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| <p class="head">BIRT FAQ</p> |
| <p class="subhead">Getting Started with BIRT</p> |
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| <h1>Getting Started</h1> |
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| <h2>Q: How should I get started with BIRT?</h2> |
| |
| <p>Many people want to try out BIRT with a simple report design, |
| then see that report work on their app server before diving into the details of |
| BIRT. Here are some suggested steps for getting started. First, try out the BIRT |
| Designer:</p> |
| |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/birt/index.php?page=build/install.html">Install Eclipse, BIRT and its prerequisites</a>.</li> |
| <li>Locate and install the JDBC driver for your database. Install them in the |
| BIRT designer (same page).</li> |
| <li>Walk through the <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/birt/tutorial">BIRT tutorial</a> |
| to get an overview of the designer.</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>Next, try out the BIRT viewer on your app server:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>I<a href="http://www.eclipse.org/birt/index.php?page=deploy/viewer-deploy.html">nstall Tomcat & the BIRT viewer</a>.</li> |
| <li>Install & try out the sample report. (same page as above.)</li> |
| <li>Install your JDBC drivers into the Viewer. (same page as above.)</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>Now you're ready to try out a report specific to your |
| application:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Create a simple report, perhaps a listing of some table, using the BIRT |
| designer.</li> |
| <li>Preview the data to ensure the connection stuff works.</li> |
| <li>Preview the report itself to verify your layout.</li> |
| <li>Create a "reports" directory within the birt-viewer web app created above.</li> |
| <li>Copy your "first report" to this new reports folder.</li> |
| <li>Run your report using Tomcat. (Use the URL as on the Viewer setup page, |
| but use reports/yourReport.rptdesign as the report name, where |
| yourReport.rptdesign is the name of your report.)</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>At this point, you're ready to work on greater integration:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Learn about |
| <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/birt/index.php?page=deploy/viewer-use.html"> |
| BIRT Viewer URLs</a> (for passing report parameters).<li>Some brief hints for |
| <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/birt/index.php?page=deploy/viewer-php.html">using the Viewer with PHP</a>, |
| if that is your server environment.</font></li> |
| </ul> |
| |
| <h1>Examples</h1> |
| <h2>Q: Where can I find Example Reports?</h2> |
| <p>Look in the <a href="../examples">Example Gallery</a>.</p> |
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