Choosing POJO or OSGi run‑time deployment
The standard BIRT Report Engine run time is a POJO run time. It is recommended for most application development purposes, including installation in a Java Enterprise Edition (EE) application server to run reports over the web.
The POJO run time is included in the Report Designer Full Eclipse Install (All‑in‑One) download, which provides a complete Eclipse environment for BIRT. The POJO run time is also available as a separate download. That download includes a WebViewerExample directory, which simplifies initial deployment to an application server, as shown in Figure 5‑1.
Figure 5‑1 BIRT Report Engine POJO run‑time structure
If you wish to deploy the BIRT run time as an OSGi run time, that is available as well. Since the first releases of BIRT included only this run time choice, you may need to continue using it to support your existing applications.
Both environments include the classes and interfaces described in this section. Also, note that OSGi is a framework designed with modularization and decoupling in mind; OSGi services are, in fact, POJOs themselves. Conversely, the POJO environment continues to use some OSGi services.