Data Services Journal

Actuate Corporation on Monday issued a challenge to developers familiar with Adobe or BIRT: to combine BIRT and Adobe technologies in powerful and innovative ways. The Get BIRT-y with Flash and Flex Contest offers a cash prize of up to $5,000 and all winning applications will be listed on the BIRT Exchange Marketplace http://www.birt-exchange.com/marketplace/, an open software showcase on the most active online BIRT community, where any developer can promote, share or sell BIRT-related applications, solutions and components.

The contest opens today and developers have until March 10 to submit a write-up on how they plan to combine BIRT and Adobe technologies to create high-impact data visualizations. Suggestions for possible apps include:

• Flash objects that pull data from multiple sources
• Real-time data visualizations from BlazeDS
• New controls for the BIRT Designer palette that incorporate Adobe technologies, like Adobe Flex Builder
• Visualizations that access Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES2 as a data source
• BIRT controls that use browser-side scripting for displaying Adobe content
• Anything else that would “wow” an end user or make a BIRT or Adobe developer’s life easier

Combining BIRT and Adobe technologies will enable developers to quickly build rich, interactive data visualizations and other features for their applications that have more impact than typical banded data displays and that will significantly enhance the end user experience.

Judging will be based on the originality of the proposed idea and design, its relevance as a showcase for BIRT and Adobe technology, its usefulness to the BIRT community and the quality and robustness of the implementation.

The BIRT Exchange Marketplace already houses examples of BIRT and Adobe apps including the BIRT Flex Output Emitter: http://www.birt-exchange.com/be/marketplace/app-showcase/?app=35 and the Flash Maps Showcase http://www.birt-exchange.com/be/marketplace/app-showcase/?app=18. The Marketplace is the prime place to showcase BIRT based apps because it enables developers to:

• Highlight their application and Web 2.0 development skills
• Market, share and list their BIRT solutions, components and extensions at no cost in a reliable, mature business community
• Quickly create compelling solutions to business and technical problems by leveraging existing BIRT components and frameworks on the BIRT Marketplace.

“There are some awesome developers out there. I can’t wait to see how they combine BIRT and Adobe technologies to create something ultra-cool,” said Dan Melcher, Senior RIA Architect at Actuate. “This contest is an excellent way to give kudos to Adobe and BIRT talent, and I’m sure something amazing is going to happen here.”

Full details of the contest timeline, judging criteria and terms and conditions can be found by visiting: http://www.birt-exchange.com/adobecontest. Any questions should be emailed to contests@birt-exchange.com.