Database Reference
In-Depth Information
To use a remote template in an SSRS project, right-click the Reports folder in Solution Explorer and navigate
Figure 17-28.
Accessing a folder on a network share
Type in the path to the network share such as
\\<name of the server>\<name of the share>\<name of a
subfolder>
. For example, in Figure
17-28
, we have used the path \\CorpServer\DevShare\SSRSItems. Once you
click the Add button, a copy of your template RDL file will be placed in your SSRS project along with your other
report files, but the original file is left in place for other developers to use.
After you have a copy of the
.rdl
file in your SSRS project, rename it to something that describes the new
report. You can do so by right-clicking the copied report file and renaming it using the Rename option in the
context menu.
Using Local Templates
Using a template from a folder on your local computer works the same way. Right-click the Reports folder in
Solution Explorer, navigate to the Add
➤
Existing Item context menu option, and select the path to the folder on
your own computer, as shown in Figure
17-28
.
Another option is to also copy the RDL file into a special folder that Microsoft created for Report Project
templates. The advantage of using this predefined folder instead of using your own custom folder is that the files
in the predefined folder are displayed as report project items in Visual Studio's Add New Item dialog window
(Figure
17-30
).
To use this feature, copy an RDL file from its location (from a network share or custom local folder), and
paste it into the predefined ReportProject folder, as shown in Figure
17-29
.