SQL SERVER: Develop Reports with RDLC (Asp.Net)

As, I mentioned in my post, Load Reports without SQL SERVER Reporting Service with Asp.Net, we can develop a report without SQL SERVER Reporting Service. That is very simple to do with Microsoft Visual Studio. Please follow the following steps to generate simple report which can be load in browser without SQL SERVER Reporting Service. We need to follow following steps to generate simple report with RDLC: 1. Create RDLC file. 2. Create Dataset from Report Data Source. 3. Design the Report 4. Runtime pass information to Report Data Source, so report will be generated with Data Let's create one simple web application with RDLC report. 1. Create RDLC file: In Solution Explorer, add a new folder and name it as "Reports". Right click on "Reports", select "Add" and click on" New Items". Give preferable name to report with extension RDLC and click Add. 2. Create Dataset from Report Data Source: Click on "Report Data" tab displayed on left side of the screen and in case, it is not displayed go to "View" menu and click on "Report Data". Click on "New" and select "Dataset" as displayed in following screenshot:     3. If your "Data Source" is listed in options, select it from there, else click on "New".      4. If your "Connection" is listed in options, select it from there, else click on "New Connection", to make your connection.     5. Once "Connection" is selected, select your Table/View/Stored Procedure/Function, from which you need to build your report and give appropriate name to Dataset:     6. Once you have selected DB Object in Dataset, you can find out all the columns that are available in selected dataset as follows:      7. Once you have this dataset, you will also find that one XSD file is also created in App_code folder, with the same schema, which is used to provide schema definition to RDLC file 3. Design the RDLC Report:                     In Step #2, we have created Dataset with columns that needs to be displayed on the report.  Now its time to use that Dataset and design the report. You should drag, "Table" from "Toolbox" and assign property "Dataset" created Dataset in Step #2. RDLC, allows you to design your report with schema that you have selected as DataSet 4. Runtime pass information to Report Data Source, so report will be generated with Data:         So far, we have done report designing, now its time to pass actual data to the Report Data Source, so report will be generated with actual Data. To display report on the browser, we have to use "Microsoft Reporting WebForms", which will load the report in the browser with ASPX page. Please follow the steps to pass information to RDLC Report: Add an "aspx" page in the solution. We have to use "Report Viewer" control on that page, in which our Report will be displayed We also need to add few lines of code, to dynamically pass the information (actual data) to the Report Data Source as follows: using System; using System.Configuration; using System.Data; using System.Data.Common; using System.Web.UI; using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data; using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.Sql; using Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Web.UI.WebControls; using System.Data; using DataAccessLayer; public partial class Reports_ProjectDetail : System.Web.UI.Page { protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (!Page.IsPostBack) { string connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["PISConnectionString"].ConnectionString; Database db = new SqlDatabase(connectionString); DbCommand command = db.GetStoredProcCommand("ReportProjectDetail"); DataSet dataset = db.ExecuteDataSet(command); ReportDataSource datasource = new ReportDataSource("DataSet1", Dataset.Tables[0]); ReportViewer1.LocalReport.DataSources.Clear(); ReportViewer1.LocalReport.DataSources.Add(datasource); ReportViewer1.LocalReport.Refresh(); ReportViewer1.Visible = true; } } } Let me explain how it works: 1. On Page load, we call one stored procedure to get data from database. Here I have used Microsoft Application block to connect to database and get the information 2. Once, we have the data in DataSet, we have created new "Report Data Source" with the SAME name: "Dataset1" and assign result table as per #1 and assign it to ReportViewer 3. And at last we refresh ReportViewer to display the information as per Datasource provided. This report is ready and you can export it in  Excel, PDF, Word etc. This example is developed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Let me know your comments and difficulties, if any Reference: Tejas Shah (www.SQLYoga.com)

SQL SERVER: Backup the database and upload it on FTP and on Network

Recently one of my friend called me and asked me that his MS SQL SERVER Database server is crashed and the problem is, he has the database backups on the same server. So now as the server is crashed, and he cannot have any backup to restore the database. I suggested him, first get data recovery tool to get the data from crashed server and then restore it to make it work, so application will be up. Then, to overcome this kind of problem in future, I suggested him to always keep the database backup on another server and it is best to have database back up on another location too. He agreed with me that, and asked me a good question that: "Do you know if there is any kind of software by which I can schedule this and get out of this problem?" As he needs the solution quickly, I checked it out some Tools and I come with the very cool tool "SQL SERVER Backup And FTP". This is very simple to use. This tool works as: Connect SQL SERVER Select Database(s) Select "Network Path", "FTP connection" Enter Email Address, so software will notify the user when backup is done We need to install this software on the server and we can take SQL SERVER Database backup on Network and FTP together. First please install this software from SQL SERVER Backup And FTP and Let me explain it how it works: Connect SQL SERVER: First connect to SQL SERVER Database, for which we need to take backup. We need to Enter SQL SERVER Name and credentials to connect to SQL SERVER Select Database: Once SQL SERVER is connected, all databases of that SQL server will be listed. We need to select all the databases for which we need to take backup as follows: Here I have done following: Checked two databases, pubs and SQLYoga. Checked "Network Folder" and select Network path Checked "FTP SERVER" and specify FTP Server, to put backup on FTP Server Checked "Email Notification", so I will be notified about success/failure of moving database backup. Unchecked "Schedule this job", as I just need to run it once. If we need to run it on daily basis, we can specify schedule to run it on that time daily. That's it and now we are out of stress to move database backup to another server or on FTP Let's click on "Run now" to check it out. After process is completed, Two zip files, pubs and SQLYoga is on Network path as well as on FTP. Another cool feature is that, we can schedule Full Backup, Differential Backup, and Transaction Backup, so we can have very minimal amount of data loss. Here, I have configured this software as: Take full backup of database at every 24 hours Take differential backup at every 1 hour Take Transaction backup at every 15 minutes Here, we assume that it is ok that we have 15 minutes data loss. It is depends on your application to decide this time window. Let's take one case study to get more understanding about to restore these backups: e.g. Database server is crashed at 8:20 AM, How can I restore my database from the backups? Restore full backup database which was taken at mid night 3 AM. As we have configured to have differential back at every hour, we also have Differential backup of 8:00 AM, so restore differential database backup. We have also configured transaction backup for every 15 minutes, so we have one transaction log backup which is taken on 8:15 AM, so let's restore it. So, now we have data up to 8:15 AM As we have assume that Organization is good if we loss 15 minutes of data. Here in this case, as we have Transaction backup of 8:15 AM,  we are losing transactions which are made between 8:15 AM - 08:20 AM. So, we should proceed with 08:15 AM transaction backup and make database available Another, option is also available, to remove old Differential backup and Transaction backup. Once new differential backup is generated, there is no need to keep old differential backup. We only need to restore recent differential backup, so we can remove old differential backups. We can also remove all transaction log backup which are generated before Differential Log. SO to remove old backups, this software is also providing an option for the same, we just need to checked this option and that's it. This software is also allowed following settings (advanced): You can setup custom "temp" folder, by default its using "C:\Windows\Temp" Compression Settings (Zip) Encryption I like this tool, I recommend this tool to take back up and move it on FTP. Try to use it and let me know your comments

SQL SERVER: Load Reports without SQL SERVER Reporting Service with Asp.Net

Recently, we have weekly meetings with my team and one of developer is come up with question that, "Can we use Reports without having SQL SERVER Report Services?". That is very good question that came up by him, as he says client does not want to have SQL SERVER Reporting Services. Client SQL SERVER is hosted at Shared Hosting and does not want to extra pay to use SQL SERVER Reporting Service.


Answer of his question is, YES. We can have reports without using SQL SERVER Reporting Service with same layout.


Microsoft Visual Studio is providing file called "RDLC" file, by which we can develop report in Microsoft Visual Studio and that Report doesn't need to deploy on Report server and will be called from Asp.Net application itself. By RDLC, it is very simple to load report in browser. We are out of issue to deploy reports on the Report Server and execute it from there. RDLC file remains there with project files.


In the Next post, I will explain in details to configure RDLC report with ASP.Net

Community TechDays at Ahmedabad, 2011

We had an excellent Community TechDays on 11th June 2011 at Ahmedabad. We have huge crowd to attend the sessions. Please find presentations and demos which speakers have presented during the session.
	Harish Vaidyanathan [twitter] Topic: HTML 5 Download Presentation and Demo Files
	Jacob Sebastian [twitter | blog] Topic: SQL SERVER Worst practices Download Presentation and Demo Files
	Pinalkumar Dave [twitter | blog] Topic: SQL SERVER Performance troubleshooting using Waits and Queues
	Tejas Shah [twitter | blog] Topic: Asp.Net Tips and Tricks Download Presentation and Demo Files
We will upload this session photos soon

Microsoft Community TechDays at Ahmedabad

Great News, Community TechDays event is back on 11th June, 2011 at Ahmedabad. This time I got a chance to have a session in this Community TechDays.

There are attractive sessions as follows:

1. HTML5 - Future of the Web, Harish Vaidyanathan, Evangelist Lead, Microsoft
2. SQL Server Performance Tuning, Pinalkumar Dave, Evangelist, Microsoft
3. T-SQL Worst Practices, Jacob Sebastian, Microsoft MVP
4. LightSwitch On The Cloud!, Mahesh Dhola
5. Asp.Net Tips and Tricks, Me (Tejas Shah)

Please register for the event ASAP.

SSRS: Configure User Authentication with ReportCredentials

Many times I found that the Reporting service is configured to access as "Anonymous Access", so any user having URL can access reports from external world. Ideally it should be access by only users/application. For that SQL SERVER Reporting service should not be  accessed by "Anonymous Access". It also prevents Report server from unauthorized access. NOTE: In shared hosting, Hosting provider provides username/password and only those users can get access to the reports for that specific user. Today, I am going to explain to how to send user credentials from Report application, so Reporting service can authenticate user and allow to get reports. Only users having correct credentials can access the reports from the server. We are going to configure application to send credentials, so application can get access to the reports. To configure application to get access reports from Shared hosting/Domain, we need to do following: 1. Get credentials from shared hosting/Domain controller to access the reports 2. Configure Application to Authenticate (.Net) 1. Get credentials: Whenever we need to deploy/access report from the Report Server, we should have following information: Report Server URL UserName/Password to access the reports This information will be provided by Shared hosting provider/Domain controller. Information like: Report Server URL: http://<URL>/ReportServer UserName: xxxx Password: yyyy To check this information, Type Report URL in browser. It will ask for Username and password (if anonymous access is disabled). Enter given credentials, if Credentials are correct then Reporting service allow you to access the URL. 2. Configure Application to Authenticate (.Net) As we get Basic information in step #1, now we need to build application that pass credentials to the Report server, so Report server authenticate the request and allow application to access the reports. To authenticate request to Report server we need to implement IReportServerCredentials to send Report Credential to Report Server. Create a class to implement IReportServerCredentials Please find VB code here: Public Class ReportCredentials Implements Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.IReportServerCredentials Private _userName As String, _password As String, _domain As String Public Sub New(ByVal userName As String, ByVal password As String, ByVal domain As String) _userName = userName _password = password _domain = domain End Sub Public ReadOnly Property ImpersonationUser() As System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity _ Implements Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.IReportServerCredentials.ImpersonationUser Get Return Nothing End Get End Property Public ReadOnly Property NetworkCredentials() As System.Net.ICredentials _ Implements Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.IReportServerCredentials.NetworkCredentials Get Return New System.Net.NetworkCredential(_userName, _password, _domain) End Get End Property Public Function GetFormsCredentials(ByRef authCoki As System.Net.Cookie, ByRef userName As String, ByRef password As String, _ ByRef authority As String) As Boolean _ Implements Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.IReportServerCredentials.GetFormsCredentials userName = _userName password = _password authority = _domain authCoki = New System.Net.Cookie(".ASPXAUTH", ".ASPXAUTH", "/", "Domain") Return True End Function End Class Now we have created "ReportCredentials" class, now we need to use this class object to send credential info via Report Viewer Control as follows: Please find VB code here: Imports Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms Partial Class Report Inherits System.Web.UI.Page Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles Me.Load If Not IsPostBack Then Dim ReportServerUrl As String = "https:///ReportServer" Dim ReportDataSourceName As String = "/My Reports/" With Me.ReportViewer .ProcessingMode = Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ProcessingMode.Remote With .ServerReport .ReportServerUrl = New Uri(ReportServerUrl) .ReportPath = ReportDataSourceName + "ReportName" .ReportServerCredentials = New _ ReportCredentials("Domain", "UserName", "Password") .Refresh() End With End With Page.Title = "Reports - " + Request.Params("Report") If Request.Params("HideOptions") = 1 Then ReportViewer.ShowParameterPrompts = False End If End If End Sub End Class That's it, now you can access your reports deployed at Shared Hosting/Domain from application, Report server allows to access if credentials are correct. Let me know if you have any question/problem in deploying/accessing reports from Shared Hosting/Domain.

SSRS: Introduction to SQL SERVER Reporting Services

Report is a better presentation of data. From report user/Management can easily analyze the information. Report is easy to explain such information like Sales graph, profitability etc.. SQL SERVER provides rich kind of report that can be easily generated from SQL SERVER and send it to user/management in different formats like Excel, word, HTML etc..SSRS (SQL SERVER Reporting Services) also supports CHARTS which is very useful when we need to develop reports for Management. To start with report, We can see how to create a report with SSRS. We will learn this by following steps: 1. Create Report. 2. Deploy Report on server 3. Use Report from application (Asp. Net) 1. Create a Report Open Visual Studio and select "Report Server Project" Check Solution Explorer (Right Side) and click on "Add New Report" Select Data Source. Enter information to connect with database and click on "Next" Build query which returns data to be displayed on the report. Select Report Format. For simple report we select "Tabular" format Select which are the columns that needs to be displayed on the report. User can also select columns if report needs to make GROUP BY For Sample report, I have selected only some of columns that should be displayed on Report. Select Table style Enter Report name, "Sample Report" It displays summary info we have selected so far. And that's it. We are ready with the report now. Preview Tab, we can preview report So, report is done. Now we need to deploy this report on server, so user can use it from server. 2. Deploy Report to Report Server: To deploy report on Report server, we need to have Report server information like Report Server URL, Credentials to connect to Report Server. Today we will just deploy report to Local Report server, I will explain in another post to How to deploy report to the server which requires credentials. Click on Report Project and open Properties: Here we need to enter Report server information where we need to deploy this report and from where application/user can get this report. Make OverwriteDataSources : True TargetReportFolder : "My Reports" (given by hosting provider/Remote computer) Target Server URL: <Report URL>(Report Server URL) Now we are done with server information and we need to deploy report. Once properties are set, we need to deploy report on server, right click on report file and click on "Deploy" Now report is deployed on the server. We can check that report is on server or not by: 1. Go to your browser (IE, FF, Chrome etc.) 2. Enter URL: Go to Report Server URL (http://<IP/domain>/ReportServer 3. It will display page like: 4. Click on "My Reports" Hurray, we can find our reports here on the server. Now, report is deployed on the server, now we need to build application from where we need to use this report 3. Use Report from application (Asp.Net) To use this report from Web application, we need to create "New Website" OR you can use existing website if you have. Now, in the application, we need to create one ASPX page where we need to use ReportViewer control as follows: Microsoft provides this control to load reports in web/desktop application. Now we need to write a code in this page, so Report Viewer control can load report on this page.   This is simple code, which tells Report Viewer control to load report. Let me explain each line. 1. ReportServerUrl and ReportDataSourceName are set up with server information. 2. Then we need to setup "ReportName", it tells report viewer control to load that report from Report server.      .ReportPath = ReportDataSourceName + "ReportName"     NOTE: "ReportName", will be actual report name 3. And we also need to setup Report Credentials, so "Report server" can allow our application to access this report. That's it. Now run application and you can find that you can access "Reports" in application.

SQL SERVER: Display Row count of all the tables

Recently we have performance issue in SQL SERVER and we decided to move some large tables to different file group, so we can improve SQL SERVER performance, as it uses other disks I/O. Now challenge is to identify large tables from many tables (approx 700 tables).

There are few ways to display row count of all the tables:

1. Use Procedure: sp_msForEachTable (Simplest way)


2. Read information from system tables ( approximate count, Preffered)

Let me explain both of the method:

1. Use Procedure: sp_msForEachTable:

This is the simplest way that we can make COUNT(*) to each table to find number of rows from each table. This is undocumented stored procedure,"sp_msForEachTable" gives ability to make a query to all tables.

EXEC sp_msForEachTable 'SELECT ''?'' AS TableName,COUNT(*) AS NoOfRows FROM ?'

Its nothing but just a simple dynamic SQL statement where "?" will be replaced by table name. So query will be like:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM BuildVersion

This procedure, "sp_msForEachTable", will loop to each table for current database and count rows from each table. So it gives result like:



By this way, we can get row count from all the tables for current database. But question is: How to use this result set? How to find out which table has maximum rows? To find out this, I need to check each table's rows manually and then only I can find out which table has maximum rows. This is time consuming and not the good way to find out table with maximum rows. Let see another method on which we can find it out it easily.

2. Read information from system tables:

By reading system tables, we can also find out rows from each table. We can use following query to find out number of rows from each table.

SELECT 
 st.Name AS TableName,
 SUM(  
  CASE  
   WHEN (p.index_id < 2) AND (a.type = 1) THEN p.rows  
   ELSE 0  
  END  
 ) AS NoOfRows
FROM sys.partitions p
INNER JOIN sys.allocation_units a ON p.partition_id = a.container_id
INNER JOIN sys.tables st ON st.object_id = p.Object_ID
INNER JOIN sys.schemas sch ON sch.schema_id = st.schema_id
GROUP BY st.name

NOTE: This method is used to get an *approximate* count for all tables.

This query solved my purpose. In this query, it will give result in single result set, so we can manipulate it easily.



E.g. List out all tables and sort it out based on the NumberOfRows.
So, my query will be:

SELECT 
 st.Name AS TableName,
 SUM(  
  CASE  
   WHEN (p.index_id < 2) AND (a.type = 1) THEN p.rows  
   ELSE 0  
  END  
 ) AS NoOfRows
FROM sys.partitions p
INNER JOIN sys.allocation_units a ON p.partition_id = a.container_id
INNER JOIN sys.tables st ON st.object_id = p.Object_ID
INNER JOIN sys.schemas sch ON sch.schema_id = st.schema_id
GROUP BY st.name
ORDER BY NoOfRows DESC

Let me know your opinions.

SQL SERVER Session at Dotnetchaps - Developer Conference 2010

Dotnetchaps is a group of people focused on Microsoft technologies .Net and SQL Server. The User Group organizes technical sessions for sharing knowledge on .Net and SQL Server. The motto of this group is to Learn, Share and Grow.

DotNetChaps user group is also associated with www.sqlpass.org community and officially opened the SqlPass chapter at Anand. The chapter name is Anand India Sql Server Users group.

Today, I am presenting a SQL SERVER session in this User Group meeting organized at SURAT, GUJARAT.

My session is at 2:10 PM which consists of following:

1. What's new in SQL SERVER 2008 R2?

2. Demo of SSRS Reports

In my SQL SERVER session, I am going to explain Utility Control Point (UCP), Data-Tier Application (DAC), Unicode compression. I am going to explain this feature by making examples on SQL SERVER R2, so people have better idea about it.

For SQL SERVER Reporting Services, its very simple to Design, develop and deploy report to report Server. It is very simple to integrate deployed report to web application.

Please find registration and venue details at: http://www.dotnetchaps.com/Blogs/Dotnetchaps-Blog/June-2010/Dotnetchaps---Developer-Conference-2010.aspx

SQL SERVER: Find executing queries

Recently my company owner reported that SQL SERVER is running slow. I searched for it and get following T-SQL query. SQL SERVER provides dynamic views, which contains current information about all details.

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(ObjectID) as ObjectName,
  st.Text, 
  DB_NAME(database_ID) as dbname,
  Blocking_session_ID as BlockingSessionID,  
  *
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests r
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(sql_handle) AS st

It will give us details like about running SQL Objects, with Database name :