Reuse in Cascading Parameters

force2k1

Hi, all. I'm fairly new with BIRT, and am just starting to get my feet wet with a project. I'm running into a "there's got to be a better way to do this" problem, and I'm hoping someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

I've got cascading parameters for different reports which share some common ancestors. To make it generic, let's say I've got these two logical cascades:

Author -> Book -> Chapter
Author -> Book -> Edition

So, I go about building out the first one, creating:

1. "Author" Data Set
2. "Book" Data Set with an empty input parameter for Author ID.
3. "Chapter" Data Set with an empty input parameter for Book ID.
4. Cascading parameter group, with "Author" and "Book" parameters bound to respective data sets.
5. I return to re-edit "Book" and "Chapter" data sets, binding the previously unbound input parameters to the "Author" and "Book" parameters, respectively.

So far, so good -- I've got a functioning Cascading Parameter Group for my first cascade, Author->Book->Chapter.

Now, ideally, I'd like to reuse my "Author" and "Book" data sets -- the SQL is the same. But, "Book" is tightly coupled with the original cascading parameter group!

Which means I need to develop a duplicate "Book" data set for use in the second cascading parameter group, "Book1". Also, the parameters in the second cascading group can't collide with the names in the first group, so I've got "Author1" and "Book1" parameters over there, as well.

Obviously, this doesn't scale well! I get the feeling I'm doing some static binding that I shouldn't, but can't figure out how to make the cascading parameters work any other way. What am I missing?

thuston

The parameters are currently only 1-1.
Please file an Enhancement (under Bug Reporting) to support sharing for a 1-many (tree) relationship.