Add a
New Report Parameter upon Which to Base Customization of the Linked Reports
1.
From our
current position (Preview tab) within the report, click the Data
tab.
2.
Within the Filter
pane (atop the MDX Query Designer, to the right of the Metadata
pane), select Sales Territory via the Dimension column
drop-down selector.
3.
Select Sales
Territory Group via the Hierarchy column drop-down selector.
4.
Select Equal
to the immediate right, in the Operator column.
5.
Select the Europe,
North America and Pacific checkboxes under the (expanded) All Sales Territories level within the selector
underneath the Filter Expression column (to the immediate right of the Operator
column, as shown in Illustration 20.
Illustration 20: Select
Europe, North America, and Pacific within Filter Expression
Selector
6.
Click OK to
accept selections.
7.
Click the
checkbox in the Parameters column to enable parameterization of the Sales
Territory Group in the report.
The Filter
pane appears, with the new row we have added for the Sales Territory
Group parameter, as depicted in Illustration 21.
Illustration 21: Filter
Pane with the Row We Have Added ...
Let's
preview the report, once again, to verify operation of the parameter we have
added.
8.
Click the Preview
tab to execute RS031_Linked Report.rdl, once again.
9.
Select North America (deselect any other defaults that
exist), within the new parameter picklist labeled Sales Territory Group,
atop the report, as
shown in Illustration 22.
Illustration 22:
Select North America within the New Parameter Picklist
10.
Click View
Report to execute the report.
The
report executes, returning a properly filtered preview, showing data for the North
America Sales Territory Group only, depicted in Illustration 23.
Illustration 23:
The New Sales Territory Group Parameter in Action ...
Let's
save our work to this point.
11.
From the main
menu in the design environment, select File ---> Save All, as shown
in Illustration 24.
Illustration 24: Select
File --> Save All to Save Our Work So Far ...
We now have
an OLAP report file within our Reporting Services 2005 Project, with
which we can proceed to examine the establishment of a Linked Report
scenario. Our final preparatory step will be to deploy the report to Report
Manager, where it will inhabit a common folder, and which we will then
access from SQL Server Management Studio to set up our Linked Reports.
Deploy
the Report to a Common Folder in Report Manager
While we
can create a Linked Report within either SQL Server Management Studio
or Report Manager, the focus of this practice session will be to perform
the setup from within SQL Server Management Studio. (For a step-by-step
procedure for doing this from Report Manager, see my article BlackBelt
Administration: Linked Reports in Report Manager, within the
MSSQL Server
Reporting Services series.) We will align and deploy the report
to a common folder on the Report Server, assuming that we are logged in
as a user with the appropriate Report Manager rights within Reporting
Services, taking the following steps:
1.
Right-click the
AdventureWorks Sample Reports project within the Solution Explorer.
2.
Select Properties
from the context menu that appears, as depicted in Illustration 25.
Illustration 25: Select
Properties ...
The AdventureWorks
Sample Reports Properties Pages dialog opens.
3.
Ensure that
the entries similar to those in Table 1 (and appropriate for your own
environment) appear within the associated input boxes, within the Deployment
section of the dialog:
|
In this Input Box:
|
|
Ensure the following:
|
|
|
|
|
|
OverwriteDataSources:
|
|
False (Default)
|
|
|
|
|
|
TargetDataSourceFolder:
|
|
Data Sources (Default)
|
|
|
|
|
|
TargetReportFolder:
|
|
AdventureWorks Sample Reports (Default)
|
|
|
|
|
|
TargetServerURL:
|
|
http://temple001/reportserver
|
Table 1: Deployment
Section – Project Properties Pages Dialog
NOTE: While all of the above can reflect local settings of
choice, the TargetServerURL must be a correct URL for the server upon
which Report Manager is installed. The above reflects a name for one of
my lab servers (TEMPLE001).
The AdventureWorks
Sample Reports Properties Pages dialog, Deployment section, appears
as shown in Illustration
26.
Illustration 26: The
Project Properties Pages Dialog
4.
Click OK
to accept settings and to dismiss the dialog.
5.
Right-click
the new RS031_Linked Report within the Solution Explorer, once
again
6.
Select Deploy
from the context menu that appears, as depicted in Illustration 27.
Illustration 27: Begin
Report Deployment ...
Deployment
begins. We can
observe the events of the process, through completion, within the Output
window of the design environment, as shown in Illustration 28.
Illustration 28: Report
Deployment Complete (Output Window) ...
We can verify the
presence of the report we have deployed, along with the project data sources
and the related containing folders, by simply going to the Report Manager
Home page.
7.
Open an
instance of Internet Explorer.
8.
Type in the
URL of the Report Server (the server we input above, within the TargetServerURL property of the AdventureWorks Sample Reports
Properties Pages dialog).
Report
Manager appears,
with the folders in evidence (depending on the settings made on the AdventureWorks
Sample Reports Properties Pages dialog earlier, and, obviously, depending
upon our local environments prior to our deployment steps), similar to those
depicted in Illustration 29.
Illustration 29: Example
View of Report Manager from Internet Explorer
While we
might certainly create and work with Linked Reports in Report Manager
(as we did in BlackBelt Administration: Linked Reports in Report
Manager, we will now go to SQL Server Management Studio to perform the
steps involved.
9.
Close Internet
Explorer, and leave Report Manager.
10. Select File --> Exit, to leave the Business
Intelligence Development Studio, when ready.
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