Creating a Report Using Report Wizard
Report Wizard is a tool within Report Designer that guides you through the process of creating a report. You can use Report Wizard to select report data and create a tabular or matrix report.
Wizard Steps
When you start Report Wizard, a Welcome page appears. This page describes the basic steps you take to produce your report. You can choose not to view this page again, so that the next time you run Report Wizard, it starts with the first step. The following sections describe the steps in Report Wizard.
Select a Data Source
The first step in creating a report is to define a data source. Report Wizard provides a list of all shared data sources in the report project, in addition to an option to create a new data source.
Design a Query
The next step is to design a query. You can type the query string or you can build it using Query Designer. For information about Query Designer, see Defining Report Datasets.
Choose a Report Type
The next step is to select the type of report you want. You can choose a tabular or matrix report. A tabular report has a fixed number of columns. A matrix, or crosstab, report has a variable number of columns based on the results of the query.
If you select a tabular report, Report Wizard steps you through the process of selecting fields by which to group and defining a layout and style for the report. If you select a matrix report, the wizard steps you through the process of selecting fields to include in the matrix rows, columns, and data areas; and defining a layout and style for the report.
Choose a Style
The next step is to apply a style to the report using a style template. Select a template to apply styles such as font, color, and border style to the report. Report Designer provides four style templates: Bold, Casual, Corporate, and Compact. You can also add additional style templates. For more information, see "Working with Style Templates" later in this topic.
Name the Report
The final step is to name the report and verify the fields that will be included in the report. When all steps are completed, Report Designer creates the report and adds it to the report server project.
Working with Style Templates
You can alter existing templates or add new ones by editing the StyleTemplates.xml file in the \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\Private Assemblies\Business Intelligence Wizards\Reports\Styles\<lang> folder. This folder is located on the computer on which Report Designer is installed.
Note
There are two copies of the StyleTemplates.xml file. To modify the styles that are applied through the Report Wizard, edit the file that is in the folder created for the language you are using (for example, if you are using the English language version of Visual Studio, the folder name is "EN").
See Also
Tasks
How to: Create a Report Using a Wizard (Report Designer)
Concepts
Ways to Create a Report
Creating a Report with Report Designer