[seam-dev] BI integration

Snjezana Peco snjezana.peco at redhat.com
Fri Oct 17 05:40:52 EDT 2008 

BIRT has a better report designer  and more functionalities than iReport 
and Pentaho.
Different drivers are included in Birt Designer (JDBC, XML, Web 
services, Flat file datasource, Scripted Data Source , our Hibernate 
datasource ...). It is easy to add new drivers.
As to the output formats, BIRT already contains pdf, html, xls, doc, 
ppt, csv ... as well as its own engine to add new formats.
iReport (JasperReports) and Pentaho (JFreeChart) also have different 
drivers and output formats, but adding new formats/drivers is more 
complicated (there is no any engine for adding new formats/drivers to 
the UI).
The BIRT developers can add template reports and template 
datasources/datasets so that users can create their own reports using 
those templates. There are also pre-defined BIRT report templates. 
iReport has this functionality, but iReport is a Swing application.
The integration with Eclipse is better - BIRT is an Eclipse application 
(an RCP application or a set of Eclipse plugins).
It is better documented than iReport and Pentaho.
JasperReport doesn't have an open source Eclipse designer. There is 
JasperAssistant, but it is a commercial product  ( 
http://www.jasperassistant.com ).
Pentaho Report Designer is a Swing application similar to iReport. The 
integration with Eclipse is poor.

 What we can do to improve deployment and setup is to add JBoss BIRT 
deployer (a JBoss server component).  In that case, we would need to 
deploy only report files and, maybe, some configuration files.

Snjeza

Max Rydahl Andersen wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:13:19 +0200, Max Rydahl Andersen 
> <max.andersen at redhat.com> wrote:
>
>> So for me this look like a Swing app adapted to eclipse and the 
>> source code is not easily available anywhere.
>>
>> Plus it is not an eclipse plugin, but an Eclipse application ;(
>
> My point being that Pentaho (aka JFreeChart) has a easier runtime to 
> setup,
> but their IDE side is problematic.
>
> Why can't projects do both things well ? :)
>
> /max
>
>>
>> /max
>>
>>> There isn't much, but I found a wiki page on the Pentaho Design
>>> Studio, which I believe is what the Eclipse plugin is called.
>>>
>>> http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/studio/Getting+Started+with+Design+Studio 
>>>
>>>
>>> -Dan
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:46 AM, Max Rydahl Andersen
>>> <max.andersen at redhat.com> wrote:
>>>> Any links to their (opensource) Eclipse stuff ?  I couldn't find it 
>>>> on their
>>>> website...
>>>>
>>>> /max
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Max,
>>>>> the pentaho "suite" is distributed as a modified eclipse containing
>>>>> the report designer,
>>>>> and another one to create action sequences.
>>>>> They can all be installed as plugins, or as prepackaged eclipses (as
>>>>> Developer Studio)
>>>>> coming with a ready-to-start JBoss preconfigured as a BI server, with
>>>>> schedulers and
>>>>> all needed stuff.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sanne
>>>>>
>>>>> 2008/10/16 Max Rydahl Andersen <max.andersen at redhat.com>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> BIRT has good Eclipse editing facilities...but has a really bad 
>>>>>> runtime
>>>>>> size/setup.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What does Pentaho and JasperReport have in context of Eclipse 
>>>>>> integration
>>>>>> ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> /max
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> please, don't forget Pentaho.
>>>>>>> they were looking very good already, and are improving a lot and 
>>>>>>> at a
>>>>>>> very fast pace.
>>>>>>> additionally they have strong bounds with JBoss, as it's the 
>>>>>>> default
>>>>>>> platform.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sanne
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2008/10/13 Pete Muir <pmuir at redhat.com>:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So, I guess the question is, do we want to do Jasper or BIRT?
>>>>>>>> On 13 Oct 2008, at 20:48, Dan Allen wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Pete,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I think the main focus here is on the responsibility of who 
>>>>>>>> creates the
>>>>>>>> reports. The excel stuff is superb for developers who need to 
>>>>>>>> create
>>>>>>>> reports
>>>>>>>> for management, etc. The BI is about management designing the 
>>>>>>>> reports
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> the developers feeding the parameters to it from the UI (and 
>>>>>>>> all the
>>>>>>>> security and context that goes along with it).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The main focus for this relationship, and the one we should 
>>>>>>>> keep in
>>>>>>>> mind
>>>>>>>> when designing it, is that you want to try to break the need to 
>>>>>>>> wait on
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> developer to get a report through the system. Not only does 
>>>>>>>> this slow
>>>>>>>> things
>>>>>>>> down, it ties up developer resources. At my previous job, we 
>>>>>>>> had a huge
>>>>>>>> problem with this because there was a neverending need to 
>>>>>>>> customize
>>>>>>>> reports
>>>>>>>> for customers and thus the process was not scalable. BI is about
>>>>>>>> putting
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> consumers (or designers) of the reports in control.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -Dan
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 3:26 PM, Pete Muir <pmuir at redhat.com> 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Snjezana has written some BIRT/Seam integration. But it needs 
>>>>>>>>> a way to
>>>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>>>> used outside of Eclipse (she has no ant or maven targets, you 
>>>>>>>>> must
>>>>>>>>> build
>>>>>>>>> your project with Eclipse).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> But anyway, what does this offer over Seam PDF/Excel w/ VPE 
>>>>>>>>> support?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 13 Oct 2008, at 19:47, Dan Allen wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I've brought up this point informally a couple of times, but 
>>>>>>>>>> I want
>>>>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>>> make a more formal statement. I think we need to put some 
>>>>>>>>>> sort of BI
>>>>>>>>>> integration on the roadmap, mostly likely being with 
>>>>>>>>>> JasperReports.
>>>>>>>>>> Perhaps we can start brainstorming on how this integration 
>>>>>>>>>> might look
>>>>>>>>>> and then create some JIRAs for those features. For example, 
>>>>>>>>>> here's an
>>>>>>>>>> article on how Spring integrates with JasperReports.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> http://java.dzone.com/articles/spring-web-mvc-spring-web-flow
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> My intention is not to try to outdo Spring, but rather to say 
>>>>>>>>>> that we
>>>>>>>>>> need to offer something native within Seam. I just spoke to 
>>>>>>>>>> former
>>>>>>>>>> colleagues last week and they are using JasperServer with 
>>>>>>>>>> JSF, but
>>>>>>>>>> mentioned that they had to do some glue code to get it all 
>>>>>>>>>> working
>>>>>>>>>> together.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -Dan
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>>>>> Dan Allen
>>>>>>>>>> Software consultant | Author of Seam in Action
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> http://mojavelinux.com
>>>>>>>>>> http://mojavelinux.com/seaminaction
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> NOTE: While I make a strong effort to keep up with my email on a
>>>>>>>>>> daily
>>>>>>>>>> basis, personal or other work matters can sometimes keep me away
>>>>>>>>>> from my email. If you contact me, but don't hear back for 
>>>>>>>>>> more than a
>>>>>>>>>> week,
>>>>>>>>>> it is very likely that I am excessively backlogged or the 
>>>>>>>>>> message was
>>>>>>>>>> caught in the spam filters.  Please don't hesitate to resend a
>>>>>>>>>> message
>>>>>>>>>> if
>>>>>>>>>> you feel that it did not reach my attention.
>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>> seam-dev mailing list
>>>>>>>>>> seam-dev at lists.jboss.org
>>>>>>>>>> https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/seam-dev
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>>> Dan Allen
>>>>>>>> Software consultant | Author of Seam in Action
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://mojavelinux.com
>>>>>>>> http://mojavelinux.com/seaminaction
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> NOTE: While I make a strong effort to keep up with my email on 
>>>>>>>> a daily
>>>>>>>> basis, personal or other work matters can sometimes keep me away
>>>>>>>> from my email. If you contact me, but don't hear back for more 
>>>>>>>> than a
>>>>>>>> week,
>>>>>>>> it is very likely that I am excessively backlogged or the 
>>>>>>>> message was
>>>>>>>> caught in the spam filters.  Please don't hesitate to resend a 
>>>>>>>> message
>>>>>>>> if
>>>>>>>> you feel that it did not reach my attention.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> seam-dev mailing list
>>>>>>>> seam-dev at lists.jboss.org
>>>>>>>> https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/seam-dev
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> seam-dev mailing list
>>>>>>> seam-dev at lists.jboss.org
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> /max
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> /max
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> seam-dev at lists.jboss.org
>>>> https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/seam-dev
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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