NOTE in VB.NET

Maker Data Matrix in VB.NET NOTE

The report RDL includes the report query and layout information. Since we chose to create a shared data source, the data source information is not included in the report RDL. To see this, select the Sales by Territory. rdl file from the Solution Explorer, right-click, and select View Code. Visual Studio shows you the report definition of the report.

Report delivery Once the report has been promoted to a managed report, it can be delivered to your end users. Let s see how users can request the report on-demand by using the Report Manager as a quick-and-easy report-delivery tool.

Open the browser and navigate to the Report Manager URL, which by default is http://<reportservername>/reports. Notice that below the Report Manager Home folder there is a new folder, AWReporter, and that its name matches the TargetReportFolder setting which you specified in the report project settings. Step 1 Click on the AWReporter folder link to see its contents. You should find the Sales by Territory report link. Under the data sources folder you should see the AW Shared DS data source. Step 2 Click on the Sales by Territory report link to request the report with the Report Manager. As you can see, authoring, managing, and delivering reports with RS is straightforward. At this point, you may decide to compare RS at a high level with other reporting tools you ve used in the past. The next section discusses how RS stacks up against the competition.

Throughout my career as a software consultant, I have had the opportunity to turn many clients on to Reporting Services. I am continually impressed by how quickly most developers have learned to effectively build reports and enable end users to get the data they need. Not only is RS easy to use and deploy, it is also surprisingly feature rich. My favorite top ten features, where I believe RS excels, are as follows: Report Builder Adds ad hoc reporting capabilities to your business users. This tool will allow business users to create amazingly complex queries for reports by dragging and dropping fields and selecting filters for the data. In addition, infinite drill-through reporting will change the way you think about ad hoc reports. 2 Natively exposed as a Web service The RS reports are widely accessible, and you don t have to do anything special to publish your reports as web services because they are hosted under the Report Server, which provides a web service fa ade. 3 Support of plethora of export formats You may be delighted to learn that the ability to export reports to PDF and Excel is provided out of the box. In addition, reports can be delivered in many other popular formats, including web formats (HTML), popular image formats (such as TIFF and JPEG), and data formats (Excel, XML, and CSV). 4 On-demand and subscribed report delivery Another huge plus is the subscribed report delivery option, which allows developers to implement opt-in report features in their applications. 5 Documented report definition format Developers can create reports to be published to the Report Server using Microsoft or third-party design tools that support the RS XML RDL. 6 .NET Framework integration In the extensibility area, you ll appreciate the fact that you are not locked out from a programmability standpoint. As we mentioned earlier, when built-in features are not enough, you can reach out and borrow from the power of the .NET Framework by integrating your reports with .NET code. In addition, the Report Services programming model is 100 percent .NET based. 7 Extensible architecture The RS architecture is fully extensible and allows developers to plug in their own security, data, delivery, and rendering extensions. 8 Zero deployment Thanks to its service-oriented architecture, RS has no client footprint and offers true zero deployment for all application types. 9 Scalability RS can scale better, since it is designed from the ground up to scale in web farm environments. 10 Cost From a cost perspective, it is hard to beat the bundled-with-the-SQLServer RS pricing model, especially if you compare it with the five-digit price tag of third-party reporting tools.