Session 9
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - Reporting Services - Advanced Report Design
Almost immediatly, our host Ciprian Jichici jumped straight into a practical example.
Problems can occur when exporting a report from Reporting Services (RS) into a data analysis tool such as Excel. The thing is, when a complex and/or formatted report, arrives in Excel from RS, all formats and groupings are preserved as far as possible. "Well, whats wrong with this?" I hear you say. Surely, it is credit to the application that not only is the formatting of the Excel export identical to the RS version, but any complex, multi-level sorting/grouping from the original are still preserved. The issue is that often, the reason why such an export happens in the first place is so that additional analysis and computation can be performed on the data or the data can be combined with other data already in Excel. In these cases, you may want the raw report data without the bells and whistles. Hence, the demo showed us how an 'analysis friendly' version of an elaborate RS report can be exported with minimal overhead for the developer.
The speaker discussed the difficulty of being able to including data fields in the headers and footers of SqlServer 2005 RS. The next demonstration showed how this is a lot easier to achive in 2008.
Next topic was localization and more specifically, the two problems of localizing report structure and localizing report contenct. The demo showed how easy it is to allow your report to be translated into a number of different languages.
Report parameters were next in the spotlight. Parameters are your friend and have lots of uses:
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - Reporting Services - Advanced Report Design
Almost immediatly, our host Ciprian Jichici jumped straight into a practical example.
Problems can occur when exporting a report from Reporting Services (RS) into a data analysis tool such as Excel. The thing is, when a complex and/or formatted report, arrives in Excel from RS, all formats and groupings are preserved as far as possible. "Well, whats wrong with this?" I hear you say. Surely, it is credit to the application that not only is the formatting of the Excel export identical to the RS version, but any complex, multi-level sorting/grouping from the original are still preserved. The issue is that often, the reason why such an export happens in the first place is so that additional analysis and computation can be performed on the data or the data can be combined with other data already in Excel. In these cases, you may want the raw report data without the bells and whistles. Hence, the demo showed us how an 'analysis friendly' version of an elaborate RS report can be exported with minimal overhead for the developer.
The speaker discussed the difficulty of being able to including data fields in the headers and footers of SqlServer 2005 RS. The next demonstration showed how this is a lot easier to achive in 2008.
Next topic was localization and more specifically, the two problems of localizing report structure and localizing report contenct. The demo showed how easy it is to allow your report to be translated into a number of different languages.
Report parameters were next in the spotlight. Parameters are your friend and have lots of uses:
- Dynamic queries.
- Varable groupings.
- Fields in headers and footers.
- Currency translation.
- Language translation.
- Self-drill reports.
Ciprian dived into a few practical examples of the use of parameters.
It was clear that nobody in the auditorium was happy with the layour capabilities of RS in SQL Server 2005. For example, it is not an easy task to combine dynamic and static column content in the same report. The speaker showed us a "trick of the trade" for reducing the number of row headings on a drillable-crosstab report by converting to a stepped format. This has the advantages of a) reducing complexity and b) reducing the screen area of the report i.e. going from this:
to this:
Although there were so good tips in this session, it was of limited use for anyone who does already know the technology inside out. I left slightly disappointed.
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