Using Reports Created in SQL Server Reporting Services in an Alpha Anywhere Project
Description
Many organizations use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and have a number of reports that were developed in SSRS. Using these reports in an Alpha Anywhere application is now possible using the SSRS integration features in Alpha Anywhere.
Discussion
In order to use SSRS reports in an Alpha Anywhere project you must:
- Create a SSRS connection string that points to a SSRS server
- Link the SSRS reports that you want to use in the Web Project Control Panel
These steps are discussed in more detail below.
Once you have created a link to a SSRS report, the report link can be used just like any other Alpha Anywhere report. You can add the report to the TabbedUI, or you can create actions using Action Javascript to display the report.
Creating a SSRS Connection String
To create SSRS connection string, select the Tools menu when the Web Control Panel has focus and then select the SQL Server Reporting Services Connection strings menu item.
You can then define a new connection string, or edit an existing connection string:
Linking SSRS Reports
To link SSRS reports in your Web Project, go to the Web Projects Control Panel and select the Reports category.
Then click the New button. The dropdown menu shows these choices:
This will bring up a dialog where you can select the SSRS reports you want to link in your Alpha Anywhere project.
Select your SSRS connection string in the Connection String dropdown box. A list of reports defined in the selected SSRS server will be displayed.
Select as many of the listed reports as you want.
Notice that at the bottom of the dialog there is a Preview Reports hyperlink that will allow you to preview any report before you select it. If the selected report uses parameters, you will be prompted for the parameter values.
Links will be created for each of the selected reports. A link is a file in the Web Projects control panel with information about the SSRS report. The filename includes the .ssrs. string in the name just before the .a5rpt extension.
For example:
Once a report has been linked, you can set security on the report as if it were a native Alpha Anywhere report. You can add the report to a TabbedUI, or show the report when a button is clicked by using Open a Report action in Action Javascript.
Publishing Profiles
When you define a publishing profile to publish your application you can specify values for your SSRS connection strings, just as you can for all other types of connection strings (e.g. AlphaDAO, storage, etc.). This means that you can connect to a different SSRS server when you publish your application than you do when you are developing your application.
Supported SSRS Frameworks
Alpha Anywhere supports SQL Server Reporting Services R2 or newer. To use SSRS with Alpha Anywhere's reporting framework, the SQL Server Reporting Services must support the endpoints for the following namespaces:
- ReportExecution2005
- ReportService2010
For more information about the ReportExecution and ReportService endpoints, see Report Server Web Service Endpoints.
Videos
Using SQL Server Reporting Services Reports in an Alpha Anywhere Project
Many organizations who use SQL Server also use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Using reports created in SSRS in an Alpha Anywhere project is possible.
In this video we show how reports defined in SSRS can be used in Alpha Anywhere applications.