Examination
Our
first objective is to open the Territory Sales Drilldown 2008 sample report, within which we can follow along
as we examine a working, basic tablix data region in the development
environment. We will perform our practice
session from inside the MSSQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio.
For more exposure to the Business Intelligence Development Studio itself, and
the myriad design, development and other evolutions we can perform within this
powerful interface, see other articles in this column, as well as within my Database
Journal series Introduction
to MSSQL Server Analysis Services. In this article, we will be commenting only on the
features relevant to our immediate practice exercise, to allow us to keep to
the focus of the article more efficiently.
Preparation: Access the Sample Report within the Reporting Services Development Environment
For purposes of our
practice session, we will employ the Territory Sales Drilldown 2008 report, one of several samples that are available to
anyone installing the MSSQL Server 2008 integrated business intelligence suite.
Examining the characteristics and settings of the report can be done easily
within the Business Intelligence Studio environment.
Open the Sample Report Server Project
Let’s begin by opening the AdventureWorks 2008
Sample Reports solution, which contains the sample reports that are available
online. We will complete our practice session within the sample solution so as
to save the time required to set up a development environment from scratch
within the Business Intelligence Development Studio.
NOTE: The code samples and sample
databases for SQL Server no longer ship with the installation files. Instead,
we can locate and download the samples and sample databases from the Microsoft SQL
Server Samples and Community Projects Web site at http://www.codeplex.com/sqlserversamples.
Various tables, organized by technology, appear there, containing hyperlinks to
samples for the SQL Server components and to the official SQL Server sample
databases. These tables also provide links to samples and projects that are
available in the SQL Server community.
To install the official sample databases
for SQL Server, we can go to http://www.CodePlex.com/MSFTDBProdSamples. Or we can click the Download link,
and select the databases that we want, on the Microsoft SQL Server Samples and
Community Projects home page, in the Sample Databases section.
Once we locate the Reporting Services 2008 project
containing the sample reports, by clicking the appropriate link within the respective
technology area table of the Microsoft SQL Server Samples and Community
Projects home page, we can download the Windows Installer associated with the Reporting
Services 2008 samples. Once the Installer .msi file is downloaded, all that
remains is to click it to install the samples. (By default, the sample files
are installed in the following location:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Samples\Reporting Services
Finally, once we have
installed the samples, we can take the following steps to open the AdventureWorks
2008 Sample Reports solution. To begin, we’ll launch the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio.
1.
Click Start.
2.
Navigate to,
and click, SQL Server
Business Intelligence Development Studio, as appropriate.
The
equivalent on my PC appears as depicted in Illustration 1.
Illustration 1: Launching SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio
We
briefly see a splash page that lists the components installed on the PC, and
then Visual Studio 2008 opens at the Start page.
3.
Close the Start
page, if desired.
4.
Select File -> Open from the main menu.
5.
Click Project
/ Solution ... from the cascading menu, as shown in Illustration 2.
Illustration 2: Selecting a New Project / Solution ...
The Open
Project dialog appears.
6.
Browse to the Reporting
Services sample reports folder.
The reports are installed, by default (and, therefore,
subject to be installed in a different location on our individual machines), in
the following location
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\100\Samples\Reporting Services
The Reporting Services sample
reports folder appears as depicted in Illustration 3.
Illustration 3: Locating the Reporting Services Sample Reports Folder
7.
Select the Reporting
Services sample reports folder, and then click the Open button on the Open
Project dialog.
8.
Select the AdventureWorks
Sample Reports folder that appears among the contents of the opened Services
sample reports folder.
9.
Click the Open
button on the Open Project dialog, once again, as shown in Illustration 4.
Illustration 4: Opening the AdventureWorks Sample Reports Folder
10.
Select the AdventureWorks
2008 Sample Reports.sln file within the sample reports folder,
11.
Click the Open
button on the Open Project dialog, once again, as depicted in Illustration 5.
Illustration 5: Opening the AdventureWorks 2008 Sample Reports.sln File ...
The AdventureWorks
2008 Sample Reports solution opens, and we see the various objects within
appear in Solution Explorer, as shown in Illustration 6.
Illustration 6: The Solution Opens within BI Development Studio ...
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