Sharing a library with other report developers
BIRT Report Designer uses the resource folder to contain libraries and other resources used by files in a workspace. To share a library across a team of report developers, place the library in the resource folder. Each report developer must set the resource folder for a workspace to the same location. Typically, the resource folder is a directory on a shared network drive. The developer uses Resource Explorer to access report elements from the libraries in the resource folder.
To set the location of the resource folder, choose WindowsPreferences. Expand Report Design and select the Resource page, as shown in Figure 28‑5. Browse to a folder within the workspace or file system, use an Eclipse variable, or type the name of the resource folder. Then, choose OK.
Figure 28‑5 Setting up a resource folder
The contents of the resource folder appear in Resource Explorer, as shown in Figure 28‑6.
Figure 28‑6 Resource Explorer
Placing a library in the resource folder
When you use BIRT Report Designer to share a library from your workspace, BIRT copies the library file to the resource folder. The original library file remains in your workspace. Make sure the shared library has a meaningful file name. BIRT Report Designer displays the name to report developers who use the resource folder.
How to share a library from your workspace
1 Open the library in BIRT Report Designer.
2 Choose FilePlace Library in Resource Folder.
3 In Publish Library, shown in Figure 28‑7, make changes to the file name and folder. To place the library in a subfolder of the resource folder, use Browse. Choose Finish. The library appears in Resource Explorer.
Figure 28‑7 Sharing a library
Organizing resources
If an enterprise has many libraries, BIRT supports the following two ways to organize the files:
*Using subfolders to organize the libraries within a single, central resource folder. For example, \\SharedServer\Resource\General contains general libraries, and \\SharedServer\Resource\Finance contains libraries used by financial reports. Resource Explorer displays this file structure.
*Using project-specific settings to specify a resource folder for an individual project. Resource Explorer displays only the resources in the project-specific resource folder and does not show resources in the central folder specified for the workspace. To set a project-specific resource folder, use the Configure Project-Specific Settings option in the Resource preferences page.
Updating a shared library
After changing or adding a report item in a library, place the updated library in the resources folder. Other report developers refresh Resource Explorer to see the changes.
When a report developer opens a report design that uses the updated library, the changes take place immediately. To see the changes in an open report design that uses the library, expand the Libraries slot in the Outline view for the report design. Then, right-click the changed library and choose Refresh.