rss scripting solution for show/hiding a deployed report parameter

Question

rss scripting solution for show/hiding a deployed report parameter

Myles Sigal

Mr or Mrs. 500

Points: 579
More actions
March 1, 2017 at 11:45 am

#341089

Help. I have a master report with multiple linked reports where a parameter drives data security. The master report is to be used by enterprise users who can view all data, they can select one or multiple "practices" via the practice_id parameter. Each practice has a linked report in a separate SSRS folder secured by using AD groups (there are a dozen or more practices), The practice report has the practice_id parameter defaulted and hidden, limiting their view of data.
The problem I'm having is that sometimes when deploying a report revision to the master, the practice_id parmeter becomes unhidden or hidden. The enterprise users sometimes lose the ability to select the practice, the practice users sometimes gain the ability to select the practice.
I'd like to write a script using the rs utility to programmatically set the hidden property to true or false based on the report / linked report. Am I going about this the right way? I cannot find scripting samples. I could probably write some SQL against the reporting services database, but that seems like a hack and is risky.
Thanks,
Myles

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply

Sue_H SSC Guru Points: 90860 More actions · Answer 1

Myles Sigal - Wednesday, March 1, 2017 11:45 AM
Help. I have a master report with multiple linked reports where a parameter drives data security. The master report is to be used by enterprise users who can view all data, they can select one or multiple "practices" via the practice_id parameter. Each practice has a linked report in a separate SSRS folder secured by using AD groups (there are a dozen or more practices), The practice report has the practice_id parameter defaulted and hidden, limiting their view of data.
The problem I'm having is that sometimes when deploying a report revision to the master, the practice_id parmeter becomes unhidden or hidden. The enterprise users sometimes lose the ability to select the practice, the practice users sometimes gain the ability to select the practice.
I'd like to write a script using the rs utility to programmatically set the hidden property to true or false based on the report / linked report. Am I going about this the right way? I cannot find scripting samples. I could probably write some SQL against the reporting services database, but that seems like a hack and is risky.
Thanks,
Myles

I think going through the SOAP API might be the only way and quite a pain.
Seems like you could be hitting a known bug...one of those that's been active for almost ten years now. Check this connect item about parameter defaults and hidden/visible properties. Read the comments as there a few different things people have hit with this:
Report parameter defaults not updated during deployment

Sue

Myles Sigal Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 579 More actions · Answer 2

So here's the rss script I came up with as a solution. Using the rs.exe command line prompt: rs -i scriptfile.rss -s http://yourserver/reportserverinstance

Public Sub Main()
' this is based on 2005 namespace

' declarations
Dim forRendering As Boolean = False
Dim historyID As String = Nothing
Dim values As ParameterValue() = Nothing
Dim credentials As DataSourceCredentials() = Nothing
Dim parameters As ReportParameter() = Nothing
Dim rp As ReportParameter
Dim blChange As Boolean = False
Dim dfv as String
Dim practice_id as String
Dim items As CatalogItem() = Nothing
Dim itm AS CatalogItem = Nothing

Try

  ' Retrieve a list of all items from the report server database.
  ' practice home has subfolders with the practice id
  ' such as /Practice Home/0001/ with reports underneath
  ' reports are linked reports, to master in separate secure folder
  items = rs.ListChildren("/iA Home/Practice Home", True)

  For Each itm In items
   blChange = False
   If itm.Name = "Measure Trend" Then
    parameters = rs.GetReportParameters(itm.Path, historyID, forRendering, values, credentials)
    If Not (parameters Is Nothing) Then
     For Each rp In parameters
      If rp.name = "practice_security" Then
       dfv = "" ' default value, only one, not a multi-value parameter
       practice_id = "" ' will derive from folder path
       If Not (rp.DefaultValues Is Nothing) Then
        dfv = rp.DefaultValues(0)
       End If
       practice_id = itm.path.substring(23,4)
       If rp.PromptUser = True OR practice_id<>dfv Then
       ' should be hidden and fixed to practice id
        Console.WriteLine("Changing " & itm.Path & " parameter " & rp.Name & " from > to")
        Console.WriteLine(" PromptUser: " & rp.PromptUser & " > False")
        Console.WriteLine(" Prompt: " & rp.Prompt & " > blank")
        Console.WriteLine(" DefaultValue: " & dfv & " > " & practice_id)
        rp.PromptUser = False
        rp.Prompt = ""
        rp.DefaultValues(0)=practice_id
        blChange = True
       End If
      End If
      If rp.Name = "measure_practice_list" AND (rp.PromptUser = True OR rp.Prompt<>"") Then
       Console.WriteLine("Changing " & itm.Path & " parameter " & rp.Name)
       Console.WriteLine(" PromptUser: " & rp.PromptUser & " > False")
       Console.WriteLine(" Prompt: " & rp.Prompt & " > blank")
       rp.PromptUser = False
       rp.Prompt = ""
       blChange = True
      End If
     Next rp
    End If
    If blChange Then
     rs.SetReportParameters(itm.Path,parameters)
    End If
   End If
  Next itm

Catch e As SoapException
Console.WriteLine( e.Detail.InnerXml.ToString() )
End Try

End Sub ' Main

Sue_H SSC Guru Points: 90860 More actions · Answer 3

Very nice...not as bad as I thought it would be but then again, I didn't write it! Thanks for posting that. The Web Service/SOAP API does expose everything so anything should be doable. And now that you've run through this one, any others for you in the future should be much easier.

Sue