Report Model Query Designer User Interface
Report Designer provides two query designers to help you specify which data from a Report Server Model data source you want to use in a report. Use the graphical query designer to explore and choose model entities and entity fields. Use the text-based query designer to work directly with a Semantic Model Definition Language (SMDL) specification in XML format.
.gif "Security note") Security Note |
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Users access data sources when they create and run queries. You should grant minimal permissions on the data sources, such as read-only permissions. |
Graphical Query Designer
Report Designer provides a graphical query designer that you can use to design and run SMDL queries that, during report processing, populate the field collection for a report dataset. The graphical query designer is divided into three areas, or panes.
The following figure labels each pane.
.gif "Semantic Model Query Designer UI")
The following table describes the function of each pane.
Pane |
Function |
|---|---|
Explorer pane |
Displays graphic representations of the entities and entity fields in the model. Use this pane to explore entities, their related entities, and fields. |
Design Area |
Displays a list of fields from the model. Use this pane to arrange the layout of the fields you've chosen. |
Results pane |
Displays the results of the query. To run the query, right-click in any pane, and then click Run, or click the Run ( |
Changing information in the Explorer or Design Area panes will affect the contents of the Result pane when you click Run.
To perform actions within a certain pane, such as deleting a column in the design area, right-click on the column and then click the command on the menu.
Graphical Query Designer Toolbar
You can also use toolbar buttons when designing your query. The following table lists the buttons on the toolbar and what they can be used for.
Button |
Description |
|---|---|
Edit As Text |
Toggle between the text-based query designer and the graphical query designer. The query for a Report Server model data source is a Semantic Model Query Language (SMQL) specification in XML. For more information, see Model Designer Query Properties. |
Import |
Import an existing query from a report definition (.rdl) file on the file system. For more information, see Creating and Adding Datasets (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS). |
.gif "Undo action") |
Undo the last action. |
.gif "Redo action") |
Redo the last action. |
.gif "Run the query") |
Run the query and display the resulting rows in the Result pane. |
.gif "Filter graphic next to selected filter column") |
Open the Filter Data dialog box, which allows you to specify which data you would like to filter on. You can specify filters independently of data currently in the Design Area. |
Text-based Query Designer
When you create a Report Server Model dataset query, the graphical query designer is the default. To switch to the text-based query designer, click the Edit As Text toggle button on the toolbar.
The text-based query designer consists of two panes: an SMQL query pane and a Result pane. This query designer view is primarily useful when you already have an SMQL query specification from some other source and would like to paste it in the query pane. Unlike the graphical query designer, the text-based query designer does not check query syntax or restructure the query. When you click Run on the toolbar, the query runs on the data source and the results are displayed in the Result pane.
The following figure labels each pane.
.gif "Generic Semantic Model Language Query Designer")
The following table describes the function of each pane.
Pane |
Function |
|---|---|
Query pane |
Displays the SMQL specification text. For more information, see Model Designer Query Properties. |
Result pane |
Displays the results of the query. To run the query, right-click in any pane, and then click Run, or click the Run button on the toolbar. |
Text-based Query Designer Toolbar
You can also use toolbar buttons when designing your query. The following table lists the buttons on the toolbar and what they can be used for.
Button |
Description |
|---|---|
Edit As Text |
Toggle between the text-based query designer and the graphical query designer. |
Import |
Import a query from an existing report. |
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Run the query text and display the resulting row set in the Result pane. |