Report Builder 3.0 August CTP Install Experience and Overview

So I tracked down the download for Report Builder 3.0 August CTP and went through the install to see what the big changes were.  Here are some screenshots of my installation experience:

	138 MB required for install (compared to 86 MB with the Report Builder 2.0 installation – Report Builder 2.0 RTM install and overview)
Start Menu folder display	the new splash screen	New Map wizard available – same one that is in BIDS and I have screenshots in a previous posting which I list below
Shows the new Map item available in the Data Regions list	Shows the version number 10.50.1092.20	Updated tutorials that are included in the Report Builder 3.0 Help documentation – Creating a Map Report

Here is the full licensing terms message if you are interested:

MICROSOFT SOFTWARE SUPPLEMENTAL LICENSE TERMS

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER REPORT BUILDER 3.0 FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2008 R2, AUGUST COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY PREVIEW (August CTP)

Microsoft Corporation (or based on where you live, one of its affiliates) licenses this supplement to you. If you are licensed to use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, August Community Technology Preview (August CTP) software (the “software”), you may use this supplement. You may not use it if you do not have a license for the software. You may use this supplement with each validly licensed copy of the software.

The following license terms describe additional use terms for this supplement. These terms and the license terms for the software apply to your use of the supplement. If there is a conflict, these supplemental license terms apply.

By using this supplement, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use this supplement.

If you comply with these license terms, you have the rights below.

1.        SQL SERVER REPORTING SERVICES MAP REPORT ITEM. The software may include features that retrieve content such as maps, images and other data through the Virtual Earth (or successor branded) application programming interface (the “Virtual Earth API”) to create reports displaying data on top of maps, aerial and hybrid imagery. If these features are included, you may use these features to create and view dynamic or static documents for the sole purpose of testing the software with your programs. Such use may only be in conjunction with and through methods and means of access integrated in the software. You may not otherwise copy, store, archive, or create a database of the content available through the Virtual Earth API. You may not use the Virtual Earth API to provide sensor based guidance/routing, nor use any Road Traffic Data or Bird’s Eye Imagery (or associated metadata) available through the Virtual Earth API for any purpose. Your use of the Virtual Earth API and associated content is also subject to the additional terms and conditions at <http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=21969>.

If you access the Reporting Services forums in the Resources it will bring you to http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/threads where you can search for related issues or design questions you might have.  This is a great resource and I would highly suggest checking it out and even helping out and contributing to threads

Robert Bruckner did a couple of new postings on his blog in regards to the new Map Report Item that I would suggest checking out and I also did one recently – Mapping data with SSRS 2008 R2.

If you want to check out the new Report Builder 3.0 CTP2 it is available for download here:

SQL Server® 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 : The download provides a stand-alone installer for Report Builder 3.0 that is specific for X86 only.

Installer: Download and install SQL Server® 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 .
Readme : Download and read SQL Server® 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 readme.

And you can access all of the SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP downloads here:

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 August Community Technology Preview

Make sure you post any feedback comments, issues, suggestions, etc. on the Microsoft Connect site here for SQL Server – https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/Feedback.

Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce and SQL Server 2008 CTP SP1 Experience

Finally, the ClickOnce version of Report Builder 2.0 is available with the CTP release of SQL Server 2008 SP1 (Community Technology Preview (CTP) for Service Pack 1 of SQL Server 2008).  The big changes that have been made now with this service pack are the following:

Slipstream – You are now able to integrate the base installation with service packs (or Hotfixes) and install in a single step.

Service Pack Uninstall – You are now able to uninstall only the service pack (without removing the whole instance)

Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce capability

Now the big question is will the support for infinite clickthrough exist?  First thing that we have to do is install SP1.  So I fired up my VPC and went through the process of updating my SQL Server 2008 CU2 release.  Here are some screenshots of the process:

So after that process was done (took about 20 to 25 minutes on my VPC) I was now on build number 10.0.2520 with CTP SP1 for SQL Server 2008.  The main thing I wanted to check out now was the replacement of Report Builder 1.0 with 2.0 with the ClickOnce deployment.  It turns out that the Report Builder option in Report Manager still points to the 1.0 release, but you can access the 2.0 release through the following URL – http://<servername>/ReportServer/ReportBuilder/ReportBuilder_2_0_0_0.application.  If you want to change the settings for the Report Builder option in the toolbar you can go into the Site Settings and set Custom Report Builder launch URL to this path or you can also access this in the Advanced settings in the Report Server properties if you connect by using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) – the property is called ReportBuilderLaunchURL under the Reports section.  Then the fun begins and here are some screenshots of the process:

Accessing the ClickOnce application with the URL address	Almost a 50 MB install (1.0 was like a 8 MB download)
The splash screen	And finally the application

I went ahead and created a report against the Adventure Works DW SSAS database report model and deployed the report, but unfortunately as of now there is no infinite clickthrough (Enterprise Edition feature) support like there is with Report Builder 1.0.  Plus there wasn’t any interactive sorting capability like with the Report Builder 1.0 reports out-of-the-box.  You can go into the properties though and setup the Interactive Sorting functionality.  Will clickthrough support be available at all with Report Builder 2.0?  Am I just missing something? That was a really nice feature, but maybe Microsoft has decided to stop support for this option.  I guess if you want to stay with that then you have to go with Report Builder 1.0 and stick to a single data region

For more information about Report Builder 2.0 configuration take a look at Teo’s blog posting here Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce.  For more information about Report Builder 2.0 take a look at my posting Report Builder 2.0 RTM install and overview.

UPDATE (3/8/2009):

Just read this posting, How to build a Clickthrough link in Report Builder 2.0, from Bob Meyers on the MSDN blogs in regards to a couple of different options for setting up clickthrough in Report Builder 2.0.  One option is to create the report in Report Builder 1.0 initially (and then you can modify it with Report Builder 2.0) and the other is to get some information from the Report Model and setup a ‘Go to report’ action.

Report Builder 2.0 RTM install and overview

Yesterday the blog posting came out on the Reporting Services Team Blog here stating that the Report Builder 2.0 RTM was available to download.  Some of the new features since the release of RC1 are the ability to open up reports on the server for editing and using shared data sources that are on the report server.

So I went ahead and downloaded the latest version and grabbed a few shots to show the installation process and to point out some of the features if you are not familiar with the new stand-alone report designer with the Office 2007 look-and-feel.  Click on the blog posting title to view the entire posting in full screen or simply click here.

	Here you can see what the minimum space requirement is	You can set the target server URL and you can see this later in the options section (it will default to http://localhost/reportserver)
The location in the start menu and notice that it comes with a help file too	The SQL 2008 Report Builder 2.0 splash screen	Here is the new report designer and notice the table, matrix, and chart wizards
Here is how you can access the additional options	shows the target URL for deployment and additional settings like being able to clear the recent files list	Includes a nice section of resources to reference and leave feedback
See the nice ribbon with the rich formatting menu access	Here is how you turn on the properties pane	Look at the nice snap-lines for aligning your report items
The report parameters get setup in the new data region pane	With the acquisition of the Dundas visualization code base there are now 58 chart types available	And you can access 21 different types of gauge report items too
Check out the new flexibility with the tablix functionality – multiple groupings/views of the data within the same matrix and subtotaling capabilities	And there is also a new rendering format to output to Microsoft Word – the CSV and Excel outputs have also been enhanced and embedded data regions are now supported in the Excel output	Getting back to the Report Builder 2.0 help documentation.  Here is a quick peek at the content and look at the nice tutorials that are available

Well I hope that this gave a good overview of the installation process and highlighted some of the new functionality with the new end-user report designer that is available.  This is an outstanding tool that end-users are going to really embrace.  The product team has really improved the functionality and improved the user interface.  So go out to the download center and check it out for yourself – Report Builder 2.0 RTM.

If you are interested in learning how the new tablix functionality works take a look at this virtual lab that is available online here – TechNet Virtual Lab: Authoring Reports Using SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services.

UPDATE (3/6/2009): For information about Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce check out my posting here – Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce and SQL Server 2008 CTP SP1 Experience.

 

SQL Server 2008 (RC0) Report Designer == Report Builder 2.0

Okay, so maybe I didn’t pick-up on it right away when I saw Teo’s blog posting here about the new Feature Pack (June 2008) which is located here, but the standalone Report Designer is no longer part of the SQL Server 2008 installation  I went into the start menu after installing the RC0 of SQL Server 2008 and I was confused  Where is Report Designer?  Then I fired up BIDS (VS 2008) and started up a new Report Server project thinking that it was just integrated into BIDS now.  Well first of all I received an error message when I created a new Report Server project (maybe I need to reboot my VPC to resolve this, not sure)

What I did notice though was the the designer within BIDS now is the actual designer that is in Report Designer (maybe this was in CTP6, not sure…I only used the Report Designer to get familiar with the new tool).

So the designer is incorporated into BIDS minus the Office 2007 Ribbon, but still was not what I was looking for.  So I fired up the Report Manager web application and launched Report Builder thinking that maybe this is how I access the new Report Designer.  Nope, this is still Report Builder 1.0, nothing has changed  So now I was on a quest and I remembered Teo’s blog posting, so I downloaded the Report Builder 2.0 install from here and installed that on my VPC. 

This provided a new item in my start menu for Report Builder 2.0, separate form the SQL Server 2008 start menu items.

And after I fired up this application I had a winner

The one thing that I am not crazy about, but maybe it is just me and being used to working with the whole project concept (or I am missing something within the product) is that you don’t have the ability to work with a group of reports.  I guess this is how all of the other Office products work, so I can’t complain too much.  I just like the whole project aspect and being able to work with a whole set of related reports a little more easily.

The one nice thing is that this is an MSI file, so IT will now be able to schedule and distribute this application install throughout the organization as needed without having to install the SQL Server client tools for end-users now

UPDATE (10/18/2008): For more recent information about Report Builder 2.0 refer to my latest blog posting here – Report Builder 2.0 RTM install and overview.

UPDATE (3/6/2009): For information about Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce check out my posting here – Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce and SQL Server 2008 CTP SP1 Experience.