Comparing Report Authoring Environments (Report Builder 3.0)

[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services offers support for the following report authoring environments:

• Report Builder 3.0. Use this tool to design reports that are compatible with a SQL Server 2008 R2 report server by using the familiar Ribbon interface.
• Report Builder 2.0. Use this tool to design reports that are compatible with a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services (SSRS) report server. Report Builder 2.0 features the familiar Ribbon interface. For more information about using Report Builder, see Designing and Implementing Reports Using Report Builder 2.0 on msdn.microsoft.com.
• Report Builder 1.0. Use this tool to design ad hoc reports that use a report model as a source of data. Models can be published to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 R2 report servers. For more information, see Designing and Implementing Reports Using Report Builder on msdn.microsoft.com.
• Report Designer. Use this tool in SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence Development Studio to design full-function reports that are compatible with a SQL Server 2008 R2 report server. For more information about report version support, see " Designing and Implementing Reports Using Report Designer" in the Reporting Services documentation in SQL Server Books Online.

All report authoring environments create report definitions in Report Definition Language (RDL). This topic lists the features that are supported in each authoring environment. For more information about report version support, see "Planning for Report Authoring and Report Deployment" in the Reporting Services documentation in SQL Server Books Online.

Project Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
Integrate SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports and data sources, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) cubes, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages, and Visual Studio (VS) language projects in a single solution in BI Development Studio.
Use VS-compatible source control systems such as VSTS or SourceSafe.
Enable business users who do not want to work in BI Development Studio to create their own report or to update, edit and share existing reports.
Use Microsoft Office-optimized report authoring environment.
Use multiple deployment configurations.
Manage resources such as images as part of a project.
Custom configuration options for data extensions, rendering extensions, custom assemblies.

Report Data Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
Create and use embedded data sources.
Use shared data sources with report server credentials.
Create shared data sources.
Create queries that retrieve data directly from relational databases by using a graphical query designer.	View Designer from Visual Database Tools		Relational Query Designer: SQL Server only	Relational Query Designer: SQL Server only
Create queries that retrieve data directly from relational databases by using a text-based query designer.
Create queries that retrieve data directly from multidimensional databases by using a graphical query designer.
Create queries for a multidimensional database by using a text-based query designer that supports extended field properties.
Create queries that retrieve data directly from data mining models.
Retrieve data from multiple queries for multiple data sources in a single report.
Import queries from .sql files or reports.
Retrieve data from data source types SQL Server, Analysis Services, Sap NetWeaver BI, Hyperion Essbase, OLE DB, Teradata, ODBC, Oracle, XML.
Retrieve data from report models built from SQL Server, Analysis Services, Oracle, or Teradata.

Report Layout Support Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
New Report Wizard.
Data Region Wizard for Table/Matrix and Chart.
Map and Map Layer Wizard.
Data visualization for charts and gauges.		Basic chart
Data visualization on maps.
Query generation through layout actions.
Automatic generation of infinite drill through links.
Automatic formatting of data for number format and column width.
Flexible data layout (Tablix).
Snaplines for alignment.
Zoom.
Field tags to add fields to cells.
Placeholder text for simple expressions.
Full support for RDL features.
Advanced grouping, sorting, filtering.
Multiple data regions in one report.

Report Expression Support Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
IntelliSense for report expressions.
Display processing errors in the Task pane.

Report Rendering Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
Excel
Word
PDF (Acrobat)
MHTML (Web archive)
TIFF
CSV (Comma delimited)
XML (Report data only)
HTML 4.0

Custom Extension Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
Provides design time support for Custom Report Items (CRI).
Use local CRIs.
Use report server CRIs.
Use local custom .NET Framework assemblies in languages such as Visual Basic or C#.
Use run-time custom .NET Framework assemblies on the report server.
Use local custom data sources.
Use custom data sources installed on the report server.
Use a custom security extension on the report server to authenticate username and password.

Miscellaneous Features

Feature	Report Designer (BI Development Studio)	Report Builder 1.0	Report Builder 2.0	Report Builder 3.0
View RDL source.
Import existing reports from Access.

See Also

Concepts

Getting Started with Report Builder 3.0
Working in Report Builder 3.0