Hands-On Procedure
Preparation
Create
a Clone Report to Parameterize
Let's first
copy an existing report to provide a disposable work environment. When we
installed Reporting Services, the sample report files were copied to the PC,
with the default installation point being the Samples folder within the
Reporting Services program folder. A common example of this default path is as
follows:
C:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Reporting Services\Samples\Reports
1.
Locate the
sample reports.
2.
Right-click
the FoodMart Sales.rdl file.
3.
Select Copy
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 1.
Illustration 1: Select
Copy from the Context Menu
4.
Navigate to a
convenient location to place the copy.
5.
Right-click
within the folder chosen.
6.
Select Paste
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 2.
Illustration 2: Select
Paste from the Context Menu
The FoodMart Sales.rdl file appears in the new location.
7.
Right-click
the file once again.
8.
Select Rename
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 3.
Illustration 3: Select Rename
from the Context Menu
9.
Rename the
file as follows:
RS007.rdl
We now have a
disposable report that we can use in Report Designer without fear of
damaging a potentially useful sample. Next, we will create a project in
Visual Studio, from which to work, and then open the report and remove the
existing basic prompt to generate a consolidated product sales report for the
Marketing group.
Create the Report Project
To
begin, we will launch Reporting Services' Report Designer, found in Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET 2003.
1.
Click Start.
2.
Navigate to
the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 in the Programs group, as
appropriate.
The
equivalent on my PC appears as shown in Illustration 4.
Illustration 4:
Beginning in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 ...
3.
Select File
--> New from the main menu.
4.
Click Project
from the cascading menu, as shown in Illustration 5.
Illustration 5:
Selecting a New Project
The New
Project dialog appears. We note that Business Intelligence Projects
appears in the Project Types tree, indicating an installation of Reporting
Services (the folder was added by the installation of Reporting Services,
as it established the Report Designer in Visual Studio .NET).
5.
Click Business Intelligence Projects in the Project Types tree, if necessary.
6.
Click Report
Project in the Templates list.
7.
Navigate to a
location in which to place the Report Project files.
8.
Type the
following into the Name box, leaving other settings at default:
RS007
The New Project
dialog appears, with our addition, as shown in Illustration 6.
Illustration 6: The New
Projects Dialog, with Addition
Our
new project appears in the Solution Explorer (upper right corner
of the Visual Studio .NET interface), as we see in Illustration 7.
Illustration 7: The New
Project Appears in the Solution Explorer
We
have now created a Report Project, and are ready to proceed with opening
the new clone Report File.
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