Question: How can I repeat a group header on each page, but have it say "MyGroup (continued)" on all but the first page? Answer: Since pagination is determined long after the report has been fully processed, there's no way for the body of the report...

Question: How can I get print-quality output from my custom report item? Answer: Custom report items have slightly different plumbing than native report items. Of particular note are native charts. These are generated during report rendering, which...

Question: How can I enable users to select "All" as the value of a multivalue query parameter? Answer: Since multivalue parameters cannot be null, you cannot use the approach previously described here . Fortunately, a simple modification of that approach...

Question: How can I reset my page number back to 1 every time I get a group break? Answer: Resetting the page number on group breaks isn't natively supported, but it can be achieved by tracking group breaks in a shared variable and subtracting off...

A currently undocumented feature of SQL 2005 Reporting Services is the ability to develop custom report items for embedding in reports. The documentation will be available in the web doc update around the time of the release. But for those of you interested...

Question: I have variable sized images I want to display in a table column. How can I center these images without stretching them to fill the table cell? Answer: While there is no automatic centering behavior for the Image control, you can simulate...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Report xmlns=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2003/10/reportdefinition " xmlns:rd=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner "> <CodeModules> <CodeModule>System...

Question: How can I get a green-bar effect (alternating colors) in a matrix? Answer: For a green-bar table, you can simply use a background color expression like this: =iif(RowNumber(Nothing) Mod 2,"Green","White") However, there is currently no GroupNumber...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Report xmlns=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2003/10/reportdefinition " xmlns:rd=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner "> <RightMargin>1in</RightMargin>...

Question: How can I enable users to select "All" as the value of a query parameter? Answer: The simplest way is to modify your query to accept nulls and map "All" to null. Step 1: Start with a report that already has a parameterized query and Valid...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Report xmlns=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2003/10/reportdefinition " xmlns:rd=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner "> <RightMargin>1in</RightMargin>...

Question: Does Reporting Services support horizontal tables (fixed rows and dynamic columns)? Answer: There is no native "horizontal table" report item, but simple horizontal tables can be simulated using Matrix. Step 1: Add a matrix to your report...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Report xmlns=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2003/10/reportdefinition " xmlns:rd=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner "> <RightMargin>1in</RightMargin>...

Question: How can I give my users the ability to dynamically select fields on which to group within a report? Answer: The key to dynamic grouping in a report is this: Practically everything in a report can be based on an expression. From grouping to...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Report xmlns=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2003/10/reportdefinition " xmlns:rd=" http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner "> <RightMargin>1in</RightMargin>...

Who are you? I'm the guy who gets to take the credit and/or blame for designing the Report Definition Language (RDL) . What is this blog? This is my warehouse for RDL tips, tricks, sleazy hacks and answers to frequently asked questions...