Installing BIRT from the All-In-One package

The BIRT All-in-One package is the easiest BIRT package to install, so it will be the first one we will go for. The BIRT All-in-One package is a BIRT distribution that contains a full Eclipse installation preconfigured with BIRT. I usually use this as the base installation for Eclipse and add plugins accordingly. BIRT can have some tricky issues with configuration that I have come across in the past, and since then, I avoid these by installing the All-in-One package.

As with most BIRT installations, the All-in-One package is available from the Download BIRT link. This will typically take us to the current, stable release of BIRT. The developers seem to agree that the All-in-One package is the typical way to go as it is the first link on the page. The following is a screenshot of what the BIRT download page looks like:

Additionally, older and pre-released versions of BIRT are available from the "More Downloads" section of the BIRT's download page, under the "full BIRT 2.x Download Page", where x is the subversion, such as 2.3, 2.5. or 2.6. From this link, you can retrieve older releases, current milestone builds, and the latest nightly release for those who want to stay on the cutting edge

This screenshot is the full download page for BIRT 2.5.1. From here the various installation packages can be retrieved such as the RCP Standalone Report Designer, the BIRT Source Code, and various other runtime libraries and demo databases. Because we are installing the All-in-One, we will download the release for Windows.

The BIRT All-in-One installation package is a large ZIP file (roughly 150 MB), so for individuals who already have an Eclipse installation and are limited by a small amount of bandwidth, this may not be an attractive option. But for individuals with access to a high-speed Internet connection or those who do not have an existing Eclipse installation, this will work out fine. This ZIP file contains a full Eclipse installation with the BIRT plugins already installed and preconfigured for use.

Installation of the BIRT All-in-One package is as simple as opening the ZIP file in an archiving utility such as WinZip and extracting the contents to an installation directory of one's choice. I typically use C:\Eclipse as my base installation directory.