Including Javascript functions in your BIRT reports

BIRT provides a very tight integration with Java/Java Script for customizing your reports. Most of the time, you embed your JavaScript within your reports and you have to modify each of the reports if something need to be changed.

However, there is a better way especially for some frequently used functions. You can put them in a .js file and re-use them across your reports. Here is how to do it.

1. Create a set of Java Script functions (such as for logging, modifying your queries, etc) and put it in a file. (e.g. GbsFunctions.js)

2. Save the file under somewhere under your resource directory, which can be set using Window->Preferences->Report Design->Resource->Resource folder within Eclipse. (e.g. resourcedir/GBS/scripts/GbsFunctions.js).

3. Now add the following XML tag to your XML source of the reports. Make sure that the XML you add doesn't result in malformed XML. (e.g. add just before <data-sources> tag).
<list-property name="includeScripts">
<property>GBS/scripts/GbsFunctions.js</property>
</list-property>

4. Now, you can access the functions listed in GbsFunctions.js within BIRT.

Hope you find this useful.