title: Use iText alone or go all out with BIRT
body: <p>I am working on a java web application that gets hit about 400,000 times a day.  I am supposed to add a feature where users can download a PDF directory of doctors and hospitals based on criteria they selected.  There are a significant number of business rules associated with the directories, some doctors/hospitals should be displayed one way, others get very different treatment, the layouts are not fancy, just lots conditional elements.  Many of the conditional elements can be factored into fixed templates, but, there are a set of variations that can be applied in number of situations and combinations so the number of permutations makes an exhaustive list of templates impractical.</p>
  
  <p>I heard about iText and have started playing around with it, it seems perfect for the job I need to do.  I found out a couple days ago (after I had made significant progress with iText) that the company I work for has BIRT listed as the approved PDF generation solution.</p>
  
  <p>I don't think that BIRT is a good solution for this application and I am trying to make a case for using iText instead.  The argument I have made to the software approval people is that iText is a library in BIRT so it should be implicitly approved (they did not buy that one), BIRT is too heavy weight and we won't even be using most of its features, and BIRT is too closely coupled to the datasource.  I really want to be able to say something about BIRT being inflexible in regards to conditional document layout, but I have not been able to find out what BIRTs capabilities are in that regard (that may indicate that its capabilities are not great but... hard to make a case based on missing information).</p>
  
  <p>Want I want to know is, do you agree that iText is a better solution for my application?  If so, what argument would you make to get it approved?  If not, why is BIRT better?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks very much and I am glad to clarify any confusing bits of my question.</p>