Modifying BIRT chart runtime through Java Code (v2.5.1)

Hello all,

I have successfully deployed a J2EE application (Stripes framework 1.5 ,jdk1.5) with Birt reports (2.5.1) and it is working absolutely fine. Now we need to customize the application such that the user will be given a choice to select the type of chart (Pie/Bar) , the Dimension(2D, 2D with depth and 3D) and changing the orientation to flip axis at runtime.

I am unable to do it through Java Code. Kindly assist me for the same. I dont even have the Birt 2.5.1 API Doc since it is not part of the package of eclipse galileo

Please reply with source code for changing chart properties runtime .

My working source code to generate Birt 2.5.1 report to java web app is

IReportEngine birtReportEngine = BirtEngine.getBirtEngine();
IReportRunnable design = null;
String reportPath==getContext().getServletContext().getRealPath("/reports")+ "/reportchart.rptdesign";
design = birtReportEngine.openReportDesign(reportPath);

IRunAndRenderTask task = birtReportEngine.createRunAndRenderTask(design);

IRenderOption options = new RenderOption();
options.setOutputFormat(outputFormat);
options.setOutputStream(reportOutput);
Map appContext = task.getAppContext();
appContext.put(EngineConstants.APPCONTEXT_CLASSLOADER_KEY,
GenerateReportActionBean.class.getClassLoader());
task.setAppContext(appContext);
task.setRenderOption(options);
task.run();
task.close();

Thanks in advance,

Kiran

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Comments

johnw

<a class='bbc_url' href='http://digiassn.blogspot.com/2008/03/birt-building-chart-with-chart-engine.html'>The Digital Voice: BIRT: Building Chart with Chart Engine API based off Report Document</a> 
 
You can also go to Window/Show View/Other/Report (or Business Intelligence...)/Chart Examples to get a whole slew of example source code.

kiranv

John,

First of all thnx a lot for the immediate response. Your blog is a great resource which will definitely help me in future and ofcourse the Examples in the IDE itself will also be helpful

However my issue is still not resolved as the examples in the IDE are for scripting (whereas I want to do it through Java code) and the ones on your blog dont exactly match my requirement. I just want to access the chart object of the report and then change its dimension property and few more details at runtime.

I want to access the Chart object (using Birt 2.5.1 API ) and manipulate it from the IReportRunnable object which I have from the below piece of code

IReportRunnable design = birtReportEngine.openReportDesign(reportPath);

Kindly help me out.

johnw

try this one: 
 
<a class='bbc_url' href='http://digiassn.blogspot.com/2008/07/birt-reading-chart-from-library-and.html'>The Digital Voice: BIRT: Reading Chart From Library and Adding to Report Design</a> 
 
I knew I had something along those lines. This will read a chart from a library, but the same concept applies to getting it from a report design as well. Between the two articles, you should be able to read and manipulate the chart properties. 
 
Let me know if you still need some help with that. Some of the API's might have changed between these articles (2.2 or 2.3 I think) and 2.5. 
 
John

kiranv

Thanks for your prompt reply once again. 
 
Yeah! I had gone through your article - "Reading Chart From Library and Adding to Report Design" yesterday itself. However there are lots of API changes in Birt 2.5.1 
 
The design is an IReportRunnable object. 
IReportRunnable design = birtReportEngine.openReportDesign(reportPath); 
 
I dont have the findElement() method on it hence cannot do something like 
ExtendedItemHandle eih = (ExtendedItemHandle)design.findElement("PieChart"); 
 
Since I dont have the API doc I am unable to figure out how to access Chart object. Kindly provide me the source code by which I can access the Chart object from the design object, change the basic properties say the Title of the chart and its dimension and set it at runtime through Java code and then run the task. 
 
Thanks in advance, 
 
Kiran

johnw

design.getDesignHandle().getDesign().findElement("PieChart"); 
 
That should work. I posted an example on my blog. 
 
<a class='bbc_url' href='http://digiassn.blogspot.com/2010/01/birt-get-access-to-chart-element-and.html'>The Digital Voice: BIRT: Get Access to Chart Element and Modify Properties from ReportRunnable in BIRT 2.5</a> 
 
This will open a report design as IReportRunnable, get the report design handle, find the chart, modify the title and chart type, then run the report. 
 
Hope it helps. 
 
John

kiranv

Hi John,

Thanks a million for posting the blog. Its working perfectly fine.
**** bless u for ur prompt reply as well as posting it as a blog so that other users facing similar issues will also get quick help.

Regards,
Kiran

kiranv

However when changing the chart to 3D its throwing a runtime exception and I can only view a blank chart

Seems to be a bug in Birt Charts

Since I am using a Bar Graph I have casted the ExtendedItemHandle object as a Chart Object (also works with ChartWithAxesImpl and ChartWithAxes)

ExtendedItemHandle eih = (ExtendedItemHandle) design.getDesignHandle().getDesignHandle().findElement("NewChart");

ChartWithAxes cwa = (ChartWithAxes) eih.getReportItem().getProperty(
"chart.instance"); //You can use Chart or ChartWithAxesImpl as well
cwa.setDimension(ChartDimension.THREE_DIMENSIONAL_LITERAL);

It throws a runtime exception as

org.eclipse.birt.chart.exception.ChartException
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.factory.Generator.build(Generator.java:1020)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.reportitem.ChartReportItemPresentationBase.buildChart(ChartReportItemPresentationBase.java:926)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.reportitem.ChartReportItemPresentationBase.onRowSets(ChartReportItemPresentationBase.java:799)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.reportitem.ChartReportItemPresentationProxy.onRowSets(ChartReportItemPresentationProxy.java:116)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.presentation.LocalizedContentVisitor.processExtendedContent(LocalizedContentVisitor.java:964)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.presentation.LocalizedContentVisitor.localizeForeign(LocalizedContentVisitor.java:553)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.presentation.LocalizedContentVisitor.localize(LocalizedContentVisitor.java:161)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.executor.l18n.LocalizedReportItemExecutor.execute(LocalizedReportItemExecutor.java:37)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLBlockStackingLM.layoutNodes(HTMLBlockStackingLM.java:65)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLPageLM.layout(HTMLPageLM.java:90)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLReportLayoutEngine.layout(HTMLReportLayoutEngine.java:99)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.doRun(RunAndRenderTask.java:170)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.run(RunAndRenderTask.java:75)
at co.za.web.cdp4.action.reports.generateReports.view.GenerateReportActionBean.setTask(GenerateReportActionBean.java:156)
at co.za.web.cdp4.action.reports.generateReports.view.GenerateReportActionBean.generateReport(GenerateReportActionBean.java:124)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherHelper$6.intercept(DispatcherHelper.java:467)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.proceed(ExecutionContext.java:158)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.BeforeAfterMethodInterceptor.intercept(BeforeAfterMethodInterceptor.java:113)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.proceed(ExecutionContext.java:155)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.wrap(ExecutionContext.java:74)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherHelper.invokeEventHandler(DispatcherHelper.java:465)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherServlet.invokeEventHandler(DispatcherServlet.java:278)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherServlet.service(DispatcherServlet.java:160)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:847)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1523)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:343)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:215)
at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.StripesFilter.doFilter(StripesFilter.java:247)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:256)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:215)
at co.za.web.cdp4.filters.compression.GZIPFilter.doFilter(GZIPFilter.java:79)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:256)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:215)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:277)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:188)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at com.sun.enterprise.web.WebPipeline.invoke(WebPipeline.java:97)
at com.sun.enterprise.web.PESessionLockingStandardPipeline.invoke(PESessionLockingStandardPipeline.java:85)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:185)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:332)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:233)
at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:165)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:791)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:693)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:954)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:170)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:135)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:102)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:88)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:76)
at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:53)
at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:57)
at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:69)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:330)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:309)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.computation.withaxes.PlotWithAxes.validateAxis(PlotWithAxes.java:310)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.computation.withaxes.PlotWith3DAxes.buildAxes(PlotWith3DAxes.java:1512)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.computation.withaxes.PlotWith3DAxes.<init>(PlotWith3DAxes.java:103)
at org.eclipse.birt.chart.factory.Generator.build(Generator.java:1007)
... 59 more

johnw

Can you change it to 2D with depth and it does not thrown an error?

kiranv

Yes,

2D with Depth is working fine. I am writing the below mentioned code and it is executing perfectly without error as well as the chart generated is fine.

Chart cwa = (Chart) eih.getReportItem().getProperty(
"chart.instance");
cwa.setDimension(ChartDimension.TWO_DIMENSIONAL_WITH_DEPTH_LITERAL);

Thanks,
Kiran

johnw

I replied on the blog as well. You need to set your axis programtically as follows if you are using 3D charts:

//get chart element handle called "PieChart"
ExtendedItemHandle eih = (ExtendedItemHandle) design.getDesignHandle()
.getDesignHandle().findElement("PieChart");

//get the actual chart instance since Charts are extended item handles
ChartWithAxes cwaBar = (ChartWithAxes) eih.getReportItem().getProperty(
"chart.instance");

//set title of chart to New Label
cwaBar.getTitle().getLabel().getCaption().setValue("New Label");

//set 2d with depth
cwaBar.setDimension(ChartDimension.THREE_DIMENSIONAL_LITERAL);

// X-Axis
Axis xAxisPrimary = cwaBar.getPrimaryBaseAxes( )[0];
xAxisPrimary.setType( AxisType.TEXT_LITERAL );
xAxisPrimary.getMajorGrid( ).setTickStyle( TickStyle.BELOW_LITERAL );
xAxisPrimary.getOrigin( ).setType( IntersectionType.MIN_LITERAL );

// Y-Axis
Axis yAxisPrimary = cwaBar.getPrimaryOrthogonalAxis( xAxisPrimary );
yAxisPrimary.getMajorGrid( ).setTickStyle( TickStyle.LEFT_LITERAL );
yAxisPrimary.setType( AxisType.LINEAR_LITERAL );
yAxisPrimary.getLabel( ).getCaption( ).getFont( ).setRotation( 90 );

// Z-Axis
Axis zAxis = AxisImpl.create( Axis.ANCILLARY_BASE );
zAxis.setType( AxisType.TEXT_LITERAL );
zAxis.setLabelPosition( Position.BELOW_LITERAL );
zAxis.setTitlePosition( Position.BELOW_LITERAL );
zAxis.getMajorGrid( ).setTickStyle( TickStyle.BELOW_LITERAL );
zAxis.setOrientation( Orientation.HORIZONTAL_LITERAL );
xAxisPrimary.getAncillaryAxes( ).add( zAxis );

kiranv

The code works perfect

. You are a true BIRT Evangelist. Thanks a lot. I hope I get to work under someone like you in the future.

Now one last query (And i promise its the last doubt

)

I want to change the subtype of the chart. So at design time I have a Bar graph with subtype as "Side-by-side". Now I want to change it to "Percent Stacked" at runtime through Java code.

I tried with cwaBar.setSubType( "Percent Stacked" ); but it ofcourse didnt work since I am sure I need to set a few more parameters which I am not sure of.

Thanks in advance,

Kiran