Note: If you are a report designer, you create the report designs
that your organization needs and supply the reports, along with instructions
for using the reports, to report users. If you are a report user, you can
generate reports without understanding the report design process. See the
topic "Generating model information reports."
When you create
a RPTDESIGN report design file, you typically start with
a blank RPTDESIGN file and then modify it to create your
own report design. As part of the design process, you also define an associated
EMF or UML data source and data set. Data sources consist of instance models,
metamodels, or both. Data sets organize elements from the data sources into
tables that BIRT can use. For a step-by-step demonstration of how to design
a report, see the tutorial "Create a BIRT report design for a UML model."
To
complete the report design, you use BIRT to define the report content and
apply formatting to enhance the readability and usability of the generated
reports. For information about using BIRT, see the Field Guide to BIRT.
For additional tips and troubleshooting information about designing
reports based on BIRT, see the topic "Tips for designing model reports" and
the IBM® Rational® Technotes.
Note: The
current product release continues to support XSLT report templates. You can
customize the provided templates to meet your requirements. For information
about customizing XSLT templates, see the IBM developerWorks® article "Understanding
and Customizing Model Publishing in IBM Rational Software Modeler/Architect."
If you generate reports in a language such as Japanese or Chinese that uses
double-byte characters, read the section "Dealing with PDF reports that use
symbolic character sets." You must register the reports for use in the current
release. For information, see the topic "Registering XSLT report templates
for the current release."