Bob's SQL Reporting Services Blog

Notes, tips, rants, and ruminations on SQL Reporting Services, and Report Builder in particular.

Create short lists using the LookupSet function

Sometimes you have a short list of values that you really don't want to show on individual rows;...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 06/18/2012

TechEd session: Tips and tricks for building rich reports

Here's a recording of my TechEd 2012 North America session last week in Orlando: Tips and Tricks For...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 06/18/2012

When and why the primary entity changes when using a report model

Got a few questions lately on this subject, so I thought I’d post some additional info that...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/27/2012

Add Excel-like "color scale" conditional formatting to your reports

I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, and it looks like David Lean beat me to it earlier...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/31/2009

Localizing a report model

Reports and report models can be localized at many levels. Following are some ideas around the...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/27/2009

Considerations for a large report model

Customer report models that vary in size from a few to a few hundred entities. Little Northwind with...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/27/2009

SQL Server 2008 SP1 available now with important Report Builder 2.0 updates

SQL Server 2008 SP1 is now available, and includes some important updates related to Report Builder...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/08/2009

Help RB 2.0 users find and use shared data sources

Report Builder 2.0 makes it easy for business users to browse for and use centrally-defined and...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/28/2009

What is that extra column of 'AB.gAAAA=' values when I run a report model query?

Most people using Report Builder 2.0 with a report model soon ask the question, what is that extra...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/06/2009

Call for feedback: What are you doing with report models?

Are you using a report model in your organization? The Reporting Services product team wants to hear...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/06/2009

As I mentioned in a previous post, due to resource constraints in this release, Report Builder 2.0...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009

A better way to model inheritance

I've been playing around with a report model we use internally here in the SQL Server product group....

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009

Report Builder 2.0: Whither report models?

Just a quick post to answer the inevitable question when those familiar with Report Builder 2005/1.0...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009

Sorting the values in parameter dropdowns in Report Builder

In SQL 2005 the semantic queries generated by Report Builder do not support sorting. This is not a...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/11/2007

Filtering on totals in Report Builder

Since releasing Report Builder almost two years ago, we've found that many users run into difficulty...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2007

Requiring Report Builder users to choose a perspective

Some customers have report models that are large enough they do not expect any user to ever request...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/27/2007

Launching Report Builder from the command line

A number of people have asked if it is possible to launch RB from the command line. While it is in...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/22/2007

Using that little checkbox in the Report Builder filter dialog

The Filter dialog in Report Builder has a little checkbox near the bottom that many users have asked...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/15/2007

I call this the Primary Address problem, because a classic example is when you have a Customer table...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006

I want to reference a parameter (twice!) in a formula filter condition

In this release of Report Builder there is no direct support for referencing parameters in the...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006

Getting grouping right in Report Builder

One thing Report Builder users need to be aware of when building a report is the difference between...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006

SQL Server 2005 SP2 (CTP2) is now available

Huge new feature: integrate your RS 2005 report server with SharePoint 12! What's new in SP2?...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 11/10/2006

Enforcing timeouts on Report Builder queries

I've attached a sample C# project illustrating how to create a custom data processing extension...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/31/2006

Evolving your report model over time

Many factors combine to make report models highly likely to change and evolve over time. Sometimes...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006

Creating a report model that can be used against multiple databases

Sometimes it is useful to create a report model that can be used against multiple databases that...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006

Clickthrough reports are the key to integration

Clickthrough reports are the special kind of drillthrough reports created by Report Builder. They...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006

How to get RB to load a report created in VS Report Designer

Loading an arbitrary Report Designer report in Report Builder is not supported in SQL Server 2005....

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006

How to enable Report Builder for non-domain users

Report Builder uses a client technology called ClickOnce to download and launch the application...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006

New RS blogger: Chris Baldwin

...and one of my esteemed colleagues, to boot. :) https://blogs.msdn.com/chrisbal/

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/10/2006

How to get the SQL for a Report Builder report

There are two ways to get the generated SQL for a Report Builder report (or for a model-based query...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/05/2006

Subscriptions to Report Builder reports

Many people are interested in creating subscriptions to Report Builder reports. In SQL Server 2005...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/30/2006

Using RDL expressions in Report Builder

While not a documented feature, you actually can enter an arbitrary RDL expression into a textbox in...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/25/2006

How to create a 'company' security filter for a hosted application

Several customers have asked how to restrict data visibility in a report model for a hosted...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/24/2006

Collapsing a many-to-many relationship in a report model

Often a many-to-many relationship exists between two entities where the intermediate entity has...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/24/2006

Article: Implementing Data Security in a Report Model

I just posted the first article on my blog. Here's the abstract: The report models introduced in SQL...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006

SP1 CTP is now available -- Report Builder users should update

The SQL Server 2005 SP1 CTP is now available. This update fixes a number of Report Builder issues in...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006

Implementing Data Security in a Report Model

The report models introduced in SQL Server 2005 feature a number of ways to customize the data...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006

Adding parameters (prompts) to a Report Builder report

You easily can add basic parameters to a Report Builder report using the Filter dialog. For example,...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/15/2006

Report Builder launch parameters

To launch Report Builder, use one of the following URLs (also documented on MSDN):...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/24/2006

Grokking Report Builder Queries: This is NOT your mother's SQL!

IT People and Report BuilderThe natural inclination when IT people see and start to use Report...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/20/2006

Report model denormalization: Why, How, and When

Relational databases are often heavily normalized to improve performance, reduce storage...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/19/2006

What to do with IdentifyingAttributes and DefaultDetailAttributes?

SQL 2005 report models will ship with a curious and admittedly incomplete solution for handling "the...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/25/2005

The philosophy behind Report Builder data navigation

The top part of the Explorer pane in Report Builder is probably unlike anything most people have...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/15/2005

How to create an inline bar chart

Here's a neat trick a co-worker and I discovered this afternoon for creating an inline bar chart (an...

Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/15/2005