BIRT, Second Edition: A Field Guide to Reporting is an essential resource for users who want to create presentation quality reports from day one. The extensive examples, step-by-step instructions, and abundant illustrations help new users develop their report design skills quickly. Power users can find the information they need to make the most of the product’s rich set of features to build complex and compelling reports. By the time you finish this book, you learn the following and more

Design effective business and corporate reports that convey information through images, charts, tables, and cross tabs
Build reports using data from a variety of sources, including databases, XML documents, spreadsheets, and web services
Enliven reports with interactive features, such as hyperlinks, Tooltips, and highlighting
Create consistently styled reports and collaborate with other report designers through the use of templates and libraries of reusable elements
Localize reports for an international audience

This second edition, revised and expanded, adds updated examples and covers all the new and improved product features, including

Cross tabs and OLAP cubes
New chart types, including Gantt, bubble, tube, and cone charts
Web services as a new data source
New report output formats, including doc, ppt, xls, and PostScript
The capability for reports to reference CSS
Localization of report parameter and data values