Often, report enabling Internet-facing applications require replacing the default RS Windows-based security with Forms Authentication. This allows clients to request reports by URL with the all the goodies that URL addressability entail, namely support for interactive features and the HTML Viewer toolbar. While RS Forms Authentication is well-documented (see the Forms Authentication whitepaper by Microsoft), something which may not be so obvious is that Forms Authentication can…
I have recently discovered the Excel Add-in for SQL Server Analysis Services. If Office Web Components are overkill for your Analysis Services smart client deployment or dev requirements, check out this toy. It requires Excel 2002 and higher installed on the user machine. Once connected to Analysis Services (standard, offline and HTTP connectivity is supported) you can create easility pivot-style reports. One cool feature that the…
One of the limitations of RS version 1.0 is that it doesn't allow you set the connnection string (a.k.a. data source) during runtime. For example, you may need to support separate databases per client and based on the logged on client you may need to redirect the user to the appropriate database. To address this issue, Toby Riley developed an interesting dynamic query data extension which…
Judging by the questions post on the RS newsgroup, many developers are often confused about which implementation choice will best meet their integration requirements. I hope the following comparison will help you evaluate them: URL addressability (HTTP-GET) · Implementation--The report request is submitted on the client side of the application directly to the Report Server. For Internet reporting, the Report Server has to be accessible on…
Recently I had to migrate a Report Server installation from one server to another by keeping the Report Server catalog intact. If you find yourself in the same situation, here are the steps (hope I recall them right ): If you haven’t done this already, back up the encryption key of the old RS installation. RS uses encryption keys to encrypt vital information, such as…
Many of you probably know that one of the Microsoft RS partners, Cizer, offers an ad-hoc reporting tool called Cizer Query (mentioned in my book). Now, Cizer has released a report designer tool - Cizer Report Builder, as an alternative for authoring reports if you don't have or want to purchase VS.NET. According to the vendor: “Cizer Report Builder (CRB) 2004 v1.00 is now available. …
My book “Reporting Services in Action” is finally available in print format. For time being, it can be purchased only from the publisher’s website (http://www.manning.com/lachev). It will probably take a couple of weeks before the book reaches other outlets such as Amazon.com. Many thanks to those of you that will purchase my book. I sincerely hope you will find it as much fun to…
For those of you who would like to know what new RS features have made it to SQL Server 2005 Beta 2, here is the list: Ability to load report projects in the new SQL Server 2005 Intelligence Development Studio IDE. The consequence of this is important. You don’t have to purchase VS.NET anymore just to get the Report Designer because the Intelligence Studio IDE…
