Ssrs Report Designer !!BETTER!!
The SSRS report builder is a powerful tool for data visualization. In this article, we will take a first step into familiarizing ourselves with the SSRS report builder and we will also demonstrate a very basic SSRS report example. Additionally, we will review the self-service business intelligence approach just because this approach can be implemented through the SSRS report builder very easily.
Ssrs Report Designer
#C is the right and effective solution for this issue because non-technical persons can learn to develop their own reports and dashboards through prepared datasets. Key stakeholders can gain the ability to develop and create their own reports so that the IT department dependency and waiting time will decrease. To accomplish this, though, report and BI tools must be so easy and understandable by non-technical users.
The purpose of the Self-Service BI approach is to provide report or dashboard development capability to non-technical users thus, will give more freedom and responsibility. The main question is how we can implement this approach with SQL Server Reporting Services? Microsoft has obviously taken this into consideration because the SSRS report builder is a very simple report design tool and they can be easily learned and used by non-technical staff. At the same time, BI developers can provide key users with shared datasets, to abstract users from learning how to retrieve data from desired data warehouse or relational database. Additionally, SQL Server Reporting Services offers a significant feature which is the My Report Folder. This feature offers a private and personal storage to users so that users can deploy and use their SSRS report in this folder. As a result, Self-Service BI allows non-technical staff to generate report by themselves so that it can decrease the costs which related to business intelligence implementation.
Before we start our SSRS report builder demonstration, we need a sample dataset. For this, we will download the sample sales csv file and load it to Azure SQL database. It is very basic operation so we can complete the following steps easily. Additionally, you can apply the following steps on premise installation of any SQL Server version.
The SSRS Report Builder is a report creation tool which allows users to create, manage and publish reports to SQL Server Reporting Services. We can also create shared datasets with the help of the report builder. The Report builder has a standalone installation so we can easily setup and configure it. We can find out the installation link in the web portal of SQL Server Reporting Services. When we click this link it redirects to download page.
In the right side of the report builder we can see the Report Data panel which helps to manage Data Sources and Datasets and also in this panel we can manage report parameters and built-in fields. Now, we will create a connection between Azure SQL and report builder. Right click in the Data Sources folder and then select Add Data Source.
The Matrix helps us to aggregate data summaries such as excel pivot table. Through the matrix, we can group and summarize data in several formats. At the end of this section, our report design should look similar to following illustration.
Connect to SQL Server Reporting Service through SQL Server Management Studio and then right click to report server. Navigate to advanced tab and set true to EnableMyReports parameter.
In this article, we mentioned about how to design SSRS reports with the SSRS report builder. The report builder comes to the forefront with easy usage so it takes more advantage in self-service BI implementations.
Microsoft Report Builder is a stand-alone app for authoring paginated reports, installed on your computer by you or an administrator. An administrator typically installs and configures Reporting Services, grants permission to download Report Builder from the web portal, and manages folders and permissions to reports and shared datasets saved to the report server. For more information about Reporting Services administration, see Reporting Services Report Server (Native Mode).
If you plan to work with Report Builder when it is connected to a report server, it is convenient to provide the URL to the server at this time. You can also do this from the Options dialog box in Report Builder.
You can also perform a command line installation of Report Builder and provide arguments to customize the installation. In addition to the standard MSI intrinsic parameters, you can use the custom parameters that Report Builder provides: RBINSTALLDIR and RBSERVERURL. RBINSTALLDIR specifies the root installation folder for Report Builder. RBSERVERURL specifies the default report server that Report Builder uses to save reports on the server.
If you don't see the report server in the list of existing servers, close the Open Report dialog box and then click Connect at the bottom of Report Builder to connect to the server.
Use Report Designer to create full-featured Reporting Services paginated reports and reporting solutions. Report Designer provides a graphical interface in which you can define data sources, datasets and queries, report layout positions for data regions and fields, and interactive features such as parameters and sets of reports that work together.
Use the information in this topic to design paginated reports and related items for a single reporting project in a SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) solution. For more information about solutions and multiple projects in SQL Server Data Tools, see Reporting Services in SQL Server Data Tools.
Use SQL Server Data Tools to define and deploy shared data sources for a reporting solution. Shared data sources can be deployed independently from other items in a project by using the OverwriteDataSources and TargetDataSourceFolder properties. For more information, see Set Deployment Properties (Reporting Services).
In Report Designer, you work in both the Report Data pane and in Solution Explorer to define the data sources used in a report. For more information, see Report Data Pane. You cannot use SQL Server Data Tools to open data sources that are published to a report server or SharePoint site, but not included in the SQL Server Data Tools solution. For that feature, use Report Builder authoring environment (SSRS).
SQL Server Data Tools is a client tool. You can test your reporting solution locally on your computer, deploy it to a test environment for testing the server solution, and then deploy it to a production environment. After deployment, verify that the data source processing extensions and data source credentials are configured for the report server environment. You can use Configuration Manager to help manage the properties for different deployments. For more information, see Reporting Services in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT).
Use SQL Server Data Tools to define and deploy shared datasets for a reporting solution. Shared datasets can be deployed independently from other items in a project by using the OverwriteDatasets and TargetDatasetFolder properties. For more information, see Set Deployment Properties (Reporting Services).
In Report Designer, you work in both the Report Data pane and in Solution Explorer to define shared datasets used in a report. For more information, see Report Data Pane. You cannot use SQL Server Data Tools to open published datasets directly from a report server or SharePoint site. For that feature, use Report Builder authoring environment (SSRS) in Shared Dataset mode.
SQL Server Data Tools is a client tool. You can use query designers to help create and test your query results locally in Preview. After deployment, you can manage shared datasets independently from the shared data sources and reports that they depend on. For more information, see Report Embedded Datasets and Shared Datasets (Report Builder and SSRS), Query Design Tools (SSRS), and Manage Shared Datasets.
Paginated reports are files that are stored in a report project. Reports can be used as stand-alone reports, subreports, or the targets for drillthrough actions from main reports. Reports can be deployed independently from other items in a project by using TargetReportFolder and other properties. For more information, see Set Deployment Properties (Reporting Services).
If you are publishing to a report server in SharePoint mode, some report solution features cannot be tested in the Report Designer project. References to reports, subreports, and drillthrough reports must use fully-qualified URLs that can be tested only after you deploy the report project. For more information, see URL Examples for Published Report Items on a Report Server in SharePoint Mode (SSRS).
Add a Report Wizard project. You create a report in a guided step-by-step manner. The Report Wizard simplifies data definition and report design into a series of steps that give you a finished report. You can add styles to customize the wizard for your own organization. For more information, see Add a New or Existing Report to a Report Project (SSRS).
Add an existing item. An existing report definition (.rdl) opens in Report Designer. Opening a report or project from an earlier version of Reporting Services might automatically upgrade the project to the current version and the report to the current schema. For more information, see Upgrade Reports.
Import a Microsoft Access report. Import all reports from an Access database (.mdb, .accdb) or project (.adp) file. Report Designer converts each report in a database or project file to RDL and saves it in the report project. Not all of the functionality of an Access report transfers to a report definition (.rdl) file. For more information, see Import Reports from Microsoft Access (Reporting Services) and Supported Access Report Features (SSRS). 041b061a72