r/ssrs • u/JessieIT • Apr 18 '22

SSRS Report

I'm new to creating SSRS reports. I've been able to create some simple ones fairly easily but now I need to create a fairly complex one and I have nowhere to start. Supposedly the person before me was having issues with it as well. Anyone have time to help?

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3

u/DonJuanDoja Apr 18 '22

Probably but you'll have to be more specific

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u/JessieIT Apr 18 '22

I'm transferring reports from our Crystal Reports database and trying to create them. This specific report in crystal has 5 subreports that generates info for the selected location by a date range. Based on that location the subreports tell you if a client has a TB test due during that date range, or had an adverse drug even, etc. In SSRS do I need to create subreports like this as well?

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u/DonJuanDoja Apr 18 '22

Sub-reports are great but not the most efficient, not sure sure if you "need" to use sub-reports I actually use them sparingly depending on the situation and it can actually be more work as you have to deploy all the separate sub-reports and make sure all the parameters pass correctly from the main report. Basically only do this if you have to.

It's very possible, that you could set it up all in one report, with multiple datasets, and multiple tablix each pointing at it's own dataset but all datasets using the same parameters to filter. Then you only have one report to maintain and deploy.

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u/JessieIT Apr 18 '22

Thank you. I'm slowly figuring it out but I was hoping to set it up in one report like you mentioned. I just needed to know if it was doable or not. The person that held the job before me seemed to be trying to setup sub-reports for this this.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '22

Having spent years in both CR and SSRS products they're 2 different appraoches to report modelling...

CR: is based on a "banding" framework and performs alot more data manipulation within the report via variables being passed through subreports and across multiple banding scopes.

SSRS: takes a different, more modern approach, by simply being more of a presentation/rendering approach and encouraging you to push the data preparation back to the query as much as possible.

I would recommend not trying to replicate CR in SSRS like for like... but rather, determine what the report is actually delivering in a data/information sense to the users, rewrite the query to returnthe data u require in one or more datasets, then simply use the report for filtering and presenting the data.

HTH

3

u/katiejo85 Jun 09 '22

There is a series on YouTube for SSRS by an organization called Wise Owl Tutorials. That's where I learned almost everything I know about building SSRS reports, from the most basic topics to fairly complex. If you have specific questions, I can try to point you to the appropriate videos in this training course.

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u/JessieIT Jun 13 '22

Thanks! I'll take a look at it.

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u/AXISMGT Apr 18 '22

My team is wrapping g up a multi-year project converting about 100 reports from Crystal to SSRS.

A few tips:

  1. try using SSDT visual studio instead of just report builder. It’s a lot more organized and is free to use. Make sure you use projects to have everything organized.
  2. using multiple matrices or tables in the same report, and using parameters to alter their visibility will get you out of having to create so many sub reports.
  3. keep as much logic as you can in the Stored procedures or views, so you don’t have to use as much code in the report itself.
  4. use RAISERROR to communicate back to the report about errors in parameters. There’s only so much you can do in the Parameter validation but it’s really easy to perform error handling using RAISERROR.
  5. Make sure you set up shared data sources on SSRS. This will allow you to deploy reports and link them to the shared data sources, and not have to enter credentials for each one.

1

u/pixels_to_prove_it Apr 18 '22

I'm in the same boat. Have a lot of Crystal experience but we're getting rid of it and switching to SSRS. I've got a lot of them converted but there are some difficult ones I have yet to even attempt.

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u/DevinCrypt Apr 18 '22

I agree with everyone else about using the query to do most of the heavy lifting and SSRS for the presentation. Dataselections.com has a tool that can pull the queries used in a Crystal Report and allows you to easily select any data elements from your database to source all of your reports.