Integrate Birt Report Engine To Your Application

Setup

1. Download Birt Runtime

2. Copy all the jars in the birt-runtime/ReportEngine/lib directory from the Report Engine download into your ApplicationRoot/WEB-INF/lib directory.

3. Create a directory named platform in your WEB-INF folder.

4. Copy the birt-runtime/Report Engine/plugins and birt-runtime/ReportEngine/configuration directories to the platform directory you just created.

5. Copy iText.jar to the platform/plugins/com.lowagie.itext/lib directory. If the directory does not exist, create it.

6. Copy servlet.jar into WEB-INF/lib

* BirtConfig.properties - Configuration properties for the Engine.Place it to /WEB-INF/classes folder
* BirtEngine.java - Class used to initialize the Report Engine.
* WebReport.java - The servlet that handles report generation on a GET command.
* Copy Database driver class to


BirtConfig.properties

logDirectory=c:/temp

logLevel=FINEST

BirtEngine.java

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineConfig;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.IReportEngine;
import javax.servlet.*;
import org.eclipse.birt.core.framework.PlatformServletContext;
import org.eclipse.birt.core.framework.IPlatformContext;
import org.eclipse.birt.core.framework.Platform;
import org.eclipse.birt.core.exception.BirtException;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.IReportEngineFactory;

public class BirtEngine {

private static IReportEngine birtEngine = null;

private static Properties configProps = new Properties();

private final static String configFile = "BirtConfig.properties";

public static synchronized void initBirtConfig() {

loadEngineProps();

}


public static synchronized IReportEngine getBirtEngine(ServletContext sc) {

if (birtEngine == null)
{

EngineConfig config = new EngineConfig();

if( configProps != null){

String logLevel = configProps.getProperty("logLevel");

Level level = Level.OFF;

if ("SEVERE".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.SEVERE;

} else if ("WARNING".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.WARNING;

} else if ("INFO".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.INFO;

} else if ("CONFIG".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.CONFIG;

} else if ("FINE".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.FINE;

} else if ("FINER".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.FINER;

} else if ("FINEST".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.FINEST;

} else if ("OFF".equalsIgnoreCase(logLevel))

{

level = Level.OFF;

}

config.setLogConfig(configProps.getProperty("logDirectory"), level);

}

config.setEngineHome("");

IPlatformContext context = new PlatformServletContext( sc );

config.setPlatformContext( context );

try

{

Platform.startup( config );

}

catch ( BirtException e )

{

e.printStackTrace( );

}


IReportEngineFactory factory = (IReportEngineFactory) Platform

.createFactoryObject( IReportEngineFactory.EXTENSION_REPORT_ENGINE_FACTORY );

birtEngine = factory.createReportEngine( config );

}

return birtEngine;

}

public static synchronized void destroyBirtEngine() {

if (birtEngine == null) {

return;

}

birtEngine.shutdown();

Platform.shutdown();

birtEngine = null;

}


public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {

throw new CloneNotSupportedException();

}


private static void loadEngineProps() {

try {

//Config File must be in classpath

ClassLoader cl = Thread.currentThread ().getContextClassLoader();

InputStream in = null;

in = cl.getResourceAsStream (configFile);

configProps.load(in);

in.close();

} catch (IOException e) {

e.printStackTrace();

}

}

}

WebReport.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineConstants;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.HTMLRenderContext;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.HTMLRenderOption;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.IReportRunnable;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.IRunAndRenderTask;
import org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.IReportEngine;


public class WebReport extends HttpServlet {

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

/**

* Constructor of the object.

*/

private IReportEngine birtReportEngine = null;

protected static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger( "org.eclipse.birt" );

public WebReport() {

super();

}


/**

* Destruction of the servlet.

*/

public void destroy() {

super.destroy();

BirtEngine.destroyBirtEngine();

}



/**

* The doGet method of the servlet.

*

*/

public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)

throws ServletException, IOException {

//get report name and launch the engine

resp.setContentType("text/html");

//resp.setContentType( "application/pdf" );

//resp.setHeader ("Content-Disposition","inline; filename=test.pdf");

String reportName = req.getParameter("ReportName");

ServletContext sc = req.getSession().getServletContext();

this.birtReportEngine = BirtEngine.getBirtEngine(sc);



//setup image directory

HTMLRenderContext renderContext = new HTMLRenderContext();

renderContext.setBaseImageURL(req.getContextPath()+"/images");

renderContext.setImageDirectory(sc.getRealPath("/images"));



logger.log( Level.FINE, "image directory " + sc.getRealPath("/images"));

System.out.println("stdout image directory " + sc.getRealPath("/images"));

HashMap contextMap = new HashMap();

contextMap.put( EngineConstants.APPCONTEXT_HTML_RENDER_CONTEXT, renderContext );

IReportRunnable design;

try

{

//Open report design

design = birtReportEngine.openReportDesign( sc.getRealPath("/Reports")+"/"+reportName );

//create task to run and render report

IRunAndRenderTask task = birtReportEngine.createRunAndRenderTask( design );

task.setAppContext( contextMap );

//set output options

HTMLRenderOption options = new HTMLRenderOption();

options.setOutputFormat(HTMLRenderOption.OUTPUT_FORMAT_HTML);

//options.setOutputFormat(HTMLRenderOption.OUTPUT_FORMAT_PDF);

options.setOutputStream(resp.getOutputStream());

task.setRenderOption(options);

//run report

task.run();

task.close();

}catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
throw new ServletException( e );
}

}


/**

* The doPost method of the servlet.

*/

public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)

throws ServletException, IOException {

response.setContentType("text/html");

PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
out.println("");
out.println("");
out.println(" ");
out.println(" ");
out.println(" Post does nothing");
out.println(" ");
out.println("");
out.flush();
out.close();

}



/**

* Initialization of the servlet.

*

* @throws ServletException if an error occure

*/

public void init() throws ServletException {

BirtEngine.initBirtConfig();

}

}

Frameworks Comparision

Ajax support

JSF: No Ajax support, use ICEfaces and Ajax4JSF

Stripes: No libraries, supports streaming results

Struts 2: Dojo built-in, plugins for GWT, JSON

Spring MVC: No libraries, use DWR

Tapestry: Dojo built-in in 4.1


Bookmarking and URLs
JSF does a POST for everything - URLs not even considered

Struts 2 has namespaces - makes it easy

Spring MVC allows full URL control

Tapestry still has somewhat ugly URLs


Validation

JSF has ugly default messages, but easiest to configure

Spring MVC allows you to use Commons Validator - a mature solution

Struts 2 uses OGNL for powerful expressions - clientside only works when specifying rules on Actions

Tapestry has very robust validation - good messages without need to customize

Stripes and Wicket do validation in Java - no client-side


Testability

Spring and Struts 2 allow easy testing with mocks (e.g. EasyMock, jMock, Spring Mocks)

JSF page classes can be easily tested and actually look a lot like Struts 2 actions

Struts 1 Vs Struts 2

Struts 1 Vs Struts 2

Action classes

Struts 1 requires Action classes to extend an abstract base class. A common problem in Struts 1 is programming to abstract classes instead of interfaces.

An Struts 2 Action may implement an Action interface, along with other interfaces to enable optional and custom services. Struts 2 provides a base ActionSupport class to implement commonly used interfaces. Albeit, the Action interface is not required. Any POJO object with a execute signature can be used as an Struts 2 Action object.

Threading Model

Struts 1 Actions are singletons and must be thread-safe since there will only be one instance of a class to handle all requests for that Action. The singleton strategy places restrictions on what can be done with Struts 1 Actions and requires extra care to develop. Action resources must be thread-safe or synchronized.

Struts 2 Action objects are instantiated for each request, so there are no thread-safety issues. (In practice, servlet containers generate many throw-away objects per request, and one more object does not impose a performance penalty or impact garbage collection.)

Servlet Dependency

Struts 1 Actions have dependencies on the servlet API since the HttpServletRequest and HttpServletResponse is passed to the execute method when an Action is invoked.

Struts 2 Actions are not coupled to a container. Most often the servlet contexts are represented as simple Maps, allowing Actions to be tested in isolation. Struts 2 Actions can still access the original request and response, if required. However, other architectural elements reduce or eliminate the need to access the HttpServetRequest or HttpServletResponse directly.

Testability

A major hurdle to testing Struts 1 Actions is that the execute method exposes the Servlet API. A third-party extension, Struts TestCase, offers a set of mock object for Struts 1.

Struts 2 Actions can be tested by instantiating the Action, setting properties, and invoking methods. Dependency Injection support also makes testing simpler.

Harvesting Input

Struts 1 uses an ActionForm object to capture input. Like Actions, all ActionForms must extend a base class. Since other JavaBeans cannot be used as ActionForms, developers often create redundant classes to capture input. DynaBeans can used as an alternative to creating conventional ActionForm classes, but, here too, developers may be redescribing existing JavaBeans.

Struts 2 uses Action properties as input properties, eliminating the need for a second input object. Input properties may be rich object types which may have their own properties. The Action properties can be accessed from the web page via the taglibs. Struts 2 also supports the ActionForm pattern, as well as POJO form objects and POJO Actions. Rich object types, including business or domain objects, can be used as input/output objects. The ModelDriven feature simplifies taglb references to POJO input objects.

Expression Language

Struts 1 integrates with JSTL, so it uses the JSTL EL. The EL has basic object graph traversal, but relatively weak collection and indexed property support.

Struts 2 can use JSTL, but the framework also supports a more powerful and flexible expression language called "Object Graph Notation Language" (OGNL).

Binding values into views

Struts 1 uses the standard JSP mechanism for binding objects into the page context for access.

Struts 2 uses a "ValueStack" technology so that the taglibs can access values without coupling your view to the object type it is rendering. The ValueStack strategy allows reuse of views across a range of types which may have the same property name but different property types.

Type Conversion

Struts 1 ActionForm properties are usually all Strings. Struts 1 uses Commons-Beanutils for type conversion. Converters are per-class, and not configurable per instance.

Struts 2 uses OGNL for type conversion. The framework includes converters for basic and common object types and primitives.

Validation

Struts 1 supports manual validation via a validate method on the ActionForm, or through an extension to the Commons Validator. Classes can have different validation contexts for the same class, but cannot chain to validations on sub-objects.

Struts 2 supports manual validation via the validate method and the XWork Validation framework. The Xwork Validation Framework supports chaining validation into sub-properties using the validations defined for the properties class type and the validation context.

Control Of Action Execution

Struts 1 supports separate Request Processors (lifecycles) for each module, but all the Actions in the module must share the same lifecycle.

Struts 2 supports creating different lifecycles on a per Action basis via Interceptor Stacks. Custom stacks can be created and used with different Actions, as needed.