Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Unlike Report Builder, Visual Studio is more utilitarian in design. This is partially because it provides additional
functionality, but it is also because its intended audience is professional developers rather than casual developers.
The development tools are not difficult to use; they just take more effort to learn. It is similar to SSIS projects, in
that you first drag and drop items from the Toolbox onto a design surface and then configure them (Figure
16-3
).
Figure 16-3.
The Visual Studio UI
Much of this chapter, and the next, is devoted to explaining how to use these development tools.
The Administrative Services
After RDL files are developed and tested, they are uploaded to the Reporting Services web service, which in turn
stores the RDL files in a Microsoft SQL Server database. When a report is browsed, it is automatically retrieved
from the database by this same web service.
Access to the reports for human consumption is normally through an ASP.NET website that comes with
SSRS, known as Report Manager, but the reports can also be accessed through your own custom applications.
Note that applications do not access the reports directly from the Reporting Services database. Instead, they
must indirectly access the reports through the SSRS web service, which serves as an abstraction layer. This adds
complexity, but it also adds greater flexibility.
By using this design, you can place the web service (and its supporting Windows service) on one computer,
while placing the Report Manager application or your own custom applications on a second computer. You can
even span more computers by placing the Report Server databases on a separate computer. This can greatly
increase your reporting performance at the cost of administrative overhead, but it is this scalability that sets
Reporting Services apart from most reporting software.
The administrative services of SSRS are divided into report management features and end-user support
(Figure
16-1
). Report management features consist of the web service that manages the uploading and
downloading of report files, report rendering, and exposing management functions or methods. The web service
has an associated Windows service that it interacts with. The Windows service provides additional functionality
such as scheduling components that allow reports to automatically be rendered and delivered to end users.
