CHAPTER 3 INTRODUCTION TO REPORTING SERVICES DESIGN WITH SQL SERVER DATA TOOLS
covered in the previous section, you can use several common tools within the IDE to design reports:The Toolbox: This is where you’ll find all the report objects covered in this
chapter, such as the Matrix and Table data regions. Data regions are the defined
report objects within the SSRS report design environment that contain the field
values from the data set.The Properties window: Here, you set the values for the various formatting and
grouping properties for report items.The Error List window: You will need this when troubleshooting report errors.
Mismatched data types and invalid use of functions are common issues that
arise when designing reports. The Error List window is the place to see the
details of these errors.The Report Data window: This holds the built-in fields, data sources, datasets,
images, and the field information you’ve defined for the report.Figure 3-4 shows a custom layout for designing reports in SSRS. You can dock any toolbar anywhere
within the IDE or position them beyond it on the desktop. This setup works best with a high-resolution
configuration, 1152 × 864 or higher. In the setup in Figure 3-4, the Toolbox is undocked, and the Solution
Explorer is on the right side of the report design grid. If you wish, you can set the toolbars to hide
automatically when not in use—in this example, the button to display the hidden Report Data pane is
shown at top left. BIDS, like the full Visual Studio 2010 environment, has a dock position map that assists
in precisely placing the dockable item. You can see the map, with a slight transparency at all edges and
in the middle, as you move items around within the report designer.