Behavior Changes in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services
This topic describes fundamental changes to SQL Server Reporting Services functionality that may affect how you work.
Initialization and Encryption Changes
The Report Server Web service is no longer used to initialize a Reporting Services installation. In this release, only the Report Server Windows service performs initialization. When the Report Server Web service requires encryption or decryption, it calls the Report Server Windows service to get the keys and perform the operation. Before it issues the request, the Web service performs a check to see if it is running as the account specified in the WebServiceAccount setting in the RSReportServer.config file. If the account that is running the Web service does not match the specified value, the Web service returns an error indicating an account mismatch.
This change in initialization behavior introduces a stronger dependency on the Report Server Windows service by the Report Server Web service. Running the Report Server Windows service is now a prerequisite for most Web service operations. For more information, see Initializing a Report Server.
Setup Commands
In this release, the scope of operations that can be performed through command line Setup has been reduced. Command line Setup can no longer be used to both install and deploy an installation that includes remote computers. Setup no longer deploys a Report Server Web farm installation. If you used Setup in the past to deploy a Reporting Services installation, you must use alternate tools and methods to deploy the software. If you created batch files and setup scripts to deploy Reporting Services components, they will no longer work after you upgrade.
The DefaultValueQueryBased property is now read-write
The DefaultValueQueryBased property is a Boolean property that indicates whether the default values of a parameter are based on a query. In the previous release, this property was read-only. This property has been modified to accept write operations, allowing you to programmatically update this value for a published report. If you use this property in your code, be sure to test the application to verify that it behaves as expected.
Excel rendering extension supports Binary Interchange File Format
The Excel rendering extension renders reports in the native file format used by Microsoft Excel, eliminating most of the limitations that were part of the previous version.
Header Row Height Changes
In the previous release, the first row in a multi-line header determined the row height for all rows in the header (that is, row height was fixed based on the height of the first row). Now, row heights can be variable. If you have reports that contain multi-line headers, you should inspect the reports after you upgrade to verify the row height is correct.
Leading blank characters in role definition names
In the previous release, leading blank spaces were allowed in role definition names. This release no longer supports leading blank spaces in new role names that you create. If you already have role definitions that begin with leading blank characters, they will continue to work. This functional change was implemented in response to the behavior of the DeleteRole method. If DeleteRole detects empty spaces at the beginning of a role definition name, it deletes the role.
See Also
Concepts
Other Resources
Upgrading SQL Server Components
Reporting Services Backward Compatibility
Backward Compatibility