BIRT provides sorting capabilities on many report items, including
Tables, Lists, Cross Tabs, Charts and Groups.
Sorting is configured using a sort key expression. The expression is usually tied to data that
is returned in a BIRT data set. In
addition to supporting sort direction, BIRT also supports locale specific
sorting and sort strength.
The expression is
entered at various locations in the designer and depends on what report item is
being sorted. For Cross Tabs, Lists and
Tables the sorting expression can be entered in the property view, under the
sorting tab.
The sorting expression for Charts is defined in the Select
Data tab of the chart wizard, next to the expression for the category or
optional grouping expression.
Group sorting is defined in the Group Editor.
If your BIRT report uses a grouped table, by default the group
will be sorted by your key expression.
In some cases this may not be desirable.
Specifically when the data is pre-sorted in the order you want it to
appear. BIRT provides an advanced
property to turn this behavior off. You
can access this property (“Sort by groups”) in the advanced table of the
property editor after selecting the table.
When sorting groups, Tables, Lists and Crosstabs, BIRT
supports multiple expressions and the data will be sorted using the first
expression, followed by subsequent expressions.
While most sort expressions are quite simple, it is possible to create a
custom sort order using a more complicated expression. Expressions can multi-lined, use report
parameters and even call out to external classes. The following multi-line sort expression returns
the third order line number first in the custom sort.
var ol =
row["ORDERLINENUMBER"];
if( ol == 3
){
1
}else if( ol == 1
){
2
}else if( ol == 2
){
3
}else if( ol == 4
){
4
}
Sort expressions can also be created and applied in a BIRT
JavaScript event handler. For example
the following beforeFactory script adds a sort expression to a table group.
importPackage(Packages.org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api);
importPackage(Packages.org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api.elements);
importPackage(Packages.java.util);
importPackage(Packages.com.ibm.icu.util);
//Name Your Table
tbl =
reportContext.getDesignHandle().findElement("mytable");
var lc = new
ULocale(reportContext.getLocale());
sc = StructureFactory.createSortKey();
sc.setKey("row[\""+params["SortOn"].value+"\"]");
sc.setDirection(params["SortOrder"].value);
sc.setLocale(lc);
var tblGroup =
tbl.getGroups().get(0);
//to put the sort on the table use
the table handle
//instead of the group handle
ph = tblGroup.getPropertyHandle(TableHandle.SORT_PROP);
ph.addItem(sc);
The examples shown in this post are available at BIRT-Exchange.
19 comments:
This is cool!
This article is really informative ,from this article i have learned something and tried which really help me.
"Great comparison! It's interesting to see how BIRT, Jaspersoft, and Pentaho have evolved over time. Thanks for the detailed insights!"
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"Fantastic breakdown! I appreciate the inclusion of sorting details for BIRT — it really helped clarify a few things for me."
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"Thanks for the article. I was confused between Jaspersoft and Pentaho, but this comparison has made it clearer. Well done!"
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"Can you go a bit deeper into the comparison matrix? I'd love to know which tool is best for handling large datasets."
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"Nice post! The sorting feature in BIRT sounds flexible, especially for grouped data. I’ll be exploring this further."
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"This comparison is really helpful! I've been thinking about switching from Pentaho to Jaspersoft, so this helps a lot."
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"The BIRT sorting feature explanation was really clear. It’s impressive how customizable BIRT is for sorting and grouping."
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"Interesting insights! Would love to see an update on performance benchmarks for each of these tools."
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"Thank you for the article! It was great to get an unbiased look at these tools. Looking forward to more updates!"
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"I had no idea about the 'Sort by groups' feature in BIRT. This is going to save me a lot of time on my reports
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"Would you recommend any of these tools specifically for small businesses with limited technical expertise?"
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"The group sorting options in BIRT are just what I needed! Thanks for sharing this. Very informative article."
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"I’ve used Pentaho in the past, and this review makes me want to give BIRT a try. Thanks for the in-depth analysis."
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"Are there any tutorials on your site that show how to use the advanced sorting in BIRT? That feature sounds powerful."
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"Great read! I’m curious, which tool would you recommend for reports that need frequent updates or real-time data
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"I appreciate the practical examples in this post. Sorting options can be confusing, but your explanation made it easier to follow."
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