BIRT Report Item Extension Point
Identifier: 
org.eclipse.birt.model.reportItemModel
Since: 
1.0
Description: 
Report Item extension point allows the user to specify how the new report item should be represented and persisted in the ROM
Configuration Markup:
<!ELEMENT extension (reportItem)>
<!ATTLIST extension
point CDATA #REQUIRED
id    CDATA #IMPLIED
name  CDATA #IMPLIED>
(no description available)
<!ELEMENT reportItem (property* , propertyGroup* , styleProperty* , method* , propertyVisibility* , style* , overrideProperty*)>
<!ATTLIST reportItem
extensionName  CDATA #REQUIRED
defaultStyle   CDATA #IMPLIED
isNameRequired (true | false) "false"
class          CDATA #REQUIRED
displayNameID  CDATA #IMPLIED
extendsFrom    CDATA "ExtendedItem">
Element definition
- extensionName - Internal unique name of the element
- defaultStyle - Predefined style to be used for the Report Item.
- isNameRequired - Field to indicate if the ReportItem instance name is required.
- class - Name of the java class, that implements the IReportItemFactory interface.
- displayNameID - Resource key for display name
- extendsFrom - Represent the parent element definition extending from. It can be one of the report elements defined in ROM, or group element defined in ROM, or other extensions from this point. By default, it is 'ExtendedItem'.
<!ELEMENT styleProperty EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST styleProperty
name CDATA #REQUIRED>
(no description available)
<!ELEMENT property (choice* , elementType*)>
<!ATTLIST property
name               CDATA #REQUIRED
displayNameID      CDATA #IMPLIED
type               (string|number|integer|dimension|color|choice|boolean|expression|html|uri|dateTime|xml|name|float|literalString|list|resourceKey|structure|elementRef|element|contentElement) 
detailType         CDATA #IMPLIED
subType            (string|boolean|dateTime|float|integer|expression) "string"
canInherit         (true | false) "true"
defaultValue       CDATA #IMPLIED
isEncryptable      (true | false) "false"
defaultDisplayName CDATA #IMPLIED
isList             (true | false) "false"
hasOwnModel        (true | false) "true">
(no description available)
- name - Internal unique name of the property extension element
- displayNameID - Resource key for the display name
- type - Property data type, such as integer or string. Generally, if property is of simple type(string, number, integer, dimension, color, boolean, expression, html, uri, dateTime, xml, name, float, literalString, resourceKey), then it is useless to set "subType" and "detailType" for the property; If type is "choice", then either define customized choices or set "detailType" to name of the preferred choice set in rom.def; If type is "list", the "subType" is required to determine the item type in the list value and by default its value is "string"; If type is "structure", "detailType" is required to refer a structure definition name in rom.def and set "isList" to true if value is not single; If type is "elementRef", "detailType" is required to refer an element definition name in  rom.def or an extension name of any report item extension; If type is "element", then set "isList" to true if the property value list is not single.
choice:
list:
structure, elementRef and element
- detailType - Detail data type, such as boolean or string. When the "type" is "choice", extension can define "detailType" to refer a choice set in original meta-data of Model; When "type" is "structure", extension must define "detailType" to refer a structure in original meta-data of Model.
- subType - When the "type" is "list", the "subType" is required and must be defined as one of the restriction choices. By default it is "string".
- canInherit - Flag indicating whether the property extension element can inherit
properties from another element
- defaultValue - Default value of the property extension element in the BIRT Report
Designer UI
- isEncryptable - The flag indicating whether this property is encrypted.
- defaultDisplayName - The default display name, which is used if no localized display name is found with I18N.
- isList - When "type" is "structure", you will define "isList" to indicate whether property value is a single structure or a structure list.
- hasOwnModel - Indicates whether the XML property should be treated as the extension model. The default value is true.
<!ELEMENT propertyGroup (property+)>
<!ATTLIST propertyGroup
displayNameID      CDATA #IMPLIED
name               CDATA #REQUIRED
defaultDisplayName CDATA #IMPLIED>
(no description available)
- displayNameID - Resource key for the display name
- name - Internal unique name of the property group
- defaultDisplayName - The default display name, which is used if no localized display name is found with I18N.
<!ELEMENT method (argument , javaDoc?)*>
<!ATTLIST method
name          CDATA #REQUIRED
displayNameID CDATA #IMPLIED
toolTipID     CDATA #IMPLIED
returnType    CDATA #IMPLIED
isStatic      (true | false) "false"
context       CDATA #IMPLIED>
(no description available)
- name - Internal unique name of the method
- displayNameID - Resource key for the display name
- toolTipID - Resource key for tool-tip of this method
- returnType - Data type of the method return value
- isStatic - Field indicating whether this method is static or not
- context - Execution context of this method
<!ELEMENT argument EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST argument
name  CDATA #REQUIRED
type  CDATA #IMPLIED
tagID CDATA #IMPLIED>
(no description available)
- name - Internal unique name of this argument
- type - Data type of this argument, such as string or integer
- tagID - Resource key for tag of this argument
<!ELEMENT choice EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST choice
name               CDATA #REQUIRED
value              CDATA #IMPLIED
displayNameID      CDATA #IMPLIED
defaultDisplayName CDATA #IMPLIED>
(no description available)
- name - Internal unique name of the choice
- value - Value for this choice
- displayNameID - Resource key for the display name
- defaultDisplayName - The default display name, which is used if no localized display name is found with I18N.
<!ELEMENT propertyVisibility EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST propertyVisibility
name       CDATA #REQUIRED
visibility CDATA #IMPLIED>
To set the visible level of this property when it is shown in the property sheet.
- name - Internal name of the property that is set the visibility.
- visibility - Two options are: hide, readonly.
<!ELEMENT style EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST style
name          CDATA #REQUIRED
displayNameID CDATA #IMPLIED>
Extension element default style -- selector.
- name - 
- displayNameID - Resource key for the display name
<!ELEMENT elementType EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST elementType
name CDATA #REQUIRED>
Define all the allowed element types in this slot.
- name - Name of the element which is allowed in the slot. The name must be consistent with those defined in 'rom.def' or some other reportItem extensions.
<!ELEMENT overrideProperty EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST overrideProperty
propertyName   CDATA #REQUIRED
allowedChoices CDATA #IMPLIED
useOwnModel    (true | false) "false">
override allowed units.
- propertyName - Internal name of the property that is overridden by extension.
- allowedChoices - units choices that use ',' as seperator. For example: if only allowed 'in' and 'cm' as allowed units, can set it as 'in,cm'.
- useOwnModel - The proposal of 'useOwnModel' property is to extend the extension schema to allow extended items to 
override some predefined properties such as "onRender","onCreate" property.
<!ELEMENT javaDoc (#PCDATA)>
JavaDoc for the method in CDATA format.
Examples: 
The following is an example of the Report Item extension.
<extension point=
"org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.reportitemPresentation"
>
     
<reportItem 
 class=
"org.eclipse.test.ReportItemFactoryImpl"
 
 isNameRequired=
"true"
 
 extensionName=
"TestingMatrix"
 displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix"
>
<property 
  defaultValue=
"default test&"<"
 
  type=
"string"
 
  displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test1"
 
  name=
"test1"
/>
<property type=
"integer"
 
  displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test2"
 
  canInherit=
"false"
 
  name=
"test2"
/>
<property
     displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test3"
     name=
"test3"
     
     type=
"xml"
/>
     
<property type=
"choice"
 
  displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test5"
 
  canInherit=
"false"
 
  name=
"test5"
>
  <choice value=
"one"
 
   displayNameID=
"Choices.test5.choice1"
 
   name=
"choice1"
/>
  <choice value=
"two"
 
   displayNameID=
"Choices.test5.choice2"
 
   name=
"choice2"
/>
  <choice value=
"three"
 
   displayNameID=
"Choices.test5.choice3"
 
   name=
"choice3"
/>
</property>
<propertyGroup name=
"group1"
 
  displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.group1"
>
  <property type=
"string"
   displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test6"
   name=
"test6"
/>
  <property type=
"integer"
   displayNameID=
"Element.TestingMatrix.test7"
   name=
"test7"
/>
</propertyGroup>
  <propertyVisibility name=
"bookmark"
 propertyVisibility=
"hide"
/>
  <propertyVisibility name=
"InvalidProperty"
 propertyVisibility=
"hide"
/>
  <propertyVisibility name=
"dataSet"
 propertyVisibility=
"readonly"
/>
  <propertyVisibility name=
"test3"
 propertyVisibility=
"hide"
/>
  
</reportItem>
</extension>
API Information: 
If the extended Report Item stores properties in its own model; i.e its own way of storing data then it must satisfy the following requirements
- serialize/deserialize as part of the report design file
- support undo/redo
- support generic property sheet
In order to acheive this, the report item extension must implement some of the interfaces defined in the org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api.extension package. See the package's JavaDoc documentation and API interfaces for more information.
 
The classes/interfaces to be extend/implement are:
- ReportItem ( required )
- ReportItemFactory ( required )
- ElementCommand ( optional, extend this class to suport undo/redo operation ). Extend ElementCommand class and integrate with the command stack in the  IReportItem::setProperty() method implementation
- IPropertyDefinition, IChoiceDefinition ( optional, implement this class to integrate with the generic property sheet in the designer )
- IMessages ( optional, implement this class to support externalized strings )
Supplied Implementation: 
The plugin org.eclipse.birt.chart.reportitem, supplied with the BIRT installation, provides a good example for implementing an report item extension.
Copyright (c) 2005 Actuate Corporation. All rights reserved. This program and 
the accompanying materials are made available under the terms of the Eclipse 
Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution, and is available at 
http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
Contributors: Actuate Corporation - initial API and implementation