Comparing Report Authoring Environments
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services offers three report authoring environments:
Report Builder 2.0. Use this tool to design reports by using the familiar Ribbon interface.
Report Builder 1.0. Use this tool to design ad hoc reports that use a report model as a source of data.
Report Designer. Use this tool in SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio to design full-function reports.
All three authoring environments create report definitions in the Report Definition Language (RDL). This topic lists the features that are supported in each authoring environment.
Project Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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Integrate SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports and data sources, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) cubes, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages, and Visual Studio (VS) language projects in a single solution in BI Development Studio. |
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Use VS-compatible source control systems such as VSTS or SourceSafe. |
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Enable business users who do not want to work in BI Development Studio to create their own report or to update, edit and share existing reports. |
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Use Microsoft Office-optimized report authoring environment. |
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Use multiple deployment configurations. |
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Manage resources such as images as part of a project. |
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Custom configuration options for data extensions, rendering extensions, custom assemblies. |
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Report Data Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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Create and use embedded data sources. |
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Use shared data sources with report server credentials. |
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Create shared data sources. |
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Create queries that retrieve data directly from relational databases by using a graphical query designer. |
View Designer from Visual Database Tools |
Relational Query Designer: SQL Server only |
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Create queries that retrieve data directly from relational databases by using a text-based query designer. |
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Create queries that retrieve data directly from multidimensional databases by using a graphical query designer. |
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Create queries for a multidimensional database by using a text-based query designer that supports extended field properties. |
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Create queries that retrieve data directly from data mining models. |
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Retrieve data from multiple queries for multiple data sources in a single report. |
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Import queries from .sql files or reports. |
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Retrieve data from data source types SQL Server, Analysis Services, Sap NetWeaver BI, Hyperion Essbase, OLE DB, Teradata, ODBC, Oracle, XML. |
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Retrieve data from report models built from SQL Server, Analysis Services, Oracle, or Teradata. |
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Report Layout Support Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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New Report Wizard. |
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Data Region Wizard. |
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Rich visualizations (chart, gauge). |
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Basic chart |
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Free-form report layout surface. |
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Query generation through layout actions. |
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Automatic generation of infinite drill through links. |
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Automatic formatting of data for number format and column width. |
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Flexible data layout (Tablix). |
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Snaplines for alignment. |
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Zoom. |
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Field tags to add fields to cells. |
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Placeholder text for simple expressions. |
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Full support for RDL features. |
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Advanced grouping, sorting, filtering. |
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Multiple data regions in one report. |
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Report Expression Support Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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IntelliSense for report expressions. |
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Display processing errors in the Task pane. |
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Report Rendering Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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Excel |
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Word |
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PDF (Acrobat) |
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MHTML (Web archive) |
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TIFF |
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CSV (Comma delimited) |
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XML (Report data only) |
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HTML 4.0 |
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Custom Extension Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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Provides design time support for Custom Report Items (CRI). |
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Use local CRIs. |
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Use report server CRIs. |
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Use local custom .NET Framework assemblies in languages such as VB.NET or C#. |
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Use runtime custom .NET Framework assemblies on the report server. |
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Use local custom data sources. |
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Use custom data sources installed on the report server. |
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Use a custom security extension on the report server to authenticate username and password. |
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Miscellaneous Features
Feature |
Report Designer (BI Development Studio) in SQL Server 2008 |
Report Builder 1.0 |
Report Builder 2.0 (Standalone and ClickOnce) |
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View RDL source. |
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Import existing reports from Access. |
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See Also
Concepts
Other Resources
Change History
Updated content |
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Added information about automatic data formatting in the Report Layout Support Features table. |
Added information about support for custom security extensions in the Custom Extension Features table. |
Included information about feature set in Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce, introduced in SQL Server 2008 PCU1. |