Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
MHTML documents are useful when creating reporting subscriptions delivered by e-mail. MHTML will
allow you to send a formatted report directly to a report user without an associated attachment. Not all
e-mail products support MHTML, so check with your user community before choosing this output format.
CSV
The Comma-Separated Values (CSV) format takes the report definition and data and transforms it into a
flat file. This output is appropriate for exchanging data. You might have customers with legacy systems
that are very good at parsing and consuming flat files. In this case, you might electronically send reports
in CSV format to these users. However, Reporting Services is not meant to be a data exchange tool. For
true system integration, look to products like Microsoft Biztalk Server and Microsoft Integration Services.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) is a widely used format for storing document images. Many facsimile
programs use this standard for transferring data. Many organizations also store archived documents in
this format. Reports rendered in TIFF would be excellent candidates for document management systems
such as Windows SharePoint Services. Historical snapshots of reports could be transferred to document
management systems and then removed from the Report Server. This would allow users to take advan-
tage of common document management features such as indexing and searching.
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is another format commonly used for extracting report information
into a data exchange format, similar to CSV. CSV and XML can serve a similar purpose; however, XML is
a much more powerful format. XML is a structured markup language that lets you define data schemas.
Reporting Services uses this markup in a number of areas. When reports are rendered as XML, they
include both the report definition and data. XML files are ideal for exchanging information. You could
send XML rendered reports to customers or other applications for additional processing.
Delivery Extensions
Delivery extensions can be used to render reports on a given schedule and to a given output. Delivery
extensions take advantage of existing rendering and data source extensions. Report Services supports
delivery of reports to e-mail and file shares. Developers can create their own delivery extensions. Some
delivery extension examples the authors have dealt with include:
❑
Delivery directly to a printer for high volume billing reports.
❑
Delivery of reports to a SharePoint portal site.
Delivery extensions use a series of classes to handle notifications and process report stream outputs.
These classes are called from the Scheduling and Delivery Processor. The next section explores the
Scheduling and Delivery Processor.
Scheduling and Delivery Processor
The Scheduling and Delivery Processor has two major functions: working with report execution sched-
ules and delivering reports through delivery extensions. These functions hinge on the use of Microsoft's
SQL Server Agent and the Reporting Services Windows service. When scheduling a report, a new SQL
Server Agent job is created. That job contains a call to a single stored procedure on the Report Server
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