Report Services Switching Report Service Providers
NetForum sites existing prior to the 2006.01 build that are using Crystal Reports will eventually be switched to Reporting Services, but Reporting Services will not be the sole reporting tool until all of the custom (non-baseline) Crystal formats have been developed in Reporting Services and deployed.
When starting the migration from Crystal to Reporting Services, the first step is to switch the ReportServiceProvider system option to Mixed.
The next step is to run the "Admin Switch Report" which makes certain settings for the report setups based on the mode chosen for the ReportServiceProvider system option. This report is available from the Admin area in Reports Central, and from the Report Management Tools area of the Report Setup group item in the Admin module.
**After any change of the ReportServiceProvider system option, the "Admin Switch Report" must be run.**
This report runs a stored procedure that determines the value for the ReportServiceProvider system option, and then makes these changes accordingly:
- If the system option is "MRS" or "Mixed", then the Report Provider field for each report setup profile that is not metadata locked is set to "MRS" so that they run using Reporting Services. **THIS WILL INCLUDE ANY CUSTOM REPORT THAT DOES NOT HAVE ITS METADATA LOCKED**
- If the system option is "Crystal", then the Report Provider field for each report setup profile that is not metadata locked is set to "Crystal" so that they run using Crystal Reports. **THIS WILL INCLUDE ANY CUSTOM REPORT THAT DOES NOT HAVE ITS METADATA LOCKED**
- As of the release of the 2006.01 build, there are 9 reports that exist in Crystal, but not in Reporting Services. When the system option is set to "MRS" or "Mixed" and the Admin Switch Report is run, these reports will be soft-deleted (rpt_delete_flag set to "1") so that they do not show in the application. These are the reports affected:
- All Certification Reports (5 total)
- Batch Invoice
- Invoice By Customer
- Quick Invoice
- Customer Profile Invoice
When the system option is set to "Crystal", and the Admin Switch Report is run, these reports will be un-deleted (rpt_delete_flag set to "0") so that it will show in the application.
- The value for the parameter Summary/Drill Down will be changed from "Summary/Drill down View" to "Summary View" for the Gift Summary Report, Valued Inventory Report and iWeb Page Access Counts by User and Date when the system option is MRS or Mixed. The reverse occurs when the system option is "Crystal" and the "Admin Switch Report" is run.
**Important Note Regarding Baseline Report Setups with Locked Metadata — some baseline report setups are invoked from Form Control buttons or Form Links on forms. Examples are the membership and subscription renewal process reports and the Batch report. When these reports are called from a form, NetForum is referencing the report setup profile. Therefore, when a custom version of one of these reports is created, it is necessary to use the existing baseline report setup profile instead of creating a new one for the custom report. After the customization is complete, the metadata is locked for that baseline report setup. These reports, and any other report that has the metadata lock turned on, will not be touched by the Admin Switch Report. ALL LOCKED REPORTS MUST BE RESOLVED MANUALLY IN TERMS OF WHICH REPORT SERVICE PROVIDER IT RUNS UNDER.
When the Admin Switch Report is run, it provides output indicating what changes were made.
How the ReportServiceProvider system option affects the format drop-down in Reports Central
The format drop-downs (example seen again below) are based on how the ReportServiceProvider system option is set. For "MRS", you will see "HTML", "PDF", "CSV(ASCII)", "Excel", and "XML"as options for all reports in Reports Central. For "Crystal", you will see "HTML", "PDF", "Word", "Excel", and "RTF". When in "Mixed" mode, the appropriate drop-down will be presented based on what is set on the report setup.
System Options for Reporting Services
Here is a list of the system options for reporting functionality. Included is the description as written in the NetForum application. Also included is a sample value, as set on our baseline development site.
| System Option | Option Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ReportApplicationRSDyanmicReport | This option applies to MRS only.This system option has the path to the dynamic report template.This option only applies to Quick Reports and it is a required field.Your Report Service Provider System Option has to be MRS for this to apply or all Quick-Reports will use Crystal.You can manually create a new template for all Quick-Reports and deploy it to the "/Base Reports" folder. | /Base Reports/Dynamic_Report_Template.rdl |
| ReportApplicationRSFooterImagePath | This option applies to MRS only.This system option holds the path to the footer report image. Sample Path: /FolderName/ImageName. The Folder name has to be a valid MRS Folder. "/Header_Footer_Images" folder exists in a standard NF MRS deployment by default. | /Header_Footer_Images/Footer_Image.gif |
| ReportApplicationRSHeaderImagePath | This option applies to MRS only.This system option holds the path to the header report image. Sample Path: /FolderName/ImageName. The Folder name has to be a valid MRS Folder. "/Header_Footer_Images" folder exists in a standard NF MRS deployment by default. | /Header_Footer_Images/img_header_avectra1.jpg |
| ReportApplicationRSServerFolder | This option applies to MRS only.Folder name where temp reports are stored on the SQL Report Services Server.It must be a valid folder name on the Reporting Services Server."temp_reports" folder exists in a standard NF MRS deployment by default. | temp_reports |
| ReportApplicationRSServerName | This option applies to MRS only.SQL Reporting Services Server Name. | netforum |
| ReportApplicationRSServerProtocol | This option applies to MRS only.Report Application Server Protocol.Valid values are "http://" and "https://"For "https://" to work the Microsoft Reporting Services Server and the "ReportServer" virtual folder need to be secured (SSL). | http:// |
| ReportDBLoginPassword | This option applies to MRS only.Password for the report user account used by SQL Reporting Services. By Default this is a SQL User/Account Password. | ******** |
| ReportDBLoginUserName | This option applies to MRS only.Report user account for logging into the database by SQL ReportServices. By Default this is a SQL User/Account UserName. | netforumreportuser |
| ReportServiceProvider | The ReportServiceProvider system option allows to switch between the type of reports that should run by default with NetForum . Currently NetForum integrates with Crystal Reports and MRS.The default option should be set to Crystal. If mixed mode is chosen, report metadata (rpt_report_provider) should be setup at report setup level. In Mixed Mode all Quick-Report links will use Crystal as default. Run the Admin Switch report from Reports->Admin after changing the System option. | MRS |
| ReportWSLoginPassword | This option applies to MRS only.Password to access the Report Server.This by default is the password for a Windows Account on the Reporting Services computer.If User and Password options are left blank, netForum will try to use the user windows login. | ******** |
| ReportWSLoginUserName | This option applies to MRS only.Login Username to access the Report Server.This by default is the user for a Windows Account login on the Reporting Services computer. This user needs to have access to all default reporting service folders as a Content-Manager.The default value is "netforumRSreportuser"If User and Password options are left blank, netForum will try to use the user windows login. | netforumRSreportuser |
| RSAllowExportOptions | This option applies to MRS only.The default value for the System Option is false. This can be turned on if a client has a seperate license exclusively for the Reporting Services.If checked any HTML report will take you to the Microsoft Reporting Services Server Report Viewer and allows you to use Toolbar functionssuch as Zoom and Export. The report sever URL must be accessible to the user running the report. | false |
| RSRootClientReportFolder | This option applies to MRS only.This is the root client folder for reports.The default value is blank. Each Client can have their own folder.It has to be a valid folder on the Microsoft Reporting Services Server.If you add a client folder, the new folder must have a valid base-report-folder, custom-report-folder, temp-report-folder and a header-footer-image-folder. | |
| RSSampleReportFolder | This option applies to MRS only.This folder holds the sample reports. | reports\RSreports\Samples\ |