Types of BIRT report items
A report item is a visual component of a report, such as a label, a list, or a chart. There are three categories of report items in BIRT: standard report items, custom report items, and the chart report item.
Standard report items
A report item is a visual component of a report. A report item can be as simple as a label or as complex as a cross tab. Every report item has an icon on the Palette view in BIRT Report Designer.
Custom report items
Custom report items are either new report items or extensions of existing report items. An example of an extension to a report item is adding a property, such as color. An example of a new report item is the rotated text report item, which is a reference implementation of a report item extension.
Creating a new report item and extending an existing report item both involve extending BIRT through the Eclipse plug-in mechanism. Custom items require an extension to one or more of the following components to support the new item:
*BIRT Report Designer
Extending BIRT Report Designer provides user interface components for a report developer to specify properties and other settings for the report item.
*The design engine
Extending the design engine validates the report item settings provided by a report developer.
*The report engine
Extending the report engine supports generating and presenting report output for the report item.
Chart report item
A chart report item is a standard BIRT component implemented as a BIRT extension. The user interface for creating a chart report item is a chart builder that steps the report developer through the process of designing the chart and associating it with the appropriate data columns.