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dhw
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
332 Posts |
 Posted - 2010-03-17 : 18:37:15
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| Hi Is there a way to allow users to save their selections (the report parameters) so that they can simply run the report again without having to go through the set of parameters every time? I have several reports that have 8 to 12 different parameters and the users would like to be able to choose them once and just run that report as needed.I was thinking about Subscriptions as one solution. Not sure, really.Any thoughts or suggestions?Thanks - will |
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savior faire
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-18 : 16:44:54
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| You can create subscriptions, which will run automatically using a different parameter set for each subscription. To avoid hard coding these parm values you can use data driven subscriptions.______________________________________________Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. |
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dhw
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
332 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 01:55:09
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quote:
Originally posted by savior faire
You can create subscriptions, which will run automatically using a different parameter set for each subscription. To avoid hard coding these parm values you can use data driven subscriptions.
That is what i was thinking, but the users also want to run the reports interactively. |
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savior faire
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 09:16:39
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| Why would they want to continuously get online and run these reports every time?Perhaps you can set up a dataset query that recognizes the login the user is logged in with, and use that in a query which retrieve the parameters from a table.ETA: So effectively, there will be no report parameters because the query you create will contain the specific filtering fields based on the users. All behind the scenes.______________________________________________Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. |
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dhw
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
332 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 11:46:13
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quote:
Originally posted by savior faire
Why would they want to continuously get online and run these reports every time?
Well, I learned a long time ago to stop asking "why" users would want to do anything.  These reports are designed to pull the latest data, but it can be combined with historical data. So, the users typically run the data for the previous week or maybe month-to-date, but they will alter some of the other parameters occasionally.I guess the basic issue here makes total sense to me. I mean, if my job required that I run reports for analysis, I wouldn't want to have to click-click-click-click-click... on every report. If there were a way to have a short-cut or for the report parameters to be pre-populated with my last selections, that would make my job/life easier.In regards to SSRS, I think that Microsoft missed the boat on this one. Many other reporting tools have this feature built-in. I don't believe in forcing users to jump through hoops to do their jobs, when the technology exists to make it easier.thanks. |
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savior faire
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 12:13:30
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| As I mentioned in my previous post, you can retrieve the login id, from the system variables, I forget the exact syntax, but you should be able pass this value into the query, to retrieve filtered requests.Alternatively, you can store the data in an Analysis Services Cube and have your users access via Excel. What you describe in your last post, would suggest to me your users are doing random analysis on historical data. SSAS is pretty good in this area, and is very flexible.Microsoft provides the functionality via subscriptions. ______________________________________________Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. |
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dhw
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
332 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 13:30:15
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| Yes, that is what I am doing already - getting the userid from a system variable/parameter.Can't run the Subscriptions interactively, so they don't provide the users what they are asking for.As for SSAS and Excel...we do use this in other areas. but it is overkill for this current project.thanks for the suggestions. |
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savior faire
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-19 : 14:17:02
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| Place the reports in the "My Reports" folder. So each user will have their own version of the report, that they can run. You may also want to look at "Linked Reports".So this way it is not a subscription.______________________________________________Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. |
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dhw
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
332 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-21 : 20:04:35
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| Yes, that would be helpful for separating the reports per user. But not sure if it will help them when they want to run the reports interactively. I haven't looked at "Linked Reports" before, so I'll see if that provides some additional help.thanks again. |
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savior faire
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-22 : 11:12:56
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| DHW,I've told you why it would help them already several times. I'll go through it again.Say User #1, needs to run a report, three times, each with different parameters.If you set up a linked report in User #1's My Reports, folder, three times and give if a different name, your data retrieval query can reference the global user and report-name parameters, to do the filtering. You would set up some sort of parameter table that is based on values for User#1 and the different report names(ie: report#1, report#2, etc.).______________________________________________Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. |
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Allow users to save criteria / report parameters