To share a BIRT application you either publish a BIRT project to an iHub or archive it to send to another person as a file. BIRT applications contain all resources necessary to display BIRT dashboards and documents included in the application.
When a BIRT application is published to an iHub server, other users can access the application and its contents using URL addresses. When a BIRT application is exported to an archive file, you can send it to another developer who loads the archive into their BIRT Designer Professional to edit and preview the application.
How to publish a BIRT application
To publish a project as a BIRT application to an iHub server, complete the following steps:
1 Select the BIRT project that you want to deploy as a BIRT application in Navigator, as shown in Figure 46‑12.
Figure 46‑12 Selecting a BIRT project to publish as an application
2 Choose File➛Publish.
3 In Publish, select Publish Project if it is not already selected.
4 Select a server profile and choose Publish. Figure 46‑13 shows the BIRT application named BIRT Project set to publish to the server profile Athena.
Figure 46‑13 Selecting a server profile to publish to
5 After all items have been published, choose OK. Figure 46‑14 shows that all files were successfully published.
Figure 46‑14 Verifying all items were published
6 Choose Close to return to BIRT Designer Professional.
7 Verify that the application is accessible by using a web browser to visit the URL of the application. For example, if the server name was Athena, then the URL to the application is the following:
To archive a BIRT application, export the entire BIRT project that contains the BIRT application as an archive file. This retains the file structure and packages all files into a .zip archive file.
1 Select the BIRT project that contains the BIRT application in Navigator, as shown in Figure 46‑15.
Figure 46‑15 Selecting a BIRT project to export
2 Choose File➛Export.
3 In Export, select General➛Archive File. Choose Next, as shown in Figure 46‑16.
Figure 46‑16 Selecting a method to export the BIRT project
4 Verify that the correct project is selected. Choose Browse.
5 In Export to archive file, select a file name and location for the project archive. Choose Save when you are finished.
6 Verify that the options are set for the file format and directory structure of the project archive. Choose Finish, as shown in Figure 46‑17.
Figure 46‑17 Exporting the BIRT project as a .zip compressed file
