May 30, 2014 at 6:38 am
Andy,
What about deployment?
The report builder is for SharePoint basically
Thanks,
Oded Dror
May 30, 2014 at 8:54 am
I like the simplicity of report builder, as for most purposes it suffices. I ended up using it only because I couldn't BIDS in VS2010 -- I thought I was too dumb to use ms' latest product and gave up before I found out that BIDS doesn't exist there! MS is really something, eh?
Anyhow, one of the main drawbacks to Builder is that you cannot pass in parameters in the connection string.
May 30, 2014 at 9:05 am
Just for reference, Microsoft has rolled the newest version of "BIDS" into SQL Server Data Tools "SSDT". This allows you to use BIDS in VS 2012 (which has a template for building SSRS reports). I have been using this for a few years and seems to work just fine.
May 30, 2014 at 9:47 am
I work with a client in London who use Report Builder instead of BIDS (for a variety of different reasons). Funnily enough they went on the SSRS course provided by WiseOwl and trained using BIDS instead of Report Builder so I had to run a course for them explaining the differences between the two and how to use report models (how I could have done with this article then!). They're actually getting along with Report Builder reasonably well and have developed some fantastic reports with it, so it does go to show it can be used quite successfully.
Me? I'd never use it if I had a choice between BIDS/SSDT and Report Builder for the reasons outlined in the article, plus the forum comments regarding projects and source control.
I'm now involved with a project where we're looking to consider ad-hoc reporting capabilities for end users. As we're using SQL Server 2012 and SSRS in a SharePoint integrated deployment I'm pushing to implement PowerView and make this the tool for end user report development. As far as I can see it has huge advantages over Report Builder, not to mention the fact that there's no client footprint. I wouldn't be surprised if we see less and less in terms of updates for Report Builder and MS concentrate on their new BI semantic model approach.
May 30, 2014 at 9:58 am
Being new to the SQL DB environment, but, having a little classwork with the Studio (Express) products, it wasn't too hard to become fairly proficient in Management Studio. But, then I had to figure out how to present reports for user running. I chose Report Builder 2.0. It was somewhat difficult to get really comfortable with it. We are using SQL 2008 (not R2).
I tried to upgrade to Report Builder 3.0 but it doesn't work with SQL 2008.
I have some reports that generate more than 1 output format. I was able to split them (duplicate code) into subreports to get the different output formats. I inherited a report program that had about 5 output formats.
I started trying to break it down into sub-reports, but, found an error check and output in a developed function and the report builder finds that query output first and uses it as the output variable set.
I am looking at alternate user report interfaces and report layout options.
May 31, 2014 at 9:46 am
Good article and I agree with most of it.
As a trainer, I have found that even with my business users (not developers), once they have taught how to use Report Designer (although only rarely used - this is the official name of the tool in the VS based BIDS or SSDT or now SSDT-BI), 85-90% of my students prefer it over Report Builder.
If the users have to create their own data sets, as mentioned in the article, Report Designer (SSDT or BIDS) is much more friendly that Report Builder.
I only teach straight Report Builder if a company has decided that they will only allow their users to have Report Builder. Otherwise, I recommend they train the users on both and allow them to make the decision.
As someone else mentioned, both are "free". Once you have your SQL license, you can install an unlimited number of copies of BIDS or SSDT. The new SSDTBI no longer ships with SQL 2014, but is available as a free download.
I've been "forced" to spend a lot of time in Report Builder due to a project where the company has decided to only allow Report Builder. I still strongly prefer Report Designer (SSDT). Having to know that you need to press CTRL+Enter to get a hard return in the expression window is a pain. Also, not having red squiggles or any way to check expressions is one of my major complaints.
By the way, for those who like report models - those have been deprecated. You can reference them, but not create or edit them in 2012 or 2014.
May 31, 2014 at 10:53 am
Hi Andy
Very good article but you can't compare 2 Tools that is for different user skill's level 🙂
I think in Report Builder you can not add references when you want to do custom code in .net?
Anyway that was very good article
Good job.
I regret Microsoft did not upgrade the first Report Builder that was good tool for end users
:w00t: !!!GOOGLE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!!! :w00t:
May 31, 2014 at 11:06 am
Mohamed IDTTALBE (5/31/2014)
Hi AndyVery good article but you can't compare 2 Tools that is for different user skill's level 🙂
I think in Report Builder you can not add references when you want to do custom code in .net?
Anyway that was very good article
Good job.
I regret Microsoft did not upgrade the first Report Builder that was good tool for end users
You can add custom code assemblies and project variables in Report Builder, they just hid it really well. Right-click on an empty area on the design surface, and then pick Report Properties. The Code and References pages work the same as in Report Designer (SSDT)
May 31, 2014 at 11:21 am
Did not notice that.
I will try. Thanks for the tips!
:w00t: !!!GOOGLE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!!! :w00t:
Viewing 9 posts - 31 through 38 (of 38 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply