SQL Reporting Services 2005

Dinesh Chandrasekhar Solutions Architect CIBER Inc.

Agenda
Introduction Introduction
What is SQL Reporting Services ? Basic architecture Components of SRS What does it do?

New Features New Features

Core product enhancements Integration with other MS tools Developer benefits Business user benefits Ad-Hoc Reporting

Demonstrations Demonstrations
Product features Basic report with drill-down Add parameters to the report Report Model Designer Ad-Hoc Report Builder Other features (time-permitting)

Final Items Final Items

Next steps Questions

SQL Server 2005

A Complete Enterprise Data Management and BI Solution

Development Tools

Reporting Services Management Tools Management Tools Analysis Services

OLAP & Data Mining

Integration Services
ETL

SQL Server
Relational Engine

What is Reporting Services?

Reporting platform for both formatted and interactive data reports Embeddable client and scalable server reporting platform Integrates with Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Office applications, Microsoft Visual Studio, and other familiar tools Single platform and tools for all types of structured data (relational, hierarchical, multidimensional)

Reporting Services Highlights

Process data efficiently: filtering, sorting, grouping, aggregations, etc. Present data in a variety of ways: lists, tables, charts, matrices Add visual appeal to data: fonts, colors, border styles, background images, etc. Enable interactive reports: collapsible sections, document map, bookmarks, interactive sorting, etc. Support printing and print preview Export to multiple formats (Microsoft Office Excel, PDF, XML) Integrate with managed report server environment: security, caching, scheduling, delivery, etc.

Demo
SQL Server Reporting Services UI

Reporting Services Components

Browser Design Tools Management Studio Configuration Tool

Report Manager URL Access SOAP Endpoints WMI Win32 Service

Delivery

Web Service (IIS / ASP.NET) Shared Components

Data Retrieval Rendering

Security

SQL Server Database / SQL Server Agent

ReportServer ReportServerTempDB

Report Processing

Core Product Enhancements

Multi Value Parameters Date Picker

Core Product Enhancements

Small ActiveX control for Print Preview

Floating Headers
Similar to Excel Splitters On Table and matrix

Interactive Sort without re-query

Microsoft Office System Integration

Office Document Formats
Excel, Word, outlook Import reports from Access

HTML rendering takes advantage of OWC

Interactive Charts, PivotTables, Spreadsheets

SharePoint Portal Server Integration

Report Web Parts Report delivery to document libraries, lists Report Library Template Searchable

Integration with Sharepoint

Report Explorer provides browsing of server Report Viewer used to view reports Parts can be connected or used standalone Works in both SPS and WSS

Integration with Analysis Services

MDX and data mining query builders

Integration with Management Studio

Single point of management for all SQL Server components Superset of Report Manager functions

Richer Data Integration

Enhanced Analysis Services support including MDX builder, multiple action support, better parameterization, drill paths, etc. A report can be used as a data source connect to a report as a cube, do analysis on it, and use it as a basis for other reports Pull data from DTS directly into a report without the need of first loading it into a database Native support for Web Services and XML data sources

Reporting Services in VS 2005

Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2005 includes Reporting Services functionality in standard editions and above Window Forms and ASP.NET report viewer controls make it easy to embed Reporting Services functionality in applications Integrated report designer for designing and embedding reports in language projects Freely redistributable with no run-time restrictions
Report Server mode requires a SQL Server 2005 license

Report Designer
Integrated into Visual Studio 2005
Supports all languages (C#, VB, J#)

Drag & drop features Use tables, charts, matrices, etc. to display data Specify grouping, sorting, filtering, etc. Style the report by specifying fonts, colors, etc. Use expressions to change style dynamically based on data values

Demo

VS.NET Report Designer Build basic report with drill-down Add/Change styles Deploy report Access from Report Server

Developer Focus on Productivity

Enhanced Expression Editor

Custom Report Items

Create controls

Developer Focus on Embedding

Controls make it easy to embed reporting functionality into applications Windows Forms (rich client) and Web Forms (ASP.NET) control Local processing mode (no server) or connected server mode

Report Viewer: Two Modes

Report Server Mode
View and interact reports that are centrally managed on a Report Server

Local Mode
For processing and viewing reports without connecting to a Report Server

Can upgrade local mode applications to server mode

Report Server Mode Architecture

Report Designer (Visual Studio) Publish Report Report Server Web Services API Report Processing and Rendering SQL Server Catalog (Metadata) Data Source Your Application Report Viewer (Remote Mode)

Report Server Mode

Report definitions published to Report Server Application specifies Report Server URL and path to report Viewer prompts for parameters and passwords
Can be implemented by host application

Data is retrieved and report is processed on server, only resulting output is returned to client Drilldown, drillthrough, etc. are automatically handled Export to all formats supported by Report Server, including Excel, PDF and MHTML

Local Mode Architecture

Report Viewer (Local Mode) Report Processing Report Designer (Visual Studio) Embed Report

Data Source Report Definition Report Data Retrieve Data

Your Application

Local Mode
Host Application
Supplies report definition and data for the report Implements parameter UI Connects to databases and executes queries Supplies data as ADO.NET DataTables or as a collection of business objects

Designed to be secure
Code embedded in the report cannot access file system or network without explicit coding

Same engine as SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Supports printing and export to Excel or PDF

Demo
ReportViewer control Local and Server mode

New Report Builder

Report Builder - A new ad-hoc report design tool for Reporting Services Targeted at Business Users Developers/IT define a model to hide complexity Complements the Visual Studio Report Designer

Report Builder Client

Based on familiar Microsoft Office UI Reports built via report templates (table, matrix, chart, etc.) Create new or modify existing reports Finished reports can be saved on the server

Report Builder Model Designer

Hosted in Visual Studio (new project type) For editing models used by Report Builder Auto-generation of models from relational and analytical data sources

Demo

Report Model Designer Report Builder Ad-Hoc Reporting

Demo
Report Manager Management options

Report Caching
Execution Sessions
Automatically created for each report execution Keeps consistency between server round trips (images, paging, exporting) Session timeout set in server properties

Cache Snapshots
On-demand reports can be cached between users Cache index is based on parameter values Cache valid for a specified time after execution or cleared on schedule Limitations User-specific expressions (User ID, Language), stored credentials

Tip: Use Null Delivery Provider to deliver reports to cache

Snapshots and History

Execution Snapshot
Report execution is scheduled, all users get same data Single instance of processed report Limitations: No query parameters or user-specific expressions, stored credentials

History Snapshots
Multiple instances of report snapshots for archiving, auditing purposes Stored independently of data source, report definition System and report-specific retention policy

Scheduling
Management events can be scheduled on the report server
Caching, Subscriptions, History

Schedules are stored in database and integrated with SQL Agent

When triggered, Agent adds entry to queue

Scheduled events are queued in database and polled by Windows service

Subscriptions
Subscription triggered by an event (schedule, snapshot creation, external) Delivery extension (e-mail, file share) specifies how report is delivered
E-mail delivery requires an SMTP server Extensible delivery architecture

Can specify output format (HTML, XLS)

Can deliver links as well as rendered reports

Two types of subscriptions

Standard Data Driven

Standard Subscriptions
Single report sent to a fixed set of addresses
End user wants to customize his/her own report delivery

How it works
Set up by a user with Manage Individual Subscriptions permission User creates a standing request to run a report at a specific time and delivered in a certain format Can be triggered based on a schedule or snapshot generation Specify report, execution conditions, parameters, rendering format, delivery location, etc.

In SQL Server 2005, users can subscribe to reports with User!UserID and User!Language

Data Driven Subscriptions

When to Use
Delivery of a report to a dynamic list of destinations with customized content for each destination

How it works
Set up by a user with Manage any Subscriptions permission Define delivery query to return list of destinations and parameters Specify delivery settings and parameter values as a static or field from delivery query Set to run according to a defined schedule or trigger from snapshot

Upgrading From SSRS 2K

Setup supports upgrade of default SQL 2000 Reporting Services installations
No changes to virtual directories, custom extensions

SQL 2005 Reporting Services supports use of SQL Server 2000 relational database
Caveat: Setup upgrades all components in default instance

Existing reports will continue to work

Published reports and snapshots will continue to work on upgraded Report Server SQL 2000 reports can be published to SQL 2005 Report Server Opening reports in the Report Designer will upgrade them to the new RDL schema

Reporting Services Web Service supports existing SOAP endpoint

New endpoints for management and report execution WMI object model has changed

Where do you want to go tomorrow ?

Install SQL Reporting Services 2005 on a VPC and play around with it Subscribe to the SRS newsgroups A lot is happening there. Experts like Teo Lachev answer questions to your problems New Books coming out next month