Changing report name in SSRS email subscription - reporting-services

Question

We are using SSRS 2012 at my company and we use a plug-in to append a datestamp to about 5% of the emailed report names (along with ZIPping a few of them), as it looks like you can't set up an email subscription and then script the attached report name changes, can only do that when your subscription writes to a file share.
This plug-in is no longer supported and fails quite a bit for no obvious reason. The workaround of writing these reports to a file share then scripting the email process from there is not a practical solution for us.
We will be upgrading to SSRS 2019 this year, can anyone tell me if modifying emailed report names is now an option, I am finding no definitive answer online. Or is there a supported reliable plug-in anyone can recommend, that adds datestamps to email subscription attached report names and can compress those reports?

Answer 1

If you have custom requirements for emailing subscriptions, you can setup a PowerShell script to run on a server under a scheduled task.
Here is an example were I export a Tableau workbook and SSRS report to pdf, zip them and send it as an email.
<#
Description: Powershell Report Subscription
Purpose: To export pdf files from SQL Server Reporting Services and Tableau and then email them as attachments.
References: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/tabcmd_cmd.htm#id7cb8d032-a4ff-43da-9990-15bdfe64bcd0
As Is: Deployed to C:\Temp and running on a schedule with Windows Task Scheduler
#>
Try
{
#set email variables
$smtpServer = 'YourServer.com';
$emailSubject = 'Weekly Report';
$emailFrom = 'Business.Intelligence#yourcompany.com';
$emailError = 'Business.Intelligence#yourcompany.com';
$emailTo = #('John Smith <john.smith#yourcompany.com>', 'Dave Scott <dave.scott#yourcompany.com>');
$emailCc = 'Business.Intelligence#yourcompany.com';
$exportPath = 'C:\Temp\';
$zipFile = $exportPath + 'reports';
#set Tableau variables
$tableauServer = 'TABLEAU_SERVER';
$tableauUsername = 'your_service_account'; #user must have read/write permissions to $exportPath
$tableauPassword = '###################';
$tableauTabCmdPath = 'C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\2019.3\extras\Command Line Utility\tabcmd.exe';
$tableauWorkbook = 'YourFolder/YourWorkbook';
$tableauFile = $exportPath + $tableauWorkbook.Substring($tableauWorkbook.IndexOf('/')+1) + '.pdf';
#set SSRS variables
$ssrsPath = 'http://SSRS_SERVER/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?%2fFinance/Weekly%20Report';
$ssrsFileName = $ssrsPath.split('/')[-1] -replace '%20', ' ';
$ssrsFile = $exportPath + $ssrsFileName + '.pdf';
#remove files if they already exist so we don't send out old reports
if (Test-Path $tableauFile)
{
Remove-Item $tableauFile
}
if (Test-Path $ssrsFile)
{
Remove-Item $ssrsFile
}
#create pdf of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report
$ssrsFilePdf = $ssrsPath + '&rs:Format=PDF'
(Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $ssrsFilePdf -OutFile $ssrsFile -UseDefaultCredentials -TimeoutSec 240);
#create pdf of Tableau workbook
$tableauServer = $tableauServer;
$tableauWorkbookRefresh = $tableauWorkbook + '?:refresh=yes';
$TabCmd = $tableauTabCmdPath;
& $TabCmd login -s $tableauServer -u $tableauUsername -p $tableauPassword;
& $TabCmd export $tableauWorkbookRefresh -pdf -f $tableauFile;
& $TabCmd logout;
#compress files
Compress-Archive -Path $exportPath -DestinationPath $zipFile
$zipFile = $zipFile + '.zip'
#email attachments to users
Set pathname ="C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell>";
$emailBody = #"
Hi,
Attached are the weekly reports.
This is a link to the Tableau Workbook Weekly Report
http://$tableauServer/#/views/$tableauWorkbook
This is a link to the Report Manager Weekly Report
$ssrsPath
"#
Send-MailMessage -smtpServer $smtpServer -From $emailFrom -To $emailTo -Cc $emailCc -Subject $emailSubject -Attachments $zipFile -Body $emailBody;
}
Catch
{
$errorType = $_.Exception.GetType().FullName;
$errorMessage = $_.Exception.Message;
$scriptFileName = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name;
$scriptFileCode = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition;
Write-Host "Exception:" -ForegroundColor Red;
Write-Host "Exception Type: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)" -ForegroundColor Red;
Write-Host "Exception Message: $($_.Exception.Message)" -ForegroundColor Red;
Send-MailMessage -smtpServer $smtpServer -From $emailFrom -To $emailError -Subject "$emailSubject FAILED!" -Body " Host Name: $env:computername `n Error Type: $errorType `n Error Message: $errorMessage. `n`n Script File: $scriptFileName `n Script Code: `n $scriptFileCode";
Break;
}