BIRT overly complex??

DevDude

I have been tasked with evaluating some aspects of OSS reporting frameworks. I have also looked at and sat through demos of Crystal and Cognos. I have used some charting frameworks in other languages, but the Java report frameworks and BI are new to me.<br />
<br />
I have looked at JFreechart and a little at Jasper. I am trying to grok BIRT, but while the report designer seems to be heads above the other OSS designers, the underlying framework seems overly complex and intimidating. Just as an example, compare this (from the BIRT FAQ) example of how to write a chart to a an image:<br />
<pre class='_prettyXprint _lang-auto _linenums:0'>
// define a chart structure
Chart cm = SampleCharts.createMyChart();

// obtain a png image device renderer
PluginSettings ps = PluginSettings.instance();
IDeviceRenderer idr = null;

try {
idr = ps.getDevice("dv.PNG");
} catch (ChartException pex) {
DefaultLoggerImpl.instance().log(pex);
}

// define the bounds in points
Bounds bo = BoundsImpl.create(0, 0, 800, 600); // in points
// build the rendered chart structure
Generator gr = Generator.instance();
GeneratedChartState gcs = null;

try {
gcs = gr.build(
idr.getDisplayServer(),
cm, null,
bo, null
);
} catch (ChartException gex) {
DefaultLoggerImpl.instance().log(gex);
System.exit(0);
}

// render the chart to a png file
Image img = new BufferedImage(
(int) bo.getWidth(), (int) bo.getHeight(), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB
);
idr.setProperty(IDeviceRenderer.FILE_IDENTIFIER, "chart.png");

try {
gr.render(idr, gcs);
} catch (ChartException rex) {
DefaultLoggerImpl.instance().log(rex);
}
</pre>
And this example I wrote using JFreeChart to do something similar:<br />
<br />
<pre class='_prettyXprint _lang-auto _linenums:0'>
public class SimplePieChart
{
public SimplePieChart()
{
final DefaultPieDataset dataset = new DefaultPieDataset();
dataset.setValue("One", new Double(43.2));
dataset.setValue("Two", new Double(10.0));
dataset.setValue("Three", new Double(27.5));
dataset.setValue("Four", new Double(17.5));
dataset.setValue("Five", new Double(11.0));
dataset.setValue("Six", new Double(19.4));

try
{
ChartUtilities.saveChartAsPNG(new File("test"),
ChartFactory.createPieChart("Pie Chart", dataset, false, true, false),
500, 500);
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
System.out.print(ex.getLocalizedMessage());
}
}
}</pre>
<br />
I really want to like BIRT as the designer seems nice (and that is a factor in our situation), but every time I scratch the surface and look at what is underneath I can't help but feel that I would thrash about getting lost in low level or complex implementation details.<br />
<br />
Is it just me? Am I simple minded? Does it have to be this arcane?

Virgil Dodson

Hi DevDude,<br />
<br />
I really like the screenname you've chosen...<br />
<br />
As for BIRT, I'm glad you like the designer and agree that using the Charting APIs is not quite the same as some other tools. For the most part, I would encourage you to use the charting wizard in the designer to build your charts... and it also serves well to just understand what chart capabilities are available before venturing into the chart API to find the same feature.<br />
<br />
If you intend to use the charting from just the APIs, then I suggest you look at the API examples included in the BIRT Designer. You can see those from the Eclipse IDE menu under Window | Show View | Other... then select Report and Chart Design | Chart Examples. The Chart Examples view has over 50 different charts and each will show you the Java code necessary to build the same chart.<br />
<br />
The chart API example to create a BIRT pie chart should look something like this:<br />
<pre class='_prettyXprint _lang-auto _linenums:0'>
public static final Chart createPie( )
{
ChartWithoutAxes cwoaPie = ChartWithoutAxesImpl.create( );
cwoaPie.setDimension( ChartDimension.TWO_DIMENSIONAL_WITH_DEPTH_LITERAL );
cwoaPie.setType( "Pie Chart" );
cwoaPie.setSubType( "Standard Pie Chart" );

// Plot
cwoaPie.setSeriesThickness( 10 );

// Legend
Legend lg = cwoaPie.getLegend( );
lg.getOutline( ).setVisible( true );

// Title
cwoaPie.getTitle( ).getLabel( ).getCaption( ).setValue( "Pie Chart" );

// Data Set
TextDataSet categoryValues = TextDataSetImpl.create( new String[]{"New York", "Boston", "Chicago", "San Francisco", "Dallas"} );
NumberDataSet seriesOneValues = NumberDataSetImpl.create( new double[]{54.65, 21, 75.95, 91.28, 37.43} );

SampleData sdata = DataFactory.eINSTANCE.createSampleData( );
BaseSampleData sdBase = DataFactory.eINSTANCE.createBaseSampleData( );
sdBase.setDataSetRepresentation( "" );
sdata.getBaseSampleData( ).add( sdBase );

OrthogonalSampleData sdOrthogonal = DataFactory.eINSTANCE.createOrthogonalSampleData( );
sdOrthogonal.setDataSetRepresentation( "" );
sdOrthogonal.setSeriesDefinitionIndex( 0 );
sdata.getOrthogonalSampleData( ).add( sdOrthogonal );

cwoaPie.setSampleData( sdata );

// Base Series
Series seCategory = SeriesImpl.create( );
seCategory.setDataSet( categoryValues );

SeriesDefinition sd = SeriesDefinitionImpl.create( );
cwoaPie.getSeriesDefinitions( ).add( sd );
sd.getSeriesPalette( ).shift( 0 );
sd.getSeries( ).add( seCategory );

// Orthogonal Series
PieSeries sePie = (PieSeries) PieSeriesImpl.create( );
sePie.setDataSet( seriesOneValues );
sePie.setSeriesIdentifier( "Cities" );
sePie.setExplosion( 5 );

SeriesDefinition sdCity = SeriesDefinitionImpl.create( );
sd.getSeriesDefinitions( ).add( sdCity );
sdCity.getSeries( ).add( sePie );

return cwoaPie;
}
</pre>