No designer. Ouch!

We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services instead
of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that they
would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone report
designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
Thanks in advanceToday you have to buy VS, any version. The cheapest way to do this is VB.Net
($100). As far as cost you are most likely still way ahead of alternatives.
With version 2 (hopefully late summer) it will ship with a version of VS
specifically for RS. I.e. RS designer is still an add-on to VS (they get to
leverage all the nice features of VS) but you won't have to purchase a
version of VS to use the designer.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Gravy" <Gravy@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9BBA50F5-6860-45BF-B7BB-45A3C09C12D2@.microsoft.com...
> We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services
instead
> of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that they
> would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
> Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone report
> designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
> Thanks in advance
>|||Here's a related question...
On our development machines, we have VS .NET 2003 loaded and use it to
create the reports solution/project and all the RDLs. We then need to copy
all the RDLs, RDSs, etc. to each of our customers' production computer. The
catch is that the reports may need to be modified on each customer's
computer.
So, we thought we would install VB .NET ($100) on each customer computer and
copy all the report files. The question is: Since we created the reports
solution, project, and RDLs in VS .NET 2003, will we be able to open the
solution, make changes to the RDLs, and deploy to the local Report Server
using the VB .NET that's loaded on the customer computer?
Hope that make sense.
"Bruce L-C [MVP]" <bruce_lcNOSPAM@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OoLG8BVDFHA.2232@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Today you have to buy VS, any version. The cheapest way to do this is
VB.Net
> ($100). As far as cost you are most likely still way ahead of
alternatives.
> With version 2 (hopefully late summer) it will ship with a version of VS
> specifically for RS. I.e. RS designer is still an add-on to VS (they get
to
> leverage all the nice features of VS) but you won't have to purchase a
> version of VS to use the designer.
>
> --
> Bruce Loehle-Conger
> MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
> "Gravy" <Gravy@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9BBA50F5-6860-45BF-B7BB-45A3C09C12D2@.microsoft.com...
> > We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services
> instead
> > of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that
they
> > would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
> >
> > Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone
report
> > designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> >
>|||Yes, you can do what you propose. However, VS.Net may not be necessary on
the customers' computers. Since RDL is XML, you can use any application
capable of editing XML to modify the reports. To deploy, you can write a
simple application which uses the RS SOAP API. There is some code in the
samples which does this.
--
Albert Yen
SQL Server Reporting Services
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"MrBill" <mrbill@.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:#IwpmbWDFHA.3504@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Here's a related question...
> On our development machines, we have VS .NET 2003 loaded and use it to
> create the reports solution/project and all the RDLs. We then need to
copy
> all the RDLs, RDSs, etc. to each of our customers' production computer.
The
> catch is that the reports may need to be modified on each customer's
> computer.
> So, we thought we would install VB .NET ($100) on each customer computer
and
> copy all the report files. The question is: Since we created the reports
> solution, project, and RDLs in VS .NET 2003, will we be able to open the
> solution, make changes to the RDLs, and deploy to the local Report Server
> using the VB .NET that's loaded on the customer computer?
> Hope that make sense.
>
> "Bruce L-C [MVP]" <bruce_lcNOSPAM@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OoLG8BVDFHA.2232@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> > Today you have to buy VS, any version. The cheapest way to do this is
> VB.Net
> > ($100). As far as cost you are most likely still way ahead of
> alternatives.
> > With version 2 (hopefully late summer) it will ship with a version of VS
> > specifically for RS. I.e. RS designer is still an add-on to VS (they get
> to
> > leverage all the nice features of VS) but you won't have to purchase a
> > version of VS to use the designer.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Bruce Loehle-Conger
> > MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
> >
> > "Gravy" <Gravy@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:9BBA50F5-6860-45BF-B7BB-45A3C09C12D2@.microsoft.com...
> > > We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services
> > instead
> > > of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that
> they
> > > would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
> > >
> > > Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone
> report
> > > designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>|||take a look at 90 degree software - they have exactly that.
"Gravy" wrote:
> We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services instead
> of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that they
> would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
> Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone report
> designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
> Thanks in advance
>|||Is your client using SQL 2000 or SQL 2005? If they are using SQL 2005 - then
they will already have a report designer INCLUDED and will not need to buy
from 90 degrees software. 90 degrees appears to have a nice report
designer - but it better be for 850 bucks!
=-Chris
"Tips" <Tips@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68D157EC-75D1-41F1-BD0A-5B96F506880D@.microsoft.com...
> take a look at 90 degree software - they have exactly that.
> "Gravy" wrote:
>> We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services
>> instead
>> of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that they
>> would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
>> Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone report
>> designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
>> Thanks in advance
>>|||Plus, if someone is just getting into they should definitely go with RS
2005. The additional features and performance are worth it.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Chris Conner" <Chris.Conner@.NOSPAMPolarisLibrary.com> wrote in message
news:e28sUlg%23GHA.3312@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Is your client using SQL 2000 or SQL 2005? If they are using SQL 2005 -
> then they will already have a report designer INCLUDED and will not need
> to buy from 90 degrees software. 90 degrees appears to have a nice report
> designer - but it better be for 850 bucks!
> =-Chris
> "Tips" <Tips@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:68D157EC-75D1-41F1-BD0A-5B96F506880D@.microsoft.com...
>> take a look at 90 degree software - they have exactly that.
>> "Gravy" wrote:
>> We are about to propose to a client that they use Reporting Services
>> instead
>> of such things like crystal Reports, but it is my understanding that
>> they
>> would also have to buy VS.NET inorder to design new reports.
>> Is this correct or are Mirosoft going to be providing a standalone
>> report
>> designer with Reporting Services, one that doesn't reply on VS?
>> Thanks in advance
>>
>