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Public CTP of SQL Server Express To Be Available Soon
March 16, 2006 / No Comments »
Today, Microsoft announced that SQL Server Express Advanced will be available publicly instead of distributed as a private beta. The CTP (Community Technology Preview) build could be downloaded here (link will be live soon). You can post question and comments in the SQL Express MSDN Forum or enter bugs and feature requests on the MSDN Product Feedback Center.
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Prologika Forums to be Upgraded Tonight
March 9, 2006 / No Comments »
Telligent has done it again! Community Server 2.0 is out and it's too sleek to ignore. I am planning to upgrade Prologika Forums to CS 2.0 tonight. If all is well, tomorrow Prologika Forums will have a facelift and more features. I hope the upgrade process won’t last too long and won’t cause service interruptions.
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Phantom Data Extensions
March 7, 2006 / No Comments »
There are two “shy” data extensions that come with RS 2005 but you won’t see when you create a data source. The first one (SSIS data extension) enables interesting integration scenarios with SQL Server 2005 Integration Services. It allows you to author reports that use data generated by running an Integration Services (SSIS) package. The second one is the SAP data extension for integrating SSRS with mySAP Business Suite. By default, these extensions are disabled and commented in the rsreportserver.config file:<!-- <Extension Name="SSIS" Type="Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.DtsClient.DtsConnection,Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.DtsClient, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/> --><!-- <Extension Name="SAP" Type="Microsoft.Adapter.SAP.SAPConnection,Microsoft.Adapter.SAP.SAPProvider, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> --> Why are these extensions doomed to obscurity, you may ask? The reason is that they have setup dependencies. It could have been nice if the SQL Server 2005 setup program could verify these dependencies (e.g. if SSIS is selected for install) and enables the extensions accordingly so the users know about their existence but this...
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Where Is My Cartridge?
March 5, 2006 / 1 Comment »
A little known fact about the SSAS data architecture is that it uses “cartridges” to communicate with the data source. In brief, a cartridge is a XSL stylesheet that defines capabilities of a data source, as well as the rules for optimizing the SQL statements for relational querying and writing. SSAS 2005 ships with set of cartridges for Jet, SQL 70, SQL 2000, Oracle, Teradata, and DB2, which can be found in the \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.2\OLAP\bin\Cartridges folder. Vendors can plug in (server restart required) cartridges for other data sources if needed. One gotcha is when the UDM uses multiple data sources in a single data source view. This scenario requires that the primary data source must be SQL Server because behind the scenes the server uses the SQL Server-specific OPENROWSET statement to extract data from the secondary data source(s). The problem with this approach is that it effectively bypasses...
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MDX Solutions Book on the Horizon
February 23, 2006 / No Comments »
Chris Webb tells us that the MDX Solutions book, which we co-wrote with other MDX gurus, is soon to be released. Based on the resources available on the publisher's website, the book looks like a very promising read and I am looking forward to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, during my Applied Microsoft Analysis Services 2005 book project, I didn't have the time to fully research the vast MDX changes in SSAS 2005 and devote the space they deserve. This is where MDX Solutions comes in. I enjoyed the previous edition by George Spofford. I am sure that I will enjoy the sequel as well.
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Join me in the "hub"
February 22, 2006 / No Comments »
I’ve just learned that I’ve been selected to present at TechEd 2006 US in Boston! I've been honored to present Reporting Services for three consecutive years at TechEd. This time, I will change things a bit and instead of focusing on the development area, I will talk about integrating Reporting Services and Analysis Services. As of now, the main topics I am planning to include are: 1. SSAS report actions2. MDX Query Designer3. Server aggregates4. Building data mining reports5. Ad-hoc reporting6. CLR integration See you in the “hub”!
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Building Report-enabled Applications with the New ReportViewer Controls (Part 2 of 2)
February 21, 2006 / No Comments »
In the first part of this article, you saw how to use the Windows Forms version of the ReportViewer control. The second installment walks you through the differences and discusses the process for using the Web version of the control.
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Nick Barclay’s Review
February 12, 2006 / No Comments »
Nick Barclay from Australia has good things to say about my book “Applied Microsoft Analysis Services in Action”. No, I didn’t sweat blood, but I have to admit that writing this one wasn’t easy! It took me almost twice as long to write it as my previous “Microsoft Reporting Services in Action” book. For the most part, that was because Analysis Services is a focal point of many technologies, including OLAP, data mining, data integration, reporting, performance management, etc. Not to mention that, as Nick said it, it was like trying to hit a moving target because the product was constantly evolving on the way to RTM. The other main factor for taking so long is that I just can’t write short. I am a firm believer that knowing a product is knowing its limitations. I usually put myself in my reader’s shoes and try to address all possible questions...
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SQL Server Express Advanced Services Beta Announced
February 8, 2006 / No Comments »
Euan Garden (Product Unit Manager for SQL Server) tells us that SQL Server Express Advanced Services (which includes Reporting Services Express) has reached a beta stage. I emphasized the importance of choosing the right RS edition in one of my previous blogs.
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When (null) is not NULL
February 8, 2006 / 2 Comments »
Here is an interesting SSRS-SSAS integration gotcha that got me recently. Suppose that you have the following MDX query. Needless to say, this query is most likely wrong to start with. It brings the members of three dimensions even if they don’t exist with each other. The correct version should probably be to cross-join the attribute hierarchies which is what the MDX Query Designer does behind the scenes when you place attribute hierarchies side by side. As you could see, as it stands, this MDX query brings 12 rows. However, much to your surprise, when you bind this dataset to a table region, you will see only three rows (the ones that don’t have (null)). So, what’s going on? It turns out that the rows with (null) are server aggregates. The (null) in this case in this case indicates that this is a subtotal row. Since such a row is...
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