Thursday, October 17, 2013

Use Cases for Reporting Services

Overview

  • Report Viewer Control
  • Reporting Services (Standalone)
  • Reporting Services (SharePoint-Integration)
  • Reporting Builder

Types of files used


.RDLC

  • No Reporting Services installation required
  • Takes .NET DataSet (object in code) as a data source / dataset.
  • Code change required to update DataSet.
  • Report is generated by the hosted application
  • Can be referenced by Report Viewer Control
  • Requires .NET application
  • Use newest version of Visual Studio to create report
  • User Parameter GUI is manually created by developer on page.


.RDL

  • Requires Reporting Services installation
  • DataSet is defined using GUI, not code
  • No code changes required to update DataSet.
  • Report is generated by Reporting Services
  • Can be referenced by Report Viewer Control
  • .NET application is optional
  • Use Business Intelligence Studio to create report.
  • User Parameter GUI is automatically generated by Reporting Server or manually on page.

Report Viewer Control


  • Generates a preview of the report for users
  • Allows user to print or save reports in different formats including PDF, HTML, DOC, etc
  • Requires a .NET application to host the ASP.NET Server control
  • Can use .rdlc and .rdl

Reporting Services (Standalone)


  • Useful when wanting to add Reporting Services to a .NET application because permissions can be managed using Active Directory groups/users or using service account (and delegating permissions to the .NET application).
  • Serves up .RDL files.
  • Generates preview of .RDL files
  • Provides UI to manage
    • Permissions on report
      • Individual accounts
      • Active Directory Groups
    • Schedule delivery of report
    • DataSource

Reporting Services (SharePoint Integration)

  • Useful when wanting to add Reporting Services to a SharePoint site because permissions can be managed using SharePoint groups instead of Active Directory groups as with the standalone installation of Reporting Services.
  • Serves up .RDL files still done by Reporting Services
  • Generates preview of .RDL files still done by Reporting Services
  • SharePoint provides the following UI (instead of Reporting Services) to manage
    • Permissions on report
    • Schedule delivery of report
    • DataSource

Report Builder

  • Report Builder can be used to edit .RDL files (not .RDLC)
  • Report Builder is almost identical in functionality to BIDS (Business Intelligence Development Studio). 
  • The most noticeable difference is the lack of Intellisense.
  • The UI is also more geared to be more end user vs. developer friendly.
  • Report Builder is available as an install or as a ClickOnce installation.




No comments: