How to generate XLS\XLSX reports from BIRT which can be used without showing security error popup in Microsoft Excel.

[devamitkochar]

We are using BIRT version 2.5.1 , with some jars like viewservlets at 4.4.2 . We need to generate XLS\XLSX reports which do not have XML formatted content so that when customer opens the report, no security popup as given below is shown.

[wimjongman]

What exactly is your question?

[wimjongman]

Sorry, I see it in the subject. What happens if you open the report? Is it correct?

We do not support BIRT version 2.5.1. Please update to the latest version and see if this resolves your issue.

[hvbtup]

I remember that error message in a different context: When creating a *.doc file with the old Word emitter (DOC).
The Word (DOC) and Excel (XLS) emitters do not create the binary Office 97 files that the file suffixes *.doc and *.xls imply.
Instead, they create XML in Office 2003 format.
But if one uses an *.xml file suffix, nobody knows what kind of file that would be, so one has to use a suffix which makes is clear which application is responsible for opening the file.
The warning is because the actual file format and the format implied by the file extension do not match.
Despite the warning, Excel resp. Word will be able to show the content.

Advice:

• Use the latest BIRT version.
• Use the XLSX emitter to create Excel files - it will create an *.xlsx file (and the content is XLSX format)
• For Word output, use the DOCX emitter.
• Try to avoid the old Office 97 binary formats generally. They are causing all kinds of security issues. Instead, use the "new" ZIP-bases formats *.docx and *.xlsx

[hvbtup]

The easiest way to test BIRT ist to use the report-designer-all-in-one. Just download, unzip, start.
I don't know anything about the viewerservlets.jar you mention.
If you download the birt-runtime: The ZIP contains a shell script to test running a single report, as well as birt.war, which contains everything you need to make a BIRT viewer as part of a web server (I never used it personally, though).

[devamitkochar]

Thanks Henning. I would try as you have suggested.

[devamitkochar]

Hi Henning, I have updated my project to use BIRT 4.8.0 and I am able to generate XLSX reports . But after BIRT upgrade to 4.8.0 we are observing security vulnerabilities in org.eclipse.birt.report.data.oda.excel_4.8.0.v201806261756.jar and uk.co.spudsoft.birt.emitters.excel_4.8.0.v201806261756 plugin. Can you please suggest alternative BIRT version with no security vulnerabilities

[hvbtup]

Still using Java 8 is a security issue as well...

[merks]

Problems can only be addressed in a new release so if you are stuck on an old release and not using the latest release, you will be stuck on old problems forever.