Reporting Services connections using SharePoint Integrated Mode

For Reporting Services reports in SharePoint Integrated Mode, I tried to add a data connection for a report, but got an awfully nasty error; you’ll notice that the extension for Reporting Services Shared Data Sources is “.rds” inside of your Visual Studio project, but this is very different than the extension used in SharePoint. It’s “.rsds”, and if you import the connection on the Data Connections page via + Add New Item, and then wire up your report in PerformancePoint, you’ll be very unhappy. (And get the same nasty error that I got). It won't work.

Figure 1. Note the .rds connection extenson in VS 2008

Figure 2. Go add a connection in SharePoint - it's .rsds

We still haven’t figured out how the hell you deploy an RS report from Visual Studio whilst in SharePoint Integrated Mode, so you can do the next best thing, and that is to simply create your connections, upload your report.  From there you can go navigate and find your connection and associate the report. Create the connection by going to Data Connections >> Documents >> New Document, and chose “Report Data Source”. Add the new connection (it will give you an .rsds extension) and then point to it from your report and then go to the reports folder and click the down arrow for report properties and choose “Manage Data Sources”, and finally go point to the correct connection. 

Figure 3. Creating a new Report Data Source for Reporting Services

Figure 4. Point your report to the correct connection

Happy Integrated Modeing!

Lee

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