BIRT: A Field Guide to Reporting
by
Diana Peh, Alethea Hannemann, Nola Hague
Addison-Wesley Professional
1 edition
November 2006
704 pages
Reviewed by Jeanne Boyarsky, January 2007
(9 of 10)
"BIRT: A Field Guide to Reporting" is a great tutorial for learning how to use BIRT. BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) is described including its relationship to Eclipse. After covering how to install BIRT, the book goes into great detail on how to use the report designer.
The target audience should be familiar with HTML, SQL and JavaScript as stated in the introduction. The book describes functions used, but you are expected to know the basic syntax.
As expected, the book covers how to use each of the features of BIRT. They are all described with step by step instructions. There are also a few tutorials walking you through the process from start to finish. I liked the "how to" style for tasks.
The book includes tips on how to plan a report and what to consider. It also includes common code snippets that you may want to use and lists available functions.
I was particularly impressed with the abundance of screenshots and the excellent glossary. If you are thinking about using BIRT, this book is a valuable addition to your library.
(9 of 10)
