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sql server reporting services
group:To Microsoft: Best practices for standardizing report appearance?
sql server reporting services:
To Microsoft:
I am posting this via Managed News Groups in the hopes that someone from Microsoft can shed some light on this topic. Via the Microsoft forums I have gotten suggestions from the community, but since this is an important topic (at least to me) I would like to hear Microsoft's suggestions about this: I am accustomed to the Actuate enterprise reporting system in which it is very easy to define reusable page formats that standardize things like page layout, margins, logo placement, page header and footer formatting, etc. You just drag and drop a page layout from your component library to inherit from it, and can thus ensure that all your reports have the same consistent format. What if any features and tools are there to accomplish this in 2005 Reporting Services? I see the style template feature of the new report wizard, but that only seems to apply to font settings for report elements, and these settings are not inherited, only copied into the new report. Are there any Microsoft add-ons, or 3rd party or open source tools for standardizing report formatting? I can think of some custom solutions such as adding custom code to generate the XML for page headers and footers, the possibility of an XML processor to adjust the rdl code, etc., but was hoping for some kind of out of the box solution. Thanks! -- Chris G.
Tim,
Thanks for your reply, but I am looking for something a little more sophisticated. All the ideas I have seen so far have to do with using a template which is copied at design time to create the new report. Now suppose, after 6 months we want to change the report title from centered to left justified and add a client logo on the right side of the header. With a tool like Actuate you modify your reusable page header component in the shared library as needed, recompile and redeploy all the reports that use it and bang you are done. With these approaches, each report has to be opened and adjusted in the designer. Not an ideal solution. But thank you for your quick suggestion. -- Chris [quoted text, click to view] "Tim Dot NoSpam" wrote:
> Hi Chris. I can answer this for you. > > Design your report layouts (landscape, portrait, legal, etc) and include > them in visual studio IDE. When you select 'Add new item', you can then > choose your report layout. I'll typically leave a formatted table on the > report and/or formatted chart. > > If you search via any search engine, you should find examples of how to add > items to the Visual Studio IDE. Unfortunately, it hasn't been historically > a simple task. I have not tried to add report layouts to VS.NET 2005 IDE > yet so can't comment on it. > > -Tim > > "Chris G." <ChrisG@nospam.nospam> wrote in message > news:3FF63DA6-423C-4009-BC7D-18B50B9DAA68@microsoft.com... > > To Microsoft: > > > > I am posting this via Managed News Groups in the hopes that someone from > > Microsoft can shed some light on this topic. > > > > Via the Microsoft forums I have gotten suggestions from the community, but > > since this is an important topic (at least to me) I would like to hear > > Microsoft's suggestions about this: > > > > I am accustomed to the Actuate enterprise reporting system in which it is > > very easy to define reusable page formats that standardize things like > > page > > layout, margins, logo placement, page header and footer formatting, etc. > > You > > just drag and drop a page layout from your component library to inherit > > from > > it, and can thus ensure that all your reports have the same consistent > > format. > > > > What if any features and tools are there to accomplish this in 2005 > > Reporting Services? > > > > I see the style template feature of the new report wizard, but that only > > seems to apply to font settings for report elements, and these settings > > are > > not inherited, only copied into the new report. > > > > Are there any Microsoft add-ons, or 3rd party or open source tools for > > standardizing report formatting? > > > > I can think of some custom solutions such as adding custom code to > > generate > > the XML for page headers and footers, the possibility of an XML processor > > to > > adjust the rdl code, etc., but was hoping for some kind of out of the box > > solution. > > > > Thanks! > > > > -- Chris G. > > > >
Hi Chris. I can answer this for you.
Design your report layouts (landscape, portrait, legal, etc) and include them in visual studio IDE. When you select 'Add new item', you can then choose your report layout. I'll typically leave a formatted table on the report and/or formatted chart. If you search via any search engine, you should find examples of how to add items to the Visual Studio IDE. Unfortunately, it hasn't been historically a simple task. I have not tried to add report layouts to VS.NET 2005 IDE yet so can't comment on it. -Tim [quoted text, click to view] "Chris G." <ChrisG@nospam.nospam> wrote in message news:3FF63DA6-423C-4009-BC7D-18B50B9DAA68@microsoft.com... > To Microsoft: > > I am posting this via Managed News Groups in the hopes that someone from > Microsoft can shed some light on this topic. > > Via the Microsoft forums I have gotten suggestions from the community, but > since this is an important topic (at least to me) I would like to hear > Microsoft's suggestions about this: > > I am accustomed to the Actuate enterprise reporting system in which it is > very easy to define reusable page formats that standardize things like > page > layout, margins, logo placement, page header and footer formatting, etc. > You > just drag and drop a page layout from your component library to inherit > from > it, and can thus ensure that all your reports have the same consistent > format. > > What if any features and tools are there to accomplish this in 2005 > Reporting Services? > > I see the style template feature of the new report wizard, but that only > seems to apply to font settings for report elements, and these settings > are > not inherited, only copied into the new report. > > Are there any Microsoft add-ons, or 3rd party or open source tools for > standardizing report formatting? > > I can think of some custom solutions such as adding custom code to > generate > the XML for page headers and footers, the possibility of an XML processor > to > adjust the rdl code, etc., but was hoping for some kind of out of the box > solution. > > Thanks! > > -- Chris G. >
Chris,
Good one. Its something like you have a master slide in powerpoint. so that change at the master and all the slides gets changed. unfortunately this is not there in SSRS hopefully in the next release this should be there from Microsoft. Currently you have the template concept, when ever you go for a new report then onwards you have your customized way of looks but the reports you have created earlier will not have the customized look. MS should look into this. Amarnath [quoted text, click to view] "Chris G." wrote:
> Tim, > > Thanks for your reply, but I am looking for something a little more > sophisticated. > > All the ideas I have seen so far have to do with using a template which is > copied at design time to create the new report. > > Now suppose, after 6 months we want to change the report title from centered > to left justified and add a client logo on the right side of the header. > > With a tool like Actuate you modify your reusable page header component in > the shared library as needed, recompile and redeploy all the reports that use > it and bang you are done. > > With these approaches, each report has to be opened and adjusted in the > designer. Not an ideal solution. > > But thank you for your quick suggestion. > > -- Chris > > "Tim Dot NoSpam" wrote: > > > Hi Chris. I can answer this for you. > > > > Design your report layouts (landscape, portrait, legal, etc) and include > > them in visual studio IDE. When you select 'Add new item', you can then > > choose your report layout. I'll typically leave a formatted table on the > > report and/or formatted chart. > > > > If you search via any search engine, you should find examples of how to add > > items to the Visual Studio IDE. Unfortunately, it hasn't been historically > > a simple task. I have not tried to add report layouts to VS.NET 2005 IDE > > yet so can't comment on it. > > > > -Tim > > > > "Chris G." <ChrisG@nospam.nospam> wrote in message > > news:3FF63DA6-423C-4009-BC7D-18B50B9DAA68@microsoft.com... > > > To Microsoft: > > > > > > I am posting this via Managed News Groups in the hopes that someone from > > > Microsoft can shed some light on this topic. > > > > > > Via the Microsoft forums I have gotten suggestions from the community, but > > > since this is an important topic (at least to me) I would like to hear > > > Microsoft's suggestions about this: > > > > > > I am accustomed to the Actuate enterprise reporting system in which it is > > > very easy to define reusable page formats that standardize things like > > > page > > > layout, margins, logo placement, page header and footer formatting, etc. > > > You > > > just drag and drop a page layout from your component library to inherit > > > from > > > it, and can thus ensure that all your reports have the same consistent > > > format. > > > > > > What if any features and tools are there to accomplish this in 2005 > > > Reporting Services? > > > > > > I see the style template feature of the new report wizard, but that only > > > seems to apply to font settings for report elements, and these settings > > > are > > > not inherited, only copied into the new report. > > > > > > Are there any Microsoft add-ons, or 3rd party or open source tools for > > > standardizing report formatting? > > > > > > I can think of some custom solutions such as adding custom code to > > > generate > > > the XML for page headers and footers, the possibility of an XML processor > > > to > > > adjust the rdl code, etc., but was hoping for some kind of out of the box > > > solution. > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > -- Chris G. > > > > > > >
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the post. And thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on this product. We are very interested in your thoughts and opinions for improvements that we can make to provide the features and functionality you and your customers would like to see. You thoughts is a great idea and we will pass your feedback to the product team. To provide your feedback directly to the product groups: http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/default.aspx Thank you. Sincerely, Wei Lu Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit from your issue. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Wei,
Thank you for your reply. I will avail myself of the product groups feedback as you suggested. In my original post I asked: "Are there any Microsoft add-ons, or 3rd party or open source tools for standardizing report formatting?" You did not address this question directly, but is it safe for me to assume that your answer to this question is no...that there is no such Microsoft add-on or 3rd party tool at this time? Thanks! -- Chris [quoted text, click to view] "Wei Lu" wrote:
> Hi Chris, > > Thank you for the post. And thank you for taking the time to provide > feedback on this product. > > We are very interested in your thoughts and opinions for improvements that > we can make to provide the features and functionality you and your > customers would like to see. > > You thoughts is a great idea and we will pass your feedback to the product > team. > > To provide your feedback directly to the product groups: > http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/default.aspx > > Thank you. > > Sincerely, > > Wei Lu > Microsoft Online Community Support > > ================================================== > > When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so > that others may learn and benefit from your issue. > > ================================================== > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. > >
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the update. Based on my scope, there is no such Microsoft add-on at this time. Also, I think that your request is most like a layout file which can be reused and is like the role of CSS file in web design. In the current Reporting Services version, I don't think it is possible since the render will load the Report Definition file directly and all the default render will not consider any other file. Your suggestion is very great and your feedback will be considered. Thank you again for taking the time to provide feedback on this product. Sincerely, Wei Lu Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit from your issue. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Hi Microsoft,
We also see this as a must have feature that is surely missing from the current version. I will post this feedback to the product group as well. Thanks, Eric
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