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Report Definition Language (SSRS)

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Report Definition Language (RDL) is an XML representation of a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report definition. A report definition contains data retrieval and layout information for a report. RDL is composed of XML elements that match an XML grammar created for Reporting Services. You can customize functions for controlling report item values, styles, and formatting by accessing code assemblies within report definition files.

RDL promotes the interoperability of commercial reporting products by defining a common schema that enables the interchange of report definitions. RDL is:

  • An XML schema for report definitions.
  • An interchange format for businesses and third parties.
  • An extensible and open schema that supports more namespaces and custom elements.

Prerequisites

Any protocol or programmatic interface that works with XML can be used with RDL.

RDL Specifications

To download specifications for specific schema versions, see Report Definition Language Specification.

RDL XML Schema Definition

An SSRS RDL file is validated by using an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file. The schema defines the rules for where RDL elements can occur in an .rdl file. An element includes its data type and cardinality, which is the number of occurrences that are allowed. An element can be simple or complex. A simple element doesn't have child elements or attributes. A complex element has child elements and can have attributes.

For example, the schema includes the RDL element ReportParameters, which is the complex type ReportParametersType.

  • By convention, a complex type for an element is the name of the element followed by the word Type.
  • A ReportParameters element can be contained by the Report element (a complex type), and can contain ReportParameter elements.
  • A ReportParameterType is a simple type that can only be one of the following values: Boolean, DateTime, Integer, Float, or String.

For more information about XML Schema datatypes, see XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition.

The RDL XSD is available in the ReportDefinition.xsd file, located in the Extras folder on the product CD-ROM. It's also available on the report server through the following URL: https://servername/reportserver/reportdefinition.xsd.

Create RDL

Build tools and applications that generate RDL based on their XML schema because of the open and extensible nature of RDL.

Reporting Services provides multiple tools to build RDL files. For more information, see Reporting Services Tools.

  • Generate RDL from an application by using the Microsoft .NET Framework classes of the System.Xml and System.Linq namespaces.
  • Use the XmlTextWriter to write RDL. With XmlTextWriter, you can generate a complete report definition from start to finish in any .NET Framework application. For more on the XmlTextWriter class and the System.Xml namespace, see the Microsoft .NET Framework Developer's Guide.

Developers can extend RDL by adding custom report items with custom properties. For more information about Language-Integrated Query (LINQ), search for "LINQ to XML" on Microsoft Developer Network.

The standard file extension for a report definition file is .rdl. You can develop client report definition files, which have the extensions .rdlc. The MIME type for both extensions is text/xml. For more information, see Reporting Services Reports (SSRS).

RDL Types

The following table lists types used in RDL elements and attributes.

Type Description
Binary A property with a base-64 encoded binary value.
Boolean A property with true or false as the value of the object. Unless specified otherwise, the value of an omitted optional Boolean object is False.
Date A property with a fully specified date or datetime value specified in ISO8601 date format: YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM[:SS[.S]]].
Enum A property with a string text value that must be one of a list of designated values.
Float A property with a float value. A period (.) is used as the optional decimal separator.
Integer A property with an integer (int32) value.
Language A property with a text value that contains a language and culture code, such as "en-us" for US English. The value must either be a specific language or a neutral language for which a default language is defined in the Microsoft .NET Framework.
Name A property with a string text value. Names must be unique within the namespace of the item. If not specified, the namespace for an item is the innermost containing object that has a name.
NormalizedString A property with a normalized string text value.
Size A size element must contain a number with a period character used as an optional decimal separator. A designator for a CSS length unit such as cm, mm, in, pt, or pc must follow the number. A space between the number and the designator is optional. For more information, see CSS Values and Units Reference.

In RDL, the maximum value for Size is 160 in. The minimum size is 0 in.
String A property with a string text value.
UnsignedInt A property with an unsigned integer (uint32) value.
Variant A property with any simple XML type.

RDL Data Types

The DataType Enumeration defines the data type of an attribute, expression, or parameter in RDL. The following table shows how common language runtime (CLR) data types correspond to RDL data types.

CLR Type(s) Corresponding Data Type
Boolean Boolean
DateTime, DateTimeOffset DateTime
Int16, Int32, UInt16, Byte, SByte Integer
Single, Double Float
String, Char, GUID, Timespan String

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