Category Archives: SSRS

SSRS

Adding Web Reference to SSRS 2008 in Visual Studio

To add a reference to SSRS 2005 in Visual Studio, you’d specify the URL to the Web Service definition file, for example
http://server/ReportServer/ReportService2005.asmx or equivalently http://server/ReportServer/ReportService2005.asmx?wsdl. You can use a shorter alternate URL, http://server/ReportServer/ReportService.asmx. If you open these URLs in a Web browser, you’d be able to view the content of the ASMX file.

With SSRS 2008, I’d expect to use the same URLs, replacing 2005 with 2008 where applicable. Alas, it doesn’t work that way. If you browse to http://server/ReportServer/ReportService2008.asmx, you’d get a directory listing rather than the expected Web service definition. A quick check of the MSRS10.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\ReportServer directory reveals that the only relevant Web service definition file is ReportService2005.asmx. Further, the ReportService.asmx file has been inexplicably removed. Continue reading Adding Web Reference to SSRS 2008 in Visual Studio →

SSRS

Scripting Deployment of Reporting Service Reports with Stored Credentials

When developing SSRS reports, it’s convenient to deploy data sources and reports to the Report Server using Visual Studio. However, when it comes to production, using Visual Studio is not practical or even possible.

A common solution is to use a tool such as RSBuild, which lets you specify deployment parameters in, appropriately, an XML file.

Alternatively, you can use the SSRS Web service API directly by writing a console application in your favorite .NET language. You can also create a Visual Basic script that can be run on the command line by the RS utility that comes with SSRS.

The problem

I had to deploy a report with stored credentials. The report is deployed correctly from Visual Studio. For production, I wrote a console application to deploy the report based on the Microsoft Reporting Service samples. However, when the report is viewed, it always prompts the user to enter data source credentials, as seen below. Continue reading Scripting Deployment of Reporting Service Reports with Stored Credentials →

ExcelWriter, OfficeWriter, Reviews, SSRS, WordWriter

SQLServer.com’s Jonathan Spink Reviews OfficeWriter for SQL Server Reporting Services

The following is an excerpt from SQLServer.com’s Jonathan Spink as he reviews OfficeWriter’s integration with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Read the full review here.

“…The idea behind OfficeWriter is to extend the functionality of software users are already familiar with, i.e. Excel and Word, so they’re able to both acquire the data they need and arrange it into a useful form. While OfficeWriter does come in two more specific forms, ExcelWriter and WordWriter, this review looks at the version developed for use with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), available in both 2000 and 2005 incarnations.

In order to take advantage of the different parts of this system, the OfficeWriter for SSRS package comes in two parts. The Designer is what you use to create the reports, either in Excel or Word, while the Renderer sits on the Reporting Services server.

This then is the OfficeWriter approach: from the Ms Office front-end, reports are produced in the SSRS XML-based RDL format, then uploaded to the SSRS ReportServer database, like any report produced using Visual Studio (VS). This means that they can also be viewed in Report Manager along with any other SSRS reports you have.”

[Read the full review]