Bob's SQL Reporting Services Blog
Notes, tips, rants, and ruminations on SQL Reporting Services, and Report Builder in particular.
Create short lists using the LookupSet function
Sometimes you have a short list of values that you really don't want to show on individual rows;...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 06/18/2012
TechEd session: Tips and tricks for building rich reports
Here's a recording of my TechEd 2012 North America session last week in Orlando: Tips and Tricks For...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 06/18/2012
When and why the primary entity changes when using a report model
Got a few questions lately on this subject, so I thought I’d post some additional info that...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/27/2012
Add Excel-like "color scale" conditional formatting to your reports
I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, and it looks like David Lean beat me to it earlier...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/31/2009
Localizing a report model
Reports and report models can be localized at many levels. Following are some ideas around the...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/27/2009
Considerations for a large report model
Customer report models that vary in size from a few to a few hundred entities. Little Northwind with...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/27/2009
SQL Server 2008 SP1 available now with important Report Builder 2.0 updates
SQL Server 2008 SP1 is now available, and includes some important updates related to Report Builder...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 04/08/2009
Help RB 2.0 users find and use shared data sources
Report Builder 2.0 makes it easy for business users to browse for and use centrally-defined and...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/28/2009
What is that extra column of 'AB.gAAAA=' values when I run a report model query?
Most people using Report Builder 2.0 with a report model soon ask the question, what is that extra...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/06/2009
Call for feedback: What are you doing with report models?
Are you using a report model in your organization? The Reporting Services product team wants to hear...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/06/2009
How to build a Clickthrough link in Report Builder 2.0
As I mentioned in a previous post, due to resource constraints in this release, Report Builder 2.0...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009
A better way to model inheritance
I've been playing around with a report model we use internally here in the SQL Server product group....
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009
Report Builder 2.0: Whither report models?
Just a quick post to answer the inevitable question when those familiar with Report Builder 2005/1.0...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/05/2009
Sorting the values in parameter dropdowns in Report Builder
In SQL 2005 the semantic queries generated by Report Builder do not support sorting. This is not a...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/11/2007
Filtering on totals in Report Builder
Since releasing Report Builder almost two years ago, we've found that many users run into difficulty...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2007
Requiring Report Builder users to choose a perspective
Some customers have report models that are large enough they do not expect any user to ever request...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/27/2007
Launching Report Builder from the command line
A number of people have asked if it is possible to launch RB from the command line. While it is in...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 02/22/2007
Using that little checkbox in the Report Builder filter dialog
The Filter dialog in Report Builder has a little checkbox near the bottom that many users have asked...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/15/2007
Creating a role to one of several related items
I call this the Primary Address problem, because a classic example is when you have a Customer table...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006
I want to reference a parameter (twice!) in a formula filter condition
In this release of Report Builder there is no direct support for referencing parameters in the...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006
Getting grouping right in Report Builder
One thing Report Builder users need to be aware of when building a report is the difference between...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 12/20/2006
SQL Server 2005 SP2 (CTP2) is now available
Huge new feature: integrate your RS 2005 report server with SharePoint 12! What's new in SP2?...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 11/10/2006
Enforcing timeouts on Report Builder queries
I've attached a sample C# project illustrating how to create a custom data processing extension...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/31/2006
Evolving your report model over time
Many factors combine to make report models highly likely to change and evolve over time. Sometimes...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006
Creating a report model that can be used against multiple databases
Sometimes it is useful to create a report model that can be used against multiple databases that...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006
Clickthrough reports are the key to integration
Clickthrough reports are the special kind of drillthrough reports created by Report Builder. They...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006
How to get RB to load a report created in VS Report Designer
Loading an arbitrary Report Designer report in Report Builder is not supported in SQL Server 2005....
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006
How to enable Report Builder for non-domain users
Report Builder uses a client technology called ClickOnce to download and launch the application...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 09/28/2006
New RS blogger: Chris Baldwin
...and one of my esteemed colleagues, to boot. :) https://blogs.msdn.com/chrisbal/
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/10/2006
How to get the SQL for a Report Builder report
There are two ways to get the generated SQL for a Report Builder report (or for a model-based query...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 07/05/2006
Subscriptions to Report Builder reports
Many people are interested in creating subscriptions to Report Builder reports. In SQL Server 2005...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/30/2006
Using RDL expressions in Report Builder
While not a documented feature, you actually can enter an arbitrary RDL expression into a textbox in...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/25/2006
How to create a 'company' security filter for a hosted application
Several customers have asked how to restrict data visibility in a report model for a hosted...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/24/2006
Collapsing a many-to-many relationship in a report model
Often a many-to-many relationship exists between two entities where the intermediate entity has...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/24/2006
Article: Implementing Data Security in a Report Model
I just posted the first article on my blog. Here's the abstract: The report models introduced in SQL...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006
SP1 CTP is now available -- Report Builder users should update
The SQL Server 2005 SP1 CTP is now available. This update fixes a number of Report Builder issues in...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006
Implementing Data Security in a Report Model
The report models introduced in SQL Server 2005 feature a number of ways to customize the data...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/18/2006
Adding parameters (prompts) to a Report Builder report
You easily can add basic parameters to a Report Builder report using the Filter dialog. For example,...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 03/15/2006
Report Builder launch parameters
To launch Report Builder, use one of the following URLs (also documented on MSDN):...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/24/2006
Grokking Report Builder Queries: This is NOT your mother's SQL!
IT People and Report BuilderThe natural inclination when IT people see and start to use Report...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/20/2006
Report model denormalization: Why, How, and When
Relational databases are often heavily normalized to improve performance, reduce storage...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 01/19/2006
What to do with IdentifyingAttributes and DefaultDetailAttributes?
SQL 2005 report models will ship with a curious and admittedly incomplete solution for handling "the...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/25/2005
The philosophy behind Report Builder data navigation
The top part of the Explorer pane in Report Builder is probably unlike anything most people have...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/15/2005
How to create an inline bar chart
Here's a neat trick a co-worker and I discovered this afternoon for creating an inline bar chart (an...
Author: Bob Meyers20 Date: 10/15/2005