439 training reviews
20 years in business
Call us on: 01457 858 877
What's new in Reporting Services 2008 R2
Reporting Services 2008 R2 isn't an interim release - it's a major update. If you work with maps, SharePoint or frequently find yourself recreating the same report components over and over again, you should upgrade now. Even casual users will enjoy new features like indicators and sparklines.
Specific new or changed features in Reporting Services 2008 R2 include:
New/changed Reporting Services 2008 R2 feature - SHARED DATASETS
Shared datasets allow you to base multiple reports on the same query. Wise Owl aren't sure this is a good idea - it would be better to create a view or stored procedure in SQL Server - but this feature will be useful for those who don't know how to do this.
New/changed Reporting Services 2008 R2 feature - REPORT PARTS
You can now publish tables, charts, matrices and other components of a report as a report part, allowing others to reuse these in their own reports:
New/changed Reporting Services 2008 R2 feature - SPARKLINES, INDICATORS AND DATA BARS
As for Excel 2010, you can now analyse data using sparklines (you can also use indicators and data bars):
New/changed Reporting Services 2008 R2 feature - MAPS
Reporting Services now allows you to display maps - the example below shows someone creating a map of California from one of the templates provided:
New/changed Reporting Services 2008 R2 feature - OTHER FEATURES
Some of the other new features for Reporting Services 2008 R2 include:
- Report Builder 3.0 is the latest version of Microsoft's report authoring software for those who prefer to work in a Microsoft Office environment.
- You can now rotate text 2700
- When exporting to Excel, you can create names for worksheet tabs automatically by naming report pages
- There are many more options available for report pagination (including the ability to disable page breaks based on expression values)
- A new LOOKUP function does the equivalent of DLOOKUP in Access or VLOOKUP in Excel
The diagram below shows the new LOOKUP function in the expression wizard:
You can view a full list of changes in recent versions of Reporting Services by returning to our main Reporting Services version history page.