BIRT Exchange Forum: BIRT Exchange Forum -> Community BIRT

I want to invite the BIRT community to help us select winners for each month's DevShare Contest and other contests we're running, such as Plug In 2 BIRT.

Since we dropped community voting last year due to abuses, it's been more difficult to get a good picture of what the community finds most valuable in DevShare submissions and I hope you can help. We want your input.

Why We Stopped The Voting
One of the problems with an open system is that voting can become a popularity contest between web-bots, authors and friends rather than focus on the technical merits of submitted content (and sadly, we saw that happen).

What We Think Should Work
By inviting and using community input as advisory to the judges instead of binding, the effect of conflicts of interest between authors and feedback providers (plus random votes by bots) can be minimized because the judges can review the feedback for good input and ignore (or delete) superfluous postings.

To that end, going forward:

• Actuate will treat any comments you provide as advice (advice we will take seriously).
  
• Actuate will make the final decision as objectively as possible based on advice we receive and our own evaluations.

How You Can Help
I encourage you to show your approval for articles/apps you find useful (please explain why) and express your concerns about each month's DevShare and Marketplace submissions by giving feedback in the form of comments and reviews to their respective pages. Not only does this serve to inform people of the merits and limitations of a submission, but it also gives the author the opportunity to respond or make improvements to their submissions. Everyone benefits.

Of most help to the judges are your specific thoughts and examples about how and why a contribution benefits the general BIRT community. Judges generally award prizes to the most useful contributions — not necessarily the most technically astute (although those are nice too). Problems and/or cool uses of DevShare and Marketplace contributions that you discover can also be very helpful in making a final decision.

Since Actuate contributions are ineligible for contests, look here for the list of eligible April DevShare and Plug In 2 BIRT contest submissions. Feel free to comment on Actuate submissions too, we can use all the help we can get!

Note that the April DevShare contest results will not be announced until after we have chosen the winners for the Plug In 2 BIRT contest since most of the DevShare submissions are also eligible for that contest.

Thanks for your help and support!

I'm pleased to announce the members of the BIRT Exchange Community Leaderboard for April 2012. The purpose of this Leaderboard is to honor the top contributors to BIRT Exchange each month and to have a little fun. Scores are also posted on the BIRT Exchange Connect page. You can recognize past and current Leaderboard members by special badges on their forum and DevShare posts:


To determine the leaders, each contribution made by a BIRT Exchange member is assigned a weighted point score that roughly corresponds to its effort/value. For example, starting a forum topic by asking a question will score you 1 point and answering someone's question scores 3 points. Members with the top summed scores each month are declared the leaders for that month and posted to the Leaderboard. Over time we will evolve the scoring system as needed for fairness and value to the community. We also added a point for voting on the BIRT Exchange Community home page polls.

So please contribute to BIRT Exchange. It's not difficult to get a decent score and we'd love to see you on the Leaderboard next month!

You can find details on the Community Leaderboard Wiki. If you have any suggestions or comments, please add them to this blog post (they're worth 2 points).

The winner of the BIRT Exchange Contributor of the Month Contest for March 2012 is David Good for his contribution to BIRT Exchange titled: Multi Column Reports.

David (DGI Systems) said, "My DevShare entry described how to create a BIRT report which displayed data in 'flowing' columns. The data flowed from one column to the next and then from the final column on page x to the first column on page y, for unlimited pages.

"I am porting an eReport with this functionality (using flows) into a BIRT design so had to develop something bespoke."

David is an ex-high school mathematics teacher who moved into IT 7 years ago. He started as an eReports developer and started learning BIRT about 4 years ago. He moved into working with BIRT full time for the past 12 months.

He's currently working on a project to port many advanced eReports into BIRT which is a good challenge.

David chose a $200 Amazon Gift Card for his award.

We also want to thank the other eligible DevShare contributors for participating in this month's contest:

• Creating a multi column BIRT report with grouping, by Hans_vd (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• BIRT: Running a Multi-Select Parameter Report from Java, by johnw (Deploying BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Allow multi value for cascading parameter, by Maxwelll (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Password protected excel reports, by Raghava (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• CrossTab inside Table, by Rajesh kmr (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Popups including row data - after render, by DGI Systems (Designing BIRT Reports)

It's not too late... to get your own DevShare article posted in time for next month's contest that closes on April 30th. If you"ve cooked up something that you can share with the BIRT Exchange community, please post it soon! You can create a tutorial, build a BIRT application, template or component, or write up some of the tips and solutions to problems you've run into during the past -- anything that's helped you use BIRT more effectively will probably be useful to others too. And don't forget the BIRT Exchange Marketplace. A code-based DevShare submission could also be a great candidate for the Marketplace.

PLUS DO NOT FORGET to enter the Plug In 2 BIRT Contest. DevShare submissions received before the deadline on April 30th are eligible for both the contest and the regular monthly competition. See the Contest Page for more information and get started!

See the Contributor of the Month Contest Rules and the list of previous winners for more information about the contest.

There is still time to submit your entry to the Plug In to BIRT Contest.

This contest will award a new 3rd generation iPad for each of the 3 best plug-in implementations (extensions to BIRT) submitted to BIRT Exchange between now and April 30, 2012.

Check out the Contest Details and Examples Wiki page for everything you need to get started -- tutorials, examples, sample code, as well as lots of suggestions for new plug-ins we'd like to see.

The deadline is approaching but there is plenty of time to submit your killer entry and win -- so get started!

The Atlanta BIRT User Group (ABUG) and the Greater Atlanta Maximo User Group (GAMUG) will host a joint meeting this Friday on April 20th from 8:30am-4pm.

Topics will include:

Morning GAMUG

• Ad Hoc Reporting - Query Based Reports (QBR) in Maximo
  
• How Cloud is going to Impact Everything in IT
  
• Transform your Enterprise Asset Management Initiatives

Afternoon ABUG

• What is BIRT (introductory/intermediate level)
  
• Using BIRT in the Cloud

Check out the agenda and schedule if you're in the Atlanta area and register today!

I'm pleased to announce the members of the BIRT Exchange Community Leaderboard for March 2012. The purpose of this Leaderboard is to honor the top contributors to BIRT Exchange each month and to have a little fun. Final scores are posted on the BIRT Exchange Connect page. You can recognize past and current Leaderboard members by special badges on their forum and DevShare posts:


To determine the leaders, each contribution made by a BIRT Exchange member is assigned a weighted point score that roughly corresponds to its effort/value. For example, starting a forum topic by asking a question will score you 1 point and answering someone's question scores 3 points. Members with the top summed scores each month are declared the leaders for that month and posted to the Leaderboard. Over time we will evolve the scoring system as needed for fairness and value to the community. We just added a point for voting on the BIRT Exchange Community home page polls.

So please contribute to BIRT Exchange. It's not difficult to get a decent score and we'd love to see you on the Leaderboard next month!

You can find details on the Community Leaderboard Wiki. If you have any suggestions or comments, please add them to this blog post (they're worth 2 points).

Developers and Systems Integrators:

If you are currently designing applications using BIRT to support the US Federal government, then you should look into the latest survey competition hosted by Actuate. We want to know how you're working with BIRT and the creative ways it's being applied. Anyone using BIRT to develop tools and solutions for the government is eligible. If your entry is selected, you could win a new 3rd generation 32 GB Apple iPad with Wi-Fi!



It is easy to enter the competition. Complete this short 10 minute survey describing your use of BIRT within the Federal government and send us a screenshot of the application by May 11, 2012. All completed surveys will be eligible for a chance to win an iPad as well as receive recognition amongst your peers in the BIRT community. All qualified entries will receive a BIRT Rocks! sound activated T-shirt.

For more information, review the Federal BIRT Competition 2012 Rules and Conditions.

If you have any questions, please e-mail federalgroup@actuate.com.

Note: The survey information is for Actuate use only and will not be shared publicly.

At EclipseCon last week, Actuate announced the Plug In to BIRT Contest as a follow-up to our very successful Get Started with BIRT contest held in September/October 2011.

This new contest will award a new 3rd generation iPad for each of the 3 best plug-in implementations (extensions to BIRT) submitted to BIRT Exchange between now and April 30, 2012.

Our Contest Details and Examples Wiki page has everything you need to get started -- tutorials, sample code, and lots of suggestions for new plug-ins we'd like to see.

But you've never created a BIRT plug-in before?
Not a problem. Plug-ins are usually straightforward to implement for most good developers -- in fact our winners last time were all first-time BIRT plug-in developers.

And if you're up for a challenge, BIRT developers are always looking for new Chart Types. We have several ideas listed or please come up with your own.

You retain ownership of any code you submit for the contest, and you're free to sell or distribute it later if you wish.

So check out the Contest Details and Examples Wiki page and get started!

During the second calendar quarter of 2012, Actuate is hosting free one day strategy and training sessions in the following cities:

April

Chicago, IL . . . . . Tuesday, 4/24
Houston, TX . . . . . Wednesday, 4/25
London, UK. . . . . . Wednesday, 4/25

May

Nashville, TN . . . . Tuesday, 5/1
Birmingham, AL. . . . Thursday, 5/3
Hartford, CT. . . . . Tuesday, 5/8
Reston, VA. . . . . . Wednesday, 5/9
Philadelphia, PA. . . Tuesday, 5/15
St. Louis, MO . . . . Wednesday, 5/16
Paris, France . . . . Tuesday, 5/22

June

New York, NY. . . . . Tuesday, 6/5
Detroit, MI . . . . . Wednesday, 6/6
Minneapolis, MN . . . Tuesday, 6/12
Los Angeles, CA . . . Wednesday, 6/13
San Francisco, CA . . Thursday, 6/14


This introductory training series is designed for those unfamiliar or just getting started with BIRT. During the day you will hear about technical strategies and opportunities that will help you anticipate and address future business needs –plus– learn how to develop rich information applications for your users through hands-on training that covers Eclipse and Actuate BIRT features.

These Roadshows are great ways to learn more about BIRT whether you're an Eclipse open source developer or an Actuate customer. Lunch is provided as well as giveaways and door prizes so you can expect an informative day with a chance to meet other BIRT users in your area and have a little fun.

Don't miss this opportunity to take part in one of these events.

The winner of the BIRT Exchange Contributor of the Month Contest for February 2012 is John Ward for his contribution to BIRT Exchange titled: Showing Top 10 and Still Displaying Total Count.

John said, "I put this example together to answer a question in the BIRT Exchange Forums. I enjoy submitting to DevShare and I hope to encourage other developers to take advantage and submit their solutions as well."

John Ward is the author of "Practical Data Analysis and Reporting with BIRT" and "BIRT 2.6: Data Analysis and Reporting." John has been involved with the BIRT project since the beta phase, and has worked on a number of small and large scale BIRT based products. He is familiar with all aspects of BIRT, from report development, to extension points and core modification.

He chose a $200 Amazon Gift Card for his award.

We also want to thank the other eligible DevShare contributors for participating in this month's contest:

• Styling using the NEXTVAL and PREVVAL aggregate functions, by Megha Nidhi Dahal (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Relative file references in BIRT reports, by Yaytay (Deploying BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Dynamic styling using beforeFactory method..., by arjung (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Styling report and script to change default chart , by tkopets (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Style applied based on external data like weather, by Raghava (Designing BIRT Reports)
  
  
• Dynamically Hide Table and Not Execute Its Data Set, by johnw (Designing BIRT Reports)

It's not too late... to get your own DevShare article posted in time for next month's contest that closes on March 31st. If you"ve cooked up something that you can share with the BIRT Exchange community, please post it soon! You can create a tutorial, build a BIRT application, template or component, or write up some of the tips and solutions to problems you've run into during the past -- anything that's helped you use BIRT more effectively will probably be useful to others too. And don't forget the BIRT Exchange Marketplace. A code-based DevShare submission could also be a great candidate for the Marketplace.

See the Contributor of the Month Contest Rules and the list of previous winners for more information about the contest.