Is it possible to modify Report Builder template ?

Hi

I would like to be able to modify the basic report template offered by Report Builder , so as to be able to include custom fields that I would like to be present in every report (Company name , Logo , Date , etc) to achieve consistency in the presentation of the reports created with Report Builder

In Bob's Blog he explained how to include RDL expressions in Report Builder
http://blogs.msdn.com/bobmeyers/archive/2006/03/26/561147.aspx

What I would like to do is to use that technique (if possible) to modify the original template or templates offered by Report Builder to include my own fields.

============================================

I will appreciate some comments or suggestions about other approaches that can be used to address the issue mentioned in the first paragraph .

Thanks in advance ,

George

Just create a report as a template, with all your controls on it, and copy the rdl to this directory:

RS 2005:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\ProjectItems\ReportProject

It will show up in your add new item window. I named my report templates Portrait.rdl and Landscape.rdl with the margins set in each. plus i added a table and changed the cell padding and fonts.

For 2000, I think the location is in \program files\sql server... But i can't remember where. You could search your PC for *.rdl

Anyway, there is a file called report.rdl; that is the default one from MS. One caveat, you will have to do this on every machine as the template is on your local PC.

|||Hi Steve ,

Thank you for your answer . I am refering to the Report Builder (ad-hoc reporting tool), not the Report Designer of Visual Studio .

Have you managed to do something similar with the Report Builder Tool ?

Regards ,

George
|||

My mistake. I have never used the report builder. here are a couple of threads I found, and it doesn't look to promising:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=303097&SiteID=1

and here:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=285749&SiteID=1

|||I see what you mean . Thank you very much for your help

George
|||

Hi,

I am truying to acheive the same. Please let me know if you found the solution.

Regards,

Prakash

|||

Hi
At moment support for templates, styles, and images are not available with report builder. For more information please see: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/faq.mspx, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa964121.aspx (Understanding the Product Limitations)

The workaround for this is to have a report (just format) that will be served as template. User will required to open this report (template) then after making the required changes they make copy of the same by doing "Save As" instead of "Save"

Please let me know if you need some more information in this regard.

Regards;
Rakesh

Is it possible to modify Report Builder template ?

Hi

I would like to be able to modify the basic report template offered by Report Builder , so as to be able to include custom fields that I would like to be present in every report (Company name , Logo , Date , etc) to achieve consistency in the presentation of the reports created with Report Builder

In Bob's Blog he explained how to include RDL expressions in Report Builder
http://blogs.msdn.com/bobmeyers/archive/2006/03/26/561147.aspx

What I would like to do is to use that technique (if possible) to modify the original template or templates offered by Report Builder to include my own fields.

============================================

I will appreciate some comments or suggestions about other approaches that can be used to address the issue mentioned in the first paragraph .

Thanks in advance ,

George

Just create a report as a template, with all your controls on it, and copy the rdl to this directory:

RS 2005:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\ProjectItems\ReportProject

It will show up in your add new item window. I named my report templates Portrait.rdl and Landscape.rdl with the margins set in each. plus i added a table and changed the cell padding and fonts.

For 2000, I think the location is in \program files\sql server... But i can't remember where. You could search your PC for *.rdl

Anyway, there is a file called report.rdl; that is the default one from MS. One caveat, you will have to do this on every machine as the template is on your local PC.

|||Hi Steve ,

Thank you for your answer . I am refering to the Report Builder (ad-hoc reporting tool), not the Report Designer of Visual Studio .

Have you managed to do something similar with the Report Builder Tool ?

Regards ,

George|||

My mistake. I have never used the report builder. here are a couple of threads I found, and it doesn't look to promising:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=303097&SiteID=1

and here:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=285749&SiteID=1

|||I see what you mean . Thank you very much for your help

George|||

Hi,

I am truying to acheive the same. Please let me know if you found the solution.

Regards,

Prakash

|||

Hi
At moment support for templates, styles, and images are not available with report builder. For more information please see: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/faq.mspx, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa964121.aspx (Understanding the Product Limitations)

The workaround for this is to have a report (just format) that will be served as template. User will required to open this report (template) then after making the required changes they make copy of the same by doing "Save As" instead of "Save"

Please let me know if you need some more information in this regard.

Regards;
Rakesh

Is it possible to modify Report Builder template ?

Hi

I would like to be able to modify the basic report template offered by Report Builder , so as to be able to include custom fields that I would like to be present in every report (Company name , Logo , Date , etc) to achieve consistency in the presentation of the reports created with Report Builder

In Bob's Blog he explained how to include RDL expressions in Report Builder
http://blogs.msdn.com/bobmeyers/archive/2006/03/26/561147.aspx

What I would like to do is to use that technique (if possible) to modify the original template or templates offered by Report Builder to include my own fields.

============================================

I will appreciate some comments or suggestions about other approaches that can be used to address the issue mentioned in the first paragraph .

Thanks in advance ,

George

Just create a report as a template, with all your controls on it, and copy the rdl to this directory:

RS 2005:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\ProjectItems\ReportProject

It will show up in your add new item window. I named my report templates Portrait.rdl and Landscape.rdl with the margins set in each. plus i added a table and changed the cell padding and fonts.

For 2000, I think the location is in \program files\sql server... But i can't remember where. You could search your PC for *.rdl

Anyway, there is a file called report.rdl; that is the default one from MS. One caveat, you will have to do this on every machine as the template is on your local PC.

|||Hi Steve ,

Thank you for your answer . I am refering to the Report Builder (ad-hoc reporting tool), not the Report Designer of Visual Studio .

Have you managed to do something similar with the Report Builder Tool ?

Regards ,

George|||

My mistake. I have never used the report builder. here are a couple of threads I found, and it doesn't look to promising:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=303097&SiteID=1

and here:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=285749&SiteID=1

|||I see what you mean . Thank you very much for your help

George|||

Hi,

I am truying to acheive the same. Please let me know if you found the solution.

Regards,

Prakash

|||

Hi
At moment support for templates, styles, and images are not available with report builder. For more information please see: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/faq.mspx, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa964121.aspx (Understanding the Product Limitations)

The workaround for this is to have a report (just format) that will be served as template. User will required to open this report (template) then after making the required changes they make copy of the same by doing "Save As" instead of "Save"

Please let me know if you need some more information in this regard.

Regards;
Rakesh

is it a bug ? (relationships in report builder)

Hi friends
am having some weird problem.am using sql server 2005 standard edition.

i've a report model with tables (tab1,tab2,tab3). tab1 and tab2 (actually these are views) relate to same table but each has different columns from same table.
the third table i.e. tab3 is child of tab1.

in my report model project,i set cardinality of this role in tab3 as "one" and in tab1 as "Optionalmany".

when creating a report in reportbuilder.if select columns from either tab1 and/or tab2 i get to see 100 records which is correct.if add any column from tab3 i get to see only 1 record which also correct as i've only 1 row tab3 at the moment.

now ,fun begins , what should happen if i delete column(s) of tab3 from report designer ? i should see all 100 records ,right ? bcoz all my columns coming from either tab1 or tab3 but when i run report i get see only 1 record !!! why ? is it a bug or am i missing something.
Thanks for your help.no one ever faced this situation ?
any ideas on this one much appreciated.|||

The difference between the first report that returned 100 rows and the third report that returned 1 row is the primary entity, which changed when you added a column from tab3, but did not revert when you deleted that column.

The primary entity of the first report is tab1, which means that report is fundamentally about tab1 and the data related to it.

The primary entity of the third report is tab3, which means that report is fundamentally about tab3 and the data related to it. Basically, the third report is a summary report for the data in tab3, grouped by tab1, which explains why there is only one row.

|||Thanks for the reply Bob.
does it mean that even if some one adds a field from tab3 accidentally ,he has to create the whole report from scratch so that he can see data that matches its criteria ?|||Bob
I think ,i kind of achieved what i want. please advise if i go into any problems in future.

what i did was i set cardinality for the roles on parent table side as "optionalone" and child entity side as "Optionalmany". (normally its other way round ,right?)
now my reports work just fine. i mean i get data am expecting and top of it if i remove the field from tab3 still my report worked displaying all records from tab1,tab2.

BTW when i deploy (using BI) i get a warning like below

"The Relation property of the Role 'tab3 detail' refers to the Target end of the Relation 'dd_tab1-dd_tab3', which is not bound to a set of uniquely constrained columns for the Table 'dbo.dd__tab3'. Roles with Cardinality of One or OptionalOne require relations bound to uniquely constrained columns of the table."

is it a problem ?
i checked sql the report builder making (in sql profiler) and they look fine as its placing joins correctly on both parent and child tables.
any suggestions on this much appreciated.
Thank you very much|||

No, you should not swap the cardinality of your report model roles to get different joins. RB relies on this information in many ways to provide a consistent and appropriately constrained query design experience to the user.

You are right that there is currently no way to revert the primary entity other than rebuilding your report. This feature was slated for SQL 2005 at one point, but unfortunately did not make it into this release.