This release contains over 250 enhancements to the BIRT source. BIRT now provides an improved JavaScript editor and a new JavaScript debugger for debugging report event handlers. In addition, cross tables have been improved to support multiple measures, displaying measure values and totals as alphanumeric values or as charts, added support for cross table scripting, and better filtering options. With this release, BIRT introduces a new multi-view capability that allows tables or cross tables to be presented as charts. Bidirectional support is now available in all supported emitters. Tables and cross tables now support horizontal page breaks as well. These are just a few of the new features that are available with the 2.3 release. To read more about the release, see http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/project/notable2.3.php. A webinar is also available that demonstrates some of the new capabilities. It can be found here: http://live.eclipse.org/node/484

Looks great, well done to the team. I think one major advantage BIRT has over Jasper is the expression builder. The BIRT expression builder looks a lot simpler to use for business users; the expression builder in jasper doesn't even really support if/else statements (it only supports inline if/else statements). I have chosen to use Jasper for my workplace, largely due to "JasperServer", they really have done well there. It is brilliant being able to request reports over a webservice. JasperServer also integrates really well with iReports, and it allows business users to log directly into the JasperServer website and view reports. I think if BIRT had something similar to JasperServer it would greatly increase it's market share. Simon.

Our company is thinking of migrating over to Birt from Jasper. The biggest problem with Jasper is that you can't have multiple tables with different queries in the same report file. You are forced to create subreports which is extremely limiting if you are trying to get a business guy to upload a report file to the server. With Birt, doing this is real simple.

The main reason why we are using Jasper is that you can write your own DataInputAdapters rather than just running against a database. I haven't looked into BIRT in detail yet. Is that possible in BIRT, too?

The main reason why we are using Jasper is that you can write your own DataInputAdapters rather than just running against a database.

I haven't looked into BIRT in detail yet. Is that possible in BIRT, too?

Besides that one advantage of jasper as well is, that it has an internal vfs mechanism which allows to produce mass data reports with thousands of pages without having to run into memory problems, how does birt behave in that area?

The main reason why we are using Jasper is that you can write your own DataInputAdapters rather than just running against a database.

I haven't looked into BIRT in detail yet. Is that possible in BIRT, too?

All of the BIRT reports that I have in production know nothing about JDBC or the database. They all report against POJO's. That means i can have one set of code for all my UIs (reports are user interfaces too).

I downloaded BIRT 2.3 yesterday and found the installation and tutorial to be seamless and simple - well done! I want to know the best way of directing a report to a printer - can it be done directly or must it be via pdf, etc - what is the best forum for such a question?

This is by far the best Open Source report designer in my experience. Well done to the team! Mpumelelo Msimanga

BIRT supports many data sources, including XML, WebServices and Flat files in addition to JDBC. We also have a scripted data source that acts as a hook to write your own datasources in Java or JavaScript. We also use DTP's ODA layer and provide wizards to build your own data source driver, complete with UI integration. BIRT can also handle large datasets and produce paginated HTML, PDF, PS, Word, XLS and PPT. Jason

BIRT supports many data sources, including XML, WebServices and Flat files in addition to JDBC. We also have a scripted data source that acts as a hook to write your own datasources in Java or JavaScript. We also use DTP's ODA layer and provide wizards to build your own data source driver, complete with UI integration.

BIRT can also handle large datasets and produce paginated HTML, PDF, PS, Word, XLS and PPT.

Jason

Jason, I think the comments of Werner and Ulf show that the power of BIRT not being just a database reporting tool is not promoted enough. I had conversations lately with a long time Actuate developer (10 + years?). I asked if he saw people moving to BIRT. His comments about the abilities of BIRT made me realize (even more) that people didn't know it's pedigree and abilities especially in the programmable area.

Congratulations guys! Really amazing product. Keep going!