When I run a report in the Report Manager using Internet Explorer (I had this issue on IE7) I got the following error:
Your browser does not support scripts or has been configured not to allow scripts.
Solution
Should you get it as well follow the instruction below:
- go to (from its menu) Tools/Internet Options
- go to Security tab
- select Trusted zone from the list of available zones
- click Sites button
- in new window provide the URL of the Reports Manager (e.g. http://MACHINE_NAME/*); if you are running Reports Manager not on the default port, provide the port number as well
That helped me.
Should you have any problems with it, let me know.
If you want to create a report in 5 mins, you should follow this tutorial.
All requirement software can be found there. I installed the following:
The tutorial instructs you how to create the report (RDL file): how to define the data source, layout and how to preview the report.
Once you’re done, you can use Report Manager to deploy the report. In my environment Report Manager is available at http://localhost/Reports$SQLExpress and looks as below:
It is possible that Report Manager is available at a different URL on your machine. To check the URL go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools, then Internet Information Services (this is how to get this screen under Windows XP). On the window you get expand Internet Information Services\XXX (local computer)\Web Sites\Default Web Sites. You should see anything that is similar to Reports and ReportServer. As I described before, in my case those virtual directories were named with $SQLExpress suffix at the end.
Anyway, once you get to the Report Manger, click Upload File button. In the new screen choose the file to upload (RDL file you’ve created with the tutorial). Then in main screen of Report Manager select the report you’ve added. Now you should see the report. As the ouput is long, it is paginated so you can use Previuos Page and Next Page buttons to show different parts of the report. You can also choose the format in which the report is presented; by default you can view it in the following formats:
- embedded in the website
- PDF file
- Excel file
That’s all. Now you can create any report you want.
I believe Reporting Services are very powerful tool for report generation. Unfortunately the installation process can be time consuming as you might face some problems with the cofiguration… Of course such problems can be the reason of unsufficient knowledge in SQL Server configuration and management, etc.
Anyway, blank Report Manager screen can be one of the problems, which displays as shown below:
Solution
This issue can be easily fixed by unsetting Enable anonymous access feature for either Reports or ReportServer virtual directory in IIS. In my case (on Windows 2003) I had to switch that of for both that virtual directories.
To do that follow the steps below:
- go to Properties of either virtual directory in the IIS manager
- select Directory Security tab in the Property window
- click Edit in the Authentication and access control section
- disable Enable anonymous access feature
- close all windows by clicking OK buttons in the windows that showed up
Recently, I’ve learned how to write DTS (Data Transformation Services) in SQL Server 2000. In general, this tool allows transformation of data: copying between different databases (by different vendors) and files (Excel, CSV, etc.). The idea is simple; the usage often priceless.
The execution path of a package is defined using a kind of graph, where nodes are tasks to execute. To operate on data one can write VB/ActiveX script and SQL queries (either direct queries or encapsulated within stored procedures).
Everything would be great if it were easier to write the packages… I believe it’s quite difficult to write the first package, especially with loops – not everything is obvious why/how to use. Also, there’s much less information on the Internet (guides, code examples, fora) than for example for Java programming language…
Anyway, I found the following links useful: SQL DTS and this
