## Chapter 2 Connecting to a Data Source

Enterprise report data is frequently stored in a variety of systems and in disparate formats. BIRT Report Designer provides wizards to set up access to the following types of data sources:

- JDBC data sources
The most common way to access a data source is to use the JDBC protocol. BIRT reports use SQL queries and stored procedures to access these data sources.
- Text files
BIRT reports use text files as data sources. These text files are typically created by business systems and applications that create logs.
- XML data
BIRT reports use XML data, either as a stream or a document.

Many examples included as part of the BIRT download use the sample database, Classic Models. That database is included in the default installation as an embedded Derby database so you can work with the examples.

This chapter discusses how to use BIRT's interactive wizards to create a data source. These wizards also support creating data sources that require scripting or programming. This chapter does not discuss data sources, such as scripted data sources that use JavaScript or custom data drivers that use the Open Data Access (ODA) framework. You can find more information about using ODA on the Eclipse web site in the Data Tools project at the following URL:

    http://www.eclipse.org/datatools/project_connectivity/