Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide- P18 pps

Chapter 9: Reporting Services 359 Programmability Reporting Services is an extensible reporting platform, complete with a set of APIs that allow developers to design and build reporting solutions. Reporting Services can be integrated into custom applications in two ways: using URL access and using the Reporting Services Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API. The programming method you choose depends on the functionality you need in your application. URL access is best used when users only need to view or navigate through rendered reports through a Web browser. The Reporting Services SOAP APIs allow more complex operations, such as creating and managing reports and subscriptions, data sources, and Report Server database items. There are also times when a combination of these two methods most effectively meets your business needs. You can also develop and manage extensions consumed by the Reporting Services components using the available managed code API. You can create assemblies using the Microsoft .NET Framework that add new Reporting Services functionality to meet your specialized business tasks. Using URL Access in a Window Form Even though accessing your reports using URL links is best suited for Web environments, you can also launch a report by starting your Internet Explorer programmatically from a Windows form, or you can use a Web browser control to display a report on your Windows form. Starting Internet Explorer from a Windows Form Internet Explorer can be started from a Windows form using the Process class of the System.Diagnostics namespace. The Process class is used for controlling applications on your computer. To view a report in your ReportServer database, you set the arguments of the Process.Start function with the IExplore.exe application and the URL of the report. The following code shows launching the IExplore process to display a report when a user clicks a button on a Windows form: Imports System.Diagnostics Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Process.Start("iexplore.exe", _ "http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/" & _ "ReportViewer.aspx?%2fProducts+Report") End Sub End Class 360 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide Notice how, at the top of the code, the Imports declaration is used to include the System.Diagnostics namespace. When the user clicks the Button1 button, the Internet Explorer browser is started and the Products report is displayed. Embedding a Browser Control on a Windows Form You can add a Web browser control to your Windows form for viewing your report. The Web browser control is included in the Internet Controls Library, shdocvw.dll. To add the Web browser control to your Windows form: 1. Create a Windows form application in one of the .NET framework languages. 2. Select the Web Browser control from the Toolbox and drag it onto the design surface of your Windows form. 3. Right-click the Web browser control and select the Properties option from the pop-up menu. 4. Set the URL property to the URL access string for your report. In our example, the URL string is: http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer .aspx?%2fProducts+Report. When the application is run, the report will automatically be generated and displayed in the Web browser as shown in Figure 9-14. Figure 9-14 Report in Web browser control Chapter 9: Reporting Services 361 Integrating Reporting Services Using SOAP While you can view reports in your Windows programs using URL access, the Reporting Services SOAP APIs expose the full set of management functions, allowing you to develop customized business reporting solutions. All of the administrative actions of the Report Manager are available to the developer through the SOAP APIs. Using the SOAP API in a Windows Application A Web service object is provided that allows you to call the Reporting Services functions from your Windows form application code. To use the Web service object, you declare the object in your program code as follows: Dim RepSrv As New ReportingService() Then you can set the properties and use the methods just as you would for any other object. The ReportingService object allows you to manage actions such as catalog item retrieval, data sources, events, extensions, jobs, policies, roles, schedules, subscriptions, and tasks. The following code example shows how to list the items in a ReportServer database: ' Create a new Web service object Dim RepSrv As New ReportingService() RepSrv.Credentials = _ System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials ' Return the list of items in My Reports Dim CatItms As CatalogItem() = _ RepSrv.ListChildren("/My Reports", False) Dim CatItm As CatalogItem For Each CatItm In items catalogComboBox.Items.Add(CatItm.Name) End If Next CatItm Extensions You can extend specific features of Reporting Services and its components by using the managed code API that is available. The Reporting Services Extension Library is a set of classes, interfaces, and value types that are included in Reporting Services. 362 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide You can use this library to access system functionality; it is designed to be the foundation on which .NET Framework applications can be used to extend Reporting Services components. You can build custom extensions to add functionality in areas such as data processing, delivery, rendering, and security. The extension functions are included in namespaces that you can import into your .NET applications. The extensions library namespaces are as follows: Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataProcessing Classes and interfaces to extend the data processing capability of Reporting Services Microsoft.ReportingServices.Interfaces Classes and interfaces to extend delivery extensions, and security extensions for Reporting Services Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportRendering Classes and interfaces to extend the rendering capabilities of Reporting Services RDL The Report Definition Language (RDL) is composed of Extensible Markup Language (XML) elements that describe report layout and query information. RDL conforms to the XML grammar created for Reporting Services. It defines a common schema that enables the interchange of report definitions as a standard way of communicating using reports. RDL can be generated from an application using the .NET Framework classes of the System.Xml namespace. Accessing Reports You can access and manage your reports through the Report Manager tool or by pointing your browser directly to a report URL link. Report Manager is a Web-based tool you can use to view published reports, run reports, and subscribe to reports. Administrators can also use the Report Manager to configure permissions and manage report distribution. You access the Report Manager through your browser using the URL http://<servername>/reports. Using URL Access You access reports through a report server URL request that enables you to access the reports, resources, and other items in the report server database. Report parameters for your report, the rendering output, and device settings are contained in the query string of the URL. You can embed the hyperlink URL to your reports and report server items into Web or Windows applications. Chapter 9: Reporting Services 363 URL Access Through a Web Application The easiest method for accessing reports in a Web application is by directly pointing your browser to a URL address. An example of directly accessing a URL is shown here: <a href="http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer. aspx?%2fProducts+Report&rs:Command=Render&rc:LinkTarget=main" target="main" > Click here for the Products report</a> While this method is quite straightforward, it has some limitations, in that some servers and browsers have a 256-character limit. To get around this, you can use the POST request on a submission form. URL Access Through a Form POST Method By using the METHOD=“POST” on a forms submission, an application can access reports without allowing the user to modify the URL query string. The following code shows an example of using the POST method: <FORM id="frmRender" action=http://server/reportserver?/SampleReports/Products method="post" target="_self"> <INPUT type="hidden" name="rs:Command" value="Render"> <INPUT type="hidden" name="rc:LinkTarget" value="main"> <INPUT type="hidden" name="rs:Format" value="HTML4.0"> <INPUT type="submit" value="Button"> </FORM> Report Authoring In the first part of this chapter you learned about the various components that make up SQL Server 2005’s Reporting Services. In the second half of this chapter you’ll get a more detailed look at the steps required to design and deploy a simple report. Development Stages To develop a simple Reporting Services application, you begin by using the Report Designer to define the report’s data sources and layout. You then need to build and deploy the report to the Report Server. Finally, you need to make the report 364 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide available to end users by either embedding the report within an application or adding subscriptions for the report. Designing the Reporting Solution To create Reporting Services solution using one of the interactive tools, you first create a reporting project and select a dataset that defines the data that will be used in the report. Then you lay out the individual data fields on the report. To handle stock reports that are presented in a tabular or matrix format, the Report Wizard steps you through the process of creating a data source and laying out the report. For more complex reports, use the Report Designer to define data sources, design specialized report layouts, and include custom items, such as images. Building and Deploying the Reporting Solution Once the report has been designed, you need to build the report and then deploy it to the Report Server. Building the report creates a .NET assembly that will run the report. Deploying the report essentially takes this assembly and copies it to the Reporting Services Report Server. While you can perform this sequence manually, the Report Designer has built-in options to both build and deploy reports to the Report Server. Making the Report Available to End Users After the report has been deployed to the Report Server, you can then make the report available to end users via several different mechanisms. You can allow access to the reports by embedding them in an application, via their URLs, or by creating a subscription that will push the report to the end user. Report subscriptions can be set up to be delivered at a certain time, or they can be data driven. Now that you have an overview of the Reporting Services development process, the next section will take you through the steps of developing and deploying a simple report using SQL Server 2005’s Reporting Services. Creating a Reporting Services Report You begin using the Report Designer either by starting the Report Wizard and using it to create your initial report or by starting with a blank design surface and then adding your own report definition elements. In either case, defining a dataset is the first thing you need to create a report. In this example, we’ll look at how to build a report using the Report Designer. Chapter 9: Reporting Services 365 To build a Reporting Services application, first open the Business Intelligence Development Studio and then select the File | New | Project option to display the New Project dialog that’s shown in Figure 9-15. To create a new Reporting Services report using the Report Designer, select the Business Intelligence Projects option from the Project Types list. Then in the Templates list shown in the right side of the screen select the Report Project option. Fill in the boxes at the bottom of the dialog, setting the name and location for your project. Clicking OK creates the project and displays the Report Designer. In the Solution Explorer to the right of the screen, you will see the Report Project with two folders in its directory structure: the Shared Data Sources folder and the Reports folder. Right-click the Reports folder. A pop-up menu displays the options Add New Report, Add >, and Properties. If you select the Add New Report option, the Report Wizard will start to guide you through creating a simple tabular or matrix report. Here we will select the Add > | New Item option, which displays the Add New Item dialog as shown in Figure 9-16. Figure 9-15 Creating a new report: New Project 366 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide Select the Report option from the Templates area of the dialog and click the Add button to add the report file to your project and start the Report Designer. The design surface in the center of the environment presents three tabs: Data, Layout, and Preview. You define a dataset by clicking the Data tab to reveal the Data pane. You create datasets in the Data pane to access data sources to include in your report. Click the Datasets drop-down box and select the <New Dataset> option. This starts the Dataset dialog shown in Figure 9-17, which allows you to define your connection to the database. Type a name for your data source in the Name text box. This name is used only for identification and can be anything you choose. Next, use the Type drop-down to select the type of database system that the data source will use. The default value is Microsoft SQL Server, but you can also choose OLE DB, Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Oracle, or ODBC. Next, in the Connection String box input the connection string that’s required to connect to the target database. If you’re unfamiliar with the connection string values, you can click Edit to display the Data Link dialog, which will step you through the creation of the Data Source. Next, de-select the Generic Query Designer button. The interactive Query Builder tool will be loaded into the design surface under the Data tab. The Query Builder Figure 9-16 Add New Item Chapter 9: Reporting Services 367 is a query design tool that enables you to build SQL queries without needing to be a SQL expert. However, to effectively use the Query Design tool, you still need to have a good basic knowledge of your database’s design and scheme. You can select tables from your database by right-clicking in the top portion of the Query Builder and then selecting Add Table from the pop-up menu to display the Add Tables dialog. There you can select one or more tables (multiple tables are selected by holding down the ctrl key and clicking the desired table). The Query Builder will automatically detect any relationships between the tables in terms of matching column names and data types and will draw links between the tables visually showing the relationships. After selecting the tables, you then select the desired columns from each table by putting a check in the check box that precedes the column name. Checking the * (All Columns) entry will automatically select all of the columns from the table. As you interactively select the tables and columns and define the relationships between the tables, the Query Designer automatically builds the SQL statement that will retrieve data for your report. You can test the query by clicking the exclamation icon (!) shown in the toolbar. Figure 9-17 Select the data source 368 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide Parameterized Queries The Query Builder can also be used to build parameterized queries where the end user supplies a value to the query at run time. To build a parameterized query using the Query Builder, you simply type a question mark into the Filter column that’s in the row of the database column name that you want to use with a parameter. The Query Builder will automatically convert the question mark character to the =@ Param value. After you’ve completed designing the query, click the Layout tab to display the report layout in the design surface area. Click the Toolbox tab on the left side of the environment to display a list of report items that you can drag and drop onto the report design surface. The standard report items that you can place on your report are: Textbox, Line, Table, Matrix, Rectangle, List, Image, Subreport, and Chart. Figure 9-18 shows an example of the report layout design area with several report items added to it. You can associate the report items with fields from the data source by right- clicking the report item and selecting the Properties option from the pop-up menu. A Properties dialog will be displayed allowing you to customize the report item. Figure 9-18 Report layout design [...]... ’s G u i d e S QL Server Integration Services is an all-new subsystem for SQL Server 2005 With SQL Server 2005 Microsoft has replaced the old Data Transformation Services (DTS) with the all-new SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) It’s important to understand that SSIS isn’t a reworked version of DTS Instead, Microsoft rewrote SSIS from the ground up Microsoft s goal for SQL Server 2005 s Integration... development environment and learned about the SQL Server 2005 built-in tools capable of generating powerful, flexible reports for your organization 371 This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER 10 SQL Server Integration Services IN THIS CHAPTER An Overview of SQL Server Integration Services Creating Packages Deploying Packages Programming with the SQL Server Integration Services APIs 373 Copyright... transformations supplied by Microsoft and any usercreated custom transformations Transformations move and optionally manipulate row data as they move data from the source columns to the destination columns You can get a more detailed look at the new DTP architecture in Figure 10-2 SQL Server 2005 provides a number of source and destination data adapters Out of the box, SQL Server 2005 s Integration Services... can create and run SSIS packages programmatically using the Microsoft. SqlServer.Dts namespace NOTE Don’t be confused by the DTS moniker in the namespace SSIS is not built on top of DTS, nor does it use any of the old DTS code Microsoft simply didn’t get around to renaming the APIs to match the name of the new subsystem An Overview of SQL Server Integration Services The new Integration Services architecture... http:/// reportserver, where all of the Reporting Services reports and directories are listed The ReportServer URL lists all of the reports that have been deployed to the Report Server Each different solution is stored in its own subdirectory Figure 9-19 shows the ReportServer Web page You can also access reports through Report Manager Web-based tool Point your browser to the http:///reports... was used in the SQL Server 7 and 2000 Its primary function is to handle the data flow between the source and target destinations The DTR is essentially a job execution environment that controls the control flow that’s used in an SSIS package Each of these components exposes its own distinct object model that you can program against In Figure 10-1 you can see an overview of the new SQL Server Integration... great for testing, but when your application goes live, you’ll want to embed the report URL in your application or access the Report Server via Web services calls Summary The inclusion of Reporting Services is one of the most welcome enhancements found in SQL Server 2005 By providing an extensive environment for designing, managing, and deploying reports, Reporting Services goes beyond the possibilities... source In the Data Source drop-down, you select the provider that you want to use The connection options change depending on the provider that you select If you select the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server, you select the server that you want to connect to and then the database and the type of authentication that you need to use Clicking Next leads you through the subsequent wizard dialogs The... In this example the package will be performing an FTP transfer; the results of that FTP transfer will be a flat file; that flat file in turn will be transferred to a SQL Server database As the flat file is being transferred to the SQL Server database, a lookup operation will occur that matches the incoming vendor product ID numbers to product IDs contained in the AdventureWorks products table If the... section of this chapter you’ll see how to create SSIS interactively, first by using the SSIS Import and Export Wizard and then by using the SSIS Designer Using the SSIS Import and Export Wizard The SQL Server 2005 Integration Services SSIS Import and Export Wizard provides a series of dialogs that lead you through the process of selecting the data source, the destination, and the objects that will be . for terms of use. 374 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide S QL Server Integration Services is an all-new subsystem for SQL Server 2005. With SQL Server 2005 Microsoft has replaced the. in Figure 10-2. SQL Server 2005 provides a number of source and destination data adapters. Out of the box, SQL Server 2005 s Integration Services comes with adapters for SQL Server databases,. Services or if you’re transitioning to the new SQL Server 2005 Integration Services from one of the earlier versions. 378 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Guide You can start the Integration