BIRT Copy & Paste

I am working on a complex client report with multiple sections that have some similar layouts, and in the end I will need to loop through hundreds of locations via calling a second workflow. It will save hours of work if I can Copy/Paste as detailed below.

Copy/Paste Entire Reports between Workflows:

I would like to build out the report in the main workflow and then paste node and report designer changes into the second workflow when changes are ready for distribution. Can this be accomplished by pasting all necessary nodes, along with the default_report.rptdesign and default_report.rptconfig files into the new workflow directory?

Copy/Paste Entire Sections or Pages Within Report:

Has anyone figured out how to select / copy and paste entire pages or grid sections with all of their contents intact. “Copy” seems to always be greyed out if I try to select entire grids or layouts…

It appears from a few tests that the above Copy and Paste approach for Entire Workflows works (with the occasional quirk).

Still working on Copy and Paste for sections though…

I discovered an easier way to manage version changes between a parent and child workflow that loop through and save multiple reports. Simple layout changes can be copied and pasted as mentioned above, but larger scale changes to report prep get trickier.

I incorporate the JSON conversion and return to table prep into my parent workflow to mimic / avoid difficult to trace errors in the child workflow. Once I have a newer version built / tested / saved in the main parent workflow, I just delete everything but the JSON return + prep and the report builder area, then do a save as to create the new child workflow, then paste in the loop call from the prior version.

Another trick is that I create a local table with the data for a single report run in the parent workflow. I keep that in the child workflow unconnected for troubleshooting and simple report layout changes.

I doubt many users go this far down the BIRT rabithole, but maybe this will help save a few people some hassle when managing looped through complicated report designs.

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