Software Development : Reporting Services

Microsoft SQL Server 2011 aka SQL Server Denali CTP1 Community Technology Preview is released

eralper — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:37:00 GMT

Microsoft has released the upcoming version of SQL Server, SQL Server 2011 code-name SQL Server Denali CTP1 (Community Technology Preview 1) for SQL Server database professional, SQL Server database administrators and developers.

The MS SQL Server 2011 release date of first CTP, CTP1 is 8th of November, 2010.
We can expect the next CTP within 3 months time. And a similar timing schedule is leading me to expect the MS SQL Server 2011 release date of RTM version at the end of 2011.

You can find the MS SQL Server 2011 download link at Microsoft Downloads

After you download Microsoft SQL Server 2011 CTP1 from Microsoft Downloads and install SQL Server 2011, to see what is new in SQL Server 2011 and work with samples, you can also download SQL Server 2011 sample databases and AdventureWorks sample database for SQL2011.

You will find more information about next version of SQL Server, MS SQL Server 2011 or SQL Server Denali at MS SQL Server 2011.

Download Report Viewer - Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 Redistributable Package

eralper — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:34:00 GMT

Microsoft has released Report Viewer 2010 for Web and Windows applications. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report developers can use Microsoft Report Viewer to display sql reports in their Windows and Web programs and software.
To summarize, Microsoft Report Viewer control enables developers build applications that are running on Microsoft .NET Framework in order to present Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

SQL Server Reporting Services developers can download Report Viewer 2010, Microsoft Report Viewer 200 Redistributable Package from Microsoft Downloads portal.

The free Report Viewer download file ReportViewer.exe is about 4.5 MB in size.
Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 redistributable package requires MS SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services or higher versions for server processing mode and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 or .NET Framework 4.0

Download SQL Server 2008 SP2 which has been released by Microsoft today

eralper — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:01:00 GMT

Microsoft has released a new Service Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Microsoft SQL Server users can download SQL Server 2008 SP2 from Microsoft Downloads portal for various editions of MS SQL Server 2008.

The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) available for download includes :
15K partitioning Improvement
Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode
SQL Server 2008 R2 Application and Multi-Server Management Compatibility with SQL Server 2008,
including :
SQL Server 2008 Instance Management
Data-tier Application (DAC) Support

Please refer to Microsoft Downloads for more detailed information, download files and related downloads.

Today, I got Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) on my Windows Update at my home PC running Windows 7 Ultimate. The SQL Server 2008 SP2 was among optional updates

Microsoft Istanbul Summit - MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event : SQL Server Presentations

eralper — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:58:00 GMT

Microsoft Istanbul Summit will be held in Istanbul on 17th and 18th of May, 2010. Microsoft 2010 products including MS Office 2010, MS SharePoint 2010, MS Project 2010, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, etc and the main interest point of me, MS SQL Server 2008 R2 will be main products of the Microsoft Show on these two days.

Here are the MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event presentations from the first day in Istanbul.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Overview by Eric King, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Increase IT Productivity with Microsoft Business Intelligence (Microsoft İş Zekası ile BT Verimliliğinizi Arttırın) by Vadihan Yalçın, SQL Server Support Expert, Microsoft Turkey
Data Warehouse Fast Track by Cem Güven, Platform Solutions Expert, Microsoft Turkey

Second day of the MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event.
Master Data Management (Master Data Yönetimi) by Önder Yıldırım
SQl Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse by Sedat Yoğurtçuoğlu
Reporting Services and Report Builder 3.0 Fast Reporting by Onur Ömer Öztürk
Develop and deploy CEP with StreamInsight by Thomas Kejser, Senior Program Manager

I will attend Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 presentations of the Microsoft Launch Event for full two days. I will try to put some photos and slides from Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event today and tomorrow to share the event and the information with you.
After the MS SQL2008 R2 release date, installing SQL Server 2008 R2, soon I'll also share installation notes with you here on Kodyaz.

Hello if you are excited about MS SQL Server 2008 R2 like me you can see a few photos taken during the first day of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event in Istanbul. The photo gallery includes also MS Office 2010 improvements, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 improvements, too.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Release Date is so Close

eralper — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:36:00 GMT

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing. The SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM version is build and within the shortest time with the SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Events we can expect to see the MS SQL Server 2008 R2 available for public.

The next SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event is in Bogata, Columbia on 26th of April
On the same days an other SQL2008 R2 Launc Event will be held in Prague, Czech Republic.

On 4th of May, this time the SQL2008R2 will be announced to IT professionals in Washington, USA.
One day later, on May 5, in Paris France and in Mumbai India Launch Events will take place.

In India, also on 7th of Delhi another SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event will be held.

In Turkey, Launch Event will be done in Istanbul on 17th of May

For a full list of launch events and for registration please follow the events link.
For more detail please follow the url SQL2008 R2 release date

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eralper — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:48:00 GMT

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I hope the exam result is a success for our friends who have already used voucher codes.

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Free Exam Vouchers for Kodyaz.com Visitors by MCP Learning Rewards Program

eralper — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:20:00 GMT

Hello all,

I have been invited to participate in MCP Learning Rewards Program which will enable me to distribute free exam vouchers to Kodyaz.com visitors.

If you are following my Microsoft Certification blog entries, you might have realized that I have taken a number of Microsoft Certification exams. And Microsoft Learning has invited me to participate in the limited pilot of the new MCP Learning Rewards Program.

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So if you are willing to take Microsoft Certification exams, follow posts related with free exam vouchers. I'll be informing you about the latest status within a few days.

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Download SQL Server 2008 R2 Developers Training Kit

eralper — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:31:00 GMT

Hello SQL Server developers,

Programming on SQL Server using t-sql is one of the things that I like alot.
Working with data, selecting, querying, aggregating data, reporting in a meaningful way is one of the most loved tasks I enjoy in my job.

With the t-sql enhancements and t-sql improvements introduced with MS SQL Server 2005 and with MS SQL Server 2008, coding in t-sql is enabling many difficult tasks to be implemented easier in less code.

Now, you probably know Microsoft SQL team has released the SQL Server 2008 R2.
The SQL team is now providing a developers training kit for all of sql developers and of course for database administrators.

T-SQL programmers can download MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Developers Training Kit from Microsoft Downloads web site.

The total size of the training file is about 172 MB.

The sql training kit includes training videos, webcasts, presentations on SQL Server and sql, demos and sql hands-on labs.

There are sql training topics on Filestream, Spatial data, SQL CLR, StreamInsight, Reporting Services improvements, new T-SQL enhancements like date and time data types, Grouping Sets, Merge statement (sql developers were actually expecting T-SQL Merge with SQL2005), tsql Table-Valued Parameters, etc.

If you want to learn more on SQL Server 2008 development and take a fast course on T-SQL features and improvements in SQLServer 2008, download SQL Server 2008 R2 Developers Training Kit and watch video files and work on demo applications and do the hands-on labs.

Installing MS SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP August

eralper — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:03:00 GMT

Hello all SQL Server developers and administrators (DBAs)

I have recently downloaded MS SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP and installed on my development computer to test and get used to new features of the new SQLServer : SQL Server 2008 R2

Actually I got error while installing the Analysis Services but the SQL Engine of the MS SQL Server 2008 R2 installation is completed successfully.

SELECT @@VERSION

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (CTP) - 10.50.1092.20 (Intel X86)
  Jul 22 2009 21:29:56
  Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
  Enterprise Evaluation Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 3)

I'll be informing you on the new enhancements and new improvements with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 here in this web site.

SQL admins and developers, MS SQL Server 2008 SP 1 is now available for download

eralper — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:38:00 GMT

Hello all,

If you are working as a SQL Server Database Administrator or a SQL Developer in your company, you might be happy to hear that Microsoft has released the MS SQL Server Service Pack 1 SP1.

With its approximately 300 MB size, you can find the downloadable executables for MSSQL Server 2008 SP1 at Microsoft Downloads.

You can find detailed information about service pack 1 (SQL2008 SP1) and download links at SQL Server administrators, MS SQL Server 2008 SP 1 is now available for download!

Can not Rotate Text so Set Writing Mode is from Bottom to Top

eralper — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:17:00 GMT

Hello all MS SQL Reporting Services developers,

I'm developing Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports using SSRS Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) both SSRS 2005 and SSRS 2008.
I want to write all text in a table's header columns from bottom-to-up but I could not find a solution which gives me what I want.
Reporting Services rotates text in textbox by 90 degrees where a 270 degree rotate will solve by problem.

There are some solutions by converting the text into image and displaying as an image.
But since I want to serve the report as an EXCEL report, and since the report user might not like an image I'm stucked covering this request.
I have played with Direction and WritingMode properties of textbox in SQL Reporting Services 2008 and played with text direction and writing mode properties in format tab of textbox properties window; LTR and RTL, lr-tb and tb-rl

I have tried to find a solution as a work around by typing the column headers in reverse order like "REDAEH" instead of "HEADER" and using one true type upside-down fonts like Upside Down JJ or Blufunken.
But I'm not sure how this will result actually. I'm working on it.

Here is the current situation, a confusing problem because SSRS is not capable of rotating the text 270 degrees.

Here is the view I want to have. I have marked the bottom-to-up text writing mode with red borders.

Rotate Text Solution
Here is an update for the solution of Rotate Text in SQL Server Reporting Services reports with previous SSRS version than SQL Server 2008 R2, please refer to Jason Thomas blog for creating images on the fly as table column headers instead of rotating text.
Thanks Jason for his solution, very helpful for whom working with SQL Server Reporting Services versions before SQL2008 R2

Download MS SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) CTP

eralper — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:19:00 GMT

Microsoft has released the CTP Edition (Community Technology Preview) of MS SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.

A public available free download of MS SQL2008 SP1 can be found at Microsoft Downloads - SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 - CTP.

The SP1 downloads are about 260 - 320 MB in sizes.

SQLServer2008SP1-KB959337-IA64-ENU.exe 313.3 MB
SQLServer2008SP1-KB959337-x64-ENU.exe 324.0 MB
SQLServer2008SP1-KB959337-x86-ENU.exe 262.8 MB

And the MS SQLServer 2008 Express Edition SP1 CTP are available at Microsoft Downloads - SQL Server 2008 Express Edition Service Pack 1 - CTP and are in sizes about 80-105 MB.

The installation is smooth and caused no problem or faced with no bug during installation.

After all my SQLServer 2008 instance build number is as Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP1) - 10.0.2520.0

I passed the beta versions of 70-451 and 70-433 certification exams

eralper — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Hello all Microsoft SQL Server 2008 administrators and SQL Server 2008 developers,

I want to share the recent happy news from Microsoft Learning, I have succeffully passed the 71-451 beta exam or the 70-451 Exam PRO: Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Besides this happy exam score, I'm also learnt that I have passed the beta exam 71-433 or the Exam 70-433 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development certification exam.

I have earned the Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Database Developer 2008 with these results from the recent beta certifications exams that I have taken.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance Certification Practice Exam

So what is next?
I have completed one of the targets that I have aimed so I'm happy with this.
I would like to go further on the administration side of the MS SQL Server 2008.
And I'd like to switch to the .NET Framework programming certifications by sparing some time on preparation for those exams.
I have also started in taking a part in a new web application project with Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.
And I also plan to upgrade the existing Winform applications to the newer versions to get some performance increases.
So I believe next year I'll feel myself more confident on .NET certification exams.

I passed the 71-452 PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

eralper — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:34:00 GMT

Hello all Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence (BI) developers,

You all know with the release of new MS SQL Server version, SQL Server 2008 the new SQL Server certifications and the new Microsoft certification exams are also being released.

70-452 PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 certification exam is one of the candidates of the new MS SQL Server BI certification exams.

70-452 certification test was in the beta period with the exam code 71-452. And I had taken the 71-452 exam during its beta period. Today I got an email from Microsoft Certified Professional Programs informing me that I have earned my Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Busines Intelligence Developer 2008 certification. This means that I had passed in the 71-452 beta certification exam and earned the credits towards the MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008 certification, which is one of the newest Microsoft SQL Server 2008 certifications.

SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance Certification Practice Exam

So what is next?
I'm going to try to follow the new Microsoft SQL Server Certification track for the MS SQL Server 2008.
I'm planning to get the MCITP: Database Developer 2008 certification. This will be an enjoyable study for me since I loved the enhancements in the t-sql, database engine, CDC, fulltext, new data types, filtered index features, etc. that may be very useful for a database sql developer or a SQL Server administrator.
So I'm on the train for the next MS SQL Server certification. I do not plan to study by using an IT training course or using materials from a Microsoft certification training. Perhaps I can get use of Microsoft Learning site and training material from this site.

See you on my next blog post with a new SQL Server certification exam news!

Register 71-452: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Exam free using Promotional Code

eralper — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:06:00 GMT

Hello all,

Register for SQL Server 2008 Certification Beta Exam: 71-452: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

You can register for the 71-452: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certification beta exam for free using the promotional code 3568C.

SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance Certification Practice Exam

For preparation guide of the exam 71-452 (beta version of 70-452), you can refer to Preparation Guide for Exam 70-452 - PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008