- Open or create a report design.
- Choose Data Explorer.
If you are using the default application window layout, Data Explorer is on the left, next to Palette. If Data Explorer is not visible, choose Window->Show View->Data Explorer.
If Data Explorer appears somewhere other than the top left of the screen, drag Data Explorer to the sidebar on the left as shown below.
- Right-click Data Sources, then choose New Data Source from the context menu.
New Data Source--Select a Data Source type appears.
- Specify the type and name of the data source.
- In Data sources, select JDBC Data Source.
- In Data Source Name, type a name for the BIRT Report Designer data source.
This name must be unique in the current report design.
- Choose Next.
New Data Source--New Data Source appears.
- Specify the connection information for the JDBC data source.
- In Driver Class, choose a driver class from the drop-down list.
- In Database URL, type the database URL using the syntax required by the driver. Typically, BIRT Report Designer displays the required syntax in Database URL. For a Sun JDBC/ODBC bridge, this syntax is:
Replace <data source name> with the name of your data source. For example, the following URL identifies the sales database.
- In User Name, type the user name to use when connecting to the JDBC data source.
If the JDBC data source does not require a user name, leave this field blank.
- In Password, type the password to use when connecting to the JDBC data source.
If the JDBC data source does not require a password for this user name, leave this field blank.
- To ensure that the connection information is correct, choose Test Connection.
If Test Connection returns an error, repeat steps
5 and
6 to correct the error and test the connection again. Test Connection is required if it is the first time you've used the driver.
- Choose Finish.
BIRT Report Designer tests the connection. If BIRT Report Designer reports a connection error, repeat steps
5 and
6 to correct the error and test the connection again.
If the connection works, BIRT Report Designer creates a new BIRT Report Designer data source. The new data source appears within Data Sources in Data Explorer.