Report Templates Using Stylesheets

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Report Templates Using Stylesheets

Adam Aspin

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March 12, 2009 at 12:37 am

#207291

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Report Templates Using Stylesheets

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noxidjkram SSC Veteran Points: 227 More actions · Answer 1

Great article/series.

One small point - you state that you cannot use databased images in headers and footers... I'd like to point out that you can. 🙂 You need to store them in the report body first (for example within a hidden textbox, using the functions convertFromBase64 and convertToBase64) then reference them from the header/footer.

SQL Novice - Here to learn.

Adam Aspin SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4900 More actions · Answer 2

Adam Aspin

SSCarpal Tunnel

Points: 4900

March 12, 2009 at 3:18 am

#958140

Good tip - thankk you!

BarryK SSC Enthusiast Points: 150 More actions · Answer 3

A database call for every styled element?.... I like the idea of a stylesheet (come on Microsoft, CSS ??!) but maybe a DS that returns the all the styles for the report and use that instead?

Jeremy Baynham SSC Enthusiast Points: 126 More actions · Answer 4

Another great article, one point though, as far as I am aware, these self-built templates are only an option if you are using BIDS, not if you use the full Visual Studio. If anyone can prove me wrong here, I will be glad to hear of it! 🙂

noxidjkram SSC Veteran Points: 227 More actions · Answer 5

When it comes to templates it doesnt really matter too much anyway.

You can just copy and paste your 'template' into your newly created project file and add it from there using the 'right-click' on Reports and 'Add existing Item' method. Placing a template into BIDS as a 'click-on' item is just a nicety.

M

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Jeremy Baynham SSC Enthusiast Points: 126 More actions · Answer 6

Hmm, I see what you're saying, but then there is no way of going through the wizard using the template, so you will need to add groups etc manually, not the end of the world, but not wildly convenient either...

noxidjkram SSC Veteran Points: 227 More actions · Answer 7

For me, the wizard was great to begin with when I didn't have a good handle on how to set properties etc manually, but after using BIDS for 18 months or so I find the wizard to be restrictive, and that it is quicker for me to do things manually. Perhaps it is a factor of personal preference as well.

SQL Novice - Here to learn.

Jeremy Baynham SSC Enthusiast Points: 126 More actions · Answer 8

No, the wizard isn't great, but it is handy for setting up grouping, as it populates both the group expression and the sort, which I always forget otherwise... Probably 90% of my reports are variants of something that I have already written, so the copy and tweak method isn't so much of a departure from normal workflow. The inconsistencies between BIDS and VS do seem a bit silly though. I have to author some reports in BIDS on the server as I commonly use SSIS as a data source, would be nice to work on everything in the same way.

BarryK SSC Enthusiast Points: 150 More actions · Answer 9

An alternative way to style your reports...

http://sqldev.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/dynamic-report-styling/

Adam Aspin SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4900 More actions · Answer 10

Good one Barry, this alternative avoids multiple calls to the database. I use something like this when returning metadata to dynamically generated tooltips for instance - and it saves passing data to parameters and using them as well.

Adam 🙂

aaron mertes SSC Enthusiast Points: 155 More actions · Answer 11

I just wanted to thank you for the ideas, as a fellow report writer I've run into many of the refactoring nightmares you're talking about which keep you from creating the next report that will knock your customers dead. Appreciate the ideas and techniques shared, thanks!

saveena.kitten Newbie Points: 8 More actions · Answer 12

I may be posting this question in the wrong place, but I can't seem to find any information on changing the way the information is displayed in a report. I know, I'm not making it clear yet... Right now all of my headers are horizontal and the data in vertical columns. I want to reverse that. Have a veritcal column of headers and the corresponding data being vertical.

I've done several Internet searches, but I can't find the answer I'm looking for. Can anyone help point me in the right direction please?

Thanks from a newbie to SRSS!

noxidjkram SSC Veteran Points: 227 More actions · Answer 13

You mean the text in your column header to read vertically oriented rather than horizontally? or actually transposing (or rotating 90degrees) the whole table?

M

SQL Novice - Here to learn.

blackstonem SSC Veteran Points: 239 More actions · Answer 14

This is an amazing article. We are standardizing our reports to a familiar format. But I have a question about the database entries. I am looking at somehow to control the font and size in the body of the report. But I cannot see any property to set this globally. Any suggestions on what the expression would be and the insert statements for the database table?

Let me be a little more specific. What would the expression be for setting the Font globally for the body of the report? I don't see any property where this is set.

Thanks again for your help..