Combine two SSRS reports and present as one - reporting-services

I have two reports A.rdl and B.rdl. When I run A.rdl, I also want to stitch B.rdl to the output, so it's like a single report. One way to achieve this is to use B as subreport in A (adjust page break and all), however, the subreport doesn't preserve its header and footer. I'm trying to combine both report into one with their own header and footer. Is there a way to do this either using subreport or any C# code to do it through reportviewer?

One solution for this (If I understand it correctly) is to develop a new report C, containing only the common header and the other subrebports A and B without headers. Like this example:
Report_C

Related

Subreport as a header in main report (with page numbering)

I'm facing an odd issue: I'm going to create lots of reports using reporting services (SSRS) and one request was to create a subreport that will be shown as a header in main report. I've come across two main problems:
It is not possible to insert subreports into report headers. I thought of a possible workaround and just create a subreport without header and then insert subreport on top of body in main report. But then I faced another problem:
My header contains a logo, title and page number. However, function for page numbering cannot be used in report body, only in header.
Is there any alternative? Or should i just add a header to each report instead of trying to create a subreport for the header?
You can start by using a report with the header as a template. You would start with this whenever you make a new report. That at least eliminates the need to recreate it each time.
If you do want to be able to manage the headers dynamically, you can use a data-driven approach. Almost all of the properties for images and text boxes can be defined with expressions. And the expressions can refer to a dataset. In other words, you can store all of your preferences in a table. Your header template would include a dataset that brings in all the settings. Then you can use expressions to define how the header will look.
By doing this, you would be able to adjust the image, font size, etc. in all the headers at once just by changing a value in your table. Obviously there is some overhead with setting up the template this way, but it has a negligible performance impact and gives you more power to manage the header dynamically.

SSRS grouping - dataset values in header and footer

Been pulling my hair out over an issue in SSRS. I"m converting Crystal reports to SSRS. What I have is a Dataset in a table in my detail area of my SSRS report, grouping on a certain field, displays data and summaries by group, no problem. What i need to have however, is data from that same group in the page header and footer, sometimes certain values as a summation of a numerical value from the dataset for that same group. When I attempt this (i.e. = Sum(Fields!payment_amt.Value, "DataSet1"), I get the summation of that value for the entire dataset, not just for the group in question. I need it for just the group. in the page header and footer. Likewise doing something like First(Fields!columnname.Value, "DataSet1") will only display the initial value of the comlumname for the dataset, and does not page to the next value in the grouping as I scroll through the pages
SSRS will not allow you to put a table or subreport in the header or footer, so i cannot simulate the data retrieval in the header and footer to match the specified grouping in the detail area. It seems Crystal Reports and other report tools can handle something like this just fine, with sort of "free form" in the headers and footers, which display the proper data in the page headers and footers base on the specified groupings.
SSRS seems to rigid with requiring the Table Layout for datasets for grouping, not allowing for free form style. is there a way around this?
Without seeing exactly what you are trying to achieve I can't give a specific answer but you can reference textbox names including the textboxes that make up your tablix.
So, if you have a tablix and one of the columns showed, say, an account balance. Click the cell in question and get it's name from the properties window. If it's called, say Textbox99 then in your header you can refernce is with something like
=FIRST(ReportItems!TextBox99.Value)
Other types of aggregations are available..

How do I get an SSRS subtable (tablixrow) to split across page breaks?

I have inherited an SSRS report which is basically a single table (tablix), one row of which contains a subtable. When the subtable is less than 10 rows, the report fits on a single page. However, when there are more than 10 rows, the report inserts a page break before the subtable and starts a new page, leaving over half of the first page blank.
What the users would like is for the subtable to split across the page break; that is, have the first 10 rows on page one, then start page 2 with a header row for the subtable and continue it.
Is there a simple way to achieve this or is it a case where the report really needs rewriting from scratch?
FYI, we are using SSRS 2012.
In inner tablix make sure keep together on one page if possible is unchecked.
Other way you can handle is remove the inner tablix and incorporate the same functionality in the main table.
After further attempts, I managed to get the table to split. The problem was that the row did not contain only the tablix, but also had textboxes to either side. It seems these were kept together as a group.
FYI, the more interesting problem was getting the headers onto the 2nd and following pages in the sub-table. This MSDN article explained the use of advanced settings to achieve this.

Repeat multiple charts on each page of subreport

I've a SSRS page which has header, two charts with different datasets and a subreport below charts.
When I run the page and drill down (I click on one of the bars of chart, it calls itself) and data populates in subreport which spans multiple pages.
My problem is I want to repeat those charts on each page. I've searched and tried a lot However nothing worked forme.
How can I repeat charts in multiple pages of subreport? Please note that I've got charts with different data sets and that subreport is used at multiple places.
Thanks for the reply mike.
I believe it can not be achieved using subreports. hence, i embedded that subreport tablix into report and did as suggested by mike(charts went into header row).
Since tablix accepts only single dataset, i created a big dataset that has all the fields for two charts and data and applied required settings to get the job done.
It worked for me(at least to get the job done.).
I had a report that after each record (customer), I put a page break so that each record got its own numbers in one page. I also wanted to add a graph specific to only that customer. So i added the graphs into a table. In the table where my graphs were place, I added a parent group group - the same group as my data and I checked that the table also had the page break on the same group. This separated each record into a page each and also added the graphs to its corresponding record.
I would try to wrap the two charts and subreport inside a tablix. The dataset for the tablix would be one that returns a single row.
The two charts would go into the header row(s). The subreport would go in the Detail row.
Row and Column sizes need to be expanded to fit the chart and subreport sizes. There may be only one or two Columns depending on your layout.
Then I would use the dreaded "Advanced Mode" technique to get the header row(s) to repeat on each page, e.g.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robertbruckner/archive/2008/10/13/repeat-header-and-visible-fixed-header-table.aspx

Tablix header not repeating on new page, when subreport causes page break

I've been fighting with SSRS for too long now on what should be a simple matter. I'm hoping someone can help me see a solution.
I have a report which has a number of profiles, and each profile has a large number of data sections. The data sections (various tables and charts) are not related to each other in any way other than that they "key" back to the parent profile id.
The goal (which seems simple) is to have a header on each page with the profile information, and then have the data sections (each formatted completely differently) laid out.
The first problem we encountered was that for some reason SSRS2008 does not allow a tablix cell to contain another tablix with a different dataset (why it can't just require a filter based on the parent grouping is beyond me). The recommended workaround for this shortcoming is to either combine all data into a giant dataset (not possible here, data sections are too numerous and varied) or to embed subreports and pass in the parameters. While option number two increases the "work" needed to print a large number of profiles, we proceeded to implement this and it does work.
The problem comes in on the main tablix (the one containing the subreports) that has a static row header group set with "RepeatOnNewPage = true". This setting allows the header to show on every page as desired... except for subreports the span multiple pages, where the header is incorrectly ommitted.
For some reason, when the subreport spans multiple pages, the header of the parent tablix is not repeated! This is driving me insane as it would seem that a couple bad design decisions in SSRS has put me in a situation where I can't create the report I want... headers works without subreports, but I need subreports in order to "join" the data sections to the profile.
This would seem to be a simple and common requirement... after all, it's a report that is being migrated from a decades old reporting system. I've scoured StackOverflow and Google without success... I've seem a number of questions/answers about page breaks, but nothing that suggests a solution to this problem with subreports.
I'm posting this in case I'm missing something. If anyone has any suggestions at all, it would be much appreciated.
A very clean and simple way to repeat the column header on each page
http://www.a2zmenu.com/Blogs/BI/Tablix-headers-not-repeating-in-SSRS-2008.aspx
We've solved our problem... although not in the most ideal way.
The Page Header (of the "master" report, not the subreports) seems to be the only way to consistently have a header section.
We implemented a solution based in large part on this blog posting:
Maintaining State in Reporting Services 2008
We modified slightly from the blog post, removing "id" from the methods and including a GUID to ensure the report values are not mixed up even if the user runs several copies of the report at the same time. (When using shared variables, remember that they are global to the report running across execution instances and across users on the report server, so a lot of care needs to be taken when they are used!)
In the report body we have a hidden text block that calls:
=Code.SetValue("xxx",Fields!Field1.Value) & Code.SetValue("yyy",Fields!Field2.Value)
and in the report page header we reference these as (for example):
=Code.GetValue("xxx")
This works because the body is calculated before the page header, even for Page 1.
Still, in the end it is a hack for something that should be in Microsoft's product, given that they have poured years of development into this product! Why we cannot have nested tablix's and easier to use headers is beyond me... again this is upgrading a report from a program from the early 90's which did all this without problem. At the very least, give us report variables that can be retrieved and set as the report is processed!
Regardless, things are as they are... we've tested the solution with shared variables and it seems to be working very well. We're going to run stress tests to make sure it's implemented correctly, I'll post something here if we find any further problems.
(And if anyone knows of some other way to get consistent header rows on pages, even when there are detail rows with large heights, please share...)
We have faced exactly the same problem during implementation of customer demands on SSRS Reports,
And did try a lot of things which all of them resulted with failure.
In our case,
Main Report has 4 subreport. Each SubReport should be started in new page. And also when new subreport begins, page header should be changed dynamically based on Subreport in body in current page.
Also one of SubReports which was SubReport3 has another case. Basically Main Report was running based on Dealer level. But Customer wants SubReport3 to run for each SubDealer related with #Dealer parameter. Also Customer wants to see each SubDealer data started in New page inside SubReport3.
As a result, we found different workaround as follows.
We created Page Header to Main Report. (Report Menu -> Add Page Header)(As #codinginthevoid said it is most consistent way)
We putted 4 subreports inside separate tablix. We added new column to each tablix. That column in each tablix visiblity = false, width of that column can be as small as possible, then created placeholder inside of that column, wroted down expression as follows:
If expression is in Tablix1, expression was ="Tablix1", if in Tablix2 then "Tablix2" and etc.
Then started design page header for Tablix1, each report item in pageheader that was putted for Tablix1 has visibility expression as follows:
=ReportItems!Tablix1_HiddenTextbox1.Value IS NOTHING
then applied same thing for Tablix2 and etc.
In the end, there were lots of textbox in PageHeader of report and some of them position was completely same, overlapped, But when reports is being rendered, each of those textboxes is being shown it is related page with related subreport.
I have encountered the same problem as well. What I found was that the way to solve the issue was to de-normalise the data, adding a 'Record Type' field to identify whether the row was a parent or a child.
There were two sub-tables in my tablix, both displaying detail data linked to the outer grouping. If I set the headers of the sub-tables to repeat on every page (using the Advanced arrow > Static Properties > KeepTogether = True, KeepWithGroup = After, RepeatOnNewPage = True) then one of the sub-tables would display correctly, however the parent table's repeating header would just disappear.
To keep a long story short, this was a massively annoying problem to solve. The solution is simple, it worked for me, but may not work for everyone.
Linked below is a SSRS2008 example RDL that connects to localhost and has an example of the problem I had and also the solution I implemented. Please feel free to use it if you find it useful!
(I would've posted it on here but Stack Overflow fails for code blocks it seems)
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1111567-1633-1.aspx?Update=1