Working with Report Builder 3.0 - Learning SQL Server Reporting Services 2012 - page 259

12. Click on Security and verify the properties of the report.
Parameterized reports
Filtering the data is an essential part of effectively retrieving relevant data in a
short time.
A parameterized report depends on the report reader typing in the specific parameter
to complete the processing of the report. The output of a parameterized report would
depend on the parameter(s). Parameterized reports are frequently used in creating
drill-through reports, linked reports, and subreports.
There are two kinds of parameters used in Report Builder 3.0: report parameters
and query parameters. Query parameters are used at the source of data during data
retrieval. For the query parameter, a value must be specified by the user (or a default
value provided) to complete the processing of the SELECT statement or the stored
procedure in the query. The usage of query parameters requires you to make trips
to the server for processing the query as the data is first processed before it is used
in the report.
Report parameters are used during report processing with most data available at
hand where the filtering is made. Hence, report parameters work on a larger dataset
and they are processed in the report.
Parameterized report authoring was described in a detailed hands-on exercise 7.1
in the 1st edition of the topic in Chapter 7 , Report Authoring with Report Builder 2.0 ,
in the topic Learning SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services, Jayaram Krishnaswamy by
Packt Publishing . The next section uses a parameterized report as well.
Subreports
Using subreports is an excellent method to merge several reports and produce a
consolidated report. Subreports can be linked or unlinked. In the case of a linked
report, there is a synchronization of information between the main report and the
subreports. There is no such synchronization in an unlinked subreport. Subreports
are invaluable in displaying details in parent/child tables. There is no limit on the
number of subreports a main report can have. Since the subreport is going to occupy
a certain physical region on the main report, its layout may have to be properly
sized. Creating a main report that uses a subreport was also described with an
example in the irst edition of the topic mentioned previously.