• Nasty SSAS 2008 Bug

    August 15, 2008 / No Comments »

    There is a nasty known bug with SSAS 2008, where if a query that requests two measures with Sum and LastNonEmpty aggregate functions side by side and the query uses NON EMPTY (which all OLAP clients use by default), the server forces the measure with the SUM function to display empty. Steps to repro: Use the Analysis Services Tutorial cube (Lesson 10) which is included in the SSAS samples. Don't use the Adventure Works cube because it has measure expressions for certain measures, so changing a measure aggregation function to LastNonEmpty and deploying the cube results gives the error "Errors in the OLAP storage engine: The metadata for the statically linked measure group, with the name of 'Internet Sales', cannot be verified against the source object." That's a different issue that has been around since SQL Server 2005 but apparently didn't get fixed. 1.    Open the Analysis Services Tutorial project from...

  • Where is Report Builder 2.0?

    August 14, 2008 / 2 Comments »

    With the official release of SQL Server 2008, Microsoft retired the RC0 Feature Pack and added the SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack, August 2008 page. Unfortunately, the Report Builder 2.0 link got dropped along the way. Microsoft is aware of this issue and is planning to add a release candidate page for Report Builder 2.0 feature pack available for download toward the end of August. The RTM version of Report Builder 2.0 is expected in Oct'2008 timeframe.

  • Static Credentials

    August 11, 2008 / No Comments »

    A new week comes with new issues... I ran into an interesting issue today with Windows integrated security and SharePoint. I was troubleshooting an issue on a behalf of a Windows user that connects to an SSAS server. To repro the issue, I used the SharePoint "Sign in as a different user" feature. To facilitate testing, I decided to save the password in the standard Windows authentication dialog that follows ("Remember my password" checkbox). After this "convenient" setup, to my surprise all calls to that server went the credentials of that user, including connections to the cube from SQL Server Management Studio and Excel! For example, when I connected to the SSAS database with SSMS and attempted to manage the server, I was greeted with the following message although I have admin rights to the server: The connected user is not an Analysis Services server administrator. Only an administrator can...

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack, August 2008

    August 7, 2008 / No Comments »

    Microsoft released a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack, August 2008 page which includes a collection of stand-alone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2008. Strangely, Report Builder 2.0 is excluded and nowhere to be found since the RC0 page has been taken offline. Update 8/7/2008: A RC for Report Builder 2.0 feature pack will be available for download toward the end of August

  • Microsoft Has Released SQL Server 2008

    August 6, 2008 / No Comments »

    Today, Microsoft announced that official release of SQL Server 2008. Build #10.0.1600.22 has been declared as a SQL Server RTM. SQL Server 2008 includes major enhancements to the Microsoft Business Intelligence Stack, some of which I have mentioned in my previous posts. Note that if you have Visual Studio 2008 on your machine, you must wait for a few more days to get the official release of Visual Studio 2008 SP1, which is a required prerequisite to integrate the SQL Server 2008 client tools with Visual Studio 2008. Enjoy!

  • Rules Have Changed

    August 6, 2008 / No Comments »

    An interesting question has pop up on the Katmai RS 2008 discussion list today about how to implement a "green bar" group-level report that alternates background color for all rows in a group instance instead of doing this for each row. I attach the report sample I posted. What makes it interesting is that it demonstrates report variables – a new feature in RS 2008. Before you start analyzing it, you should know that expression evaluation rules in RS 2008 have changed as a result of the new on-demand processing model. As a result, state in class-level instance variables is discarded as you page through the report which makes maintaining state trickier between page requests. However, RS 2008 introduces report variables that guarantee one-time evaluation semantics. I know this may sound to you like Greek, so let me jump into the implementation details: 1. The report has a EvenRow code-behind...

  • Yet Another Post About Analysis Services HTTP Connectivity

    August 2, 2008 / No Comments »

    With risk to iterate the obvious, here is a lesson learned from the trenches: Scenario: You want to let external users browse an Analysis Services cube over the Internet. Setup: You have followed the steps in the Configuring HTTP Access to SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 article by Edward Melomed to set up Analysis Services for HTTP connectivity. Issue: Windows integrated security doesn't work. After a long battle where countless options have been tried, I have to admit a defeat. In our case, we've set up identical Windows local accounts on the SSAS server. This worked fine when connecting Report Builder 2.0 to the cube from our home machines. However, it appeared that the firewalls that our clients use make a minced meat of Windows integrated security. Strangely, Excel connects without a problem to the cube using Windows integrated security. However, Report Builder 2.0 chokes...

  • A Must-read Reporting Services Blog

    July 21, 2008 / No Comments »

    Robert Bruckner on the Reporting Services team has started a blog. Robert oversees several key areas of Reporting Services, including Report Definition Language (RDL), data processing, report processing, data visualization, and performance/scalability. Many of you have gotten help from Robert on the Reporting Services discussion lists to which he frequently contributes. So, this sure it's going to be a must-read blog as his first posts (report variables and scalability) show. RS Blog Roll Bob Meyers' Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/bobmeyers)—Bob Meyer is a Program Manager on the Reporting Services team who is responsible for Report Builder 1.0. Brian Welcker's Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/bwelcker)—Brian Welcker is a former Group Program Manager on the Reporting Services team. Chris Baldwin's Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisbal)—Chris Baldwin is a Program Manager on the Reporting Services team who oversees the report rendering area. Chris Hays's (http://blogs.msdn.com/chrishays)—Chris Hays is an architect on the Reporting Services team and oversees the Report Definition Language. John Gallardo's...

  • It’s Done

    July 21, 2008 / No Comments »

    A quick update on my book Applied Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. I am happy to announce that the work on the manuscript is over and the manuscript RTM'd (released to manufacturing). The paper copy should be available on the reseller sites and brick and mortar stores around the publication date (August 15th). Expect the ebook version around that time as well. Of course, the good thing about the ebook version besides being searchable and portable is that it includes color images. As you would probably agree, color is a good thing when you are studying report design. Video demos are even better, of course, which brings me to the next topic. While waiting, take a look at the book web page that just went live and check the available resources. Among other things, you'll find two sample chapters (chapters 1 and 3), the book source code, and video...

  • Automating Report Deployment

    July 12, 2008 / No Comments »

    Here is an awesome tip courtesy to the Craig Guyer's I Command Thee blog. You probably know that Visual Studio supports project configurations. In BIDS 2008, you can automate report deployment with configurations. For example, the following command deploys the solution using the settings of the QA configuration. C:\>devenv "C:\Books\RS2008\Code\ch03\Reports\Reports.sln" /deploy QA This is especially useful when automating deployment to SharePoint because you need to change the report definitions to use absolute paths to external resources, such as shared data sources. BIDS deployment can handle this for you and save you writing custom code to automate deployment. While we are on the SharePoint deployment topic with BIDS, one nasty bug was introduced late in the SQL Server 2008 cycle that prevents you deploying folders that contain a space, such as Data Sources, to SharePoint from BIDS. When you attempt to do this, you get: Error rsInvalidItemName : The name of...

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