Question about Reporting Services...

I used Visual Studio 2003 to create several reports and those reports are
saved to a virtual directory at the IIS server. At present I can only open
those reports using the Report Manager came with the Reporting Services. I
wonder if I can open those reports straight from the web site with a
hyperlink and without opening the Report ManagerUI. If it is the case how
dose it work to connect to the SQL database? My understanding is the
connection/other information associated with the report is saved in a table
"Report Server" at the SQL database. Can I attach this connection string
information in a file at IIS or can it be attached right to the report
itself? Also how will it work in printing those reports in different file
formats as shown in the Reporting Manager if I allow to by-pass using the
Report Manager UI? Thank you for your infor.Hi Paul,
I assume when you mean "open" reports, you mean you want to retrieve a rendered
copy of the report (not retrieve the report definition, etc).
You can access the reports by URL quite easily. If say you have a report
"Purchase Order" in the folder "Demos" (/Demos/Purchase Order). Use this
URL:
http://<yourServer>/ReportServer/?/Demos/Purchase+Order
Then you can attach various URL parameters to control what happens. To render
the report in PDF, use this URL:
http://<yourServer>/ReportServer/?/Demos/Purchase+Order&rs:Command=Render&rs:Format=PDF
All of the database connection information is either stored in the RDL file
on the server, or as part of a Shared Data Source. So, there's no need to
send that info through the URL. If you have additional report parameters,
append them like you would any other URL querystring value. For example,
if you have a parameter "SalesYear":
http://<yourServer>/ReportServer/?/Demos/Purchase+Order&rs:Command=Render&rs:Format=PDF&SalesYear=2005
You can also use the RS web-services API:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=875447
I've always thought that this was the way MSFT intended for users to get
to reports... built seamlessly into web applications, while Report Manager
was for report management/administration.
-Chris @. SoftArtisans
> I used Visual Studio 2003 to create several reports and those reports
> are saved to a virtual directory at the IIS server. At present I can
> only open those reports using the Report Manager came with the
> Reporting Services. I wonder if I can open those reports straight from
> the web site with a hyperlink and without opening the Report
> ManagerUI. If it is the case how dose it work to connect to the SQL
> database? My understanding is the connection/other information
> associated with the report is saved in a table "Report Server" at the
> SQL database. Can I attach this connection string information in a
> file at IIS or can it be attached right to the report itself? Also how
> will it work in printing those reports in different file formats as
> shown in the Reporting Manager if I allow to by-pass using the Report
> Manager UI? Thank you for your infor.
>