></li>


   <li><a href="#TargetOperatingEnvironments">Target
 operating environments</a></li>


   <li><a href="#CommunityOperatingEnvironments">Community
 tested operating environments</a></li>


   <li><a href="#Compatibility">Compatibility with
 previous releases</a></li>


   <li><a href="#Themes">Themes</a></li>


   <li><a href="#Projects">Projects</a></li>


   <li><a href="#Defects">Defects</a></li>


 </ul>


 <p>Plans do not materialize out
 of nowhere, nor are they entirely
 static. To
 ensure the planning process is transparent and open to the entire
 Eclipse
 community, plans are posted in an embryonic form and then revised from
 time
 to time throughout the release cycle.</p>


 <p>The first part of the plan
 deals with the important matters of
 release
 deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and
 release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be
 clear
 for any release, even if no features were to change.</p>


 <p>The remainder of the plan
 consists of plan items for the
 projects under
 the Eclipse BIRT project. Each plan item covers a feature or API that
 is to
 be added, or some aspect that is to be improved. Each plan item has its
 own
 entry in the Eclipse bugzilla database, with a title and a concise
 summary
 (usually a single paragraph) that explains the work item at a suitably
 high
 enough level so that everyone can readily understand what the work item
 is
 without having to understand the nitty-gritty detail.</p>


 <p>Please send comments about
 this draft plan to the <a href="mailto:birt-dev@eclipse.org">BIRT
 Developer</a>
 mailing list.</p>


 <h2><a name="Deliverables" id="Deliverables"></a>Release
 deliverables</h2>


 <p>This&nbsp;release of BIRT will focus on providing the
 same
 downloads as BIRT 2.2.</p>


 <h2><a name="Milestones" id="Milestones"></a>Release
 milestones</h2>


 <ul>


   <li>The BIRT 2.3 Release&nbsp;<span class="939140701-28062007">will follow the Ganymede
 simultaneous release milestones</span></li>


 </ul>


 <p>Our target is to complete and release BIRT 2.3 with the
 Ganymede
 Coordinated&nbsp; release.</p>


 <p>For information about new features assigned to each milestone
 please refer
 to the <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs">bugzilla
 database</a>. The
 bugzilla database will be updated on an ongoing basis as the plan
 progresses.</p>


 <h2><a name="TargetOperatingEnvironments" id="TargetOperatingEnvironments"></a>Target Operating
 Environments</h2>


 <p>In order to remain current, each release of an Eclipse project
 targets
 reasonably current versions of underlying operating environments and
 other
 Eclipse projects on which it depends.&nbsp;</p>


 <p>Most of Eclipse, and all of BIRT, is
 &ldquo;pure&rdquo; Java&trade; code and has no direct
 dependence on the underlying operating system. For BIRT, the chief
 dependence
 is on the Eclipse Platform, Graphical Editor Framework (GEF), Modeling
 Framework (EMF), and on the Java 2 Platform that runs it. </p>


 <p>The Eclipse BIRT 2.3 release depends on the following
 compatibility
 stacks:</p>


 <p><b>BIRT 2.3 Reference Stack for JDK 1.5</b></p>


 <ul>


   <li>Java 2 platform Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.5</li>


   <li>Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary 3.4</li>


   <li>Graphical Editor Framework (GEF) Runtime 3.2</li>


   <li>Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) 2.3</li>


   <li>Data Tools Platform Project 1.6 (DTP)</li>


   <li>Web Tools Project (WTP) 3.4</li>


 </ul>


 <p dir="ltr"><b>BIRT 2.3 Reference Stack for JDK 1.6
 </b>(This is only a proposal and depends on whether various
 projects provide support for JDK 1.6)</p>


 <div dir="ltr">
 <ul>


   <li>Java 2 platform Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.6 </li>


   <li>Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary &lt;TBD&gt; </li>


   <li>Graphical Editor Framework (GEF) Runtime
 &lt;TBD&gt; </li>


   <li>Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) &lt;TBD&gt; </li>


   <li>Data Tools Platform Project (DTP) &lt;TBD&gt; </li>


   <li>Web Tools Project (WTP) &lt;TBD&gt;</li>


 </ul>


 </div>


 <p>The Eclipse Platform and BIRT run in a variety of operating
 environments.
 Testing is focused on a handful of popular <span class="header">combinations
 of operating system and Java 2 Platform; these are our <em>reference
 platforms</em>. Eclipse BIRT undoubtedly runs fine in many
 operating
 environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we
 do not
 systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered
 when
 running Eclipse BIRT on non-reference platforms that cannot be
 recreated on
 any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with
 running Eclipse BIRT on a reference platform.</span></p>


 <p>For BIRT 2.3, the project team plans to tests and validate
 the following
 reference platforms:</p>


 <br>


 <table style="width: 825px; height: 188px;" border="1">


   <tbody>


     <tr bgcolor="#cccccc">


       <th colspan="4">

       <div align="center"> <b><font size="+1">Eclipse
 BIRT Report Framework 2.3 and Eclipse BIRT RCP Report Designer 2.3
 Reference Platforms</font></b></div>


       </th>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205"><b>Operating system</b></td>


       <td width="76"><b>Processor architecture</b></td>


       <td width="59"><b>Window system</b></td>


       <td width="453"><b>Java 2 Platform</b></td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows XP</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32</td>


       <td>Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows Server 2003</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version
 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td>Microsoft Windows Vista</td>


       <td>Intel x86</td>


       <td>Win32</td>


       <td>Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">

       <p>Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4.0</p>


       </td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">GTK</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version
 5.0</td>


     </tr>


   </tbody>
 </table>


 <br>


 <table border="1">


   <tbody>


     <tr bgcolor="#cccccc">


       <th colspan="4">

       <div align="center"> <b><font size="+1">Eclipse
 BIRT Runtime 2.3 and Eclipse BIRT Charts 2.3 Reference Platforms</font></b></div>


       </th>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205"><b>Operating system</b></td>


       <td width="76"><b>Processor architecture</b></td>


       <td width="59"><b>Window system</b></td>


       <td width="453"><b>Java 2 Platform</b></td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows XP</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32*</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows XP</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32*</td>


       <td width="453">IBM SDK 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows Server 2003</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32*</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Microsoft Windows Server 2003</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">Win32*</td>


       <td width="453">IBM SDK 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td>Microsoft Windows Vista</td>


       <td>Intel x86</td>


       <td>Win32*</td>


       <td>Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="205">Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3.0</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">GTK*</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>

     <tr>


       <td width="205">SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9</td>


       <td width="76">Intel x86</td>


       <td width="59">YaST*</td>


       <td width="453">Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 5.0</td>


     </tr>


   </tbody>
 </table>


 *Window system only required when displaying charts within SWT or SWING
 windows.<br>


 <br>


 <table border="1">


   <tbody>


     <tr bgcolor="#cccccc">


       <th colspan="1">

       <div align="center"> <b><font size="+1">BIRT
 Application Server Reference Platform</font></b></div>


       </th>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">Apache Tomcat 5.0.x, 5.5.x</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">JBoss AS 4.0.2</td>


     </tr>


   </tbody>
 </table>


 <br>


 <table border="1">


   <tbody>


     <tr bgcolor="#cccccc">


       <th colspan="1">

       <div align="center"> <b><font size="+1">BIRT
 JDBC Reference Platforms</font></b></div>


       </th>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">MySQL Connector/J 3.x JDBC driver</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">Derby V10.1.2.1 JDBC driver</td>


     </tr>


   </tbody>
 </table>


 <br>


 <table border="1">


   <tbody>


     <tr bgcolor="#cccccc">


       <th colspan="1">

       <div align="center"> <b><font size="+1">BIRT
 Browsers and Viewers Reference Platforms</font></b></div>


       </th>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">Mozilla Firefox&nbsp;2.0 </td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.0</td>


     </tr>


     <tr>


       <td width="405">Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0, 8.0</td>


     </tr>


   </tbody>
 </table>


 <br>


 <h4>Internationalization</h4>


 <p>Eclipse is designed as the basis for internationalized
 products. The user
 interface elements provided by the various Eclipse projects, including
 dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings for
 BIRT
 are provided as the default resource bundles. Translations are provided
 with
 this release for French (fr_FR), German (de_DE), Spanish (es_ES),
 Japanese
 (ja_JP), Simplified Chinese (zh_CN), and Korean (ko_KR).</p>


 <h2><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CommunityOperatingEnvironments" id="CommunityOperatingEnvironments">Community
 Tested Operating Environments</a></span></h2>


 Due to the finite resources available to the BIRT project, we would
 like to encourage the BIRT community to contribute to testing BIRT in
 operating environments other than those listed as target operating
 environments for the 2.3 release of BIRT and to share this
 information with the rest of the community. If you have been able to
 test BIRT in a non-targeted operating environment please take a few
 minutes to update this <a href="http://wiki.eclipse.org/BIRT_Community_Tested_Operating_Environments_for_2.3">wiki
 page</a> and report this information there. If
 you have encountered bugs during your testing, please report these in
 bugzilla.
 <p></p>


 <h2><a name="Compatibility" id="Compatibility"></a>Compatibility
 with
 Previous Releases</h2>


 <p>BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with earlier versions of BIRT to
 the greatest
 extent possible. The nature and scope of some of the key plan items for
 BIRT
 2.3 are such that the only feasible solutions might break
 compatibility. In
 other regards, BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with 2.x and 1.x. We also
 aim to
 minimize the effort required to port an existing plug-in to the 2.3
 APIs.</p>


 <h3>Compatibility of Release 2.3 with Prior Releases</h3>


 <p>BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with prior releases of BIRT unless
 noted otherwise. The detailed compatibility statement is listed below.
 In this
 statement, &quot;BIRT&quot; refers to all BIRT components: BIRT Report Framework,
 BIRT
 Runtime, and BIRT Chart SDK.</p>


 <p><b>API Contract Compatibility:</b> BIRT 2.3 will
 be upwards
 contract-compatible with BIRT prior releases
 to the greatest
 extent possible. All incompatibility exceptions will be documented.
 Downward
 contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that
 compliance with BIRT 2.3 APIs will ensure compliance with prior BIRT
 release APIs. Refer to general Eclipse document on <a href="http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Evolving_Java-based_APIs">Evolving
 APIs</a> for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that
 maintain contract
 compatibility.</p>


 <p>The BIRT Chart UI API&nbsp;2.3 is compatible with the
 2.x.x API's
 but not compatible with the v1.x APIs due to a full redesign of the
 Chart UI
 in the BIRT 2.0 release.</p>


 <p><b>Binary (plug-in) Compatibility:</b> The BIRT
 2.3 plug-in framework will
 be upwards binary-compatible with prior BIRT release plug-ins to
 the greatest extent possible. Downward plug-in compatibility is not
 supported. Plug-ins for BIRT 2.3 will not be usable in prior BIRT
 releases. Extension plug-ins for prior BIRT releases will be
 upwards
 binary-compatible with BIRT 2.3.</p>


 <p><b>Source Compatibility:</b> BIRT 2.3 will be
 upwards source-compatible
 with prior BIRT releases to the greatest
 extent possible.
 This
 means that source files written to use prior BIRT release APIs
 will successfully compile and run against BIRT 2.3 APIs. Downward
 source
 compatibility is not supported. If source files use new BIRT APIs, they
 will
 not be usable with an earlier version of BIRT.</p>


 <p><b>Report Design Compatibility:</b>BIRT 2.3 will
 be upwards report design
 compatible with prior BIRT releases&nbsp;unless
 noted otherwise. This means
 that
 reports created with prior BIRT releases can be
 successfully
 opened
 by BIRT 2.3 and upgraded to a 2.3 format.</p>


 <p><b>Non-compliant usage of API's: </b> All non-API
 methods and classes, and
 certainly everything in a package with &quot;internal&quot; in its name, are
 considered
 implementation details which may vary between operating environment and
 are
 subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend
 on
 anything other than what is specified in the BIRT API are inherently
 unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a
 single
 release much less with an earlier releases.</p>


 <h2><a name="Themes" id="Themes">Themes</a></h2>


 <p>Continuing on the themes for previous releases of BIRT, the
 BIRT project's
 overriding release 2.2 theme remains extending the Eclipse platform to
 provide infrastructure and tools that allow application developers to
 design,
 deploy, generate and view reports within their applications. In this
 context,
 the BIRT project also adopts and supports key themes within the overall
 Eclipse planning process.</p>


 <ul>


   <li><b>Scaling up and Enterprise Ready</b> The
 Ganymede Eclipse platform continues to improve on scalability and
 readiness
 for the enterprise. BIRT 2.3 leverages the support that Ganymede
 provides by
 ensuring that it is tested and it is supported.</li>


   <li><b>Simple to Use - </b>BIRT 2.3 includes ease
 of use enhancements such as improvements to the BIRT report designer.</li>


   <li><b>Appeal to a Broader Community - </b>BIRT
 2.3 will broaden the appeal of BIRT by its integration with the Eclipse
 Ganymede simultaneous release.</li>


 </ul>


 <h2><a name="Projects" id="Projects">Projects</a></h2>


 The following is a proposed list of projects for this release. Please
 communicate other desired projects to the BIRT PMC.<br>


 <br>


 <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crosstab Enhancements</span><br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">
 </span></div>


 <div style="margin-left: 80px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br>


 </div>


 <div style="margin-left: 80px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Filter on Measures </span></span>This
 project looks at providing the ability to filter a crosstab based on
 measures. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=193235">193235</a>]<br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br>


 Show Empty Rows and
 Columns</span> The property editor will be enhanced to provide
 properties to display empty rows and columns in a crosstab item.
 [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=187327">187327</a>]<br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br>


 </div>


 <div style="margin-left: 80px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Computed Columns&nbsp;</span>This
 project adds the ability to&nbsp;create
 computed columns in a crosstab. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=197206">197206</a>]<br>


 <br>


 </div>


 <div style="margin-left: 80px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scripting Support</span>
 This project provides the ability to add scripting on a crosstab.
 [Bugzilla
 ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=183874">183874</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Support for Sorting Using
 Expressions</span> This project looks at providing sorting
 support in a crosstab by specifying an expression. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=192411">192411</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Highlight Rows by
 Comparing Dimension Values</span> Highlighting crosstab rows
 using expressions based on the values of a dimension is the focus of
 this project. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=193910">193910</a>]<br>


 </div>


 <br>


 <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Charts to Inherit Crosstab Data </span>Crosstabs
 are a powerful feature in BIRT. Charts that are based on
 cubes for its data would be an equally powerful addition to this new
 feature. This project looks at letting charts inherit data from a
 crosstab.
 [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=197304">197304</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Improved Label
 Positioning in Charts </span>The layout of various chart
 elements becomes complicated when there are a lot of data points. This
 project will focus on automatically setting font sizes based on the
 chart size, auto wrapping, and auto positioning of X-Axis labels.
 [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=178310">178310</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Allow Specification of
 Alt= Tags on All Report Items&nbsp;for Improved Accessibility</span>
 In order to improve accessibility this project provides the ability to
 specify 'Alt' tags for all report items. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=201668">201668</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Support Multi-select
 Parameters</span> This project looks at providing the ability to
 define list or combo report parameters that allow end-users to select
 multiple values. [Bugzilla ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=131089">131089</a>]<br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Initial Integration of DTP&nbsp;SQL Query Editor </span>This
 project provides an initial level of integration with the SQL Query
 builder from the DTP project. The DTP SQL Query Builder will be built
 on top of the existing textual Query Editor, and will have a visual
 builder available as an option.&nbsp; Editing done in either the
 textual or visual pane will be reflected in the other.&nbsp;[Bugzilla
 ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=201783">201783</a>]<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><br>


 <br>


 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Report Designer Usability
 Enhancements</span> As increasing numbers of report developers
 adopt BIRT, usability becomes critical to the wide adoption of BIRT.
 This project will study areas for improvement with the report designer
 and propose improvements. Some possible areas of improvement include
 the expression builder, the aggregation builder, and the crosstab
 editor. Another area of improvement is better error handling. [Bugzilla
 ID: <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=201499">201499</a>]<br>


 </div>

 <br>

 <ul>


 </ul>


 <h2><a name="Defects" id="Defects"></a>Defects</h2>


 BIRT 2.3 will address defects reported by project members and the
 community. The <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&amp;short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&amp;short_desc=&amp;classification=BIRT&amp;product=BIRT&amp;target_milestone=2.3.0&amp;target_milestone=2.3.0+M1&amp;target_milestone=2.3.0+M2&amp;long_desc_type=allwordssubstr&amp;long_desc=&amp;bug_file_loc_type=allwordssubstr&amp;bug_file_loc=&amp;status_whiteboard_type=allwordssubstr&amp;status_whiteboard=&amp;keywords_type=allwords&amp;keywords=&amp;emailtype1=substring&amp;email1=&amp;emailtype2=substring&amp;email2=&amp;bugidtype=include&amp;bug_id=&amp;votes=&amp;chfieldfrom=&amp;chfieldto=Now&amp;chfieldvalue=&amp;cmdtype=doit&amp;order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&amp;field0-0-0=noop&amp;type0-0-0=noop&amp;value0-0-0=">list
 of defects</a> targeted for resolution in BIRT 2.3 can be found
 in the bugzilla database on <a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs">https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs</a>.
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