Creating data sources
BIRT Data Source is an report element that allows connecting to the underlying data source - database or any other data provider.
You can create as many data sources as you need.
Every BIRT report file must have a data source - you simply cannot create a report without one.
Data sources can be created manually (as we describe here) or imported into your project.
To create a data source, please follow these steps.
Step 1. Select theNew Data
Source option in the Data Source context menu of the Data Explorer view.
which brings up New Data Source wizard:
Step 2. Select the option to create a data source and enter the data source name.
There are two ways to create a data source, and further steps depend on the selected option.
Step 3. When you press Finish, a new data source is created.
You can see it in the Data Explorer view:
Data sets given in the screenshots were created one from the data source type ↓ (top) and one from a connection profile ↓ (bottom).
Creating data source from a data source type
When you select Create from a data source type in Step 2, you get the New JDBC Data Source Profile window:
To create a data source from a data source type, you must fill in this form (is described below in a step-by-step fashion).
Step 1. Specify the driver class you want to use.
You can type it in or select one from the drop-down list:
Step 2. Enter the driver URL.
Refer here to find out how to specify JDBC driver URL (below, you get the generalized example of specifying the Informix URL):
jdbc:informix-sqli://<HOST>:<PORT>/<DATABASE_NAME>: informixserver=<IBM Informix instance name>;user=<user_name>; password=<password>
Step 3. Enter the user name and password to access the database.
New JDBC Data Source Profile window has 3 buttons:
opens the Manage JDBC Drivers window where you can add, restore, and remove JAR files from the list and edit the drivers:
tests the database connection and tells the user whether it exits or nor:
opens the Advanced Bidi Data Source Settings window where you specify metadata and set content bidi formats:
Creating data source from a connection profile
When you select Create from a connection profile in Step 2, it starts the Create a Connection Profile Store dialog:
To create a data source from a connection profile, you must go through all the steps of the Create a Connection Profile Store wizard.
Step 1. Press New in the Connection profile window (above).
It brings up this dialog box:
Step 2. Check Data Source and specify the file name.
You can type in the file name or browse it in the project:
Step 3. Press OK to move to the Connection Profile window.
It is already filled in with data and ready to use:
Step 4. Press Next to get to the New JDBC Data Source Profile.
All the fields here are already filled in, so you don't have to do it manually:
This video offers a short overview of how to add a data source:
