BIRT, requirements and installation

Requirements

• Java: The Java runtime is required. The proper JRE (Java runtime environment) must be installed. If the Report Designer Full Eclipse Install is installed, the JRE 64bit is needed.
• BIRT: The Report Designer is not part of WinCC OA. Install the current birt-report-designer-all-in-one version with 64 bit.
  CAUTION: Before installing, make sure the chosen BIRT version is compatible with your installed JRE! If it isn't, the application will not work!

Installation

• Install the current birt-report-designer-all-in-one version with 64 bit.
• Install Java Runtime: Download the Java version, for example, from the Java homepage.

-vm
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_65\bin\server\jvm.dll

Report Designer Full Eclipse Install

1. Start the Exe file via <eclipePath>eclipse.exe. Click on "Run" and then on "Launch" in the install wizard:

   

2. When you open BIRT (Eclipse), the windows looks as follows:

   

3. After the installation of the BIRT and Java software, create a report project. For How to create a report project, see chapter New report project.

   

BIRT Runtime

Note that this is not a detailed documentation of BIRT. For more detailed information please refer to BIRT specific literature.

The WinCC OA installation provides some ready-to-use reporting templates for BIRT. You can find the templates under <installation path>\data\Reporting\Templates\BIRT. See also chapter Simulation Values.

We recommend the use of the open source web server Apache Tomcat for the runtime, see (http://tomcat.apache.org/). In the following you can find a description of the Tomcat installation.

1. Java should be installed on the web server computer. If necessary, install Java (see also Requirements and installation). The Java path is required for the installation of the Tomcat.
2. Install Tomcat (In this example the tomcat version 8.0.21 is installed). Download the Tomcat installer from the Apache homepage http://tomcat.apache.org/download-80.cgi:

   

3. You can install Tomcat so that it is automatically started when the computer is rebooted. To install Tomcat, proceed as follows:

   1. Open the installation wizard and click on Next >.

      

   2. Accept the license agreement.

      

   3. Select the installation option. We recommend the installation type: full.

      

   4. Enter the port numbers as well as a user name and a password for the Tomcat. We recommend to use a user name and a password.

      Without a user and password, the Tomcat manager application cannot be used (see chapter Tomcat Security).

      

   5. Select the Java installation path.

      

   6. Select the installation directory for the Tomcat installation. Tomcat is installed.

      

4. Copy the WebViewerExample directory from the BIRT runtime directory and add the directory to the Webapps directory of the Tomcat installation.

   

   

5. Open the Tomcat Manager application in a browser under the local IP address on which the Tomcat server is running.

   

6. Click on "Manager App" on the right to display the application manager web page:

   

7. Open the BIRT index page: http://<IP Address>:<Port number>/WebViewerExample by clicking the /WebViewerExample path (see figure above). You can save several directories on the web server/Tomcat_InstallationPath/webapps directory. This means that you can open the index page and reports from the WebViewerExample directory or another directory. Consider that the directory is set to "Running" (the column "Running" is set to "TRUE") in the "Tomcat Web Application Manager" overview (see figure above). Click on "Start" to set the directory to "Running" mode.

   CAUTION:

   External reports are not automatically shown when using BIRT. This means that only reports that are located on the web server are shown.

   If also external reports should be shown, set the parameter WORKING_FOLDER_ACCESS_ONLY in the web.xml file under birt-runtime[version]/WebViewerExample/WEB-INF/web.xml to "false" - see below:

   <context-param>
   <param-name>WORKING_FOLDER_ACCESS_ONLY</param-name>
   <param-value>false</param-value>
   </context-param>

   We recommend to save the reports on the server.

   

8. Open an example report by using the "View Example",(for example, (<IP-address>:<port number>/WebViewerExample/frameset?__report=test.rptdesign&sample=my+parameter). Note that you have to enable cookies for the correct functionality of the viewer.

   

   Note: You can save your reports in a directory of your choice on the web server in the Tomcat_InstallationPath/webapps directory, for example, in the Tomcat_InstallationPath/webapps/WebViewerExample/report directory. See the figure below.

   

9. Open a report from the "report" directory: <IP-address>:<port number>WebViewerExample/frameset?__report=report/test.rptdesign&sample=my+parameter. For example:

   http://158.226.40.234:777/WebViewerExample/frameset?__report=report/test.rptdesign&sample=my+parameter

   

10. We recommend to take measures to increase security. See chapter Tomcat Security. You can find an overview of the different possible settings in the web viewer web.xml on the BIRT homepage:
    • http://eclipse.org/birt/documentation/integrating/viewer-usage.php