Chapter 4. Planning Your Report

The tutorial in the previous chapter demonstrates how easy it is to build reports using BIRT, so you may be puzzled when you next see a chapter recommending that you plan your report development. This chapter receives its prominent position because as you need to address more complex reporting requirements, you will find it is much more efficient to work from a plan.

You should always plan a report on paper before you begin to create the report with BIRT Report Designer. Planning helps clarify the report requirements and saves time in the long run because you do not waste time creating and fine-tuning a report that does not meet your users’ needs.

Before you start creating a report, you should have the following ...

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