Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide- P18 pps

The Reporting Services SOAP APIs allow more complex operations, such as creating and managing reports and subscriptions, data sources, and Report Server database items.. Using URL Access

Reporting Services is an extensible reporting platform, complete with a set of APIs

that allow developers to design and build reporting solutions Reporting Services can

be integrated into custom applications in two ways: using URL access and using the

Reporting Services Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API The programming

method you choose depends on the functionality you need in your application URL

access is best used when users only need to view or navigate through rendered

reports through a Web browser The Reporting Services SOAP APIs allow more

complex operations, such as creating and managing reports and subscriptions, data

sources, and Report Server database items There are also times when a combination

of these two methods most effectively meets your business needs

You can also develop and manage extensions consumed by the Reporting Services

components using the available managed code API You can create assemblies using

the Microsoft NET Framework that add new Reporting Services functionality to

meet your specialized business tasks

Using URL Access in a Window Form

Even though accessing your reports using URL links is best suited for Web environments,

you can also launch a report by starting your Internet Explorer programmatically from

a Windows form, or you can use a Web browser control to display a report on your

Windows form

Starting Internet Explorer from a Windows Form

Internet Explorer can be started from a Windows form using the Process class of the

System.Diagnostics namespace The Process class is used for controlling applications on

your computer To view a report in your ReportServer database, you set the arguments of

the Process.Start function with the IExplore.exe application and the URL of the report

The following code shows launching the IExplore process to display a report when a user

clicks a button on a Windows form:

Imports System.Diagnostics

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _

ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Process.Start("iexplore.exe", _

"http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/" & _

"ReportViewer.aspx?%2fProducts+Report")

End Sub

Notice how, at the top of the code, the Imports declaration is used to include the System.Diagnostics namespace When the user clicks the Button1 button, the Internet Explorer browser is started and the Products report is displayed

Embedding a Browser Control on a Windows Form

You can add a Web browser control to your Windows form for viewing your report The Web browser control is included in the Internet Controls Library, shdocvw.dll

To add the Web browser control to your Windows form:

1. Create a Windows form application in one of the NET framework languages

2. Select the Web Browser control from the Toolbox and drag it onto the design surface of your Windows form

3. Right-click the Web browser control and select the Properties option from the pop-up menu

4. Set the URL property to the URL access string for your report In our example, the URL string is: http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer

.aspx?%2fProducts+Report

When the application is run, the report will automatically be generated and displayed in the Web browser as shown in Figure 9-14

Figure 9-14 Report in Web browser control

Integrating Reporting Services Using SOAP

While you can view reports in your Windows programs using URL access, the

Reporting Services SOAP APIs expose the full set of management functions, allowing

you to develop customized business reporting solutions All of the administrative

actions of the Report Manager are available to the developer through the SOAP APIs

Using the SOAP API in a Windows Application

A Web service object is provided that allows you to call the Reporting Services

functions from your Windows form application code To use the Web service object,

you declare the object in your program code as follows:

Dim RepSrv As New ReportingService()

Then you can set the properties and use the methods just as you would for any

other object The ReportingService object allows you to manage actions such

as catalog item retrieval, data sources, events, extensions, jobs, policies, roles,

schedules, subscriptions, and tasks The following code example shows how to list

the items in a ReportServer database:

' Create a new Web service object

Dim RepSrv As New ReportingService()

RepSrv.Credentials = _

System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

' Return the list of items in My Reports

Dim CatItms As CatalogItem() = _

RepSrv.ListChildren("/My Reports", False)

Dim CatItm As CatalogItem

For Each CatItm In items

catalogComboBox.Items.Add(CatItm.Name)

End If

Next CatItm

Extensions

You can extend specific features of Reporting Services and its components by using

the managed code API that is available The Reporting Services Extension Library is

a set of classes, interfaces, and value types that are included in Reporting Services

You can use this library to access system functionality; it is designed to be the foundation on which NET Framework applications can be used to extend Reporting Services components You can build custom extensions to add functionality in areas such as data processing, delivery, rendering, and security The extension functions are included in namespaces that you can import into your NET applications The extensions library namespaces are as follows:

Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataProcessing Classes and interfaces to extend the data processing capability of

Reporting Services Microsoft.ReportingServices.Interfaces Classes and interfaces to extend delivery extensions, and security

extensions for Reporting Services Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportRendering Classes and interfaces to extend the rendering capabilities of

Reporting Services

RDL

The Report Definition Language (RDL) is composed of Extensible Markup Language (XML) elements that describe report layout and query information RDL conforms to the XML grammar created for Reporting Services It defines a common schema that enables the interchange of report definitions as a standard way of communicating using reports RDL can be generated from an application using the NET Framework classes

of the System.Xml namespace

Accessing Reports

You can access and manage your reports through the Report Manager tool or by pointing your browser directly to a report URL link Report Manager is a Web-based tool you can use to view published reports, run reports, and subscribe to reports Administrators can also use the Report Manager to configure permissions and manage report distribution You access the Report Manager through your browser using the URL http://<servername>/reports

Using URL Access

You access reports through a report server URL request that enables you to access the reports, resources, and other items in the report server database Report parameters for your report, the rendering output, and device settings are contained in the query string

of the URL You can embed the hyperlink URL to your reports and report server items into Web or Windows applications

URL Access Through a Web Application

The easiest method for accessing reports in a Web application is by directly pointing

your browser to a URL address An example of directly accessing a URL is shown

here:

<a

href="http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.

aspx?%2fProducts+Report&rs:Command=Render&rc:LinkTarget=main" target="main" >

Click here for the Products report</a>

While this method is quite straightforward, it has some limitations, in that some

servers and browsers have a 256-character limit To get around this, you can use the

POST request on a submission form

URL Access Through a Form POST Method

By using the METHOD=“POST” on a forms submission, an application can access

reports without allowing the user to modify the URL query string The following

code shows an example of using the POST method:

<FORM id="frmRender"

action=http://server/reportserver?/SampleReports/Products

method="post" target="_self">

<INPUT type="hidden" name="rs:Command" value="Render">

<INPUT type="hidden" name="rc:LinkTarget" value="main">

<INPUT type="hidden" name="rs:Format" value="HTML4.0">

<INPUT type="submit" value="Button">

</FORM>

Report Authoring

In the first part of this chapter you learned about the various components that make

up SQL Server 2005’s Reporting Services In the second half of this chapter you’ll

get a more detailed look at the steps required to design and deploy a simple report

Development Stages

To develop a simple Reporting Services application, you begin by using the Report

Designer to define the report’s data sources and layout You then need to build

and deploy the report to the Report Server Finally, you need to make the report

available to end users by either embedding the report within an application or adding subscriptions for the report

Designing the Reporting Solution

To create Reporting Services solution using one of the interactive tools, you first create a reporting project and select a dataset that defines the data that will be used in the report Then you lay out the individual data fields on the report To handle stock reports that are presented in a tabular or matrix format, the Report Wizard steps you through the process of creating a data source and laying out the report For more complex reports, use the Report Designer to define data sources, design specialized report layouts, and include custom items, such as images

Building and Deploying the Reporting Solution

Once the report has been designed, you need to build the report and then deploy

it to the Report Server Building the report creates a NET assembly that will run the report Deploying the report essentially takes this assembly and copies it to the Reporting Services Report Server While you can perform this sequence manually, the Report Designer has built-in options to both build and deploy reports to the Report Server

Making the Report Available to End Users

After the report has been deployed to the Report Server, you can then make the report available to end users via several different mechanisms You can allow access

to the reports by embedding them in an application, via their URLs, or by creating

a subscription that will push the report to the end user Report subscriptions can be set up to be delivered at a certain time, or they can be data driven

Now that you have an overview of the Reporting Services development process, the next section will take you through the steps of developing and deploying a simple report using SQL Server 2005’s Reporting Services

Creating a Reporting Services Report

You begin using the Report Designer either by starting the Report Wizard and using

it to create your initial report or by starting with a blank design surface and then adding your own report definition elements In either case, defining a dataset is the first thing you need to create a report In this example, we’ll look at how to build

a report using the Report Designer

To build a Reporting Services application, first open the Business Intelligence

Development Studio and then select the File | New | Project option to display the

New Project dialog that’s shown in Figure 9-15

To create a new Reporting Services report using the Report Designer, select

the Business Intelligence Projects option from the Project Types list Then in the

Templates list shown in the right side of the screen select the Report Project option

Fill in the boxes at the bottom of the dialog, setting the name and location for your

project Clicking OK creates the project and displays the Report Designer In the

Solution Explorer to the right of the screen, you will see the Report Project with two

folders in its directory structure: the Shared Data Sources folder and the Reports

folder

Right-click the Reports folder A pop-up menu displays the options Add New

Report, Add >, and Properties If you select the Add New Report option, the Report

Wizard will start to guide you through creating a simple tabular or matrix report

Here we will select the Add > | New Item option, which displays the Add New Item

dialog as shown in Figure 9-16

Figure 9-15 Creating a new report: New Project

Select the Report option from the Templates area of the dialog and click the Add button to add the report file to your project and start the Report Designer The design surface in the center of the environment presents three tabs: Data, Layout, and Preview You define a dataset by clicking the Data tab to reveal the Data pane You create datasets in the Data pane to access data sources to include in your report Click the Datasets drop-down box and select the <New Dataset> option This starts the Dataset dialog shown in Figure 9-17, which allows you to define your connection

to the database

Type a name for your data source in the Name text box This name is used only for identification and can be anything you choose Next, use the Type drop-down

to select the type of database system that the data source will use The default value

is Microsoft SQL Server, but you can also choose OLE DB, Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Oracle, or ODBC Next, in the Connection String box input the connection string that’s required to connect to the target database If you’re unfamiliar with the connection string values, you can click Edit to display the Data Link dialog, which will step you through the creation of the Data Source

Next, de-select the Generic Query Designer button The interactive Query Builder tool will be loaded into the design surface under the Data tab The Query Builder

Figure 9-16 Add New Item

is a query design tool that enables you to build SQL queries without needing to be

a SQL expert However, to effectively use the Query Design tool, you still need

to have a good basic knowledge of your database’s design and scheme You can

select tables from your database by right-clicking in the top portion of the Query

Builder and then selecting Add Table from the pop-up menu to display the Add

Tables dialog There you can select one or more tables (multiple tables are selected

by holding down the ctrl key and clicking the desired table) The Query Builder

will automatically detect any relationships between the tables in terms of matching

column names and data types and will draw links between the tables visually

showing the relationships

After selecting the tables, you then select the desired columns from each table by

putting a check in the check box that precedes the column name Checking the * (All

Columns) entry will automatically select all of the columns from the table As you

interactively select the tables and columns and define the relationships between the

tables, the Query Designer automatically builds the SQL statement that will retrieve

data for your report You can test the query by clicking the exclamation icon (!)

shown in the toolbar

Figure 9-17 Select the data source

Parameterized Queries

The Query Builder can also be used to build parameterized queries where the end user supplies a value to the query at run time To build a parameterized query using the Query Builder, you simply type a question mark into the Filter column that’s in the row of the database column name that you want to use with a parameter The Query Builder will automatically convert the question mark character to the =@ Param value

After you’ve completed designing the query, click the Layout tab to display the report layout in the design surface area Click the Toolbox tab on the left side of the environment to display a list of report items that you can drag and drop onto the report design surface The standard report items that you can place on your report are: Textbox, Line, Table, Matrix, Rectangle, List, Image, Subreport, and Chart Figure 9-18 shows an example of the report layout design area with several report items added to it

You can associate the report items with fields from the data source by right-clicking the report item and selecting the Properties option from the pop-up menu

A Properties dialog will be displayed allowing you to customize the report item

Figure 9-18 Report layout design