The rotated label example, discussed earlier in this section in Developing the sample report item extension, outlines the basic steps to create a custom report item in BIRT. This section extends that discussion by implementing more advanced functionality to enhance report item usability and behavior.

The elements of the advanced example demonstrate how to develop additional user interface features for a custom rotated report item. The example shows how to implement a report item builder, a context menu, a custom property page, and data binding. This example is found in the Third Edition (published 2011):

The example begins by defining a simple report model, design, and behavior. These steps are familiar from the previous example. This example uses more extension points to develop more advanced features. Creating a custom report item involves extending at least these three extension points:

In addition, org.eclipse.birt.report.designer.ui.elementAdapters can be extended to add views like properties pages. The example includes a section about creating a custom property editor.