Customer Reviews

Pro SQL Server Reporting Services

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I was tasked with getting up to speed as quickly as possible with SQL Server Reporting Services (SRS). I pulled out my Pro SQL Server Reporting Services book and started working through it.

Chapter 1 was on SRS Architecture. There was good information on how to install and configure SRS and it included a sample application.

Chapter 2 was on Designing Efficient Queries. Personally I just skimmed this chapter and I already know how to write queries. This came back to haunt me as I needed those queries later on.

Chapter 3 gets you started on the Report Designer. This chapter had great content. Unfortunately, there were lots of mistakes. I was actually building the reports as I worked through the chapter. It was frustrating but I figured it out.

Chapter 4 goes deeper into building Reports. It starts out with the report wizard which is a no brainer. Then it shows you how to build the reports from scratch. Good content but again, there were mistakes.

Chapter 5 shows you how to use custom .NET code with SRS. You can embed code in your reports or you can use external assemblies. There was good content here and by this time I gave up on following along with the examples. And if you download the source, there is nothing in the Chapter 5 folder.

Chapter 6 is about rendering reports from .NET application. If you want to access your reports from your application then this chapter will show you how to do it.

Chapter 7 shows you how to deploy your reports. You have to deploy them so you need to read this chapter. After this chapter, the reports I had created from Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 were now deployed to my server.

Chapter 8 is discusses report management. There is really good content is this chapter. You learn about shared schedule, creating snapshots, caching, and subscriptions. Then it goes into auditing and performance analysis.

Chapter 9 is about securing reports. Personally, I think they went into too much detail to show us network monitoring. We all know that if we don't use encryption everything will be in plain text. But they show us how to use the network monitoring utility. You have to read this chapter though get learn how to fully secure your reports so just skim the pages on network monitoring.

Chapter 10 talks about Business Intelligence and SRS. This is a good chapter if you want to see the different ways SRS can be used. It's good content.

Chapter 11 tells us what changes are in store for SRS when "Yukon" comes out. SRS will be fully integrated with SQL Server 2005. You will no longer generate your report in Visual Studio. Since I'm just learning SRS, it was good to know what will be changing.

Overall the book was good. The big disappointment for me was that following the examples was so difficult. This is the first time I've seen this with an APRESS book.

The big question is, do I feel I'm ready to use SRS at a client site. Yes I do!

This is a clear and concise step-by-step guide to the end-user side of the SQL Server reporting services. It's well written and has numerous (maybe too many) screenshots. The walkthroughs are explained in an easy-to-read and follow step by step manner. There is some C# code and SQL that describe, for example, how to integrate the reporting engine into a .NET application.

I recommend this book for anyone looking at developing with SQL Server Reports. It's definitely worth the look.

SQL Server Reporting Services is relatively new to the scene but the authors have experience building real world applications with it. They share that real world experience, not just theory, with us in this book.
For example, they not only show how to create an advanced query for one of the samples they show you how to test the performance with Query Analyzer. There is something here for everyone. Those just getting started might find creating a report with the Report Wizard the place to start. Others might benefit from accessing .Net assemblies from embedded code. This book covers every aspect of Reporting Services, deployment, rendering, security, management, use with business intelligence such as Analysis Services, and even a look at the future, Reporting Services with SQL Server 2005. Great book, good read, good value.

This book takes you from the basics to very advanced activities. Anyone who is serious about creating custom report solutions should implement SQL RS and use this book. It will help you through step-by-step "how-to" to create an extremely professional result. Reporting Services is fairly new to the public. Only now are books of this nature becoming available. This one is the best!

Way back in the days when Microsoft Access was the latest thing in databases (and the earth was flat, and it was three miles to school, uphill both directions) it included quite a nice report generating package.

Then we all moved to higher performance data bases, and we lost that functionality unless we bought a separate package like Crystal Reports.

Now Microsoft has given us that functionality back and in an expanded manner that incorporates a lot of web presentation capability.

This book is on the capabilities of the reporting system now built into SQL Server. If you're familiar with other graphically based reporting systems, or if you've worked in a .NET environment, you should be able to read this book in an afternoon and begin doing reports.

After your first few reports you'll find that you want to go back to check on fancier capabilities, but you'll have the basics down.

The nice thing about this book is that it was written while the authors were in the process of converting some 200 reports to actually use the software. That way you find out how it really works as opposed to the way the manuals say. Good job.

Before this book I had no idea of the power available (for free!) from SQL Reporting Services. Rodney and Jim lay out a clear and concise learning path that helped our organization utilize the full potention of our database solution.

I would recommend this book to any organization or individual who wants to get that extra mile from their data. The resources and examples made available in this book allow SRS to be utilized in a matter of hours with very little SQL knowledge.

To increase the attractiveness of its SQL Server, Microsoft recently released Reporting Services. These help you generate management level summaries of data stored in SQL Server.

The authors show how Microsoft has implemented this in a tight integration with its .NET platform. There are numerous screen captures of the wizard UIs that generate reports. Nice. In parallel with these diagrams are often listings of the corresponding XML data that describe what the diagrams show. The book assumes a reasonable familiarity with XML. But even if you are new to it, the verbosity of XML tags should make the examples self documenting.

One thing is clear from this book. The Reporting Services need a programmer to use them. The wizard helps somewhat to reduce the need for explicit coding. But if you have any nontrivial customisation needs, you will need to program. Though the code examples are not that intricate.

Which also means that if you are casting around for some programming expertise to develop, as job security perhaps, then do not settle on Reporting Services. If you can, find something more intricate that you can handle. It is a greater barrier to entry.