Reporting Services in Business Intelligence Development Studio

Business Intelligence Development Studio is the environment that you will use to develop reports and report models in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services. Business Intelligence Development Studio is the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 environment with enhancements that are specific to SQL Server 2005 business intelligence solutions. When you install Reporting Services, the following project templates are made available in Business Intelligence Development Studio:

• Report Model Project
• Report Server Project
• Report Server Project Wizard

Business Intelligence Development Studio also provides an environment for running Model Designer and Report Designer. These are the design tools that you use to author the models and reports used in Reporting Services.

When you open a Business Intelligence Development Studio project or designer, you will see some new project-specific menus in Visual Studio 2005. In addition, the Visual Studio menu options and shortcut menus change to reflect both the project type that you are creating and the specific items that you are working with. As you explore Business Intelligence Development Studio and the Reporting Services features discussed in this topic, make sure that you right-click on various items to learn about these options.

If you have used SQL Server Reporting Services before, you will probably be familiar with the Visual Studio 2005 functionality in Business Intelligence Development Studio. If you have not worked with Reporting Services before, this topic helps orient you to the projects and menus in Business Intelligence Development Studio that are specific to Reporting Services.

Report Model Project

When you select the Report Model Project, which is a template installed by Visual Studio and available from the Business Intelligence Projects section of the New Projects dialog box, the Model Designer for Reporting Services opens. Model Designer is a graphical tool for creating report models based on SQL Server databases. Report models are used in Report Builder to create ad hoc reports. When you create a report model, only the Report Model tab is displayed by default.

• Report Model tab. On the Report Model tab, you can add or remove model objects. The Report Model tab is divided into two panes: the Tree view pane on the left, and the List view pane on the right. Tree view lists every entity contained within the model. List view displays items contained within the selected entity or folder. You can use shortcut menus in both views to add or delete items from the model.

The Data Source view tab is a window that shows you the shared data source that has been defined for the project. The Data Source View tab is not open by default, but you can view the Data Source View tab by double-clicking the name of the data source view in Solution Explorer. For more information about the Model Designer user interface, see Model Designer F1 Help.

Reporting Model Menu

When the Report Model tab is active in Business Intelligence Development Studio, a Reporting Model menu is added to the main menu bar. When the focus is not on the Report Model tab, the Reporting Menu is removed from the main menu bar. When the Report Model tab has the focus, this menu contains the following options.

• Autogenerate. Use the Autogenerate option to update the report model if the underlying data source view or database has changed.
• New Entity. Use to add a new entity to the report model.
• New Perspective. Use to create a perspective. Perspectives are saved as a part of the report model.
• New Folder. Use to create a folder within the report model.
• New Source Field. Use to create a new source field within the selected entity.
• New Role. Use to create a role within the selected entity.
• New Expression. Use to create a field that contains an expression within the selected entity.
• New Filter. Use to apply a filter to the selected entity.
• Move up. Use to move the selected item up the list of items within the selected entity.
• Move down. Use to move the selected item down the list of items within the selected entity.

Model Designer Project Properties

When you select a report model item, the contents of the Properties window change to reflect the properties that are associated with the selected item. Model Designer sets some properties by default but you can change the current properties or assign new properties.

For more information about Model Designer, see Working with Model Designer. For more information about report model properties, see Model Designer Object Properties and Model Designer Query Properties. For more information about creating ad hoc reports in Reporting Services, see Ad Hoc Reporting with Report Models.

Report Server Project

When you select the Report Server Project, which is a Business Intelligence Projects template installed by Visual Studio 2005 and available from the New Project dialog box, the Report Designer for Reporting Services is opened. Report Designer is a graphical tool for creating reports. It includes three tabbed design surfaces for building the report query, designing the report layout, and viewing a rendered version of the report. For more information about the Report Designer user interface, see Report Designer F1 Help.

• Data tab. On the Data tab, you generate the query that provides data to the report.
• Layout tab. On the Layout tab, you arrange and format the look of the report.
• Preview tab. On the Preview tab, you render the report to see what the actual report will look like when it is saved to the report server.

Format Menu

When a Report Designer project is active in Business Intelligence Development Studio, a Format menu is added to the main menu bar. When the Report Designer has the focus, this menu contains the options in the following list, which are specific to Reporting Services. When the focus moves to another part of the Business Intelligence Development Studio user interface, the Format menu is removed from the main menu bar.

• Foreground Color. Use to select a text color. Black is the default text color.
• Background Color. Use to select a background color for your text boxes and data regions.
• Font. Use to specify whether the text is bold, italic, or underlined.
• Justify. Use to specify whether the text is right-aligned, centered, or left-aligned.
• Align. Use to specify how the selected objects are aligned in relation to one another within the report.
• Make Same Size. Use to adjust the size of the selected objects within the report.
• Horizontal Spacing. Use to adjust the horizontal spacing between the selected objects within the report.
• Vertical Spacing. Use to adjust the vertical spacing between the selected objects within the report.
• Center in Form. Use to center the selected object vertically and horizontally in relation to the Report Designer window.
• Order. Use to move selected objects into the background or foreground.

Report Menu

When a Report Designer project is active in Business Intelligence Development Studio, a Report menu is added to the main menu bar. The behavior of the Report menu is the same as the Format menu: when the focus is not on Report Designer, the Report menu is removed from the main menu bar. When the Report Designer has the focus, this menu contains the following options:

• Report Parameters. Select to open the Report Parameters dialog box. In this dialog box, you can create parameters and assign properties to them. Your parameters are included in the report body.
• Embedded Images. Select to open the Embedded Images dialog box. In this dialog box, you can add images to your report.
• Report Properties. Select to open the Report Properties dialog box. In this dialog box, you can assign general report properties, such as author name and grid spacing, and specify properties for layout report, such as the number of columns and page dimensions. You can also include custom code, references to assemblies and classes, and the names of data output elements, data transforms, and data schemas.
• View. Use this option to switch between the three Report Designer tabs: Data, Layout and Preview.
• Page Header. Use this option to add a page header to the report.
• Page Footer. Use this option to add a page footer to the report.

In addition to the menus specific to Report Designer, some options on the menus in Business Intelligence Development Studio change according to which designer is active. When Report Designer is active, the following additional options are added to the View menu. As you explore Report Designer and the Reporting Services features discussed in this topic, make sure that you right-click on various items to learn about these options.

Report Designer Project Properties

The Properties node contains the default property values for the entire report project as well as individual objects within the report project. You can view the Properties window by right-clicking the project node in Solution Explorer and selecting Properties from the shortcut menu. To view the properties in individual objects, select an object within the report.

For more information about Report Designer, see Working with Report Designer. For more information about Report Designer properties, see Report Definition Language. For more information about designing reports using Report Designer, see Report Design Basics.

Report Wizard

When you select the Report Server Wizard Project, which is a template installed by Visual Studio and available from the New Project dialog box in Business Intelligence Development Studio, the Report Wizard for Reporting Services is launched. Report Wizard is a Report Designer wizard that provides a quick way for you to select report data and create a tabular or matrix report.

For more information about Report Wizard, see Creating a Report Using Report Wizard.

See Also

Tasks

Accessibility in Business Intelligence Development Studio

Concepts

Introducing Business Intelligence Development Studio
SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio
Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items

Other Resources

Introducing SQL Server Management Studio

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance