The DesignEngine class provides access to all the functionality of the ROM in the same way that the ReportEngine class provides access to report generation functionality. Before creating a DesignEngine object, create a DesignConfig object to contain configuration settings for the design engine such as the BIRT home location. The BIRT home is the same location that the report engine uses. The DesignConfig object sets up custom access to resources and custom configuration variables for scripting.

Use a factory service to create a DesignEngine in the same way as creating a ReportEngine. After setting configuration properties, create a design engine by calling the Platform.createFactoryObject( ) and the IDesignEngineFactory
.createDesignEngine( ) methods. The DesignConfig object defines the settings for this process. If the application has already started the platform in order to set up a report engine, use the same platform instance to create the design engine. If the application runs in an RCP environment, do not start the platform.

Create the SessionHandle object by calling the method, newSessionHandle( ) on the DesignEngine object. To open the report design, call the method, openDesign( ), on the SessionHandle object. This method takes the name of the report design as an argument and instantiates a ReportDesignHandle.