Passing parameters to a report

Lately we’re getting more and more interest from multitenancy SaaS providers and OEM partners who want to integrate RSinteract into their web applications. A really useful feature of RSinteract is the ability to link to a report from a 3^rd party application and pass filter values and UI parameters on the URL.

To do this with a report based on a SQL Server or Oracle data source:

• Create a report with filters, or use this sample report which comes with RSinteract: http://localhost/RSinteract/?/RSinteract+Samples%2fOrders+by+Category
• Open the report and hover over the parameter in the left hand sidebar
• Note the RDL field: Fullname
• Add the parameter name and value to the URL:
  • http://localhost/RSinteract/?/RSinteract+Samples%2fOrders+by+Category&Fullname=Pak,%20Jae
  • Separate the parameters with &
  • Replace any spaces with %20
  • Parameter names are case-sensitive
• For Between filters you actually have two parameters: add _0 and _1 to the RDL field:
  • …Orders+by+Category&OrderDate_0=1%20Jan%202003&OrderDate_1=31%20Dec%202003

For a report based on an Analysis Services OLAP data source:

• Create a report with filters, or use this sample report which comes with RSinteract: http://localhost/RSinteract/?/RSinteract+Samples%2fSales+by+Country+(OLAP)
• Open the report and hover over the parameter in the left hand sidebar
• Note the RDL field: Date_Fiscal
• Hold ctrl and double click on the empty bit of sidebar below the Filters panel, click OK to hide the popup message and you’ll see the Reporting Services toolbar at the top of your report
• Note the parameter value {[Date].[Fiscal].[Fiscal Year].&[2004]}
  • Remove the braces { }
  • Change ampersands to %26
  • Change [ to %5b
  • Change ] to %5d
  • Separate the parameters with &
  • Replace any spaces with %20
  • Parameter names are case-sensitive
• Put your new URL together by adding: &Date_Fiscal=%5bDate%5d.%5bFiscal%5d.%5bFiscal%20Year%5d.%26%5b2003%5d
• Try your new URL …Sales+by+Country+(OLAP)&Date_Fiscal=%5bDate%5d.%5bFiscal%5d.%5bFiscal%20Year%5d.%26%5b2003%5d

Notes:

• Any errors in the report frame are probably due to invalid parameters – if you’re not sure about your parameter values then paste them directly into the Reporting Services toolbar and hit the “View Report” button
• You don’t need to pass all of a report’s filter parameters on the URL, those not passed will use the normal report defaults.
• If your Filters tab has the ‘Always Ask’ option ticked you’ll need to add “&rsi:noq=1” to the URL to tell RSinteract not to show the question screen.
• The rsi:noq=1 option only works if all parameters in the report have a default value or a value is passed on the URL.
• Make sure you keep everything case sensitive.

RSinteract Imminent Release

We’ve been really busy over the last year adding new features and working with our partners to integrate RSinteract with their web applications. The result is currently a beta release available for download here. New features include:

• Multitenancy support through custom data and security extensions
• Support for SQL Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7
• Intelligent data discovery and cleansing of table and field names
• Blank value matching in filters and conditional formatting
• Ability to add links and drill-through to charts and indicators
• Improved date search and caching for OLAP data sources
• Improved editing of field width and font formatting

In the next few months we’ll be working on support for Oracle data sources; a configurable meta layer for field names, formatting and joining; and dynamic filters such as this week and year to date. Watch this space…

Indicators Demo

Here’s a quick demo of the new indicators feature. It’s a pretty trivial one but shows the potential.

http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf

Sneak Preview

Here’s a sneak preview of the new look and feel and some of the new features included in the upcoming major release of RSinteract.

• New formatting options including: Font, Font Size, Font Style
• Instant formatting options from the field selection screen
• New conditional formatting options as above and more!
• Indicator images in the report for creating simple instant dashboards.
• Selectable Join types for joining tables from the front end
• Join tables direct from the edit section screen, allowing the addition of data to existing SQL reports.
• Support for SQL Server 2008
• Improved field selection in the new report wizard
• New tree structure for creating SQL reports making it even faster and easier to find the data you want.
• New tree structure in the SQL filter screen drop downs to allow quicker selection of filter field
• Updated Look and Feel
• Beta of Windows SharePoint Services support
• Improved Custom Fields Editor
• Report Branding support
• The much missed previous button is back (excuse the pun)!
• Plus lots and lots of bug fixes!

Let us know if you like it or not by commenting!