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Installation of BIRT

medini_1005899080

Can you post something how to install the BIRT Report generator and link it to medini?

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medini_1024169437

Hello Sven,

I'll try to explain the installation procedure and the reason why such a procedure is required in short. Note that I will post details on the BIRT framework itself in a separate article in the next days.

Background

In short: in principle medini users can change existing reports and create own reports using an eclipse based tool called BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools), an open source platform used to create data visualizations and reports. Knowing BIRT is a prerequisite for anyone that wants to change or create reports with medini.

The BIRT framework is divided into two parts. The first one is the "BIRT Runtime" part which is required to generate reports based on BIRT templates and which is by default shipped with the medini tool. The second one is the so called "BIRT Designer" which is only required when editing report templates, so an "authoring tool" which is by default not part of the medini software. So before you can edit BIRT templates, you have to install additional bundles into the medini runtime. All required bundles are made available as an additional ZIP archived that simply has to be extracted into your medini installation.

Note that in principle you can also use a standalone eclipse tool that has BIRT installed to edit the medini BIRT reports. Such pre-configured eclipse bundles exists and can be download at https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/eclipse-packages/ or at http://download.eclipse.org/birt/downloads/. However, having BIRT outside of the medini tool imposes a few limitations when testing your report template.

Installation

As mentioned, the installation is merely just an unzip of the package into the installation folder. I try to illustrate this with a few pictures. If you open the provided ZIP, there should be two folders inside, "birt" and "links" as this:

Now just copy these two folder to the medini installation folder. After that, it should look like this:

If you run medini now, the best way to check for BIRT is to open the "Report Design" perspective.

If this is not there, try again to start medini on the command line with "mediniAnalyze.exe -clean". That should clear the internal bundle cache and forces eclipse to search for new bundles. If this still not works, please come back to this thread.

Standalone Installation

If you go to http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/eclipse-packages/, you may chose the eclipse package "Eclipse IDE for Java and Report Developers" which may not be the best but contains BIRT. Note that for learning BIRT this should work, but medini is still on eclipse Kepler, so http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/Kepler/SR2 fits better from a compatibility perspective (though not much changed).

I will attach the required zip in a separate comment.

medini_1024169437

Well, the package seems to be too big for this forum. Please leave a note here if you need the package and I can provide it by other (traditional) ways. Note: the package comes with a separate BIRT documentation that explains the basics of the tool to a certain depth.

Happy Reporting

Jan

medini_1024169437

Just to add that - once the BIRT designer package has been installed - there is another guide in the medini help system available. Use "Help | Help Contents..." to open the integrated help system. Among the medini "books" you will find the "BIRT Report Developer Guide
- Excerpts from BIRT Field Guide". The content is taken from the book "BIRT - A Field Guide to Reporting" which is available in real life, published by Addison Wesley.

Though not complete, it should give you a fair and good start into BIRT and the BIRT designer.

Happy Reporting

Jan

medini_1024737848

Hi Jan,

Please supply me the Birt package

Regards,

Remco Nijenhuis

medini_1024169437

Hi Remco,

package is available in your download area. Please follow the instructions in this article.

Please make sure any old bundle is removed.

Jan

medini_1024737848

Package is installed. I can now see the "Report Deisgn" perspective in Medini.

I can not open/find the helpfile under "help contents" or in the two directories you sent me.

How to continue designing my own reports?

medini_1024737848

1)
Can you supply me some working .rptdesign
files where a testlogo is inserted? For example the default report that is generated
when I select “Generate Safety Requirements Report”.

2)
When I go into the installation directory of
Medini under “\plugins\de.ikv.analyze.reporting_1.0.1.201804261708\reports”
then I find several *.rptdesign files. These do not work when I select them
during “Generate Custom Report”. Please supply working *.rptdesign files

3)
I also found the *.rptlibrary file. Is this
the most recent file? I suppose this file contains all tablenames and
columnnames of the Medini database?

medini_1024737848

1)
Can you supply me some working .rptdesign
files where a testlogo is inserted? For example the default report that is generated
when I select “Generate Safety Requirements Report”.

3)
I also found the *.rptlibrary file. Is this
the most recent file? I suppose this file contains all tablenames and
columnnames of the Medini database?

medini_1024169437

Hi Remco,

I will check the help issue on my end and will write a solution, once I have one here in the forum.

As an alternative ... the guide can be also read online here: http://help.eclipse.org/oxygen/index.jsp?nav=%2F10

I suggest to really follow the guide and create a template on your own from scratch which dies not have anything to do with medini. If you are beyond that, you can use the sample reports that are shipped with medini as a starting point. They are located in the installation/plugins/de.ikv.analyze.reporting_X.Y.Z,

I will post a sample next week as well.

Jan

medini_1024169437

Remco, your two other posts were waiting in the forum queue to be confirmed so I did not see them.

Could you tell me what happens if you use the mentioned report designs?

Jan

medini_1024737848

Sorry for the delay.

When I go to "Safety Goals and Safety Requirements/Safety Goals" and then right-click then the menu appears.

When I know select "Report/Generate Safety Goals report" then an excel export is created. This works fine.

When I select "Report/Generate Custom Report" and I select "safety_goals_report.rptdesign" (included in the Medini directory" then the errors appear.

Can you supply a rptdesign file which works exactly like the one that is used when I select "Report/Generate Safety Goals report" ??

Regards,

Remco

medini_1024737848

How to select Datasource of my project in Birt:

When I select the Report Deisgn in Medini and right click in the Navigator on my project, then the menu appears with "new/report" in it.

I selected this and I can start a new report.

Now I somehow have to bind the Medini datasource so that I can select data to display.

How should I do that?

I can select "Data Expl/Data Sources/New Datasource", but what should I select then?

Regards,

Remco

medini_1024169437

Remco, I strongly suggest to just open an existing design, copy the data source there and paste it into your design, that *much* more easy than creating it from scratch.

Jan

medini_1024737848

Please explain how to do that.

I used report-designers before, but this one is new to me.

How can I use the datasource of an existing design?

medini_1024169437

Just open the design or library file. In the "Outline" view you will see all data sources, data sets and report elements. Just select any data source, use context menu, "Copy". Now switch into *your* own open design, select the "Data Sources" package and paste the data source. Same can be done with data sets. make sure the data source is copied first.

Jan

medini_1038653923

Hi Jan,

I just joined this wonderful forum.

Could you please provide me with the BIRT zip package?

My user ID: 831795

Thanks!

Chi-Seng

medini_1024169437

Hi Chi-Seng,

glad to have you here in the forum. I'll update you, once the package is there.

Jan

medini_1024169437

Hi Chi-Seng,

the package was uploaded, please login to your account and check "My Documents". Its valid for 19.x up to 2019 R1. If you have further questions or ideas on what we could discuss or demo here in the forum, just start a new article.

Happy Reporting

Jan

medini_1038653923

Hi Jan,

Successfully downloaded and installed the package, thanks a lot!

Let me get some basics in first, if I need your help I'll definitely let you know! ^^

Thanks also for the reply on "embedded figure", I'll try that out as well!

So much to learn

Chi-Seng

medini_1040514609

Hi Jan,

Could you provide me with the BIRT zip package?

regards

Henrik

medini_1024169437

Hello Henrik,

I have uploaded the BIRT package to the private download location of your company on our server.

The package is named 19.1.2 but still valid for 19.2 and 2019 R1.

Happy Reporting

Jan

medini_1039539557

Hi Jan,

I am struggling with finding the BIRT package...I would like to start and customize Medini reports as you offered in the other post. I tried to find it via the download portal but couldnt find...

Also I tried to download from Eclipse site but it is a full eclipse package and I can't find what files should I add under Medini installation folder...