How to make common master page in BIRT reporting?

Question

How do I make a common masterpage in BIRT? I'd like all of my reports to use a common master page, so that I can make a change in one place and all of the reports that use that master page automatically get the change.

Answer 1

Create a masterpage in a BIRT library and then have all of your reports use that masterpage. Here's how:

1. Open the BIRT report designer
2. File -> New -> New Library
3. In the Outline pane expand Masterpages. Rename the masterpage to something meaningful - you'll want to do this in case you create multiple masterpages in the future. For example, you may want one masterpage for Portait reports and a different one for Landscape reports.
4. Save
5. Open a report which you want to link to the common masterpage
6. In the Resource Explorer pane expand Shared Resources -> your newly created library -> MasterPages
7. Right click on your masterpage -> Add to Report
8. Delete the old masterpage in the report

Your report will then be linked to a common masterpage - if you change something in the masterpage, the report will automatically get that change. You won't have to change the individual report.