Deploying Java classes used in BIRT reports

A BIRT Report Designer can use scripts to implement custom functionality. For example, you can use scripts to create a scripted data source or provide custom processing for a report element. When you deploy such a BIRT report design to iServer (Express) or Java Components (Actuate Viewer, Interactive Viewer or Deployment Kit) you must provide the report factory a way to access these Java classes. 

Here are the steps:

1. Package the Java classes as a JAR file
   
2. Add the above JAR file as a resource to the report design file. This involves copying the JAR file to BIRT Report Designer resources folder (By default this is your workspace, but this can also be configured in your report preferences). Now go to the outline view, select the root report element and then select Resource property group in the Property Editor window. Here you add your JAR file resource. 
   
3. Upload the JAR file to resources folder. In case of iServer (Express) this folder exists in the root of encyclopedia volume. For Actuate Java Components the default location of this folder is [WebappDir]/ActuateJavaComponent/resources(The location is configured through the parameter BIRT_RESOURCE_PATH in web.xml assocated with the web application.
   
4. Deploy your BIRT design file.
   

If you are using iServer Enterprise and wish to make the same report available across multiple volumes, you could deploy the JAR file to [Install Dir]/ iServer/resources folder and it would be shared across all volumes. When using this method you do not have to add the JAR file to the report design as a resource, however you would need to restart iServer service.