SSRS 2012, Part 01 of 10: Introduction and Report Builder

Course description

In this course you’ll get a high-level view of the parts and pieces of Reporting Services so that you know what you’re working with. I’ll start by looking at the two modes you can install and operate a report server in. Then I’ll show you some of the extensive configuration options you can use to fine tune reporting features. Reporting Services has a fairly complex architecture, and I’ll walk you through a high-level view of it. There are a lot of parts and you need to have a good feel for how they all work. Then I’ll take a look at the tools available for building reports, and will walk through creating a simple report using Report Designer.Next you’ll get a solid introduction to Report Builder, and learn how to install either the standalone version or the ClickOnce version accessible from Report Manager. I’ll walk you through a tour of the Report Builder user interface. Then I’ll show you how to build a simple report, point out more of Report Builder’s features and learn about preview performance. Finally, you’ll learn about shared datasets as a way to make data access easier for end users.

Each LearnNowOnline training course is made up of Modules (typically an hour in length). Within each module there are Topics (typically 15-30 minutes each) and Subtopics (typically 2-5 minutes each). There is a Post Exam for each Module that must be passed with a score of 70% or higher to successfully and fully complete the course.

Prerequisites

This course assumes that you have a basic familiarity with the concept of relational databases and a basic understanding of what SQL Server is and the high-level tools in it, as well as how to create and manage objects using Management Studio. You should also have a basic understanding of how SQL Server implements security, including its authentication and authorization schemes, and how to assign permissions on securable objects to principals. You should know the fundamentals of Transact-SQL to write queries to retrieve data and join data from multiple tables, and how to execute scripts using the query editor in Management Studio. It will be very helpful, but not absolutely necessary, to have experience with .NET development using Visual Studio 2010 or 2012 for the portions of the course that deal with SQL Server Data Tools. At the very least, we’ll assume that you are well familiar with the Visual Studio user interface. The focus of this course is the Reporting Services Native Mode installation to learn the fundamentals of creating and managing reports. Almost all of what you’ll learn will be applicable to a SharePoint integrated mode installation as well, but there are additional tools and considerations for SharePoint that aren’t covered thoroughly here. This course is written using Windows 7 and 8.1, and taped using Windows 7, using SQL Server 2012. For Windows, we assume you know how to start programs, etc. in whatever version of Windows you’re using. The Reporting Services features should be pretty much the same in SQL Server 2014, although some windows will probably look different; but the feature set is the same.

Meet the expert

Don Kiely

Don Kiely is a featured instructor on many of our SQL Server and Visual Studio courses. He is a nationally recognized author, instructor, and consultant specializing in Microsoft technologies. Don has many years of teaching experience, is the author or co-author of several programming books, and has spoken at many industry conferences and user groups. In addition, Don is a consultant for a variety of companies that develop distributed applications for public and private organizations.

Video Runtime

138 Minutes

Time to complete

523 Minutes

Course Outline

Introduction

Installing and Configuring (15:46)

• Introduction (00:27)
• Introduction (02:08)
• Reporting Services Modes (01:03)
• Why Use Integrated Mode (01:37)
• Installing and Configuring (01:05)
• Demo: Config Manager (01:39)
• Demo: Web Service URL (01:33)
• Demo: Database Settings (02:44)
• Demo: Report Manager URL (03:10)
• Summary (00:17)

RS Architecture (18:33)

• Introduction (00:20)
• Native Mode Architecture (00:13)
• Data Tier (01:27)
• Application Tier (03:22)
• Server Tier (06:32)
• Service Architecture (00:53)
• Service and Infrastructure (02:45)
• Report Manager (00:54)
• Report Server Web Service (00:28)
• Background Processing (01:13)
• Summary (00:22)

Report Building Tools (14:25)

• Introduction (00:26)
• Report Building Tools (02:12)
• Builder vs. Designer (02:07)
• Demo: Project Wizard (04:14)
• Demo: Design Report (04:58)
• Summary (00:25)

Report Definition Language (07:29)

• Introduction (00:38)
• Report Definition Language (01:10)
• Demo: RDL (02:45)
• Demo: Report Data (02:35)
• Summary (00:19)

Report Builder

Introduction to Report Builder (09:02)

• Introduction (00:45)
• Intro to Report Builder (01:13)
• Installation & Execution (04:20)
• Standalone vs. ClickOnce (02:24)
• Summary (00:18)

Tour of the Interface (16:23)

• Introduction (00:26)
• Demo: Getting Started (01:48)
• Demo: Blank Report (03:19)
• Demo: Report Viewer (01:30)
• Demo: The Ribbon (00:42)
• Demo: Report Design Surface (03:44)
• Demo: Properties (01:39)
• Demo: Grouping Pane (00:32)
• Demo: Server Status Bar (01:17)
• Demo: Report Parts Gallery (01:05)
• Summary (00:17)

Building a Report (27:07)

• Introduction (00:32)
• Demo: Data Source (05:01)
• Demo: Design a Query (05:24)
• Demo: Arrange Fields (01:16)
• Demo: Choose Layout (01:16)
• Demo: Choose a Style (00:40)
• Demo: Change Report Style (00:56)
• Demo: Run as Admin (01:10)
• Demo: Running a Report (01:44)
• Demo: Resize Columns (00:55)
• Demo: Change Expression (04:02)
• Demo: Deploying a Report (03:46)
• Summary (00:20)

Preview Performance (04:34)

• Introduction (00:31)
• Preview Performance (02:49)
• Changes that Refresh Cache (00:40)
• Summary (00:32)

Using Report Parts (13:31)

• Introduction (00:39)
• Using Report Parts (01:48)
• Demo: Create Report Part (04:47)
• Demo: Using a Report Part (04:12)
• Demo: Updating a Report Part (01:48)
• Summary (00:15)

Shared Datasets (11:07)

• Introduction (00:33)
• Shared Datasets (01:34)
• Shared Data Sources (00:21)
• Demo: New Data Source (02:53)
• Dataset Design View (00:28)
• Demo: Dataset Design View (04:32)
• Summary (00:42)