The Eclipse BIRT code consists of many hundreds of Java classes and interfaces, but most of them are private, for use by contributors to the BIRT open-source project. Developers of applications use the classes and interfaces that are in the public API. The public API consists of the classes and interfaces in the following package hierarchies:
Report Engine API
The org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api package hierarchy contains the API that a developer of a custom report generator uses. This API provides the most commonly used functionality for a reporting application. The key class in the Report Engine API is ReportEngine. This class provides access to all the tasks that create a report from a report design or a report document. The Report Engine API also includes the classes and packages that support the scripting capabilities of a report design.
Design Engine API
The org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api package hierarchy is by far the larger of the two reporting APIs. This API provides access to the content and structure of a report design, a template, or a library. A reporting application can call this API to change the structure of a design. The Design Engine API is also the API that a developer of a custom report designer uses.
Chart Engine API
The org.eclipse.birt.chartpackage hierarchy contains the API that a developer of a custom chart generator uses. A reporting application can also use this API in conjunction with the Report Engine and Design Engine APIs to create and modify chart elements in a report design.
Extension APIs
BIRT provides a set of extension APIs for creating custom report items, custom data sources and data sets, custom rendering formats, and custom charts.
For detailed information about API classes and interfaces, see the Javadoc in the online help in BIRT Programmer Reference➛Reference➛API Reference and BIRT Charting Programmer Reference➛Reference➛API Reference.
Report Engine API