Customer Reviews

The Rational Guide to SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a SQL Server DBA I normally don't deal with reporting tools at all. Since this one is branded and bundled with Microsoft SQL Server I was naturally expected to pick this up and run with it. I needed a crash course. The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services seemed like a natural fit. Quick, concise, and to the point it only took a couple of nights to read the book and a couple more to work through some basic exercises and get up to speed. Inside a week I had the basic skills and was able to show the value of this product. Anthony Mann continues to do what he does best, break what could be a very complicated subject into small digestible chunks to get you started and comfortable with the subject quickly. This book doesn't aim to be the end all be all well of knowledge, it is meant to get you started working with the product quickly so you can be as productive as you can be. If you haven't started working with SQL Server Reporting services, or find that you have just started and don't normally work with these kinds of tools, this book is absolutely for you.

I enjoyed the book very much. I have been researching for more efficient methods to create and maintain data driven reports. "The Rational Guide To: SQL Server Reporting Services" provided an excellent feature and technical overview allowing me to make a well informed decision to move forward with implementing Reporting Services. The book answered many questioned I had such as creating and maintaining reports, SharePoint integration, security, multiple data sources, and many more. I also liked the numerous demonstration "steps", easy to read shorter format with examples and details, extremely well organized, called out "Notes", bonus material, and effective screenshots.

It is refreshing to finish a technical book wanting more rather than feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, allowing me to spend more time working with the product.

I am looking forward to reading "The Rational Guide To: Building SharePoint Web Parts".

MCDBAs & MCSDs will notice that everything in this brief, easy to read without a computer, book will be found in the Reporting Services Books Online. Of course, they'll also discover a lot of other stuff in the BOL which will not help them get up to speed quickly on the technology. And herein lies the strength of Mann's work - it only contains what developers need to get going with SQL Server Reporting Services.

This book has a reasonable return on your investment. You won't spend much to put it in your library, it won't take long to read and you can expect to learn the basics of reporting services from a number of view points. There two things to keep in mind, though about this book. First, this is very high level overview of the product -- sort of like looking down from a jet cruising along at 30,000 feet. Second, this book covers a lot of topics very quickly. The combination of those two factors means that this book isn't a great introduction to Reporting Services as a whole. That said, it is a very good way to become aware of the major features and issues you're likely to encounter with the product. I would recommend it in two either of two cases:

1.) As a primer to Reporting Services before moving on to the Books On-Line which ship with the product or another, more in-depth technical book.

2.) As a "map to the terrain" of Reporting Services so you can plan your own learning expeditions with the product.

There are a few short comings to the book I'd be remiss not to discuss. Most irksome is the number of times the concept of a Data Set is defined differently. Both the writing style and presentation are choppy. Some times information will be presented as a walk-though with screen captures, some times as bulleted lists and sometimes as just a paragraph of text. While variety in writing is a good thing, inconsistency in presentation is not, pointedly for a title like this. It would have been better to have consistently used a database for the examples that the user should have access to. Finally, the author occasionally references a concept before introducing it. This happens a both the detail level -- like reference the meta data database before defining that that is and at a conceptual level, such as when the author provides a front (what the user sees) to back (what the parts of the service) overview of Reporting Services.

I would certainly recommend this book to anybody who is looking a quick and easy introduction Reporting Services. It probably won't be the only book you'll need, but its definitely a step in the right direction.

As the sole SQL Server DBA in a 1500 person company a lot of technology changes are left to me to get started. Tony's book helped tremendously to get me up to speed, which allowed me to teach others and we're now in the process of converting our Crystal reports to Reporting Services.

Thanks, Tony!

Well If you already have the SQL Server Reporting Services, just read the BOL. BOL is slightly better than this book!
If you are a beginner and want to know about the Reporting Services, don't buy it, it's just a reference book, not a step by step book. If you already know how to use the Reporting Services and tend to forget how to do what, this is the book for you.

Excellent book when you are new to SQL Server reporting services. It covers all you need to create great reports. A small bit of time spent reading it will save you a considerable amount of time tinkering around with the new product. You will need other books to get the most out of the product, but this book is your best first stop.

This book is the perfect way to get up to speed with the feature set and architecture of Reporting Services. It's an easy read, and the quality of the book itself is way more than I expected for the price. It's not an intimidating book due to it's size and layout, so others on your team may also want to read it. In fact, my boss and a co-worker of mine were caught flipping through the copy that was on my desk before I was done with it :)

Keep in mind that you'll rely on the online documentation and possibly another more in-depth book for advanced details, but the Rational Guide is a great way to start your evaluation of Reporting Services. Well worth the money!

Don't waste your time with this book. You will get much more detailed information from Microsoft's website (MSDN Reporting Services). By the time the book was delivered to my house I already new more from the Internet then what the book contained. I give it 2 stars instead of 1 because it is the very first book on RS, and I guess if all you want is to see what RS is about without actually using it, it might be enough.

This book is an excellent resource to get up to speed and productive fast! It's clear, concise, and gives you exactly what you need to start using Reporting Services today!