> ## About BIRT data sources

> To access data for a BIRT report, you use a BIRT data source. A BIRT data source is an object that contains the information to connect to the database, text file, XML file, or web service. When you create a report, you use Data Explorer, as shown in Figure 2‑1, to create and manage BIRT data sources.

> Figure 2-1 | Data source in the data explorer

> You can create as many data sources as necessary for a report. The data sources can be of different types. For example, a report can use data from a database and data from a flat file repository.

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