SRS and Visual Studio -- sql server reporting services

Jack Bender
6/15/2006 10:50:01 AM

We have a client who is running SQL 2000 SP4 with reporting services. We
have told them that we can only edit SQL 2000 reports with Visual Studio.NET
and not Visual Studio 2005. The client was at TechEd and ran into a SRS
Expert who stated...

that SQL Reporting Services comes with a version of Visual Studio and I
shouldnâ€™t need to install it separately. He also thought that we should be
able to use the SRS 2005 â€“ which has some nice features.

To my knowledge you cannot install SRS 2005 on SQL 2000, correct?

Furthermore, to my knowledge, SRS does not come with Visual Studio. I was
always under the impression that if you owned Visual Studio and SQL Server,
then Reporting Services was free.

Bruce L-C [MVP]
6/15/2006 2:05:08 PM

Here's the scoop:

RS 2000 required some version of VS to install the report designer into.

RS 2005 comes with a version of VS so unless you are doing custom assemblies
you do not need to buy VS. VS 2005 does come with two new controls that you
might want if you are integrating into winforms or webforms. If using Report
Manager (portal that comes with RS) then you do not need these controls.

RS 2005 can use SQL Server 2000 for its object/metadata storage. However,
you still need to have a SQL Server 2005 license on the box that is running
RS.

Finally, lots of new goodies with RS 2005. End user sorting, multi-valued
parameters, etc. Faster too.

--
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services

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sql server reporting services : SRS and Visual Studio