I've been thinking of the best way to present reports to the end user. We've accumulated several dozen reports. Some are subscription-based and are exported into Excel or emailed out regularly but a large number are run on-demand.
There's the option of sending the users the direct link to the reports. We don't do this because it's not easy to find (they have to dig through emails or bookmark the link)
http://server/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?myreportrs:Command=Render
We've been embedding reports in sharepoint (or simply adding a link to the report). We're not using Sharepoint Integrated Mode. This has become a little unorganized where we have a large number of links to reports. I'm not sure what other solution exists..
SQL 2008, Sharepoint 2007
Depends on how much maintenance effort and instruction you want to provide. Some likely options include:
Use a SharePoint content page and hardcode a page with links to different reports.
Create a Sharepoint URL list linking to the different reports.
Create an SSRS report that is acts as a central index. This could either be a static page (a report without any data
source, just many static text boxes.) or a dynamic list of reports.
Depending on requirements you could query the SSRS databases and
use that as a central list.
My clients have generally found that a one of these, the Report Manager interface (/reports/), and emailing of specific report urls to be adequate.
Another option I once used: we created a formula (happened to be in Excel) that would create a url with the appropriate custom parameters to return just the data the user was interested in. Passed the parameters to SSRS as part of the URL. (Search on SSRS URL access.)
Related
I am looking for utilities/code that has been developed to make the SSRS Report Portal 2016 user friendly/simpler for users that have zero technical background — interested in anyone who has developed an ordinary-language interface that can be configured for domain specific (schools, in this case) purposes.
The users need to be able to access the Portal, select a Template from a Library, and configure it to meet their own own needs — without having to understand any of the technical issues, or write any code. Eg. the Templates will contain auto-populated dropdown menus that allow the user to select the source and type of information that can be placed into a specific section of the report they are building.
Anyone who uses excel and pivot tables, with a little training, could easily make simple reports with report builder. The interface will let you drag and drop data if you have a tabular or multidimensional model. It works very similar to excel. Mobile report publisher is even easier if the data provided to them is well designed for that intention.
My client has over 500 reports. They would like to archive half of them but keep them near in case they would like to reinstate them.
I created an "Archive" folder and moved reports there but now I would like to hide these reports from appearing in search results. Is there a way to control search results in SSRS?
I presume your scenario is Report Manager.
No there is no way to control the search results in Report Manager. It is a very cheap and cheerful portal.
Instead I would load the reports into a Visual Studio project or projects (if they aren't already). That way the source code can be preserved off-line and they can be redeployed in the future.
I am currently working on a MS Access 2003 mdb file. This mdb file will be converted to an mde file before being published.
How do I go about enabling the reports function of MS Access after conversion? Is there a alternative (open source or free software) to the reporting in MS Access? Any suggestions?
Assuming you mean getting users to creat their own reports in the same FE MDE? This isn't possible as you can't open a form or report in design view in an MDE.
We suggest you give the power user a separate MDB linked to BE database. Along with some starter queries and tell them to "have fun". Providing occasional support on queries, explaining, for example, the difference between the joins.
Also I give my clients an Export to Excel button which copies the reports recordset to Excel. I do not attempt to use the report itself into Excel as that generally looks terrible.
Another issue is to consider why users want to create reports. I frequently get clients requesting two different reports on the same data, one with details, one just a summary. You can actually make that a single report and hide the detail section to get the summary report.
Also, many clients consider a report with different data but the same layout to be a different report, and what they really need is the ability to filter the report output according to their needs.
In my experience, both of these take care of 90% of the scenarios where users think they need to create reports.
I'm after a tool to generate decent-looking documents from templates, that needs to:
be invoked through code (not interactively)
run on Windows, ideally invoked from code within a web-server
process standalone* report files that contain their own internal data definitions, query options, etc (i.e. ideally so that we can push simple report files to the server, and it simply work - where report/document maintenance is not necessarily a developer activity)
access data from a database (SQL Server 2005) based on parameters (ids etc) that we pass in
export (again, through code) to pdf or similar
*= where standalone simply means that the report is fully self-describing; it is fully expected that additional reporting runtime components will be required to execute the report. Contrast to rdlc which uses the data-sets from the local VS project.
I looked at the rdl/rdlc options (Visual Studio 2008), but rdlc seems to be coupled to the assembly (not standalone), and rdl seems to lack the code-based export ability. The version of Crystal Reports included in VS2008 seems very similar to rdlc - presumably the full Crystal Reports offering has more functionality, but has a non-trivial price tag too...
I'd welcome any suggestions for an appropriate, professional looking tool that might be suitable and recommended...
I think SQL Reporting Services fully support all of your requirements.
I have build some sophisticated solutions myself with SSRS.
(Example)
Fully manageable through code (via SSRS WS) (Upload, execute and export Reports)
Used SQL Server as database
Queries are defined in RDL (or Stored Proc) and based on parameters
There are other solutions like Telerik Reporting or Data Dynamics ActiveReport, but they are not free.
Let me know if you need more informations
SSRS WS: With that I mean the Web Service Interface (Report Server Web Service
). There is also a URL Access method, but I don't think it's a solution for you
I dont think you can satisfy all requirements. Number 3 especially is the killer.
On one reading, I see it as adhoc reporting generating it's on SQL. On another, it is giving users "empowerment" to do roll their own within some limits you define?
You may have looked already... but have you thought about using the ReportBuilder functionality to set up the basics and leave users to do the rest? You'll need a report monkey at some point anyway to set soemthing up.
Edit, after comment:
Reporting Services it is then.
It comprises a web service that renders RDL files uploaded from VS.
Report Builder is a template for users to hack and bash their own within the limits and environment you set.
Architecture of RS 2008
Our Data Dynamics Reports product sound like it is for you. It is a fully programmable reporting component for .NET / Visual Studio. View the documentation on the API here. You can export the reports to any of our various formats, including PDF, HTML, and Excel and it also includes an end user designer control that you can embed into your own applications to let end users modify or create their own reports.
The reports are stored in RDL - the same XML dialect that Reporting Services uses - in fact you can take any existing RDL files and open them in Data Dynamics Reports. In addition to compatibility with RDL, we add many more features, such as "themes" to consistently style your report, master reports (think ASP.NET master pages for reports), and several other built in controls such as a calendar, barcode, and dashboard controls to name a few.
Now lets look at your requirements one-by-one and see how Data Dynamics Reports might solve them:
be invoked through code (not interactively) - Data Dynamics Reports includes comprehensive API.
run on Windows, ideally invoked from code within a web-server - You can use Data Dynamics Reports in client-based, or ASP.NET applications, it even support medium trust ASP.NET applications (webservices are fine).
process standalone* report files that contain their own internal data definitions, query options, etc (i.e. ideally so that we can push simple report files to the server, and it simply work - where report/document maintenance is not necessarily a developer activity) - Data Dynamics Reports uses standard RDL (not rdlc) which includes all information bout how to retrieve data from your datasource. We also include an end user designer control to allow you to emebed a design environment for these standalone files into your own applications.
access data from a database (SQL Server 2005) based on parameters (ids etc) that we pass in - Data Dynamics Reports includes comprehensive support for parameters (even get the "valid values" from a query.
export (again, through code) to pdf or similar - Data Dynamics Reports supports exporting to PDF, HTML, Excel, Word, images, and XML.
I hope it works out for you, and let me know if you have any additional questions.
Scott Willeke
Data Dynamics / GrapeCity inc.
I think, based on all the criteria, you likely need to look at Crystal Reports, since you want the reports to be standalone, although, you could also create a report designer out of XtraReports or ActiveReports Pro and have much of the same functionality.
As for running it on the fly and having it generate, distribute, and archive the reports that run, check out our product at www.versareports.com. It should work with any .NET report designer you want to use and provides the enterprise-class report server framework you likely need.
I need to create a report(rdl) in SQL reporting services 2008. In that I need to create in runtime. The report has chart. I will specify the type of chart, font, alignment and all those stuff in runtime.
Is there any option for using this in SSRS 2008.
An rdlc is just an xml file so you can manipulate it at runtime, it's not a trivial undertaking though. You can find the rdl spec at http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/5/7/6575f1c8-4607-48d2-941d-c69622e11c32/RDL_spec_08.pdf.
There's a downloadable example of creating an rdlc for a table and a matrix dynamically, as well as lots of other useful report viewer info at http://www.gotreportviewer.com/.
You can generate the RDL however you want, it is just an XML file. But you will only be able to run the report locally. To run on the server you would need to deploy the report first, as the server does not run the RDL files directly.
I suppose this is still possible, but it would be pretty slow, and the report would not appear in the report manager or anything before hand.
However, your probably making this problem more complicated than it needs to be. I have work on projects where we generated the RDL and deployed daily with a custom application, and it is almost always not worth it. There is usually a better way.
You can set almost all the parameters of the chart using expressions. The only thing that can't be set is the chart type, but there are ways to get around that as well. Like having all the chart types you need created on the page, but making all except the one you want visible.
Yes...
to do so, you will need to either have an existing rdl file to modify, or you need to completely generate it from code.
All the SSRS xml is stored in the database in a table called catalog. You'll have to use the GUID of that report to access it, or insert a new row creating a new report.
once you're done swapping out your report server xml, the report server will have a "new" report that you can then call via your web page, or via SSRS url parameters.
past that clean up the catalog table if you see the need to.
I'll be honest with you though, this is very far from best practice, best practice that I'm aware of would be to embed the data you need to display in your web page in the form of a widget.