Hello, everybody! <br />
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My work is in immediate need of implementing some type of a reporting tool and I am in the process of evaluating products trying to find something that we can start using right away. BIRT sounds like a product that can be implemented quite fast and pain free. There are TONS of information on the WEB, which I am not able to scan fast enough in order to decide whether BIRT will fit our needs. That's why I need some help. And it's truly urgent. <br />
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The background:<br />
development environment: eclipse<br />
application server: Tomcat 6.0<br />
An application is being deployed onto the server and users access it via Web.<br />
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User requirements:<br />
Users need to be able to enter data via Web app and print a report, which will be based on entered data. Something similar to sales receipt, where a user enters an order via Web, and prints the receipt with the particular customer's data. <br />
By the way, I've seen a lot of tutorials that explain how to create reports using BIRT. That's not what I need. What i need is an ability to do a demo, where I have a report and I just demonstrate how to deploy it to Tomcat and how users can start accessing it via Web app. <br />
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This is where I am at so far: in regard to deploying a report to Tomcat I've seen a tutorial at <a class='bbc_url' href='
http://www.vogella.de/articles/EclipseBIRT/article.html'>Reporting with Eclipse BIRT and Java Objects (POJO's) - Tutorial</a>. According to this tutorial the only thing I need to do is to copy a *rptdesign file to the Tomcat's birt directory and after restarting the server the report will be available to users. Is that right?<br />
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In regard to users accessing the report from within the application. I guess, they can access it via hyperlink which will have the report name and parameters, right?<br />
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Does anybody know if there are step-by-step instructions which explain how to do this? <br />
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One more question: for somebody who doesn't have an ability to thoroughly read all of the info on a product just because this is an evaluation step and I am on a time constraint, is there some type of a checklist of software I'll need in order to satisfy the needs of a customer? So far, this is what I understand:<br />
<br />
eclipse with birt<br />
tomcat<br />
birt's report engine<br />
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Does report engine have to be installed on each user's PC or just the Tomcat's installation directory?<br />
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As I mentioned, there are just waaaaaay to much info out there. It takes time to understand the difference between engines, and all the requirements, and I just need something basic to understand if BIRT is a tool we are looking for. Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading. Hope you can point me in the right direction.<br />
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Have a good day, everybody!<br />
<br />
Jasmine
