Reporting Services-getting started

Someone pleeeease help me. I need help creating a report. A simple report
in SQL 2005. I use Access and ADP's all the time - the reports are very easy
to create, modify, etc. I'd like to know how to make a report using
Reporting Services. The "help" is of no use - I can't understand how to even
use the report wizard. It seems like there are 610 different ways to do one
simple thing - create a report.
I have views of data that I have created that I need to present - in report
format, with groupings, totals, etc. Can someone please tell me how to do
this?
Also, what are the benefits of using reporting services versus just creating
an ADP and developing reports the old fashioned way? Seriously, what ARE the
benefits?
Any help would be very welcomed. Thanks.
--
FrustratedHey Craig,
"Craig" <Craig@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6137FDEC-B961-48F9-BA30-89ECFECF9AE9@.microsoft.com...
> Someone pleeeease help me. I need help creating a report. A simple
> report
> in SQL 2005. I use Access and ADP's all the time - the reports are very
> easy
> to create, modify, etc. I'd like to know how to make a report using
> Reporting Services. The "help" is of no use - I can't understand how to
> even
> use the report wizard. It seems like there are 610 different ways to do
> one
> simple thing - create a report.
> I have views of data that I have created that I need to present - in
> report
> format, with groupings, totals, etc. Can someone please tell me how to do
> this?
> Also, what are the benefits of using reporting services versus just
> creating
> an ADP and developing reports the old fashioned way? Seriously, what ARE
> the
> benefits?
What's ADP? I worked with Access but this acronym is missing in my
vocabulary.
A damn good book (although on RS 2000) is the Hitchhikers Guide to Reporting
Services.
About RS: Sorry but to me it looks pretty straightforward. You create a
report, create datasets that query a datasource that you might have to
create. Then you stick those into the report and format them. W/o more
detailed information about where you're stuck it's hard to help you.
Christoph|||If ADPs are doing what you need then I would suggest just continuing with
them.
ADPs require Access to be installed at each PC. And the same version of
Access. If this is not a problem and it is working well for you then you can
just continue to use them.
RS is a server based product. You develop and then deploy. As a server based
product there is more infrastructure to setup (versus ADPs). You have to
know about IIS, Windows 2003 and SQL Server.
Access is a much more mature product and in my opion has better wizards. RS
would do well to add additional wizards. But that being said, if you create
a report using the wizard in RS it does allow you to group and it adds the
group and totals for you. Have you tried something simple just to test?
Advantages of RS. Server based, clients only need a browser. Format
independent reports, render to different formats: Html, Excel, PDF, CSV etc.
Can integrate with own apps either with URL integration, web services or
controls which ship with VS 2005.
One other point, there are walkthroughs but they start from scratch, not
using the wizard. I suggest first creating some sample reports using the
wizard and then modifying the report.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Craig" <Craig@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6137FDEC-B961-48F9-BA30-89ECFECF9AE9@.microsoft.com...
> Someone pleeeease help me. I need help creating a report. A simple
> report
> in SQL 2005. I use Access and ADP's all the time - the reports are very
> easy
> to create, modify, etc. I'd like to know how to make a report using
> Reporting Services. The "help" is of no use - I can't understand how to
> even
> use the report wizard. It seems like there are 610 different ways to do
> one
> simple thing - create a report.
> I have views of data that I have created that I need to present - in
> report
> format, with groupings, totals, etc. Can someone please tell me how to do
> this?
> Also, what are the benefits of using reporting services versus just
> creating
> an ADP and developing reports the old fashioned way? Seriously, what ARE
> the
> benefits?
> Any help would be very welcomed. Thanks.
> --
> Frustrated|||In Books Online look for Report Wizard. There will be two hits for it. Look
at report wizard help.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Craig" <Craig@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6137FDEC-B961-48F9-BA30-89ECFECF9AE9@.microsoft.com...
> Someone pleeeease help me. I need help creating a report. A simple
> report
> in SQL 2005. I use Access and ADP's all the time - the reports are very
> easy
> to create, modify, etc. I'd like to know how to make a report using
> Reporting Services. The "help" is of no use - I can't understand how to
> even
> use the report wizard. It seems like there are 610 different ways to do
> one
> simple thing - create a report.
> I have views of data that I have created that I need to present - in
> report
> format, with groupings, totals, etc. Can someone please tell me how to do
> this?
> Also, what are the benefits of using reporting services versus just
> creating
> an ADP and developing reports the old fashioned way? Seriously, what ARE
> the
> benefits?
> Any help would be very welcomed. Thanks.
> --
> Frustrated|||Thanks for the help...
--
Craig
"Bruce L-C [MVP]" wrote:
> In Books Online look for Report Wizard. There will be two hits for it. Look
> at report wizard help.
>
> --
> Bruce Loehle-Conger
> MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
> "Craig" <Craig@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6137FDEC-B961-48F9-BA30-89ECFECF9AE9@.microsoft.com...
> > Someone pleeeease help me. I need help creating a report. A simple
> > report
> > in SQL 2005. I use Access and ADP's all the time - the reports are very
> > easy
> > to create, modify, etc. I'd like to know how to make a report using
> > Reporting Services. The "help" is of no use - I can't understand how to
> > even
> > use the report wizard. It seems like there are 610 different ways to do
> > one
> > simple thing - create a report.
> >
> > I have views of data that I have created that I need to present - in
> > report
> > format, with groupings, totals, etc. Can someone please tell me how to do
> > this?
> >
> > Also, what are the benefits of using reporting services versus just
> > creating
> > an ADP and developing reports the old fashioned way? Seriously, what ARE
> > the
> > benefits?
> >
> > Any help would be very welcomed. Thanks.
> >
> > --
> > Frustrated
>
>