Working with Report Designer

SQL Server Reporting Services includes Report Designer, a complete report authoring tool that is hosted in the Microsoft Visual Studio environment. To build a report in Report Designer, you create the report, add data, and arrange the layout of the data and graphical elements. You can also add interactive features to your report and manipulate the output by using expressions. When the report is complete, you can use Report Designer to preview the report and publish it directly to the report server.

When you create a report using Report Designer or another tool, you are actually creating a report definition. A report definition contains information about the data source, the structure of the data, and the layout of the data and objects on the report. A report definition is stored as a Report Definition Language (RDL) file within a Report Server project, which is included in a Visual Studio 2005 solution.

Note

This section describes how to use Report Designer to create reports. However, you can create a report in any application that can generate RDL files. For more information, see Report Definition Language.

In This Section

  • Creating a Report with Report Designer
    Explains how to get started by creating or adding a report to a Report Server project, or to another Visual Studio 2005 application project or solution.

To use Report Designer, you must first install it using SQL Server setup. Report Designer requires Visual Studio 2005. For more information, see Installing SQL Server Reporting Services.

See Also

Concepts

Report Design Basics
Design Considerations for Report Rendering
Creating, Managing, and Delivering Reports Overview
Report Designer
Ways to Create a Report

Other Resources

Designing and Creating Reports
Accessibility Issues in Reporting Services

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance