Published on

December 15, 2007

Exploring Navigation Options in SQL Server Reporting Services

SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services offers a range of navigation options that can greatly enhance the user experience when viewing and interacting with reports. These options allow users to easily navigate through related data within the same report, eliminating the need to run separate reports for additional information.

Let’s consider a simple example of a Customer-Order details report. This report displays the order details for each customer. However, if the user needs more information about a specific customer, they would typically have to run another report to retrieve the details. By creating a sub-report that contains the customer details and specifying it as a hyperlink from the Customer-Orders report, users can seamlessly navigate to the customer details without leaving the current report.

SQL Server Reporting Services provides various controls that can be used to specify navigation details. These controls include:

  • Textbox
  • Line
  • Table
  • Matrix
  • Rectangle
  • List
  • Image
  • Sub-report
  • Chart
  • Custom report item

Each control has its own set of available navigation options, such as jump to report, jump to bookmark, and jump to URL. The jump to report option allows you to specify a report that will be executed when a particular control is clicked. If the report has parameters, you can provide values for these parameters using the “Parameters…” button. These values can be from the current selected row in the report or from the calling report. Expressions can also be used for parameter values.

The jump to bookmark option allows you to mark or specify a control that will be shown or pointed to when required. For example, you can have an image at the bottom of the page, and the focus will automatically shift to that image whenever a specific field is clicked. This option is available for textboxes and images only.

The jump to URL option allows you to specify the URL of a page that will be opened when the control is clicked. This can be any type of page and is particularly useful for allowing data modification directly from the reports themselves.

When providing navigation in reports, it is important to carefully consider the levels up to which navigation should be allowed. While navigation can greatly enhance the user experience, it is essential to strike a balance between ease of use and overwhelming the user with too many options.

In the next article, we will explore some simple programming techniques that can be used to enable users to update records directly from the reports.

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