It is important to understand the reporting options available in SQL Server 2008 R2 to provide an appropriate report layout to meet the business requirements and needs of our end users. This post briefly discusses about different report layout types available and explains in detail the steps to create a Tabular Report. It also explains how to sorting and drilldown features to your report.

Different Available Report Layouts are

- Tabular Reports – these reports are defined using table data and organized in to rows and columns. The columns are typically fields in the table. Reporting detail rows can be grouped on various fields, each group can have header, footer , breaks and subtotals.

- Matrix Reports – To summarize the date for analysis we can use the Matrix Reports. It is useful for viewing the aggregated values with two different hierarchies(example time and geography).

- List Reports – List report consist of single rectangular area that repeats for every record or group value in the dataset.

- Chart Reports – these reports provide a visual context for different kinds of data. Some times complex information can be analyzed with very little explanation.

- Composite Reports – You can combine the reports that we discussed above for compelling the advanced reports.

Creating Tabular Reports

1. Open the Report Builder 3.0 , select the Insert Tab and click Table on the ribbon.

As we have not created a data set and data source, it will prompt you to add these objects. Use the DataSource Properties window to enter a name for the new data source as shown below





2. Enter the following query in query designer

   1: Select CalendarYear,SalesTerritoryRegion, SalesAmount
   2: FROM
   3:     FactResellerSales as F INNER JOIN DimDate as D ON
   4:     F.OrderDateKey = D.DateKey INNER JOIN DimSalesTerritory as ST
   5:     ON F.SalesTerritoryKey = ST.SalesTerritoryKey
   6:     order by CalendarYear , SalesTerritoryRegion

I am using the AdventureWorksR2 database to create this report.



3. Defining Table Groups – You can drop the database fields to zones to define groups located at the bottom of the designer pane.



In this example we are grouping the rows of this table based on CalendarYear and SalesTerritoryRegion Fileds. To add the CalendarYear field as a group above the detail row, drag and drop this field from the Data Window.

4. Drag the required fields to report designer as shown in the following window. As SalesAmount field is a currency type value and it should be formatted to show the values. To do so right click on the SalesAmount textbox and then choose properties





5. To look at the report that we built so far, you can click the run button in Report builder. Now the report is rendered as shown below



6.  Switch back to the design view to add totals to the end of a group with same result. Right-click on the CalendarYear row, and choose  Insert Row—>Inside Group – Below



The new row will be added below the group values. Hover the mouse over the new cell below the SalesAmount field and click on the field list icon as shown below



7. To see the changes in report, click on the run button to preview the report

8. Adding Sorting Feature to report – Any group can be sorted by any order using combination of data fields and expressions. For Example to set the sort order for the SalesTerritoryRegion Group click the group name under Row groups and select group properties you will see the following window



You can see the preview result in the following window



Creating Drill Down Reports – All report items and groups have a visibility property that can be set either permanently or conditionally. Common use is to create drill-down reports , where headers are used expand and collapse. Typically (+) or (-) sign will be displayed next to the column header.

To create a drilldown in this example, select CalendarYear Group from the lower part of the designer and click on group properties option then you should be able to get the following dialogue box



Set the display option to hide and select relevant textbox for the CalendarYear group by checking the Display toggle option. Click Ok to save these property changes.

Report builder 2.0 is a report authoring tool that we can use to design and publish reports. We can specify the data source, what data to display on report and which layout you prefer to see the report. When you run the report, the report processor takes all the information you specified and retrieves the data and generates each page as you view it. This post explains step-by-step details of creating the report using Report Builder 2.0.

Download Report Builder 2.0 here. Report Builder was first introduced in SQL server 2005 and it is still available in report.

After Installing Report Builder you can launch it by Start->All Programs->Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder 2.0.



1. You’ll see the following screen after launching the Report Builder 2.0:



2. Visually there are number of differences when you compare with the SQL Server 2005 report builder.

- The office 2007 ribbon interface.
- On the left hand side of the designer you will see built-in fields,report parameters, images and data fields.
- To begin designing a report, you can select either Table or Matrix or Chart icons from designer interface as shown above.

3. This post using the AdventureWorksDW2008 sample database as data source. You can download the databases from here.  

4. Select the data source for you report as follows:



5. After completing the data source connection configuration, then click next to design a query for your report.



Either you can select the data fields or views from your database or you can use editor to type your sql query for binding data.

6. Click next to get the Arrange fields-dialogue box where you can drag and drop your data fields into the Row groups.



7. Click Next to choose the layout for your report.



8. You can also the chart in your report with the same data source which we defined above as follows



9. Run the above report then you will see the following output



10. You can deploy the above designed report to a SQL server 2008 Report Server. You should specify the URL of the default report server in Report Builder Settings. Click the database icon in top-left corner from Report-Builder window and you will see the following dialogue



You can enter the URL of your default report server or SharePoint site where you want to deploy your reports.