CHAPTER 5 IMPLEMENTING DASHBOARD STYLE REPORT OBJECTSListing 5-5. RDL Data Bar
The completed report for the Data Bar is called Data Bar.rdl in the Pro_SSRS solution.Implementing a Sparkline
At least in my experiences, a common report request by leadership has been to show a month over
month or year over year trend analysis. One could do this in prior versions of Reporting Services, but it
took a little more effort to get the look and feel of a true trending report. Included with 2008 R2 release of
Reporting Services was the Sparkline control. This out-of-the-box report item is simple to use and can
display vast amounts of data in a small area.
In this example, we will start by opening the report named Sparkline Start.rdl in our Pro_SSRS
Reporting Services solution. You will notice that we have created a dataset which executes a stored
procedure named Emp_Svc_Cost_Sparkline. This stored procedure returns the Date, Month and Year a
particular visit occurred. You’ll also find a Tablix containing the month field from our dataset and some
appropriate headings.
To start this example off, drag the Sparkline control from the Toolbox and place it in the blank
textbox below the Daily Trend header and choose the Area sparkline type. This is the first type under the
Area section. The other three types could be Smooth Area, Stacked Area and 100% Stacked Area. Next,