BIRT 2.3 What's New And the Ganymede IDE for Java Report Developers

Dodson: There were over 250 enhancements to BIRT 2.3 so there were lots of smaller things added like the ability to reference external JavaScript(JS) files as a report resource.  Once this is done, I can call a JavaScript function anywhere within the report.  There is also a new concatenate function built into the aggregation wizard so instead of summing or averaging a list of values, I can concatenate them together.  There were some improvements to the output algorithms for both PDF and Postscript resulting in smaller output file sizes. Another feature with BIRT 2.3 is the Project Specific Settings.  You can now set properties, like the location of the resource file and element defaults by individual project allowing you to have multiple configurations within the same workspace.

Neethling: What new features or enhancements can specifically Java developers look forward to in BIRT 2.3 with regards to aspects such as event handlers, and the report engine API?

Dodson: Certainly the most important feature for someone writing event handlers is the improved debugging support.  BIRT 2.3 has also improved the Event handler for the Scripted data set to allow input parameters when implementing the event in Java.

Neethling: Thank you Virgil for joining me for this interview. I must say, BIRT 2.3 is a mamonth release and I would definitely encourage report developers to grab the latest Ganymede Eclipse IDE for Java and Report Developers. Is there anything you would like to add in closing?

Dodson: Thanks Schalk for conducting the interview.  The latest version of Eclipse BIRT 2.3 can be downloaded from http://www.birt-exchange.com/modules/wfdownloads/ or http://download.eclipse.org/birt/downloads/.