Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Bible

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Chapter 55: Authoring Reports in Reporting Services

55

Report Builder

Released with SQL Server 2008 R2, this third iteration of Report Builder has matured

dramatically since its fi rst incarnation. You can access Report Builder via the Report

Manager. It features the same objects and formatting options available in the Report

Designer in a more Offi ce-friendly context.

Because it was released as Report Builder 3.0, Report Builder also has the capability to use

the Report Gallery, accessed through Report Manager. The Report Gallery enables Report

Parts to be saved and published to the Report Server and used in Report Builder reports by

other users, greatly increasing reusability within organizations.

Power View

Power View is the newest report authoring tool offered in Reporting Services, new with

SSRS 2012. It is completely web-based; no installation is required to use it other than the

web browser and Silverlight. Power View delivers an instant visual design experience that

is always presentation-ready. Reports are built in Preview mode, meaning as objects are

confi gured, the data is populated — no toggling between design and preview. Power View

is only available in Reporting Services SharePoint Integrated mode. It can only use the

Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM) as its data source.

For more information on working with Power View reports, see Chapter 59.

The Basic Elements of a Report

Any report created inside SQL Server Data Tools has three main elements: the report data

source, the report dataset, and the report defi nition language fi le. All three are essential

for a report to work properly after it is deployed to the Report Server.

See Chapter 56, “Confi guring and Administering Reporting Services,” for more information on deploying

reporting elements to the Report Server.

Data Sources

The data source is the stored connection string to a data source of a report. For instance,

if you report from a database inside SQL Server, the data source contains the server name,

database name, and the credentials necessary for connecting to it. Data sources can be

shared between reports in a project or embedded in a particular report. An embedded data

source will not appear under the shared data sources node inside SSDT. It exists solely in

the report in which it was created. In addition to being shareable inside a project, data

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