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Help RB 2.0 users find and use shared data sources

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Report Builder 2.0 makes it easy for business users to browse for and use centrally-defined and managed data sources. It does this by supporting direct connection to a report server as part of the design experience. It also maintains a list of recently-used data sources that show up at the top of the list each time the user needs to create a new connection in their report. One problem, though, is how to help RB 2.0 users find published shared data sources in the first place.

You can do two things as an administrator to make this easy:

1. Configure RB 2.0 on each client machine with a default report server. This can be done from within the app (see Options->Settings), or pre-emptively at install time by passing the REPORTSERVERURL command-line argument to the RB 2.0 installer (more info). Note that if you are using SMS, this can be done automatically as part of pushing the software out to the client.

2. Set default folder properties on the report server. RB 2.0 looks for two properties on the Report Server that tell it where to find shared data sources and models. If RB has a default report server, and these two properties are set on that server, any data sources or models that RB finds in those folders will automatically show up in the data sources list, in addition to any recently-used data sources. Use the attached scripts and the RS Script Utility to view or set these properties (instructions are in the script). Once the properties are defined, they can also be viewed and modified in SQL Server Management Studio, under Server Properties->Advanced->User Defined.

UPDATE: Adding missing attachment. :)

DefaultFolders.zip

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