Programatically adding a sort condition to a table in BIRT using JS

Question

Hi,

I am attempting to write some script that simplifies table sorting and have been getting quite close but am now wondering if I have found a bug...or have just misunderstood limitations.

So my relevant code:

var reportRunnable = reportContext.getReportRunnable();
var reportDesign = reportRunnable.getDesignInstance();
var table = reportDesign.getTable(tableName);

var sortCondition = org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.script.element.StructureScriptAPIFactory.createSortCondition();      
sortCondition.setKey("row[\"" + columnKey + "\"]");
sortCondition.setDirection("desc");

table.removeSortConditions();
table.addSortCondition(sortCondition);

I am getting a NullPointerException on line 164 in the class Listing: org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.script.internal.element.Listing, in the method removeSortConditions...

((org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api.simpleapi.IListing) designElementImpl).removeSortConditions();

So the above implies 'designElementImpl' is null, having looked further at the source it seemed to imply that to instantiate the 'table' object, the following constructor was used:

public Table( TableHandle table );

And moving up the heirarchy of super classes, it implies that in the constructor of DesignElement, the following is returning null:

designElementImpl = SimpleElementFactory.getInstance( ).getElement(handle);

Any one any thoughts? Am I just not able to what I am trying to do?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Should probably add; I'm using BIRT 2.5.1.

Answer 1

I think I have this sorted now...I created a [simpler] new report without library dependencies and sorting is now working correctly.

I posted on another forum as well, so if anyone wants more details see BIRT Exchange Forums.

Cheers.