A report uses the same mechanism to access data from any of the sources listed in Table 1-1. First, you create a data source, which is a BIRT object that contains the information to connect to an underlying data source. Each type of data source requires different connection information. For a JDBC data source, for example, you specify the driver, URL, and user login to connect to a database. An XML data source requires the location of the XML file and, optionally, the location of the XML schema.
Next, you create a data set, which is a BIRT object that specifies and returns all the data that is available to a report. For a JDBC data source, for example, you write a SQL query or run a stored procedure to retrieve specific data from a database. For an XML data source, you use XPath expressions to specify the XML elements and attributes from which to retrieve data.
This book provides instructions for accessing data from data sources that only Actuate BIRT Designer supports. For information about accessing data from data sources that both BIRT products support, see
BIRT: A Field Guide.
