Bug 207120 Please model provide an API for data type conversion.
Currently, there're two data types: column data type and parameter data type. But they're inconsistent. Could model provide APIs for conversion between the two types. Thanks. In addition: please check the code into head and 2.2.1 branch, because we have a 2.2.1 bug to fix.
model/org.eclipse.birt.report.model/src/org/eclipse/birt/report/model/api/ModuleUtil.java
return (ActionHandle) action.getHandle( propHandle );
	}
	/**
	 * Auxiliary method to help parse the input stream.
	 * 
	 * @param handler
	 *            the parse handler
	 * @param streamData
	 *            the input stream
	 * @throws DesignFileException
	 *             any exception if error happens
	 */
	private static void parse( XMLParserHandler handler,
			InputStream streamData, String filename )
			throws DesignFileException
	{
		try
		{
			ModelUtil.checkUTFSignature( streamData, filename );
			SAXParserFactory saxParserFactory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance( );
			SAXParser parser = saxParserFactory.newSAXParser( );
			InputSource inputSource = new InputSource( streamData );
			inputSource.setEncoding( UnicodeUtil.SIGNATURE_UTF_8 );
			parser.parse( inputSource, handler );
		}
		catch ( SAXException e )
		{
			List errors = handler.getErrorHandler( ).getErrors( );
			
			if ( e.getException( ) instanceof DesignFileException )