Create a Report in SSRS 2008

Open Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) by going to:

"Start" -> "All programs" -> "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2" ->"SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio"



Then from the menu select "File" -> "New" -> "Project".



There is a new window that will appear. Select "Business Intelligence Projects" then choose "Report Server Project".

Type in a name then select a location and give the solution a name and click "Ok" to create the new SSRS project.



That's it; your SSRS Project is created.



Setup a Shared Data Source.

Add a new data source by right-clicking on shared data sources.



Change the Name in Shared Data Source Properties window and click the "Edit" button. The "Connection Properties" window will then be displayed. In here you need to specify server name and other information and then test the connection.



Click "Ok" to finish creating the shared data source.



In Solution Explorer you should see your new Data Source that in my case is called "Employee".



Now go to Solution Explorer and right-click on the reports folder and select "Add", and then "New Item".



In the "Add New Item" window we have two options to create a report; we can just select "Report" or use the "Report Wizard".

In this case I will use the Report item (without wizard).

At the bottom we need to type a report name.



The report is created and now you need to create a DataSet.

Add Dataset

Use the following procedure to add a dataset:

"Report Data" > "Add Dataset"





In the Dataset Properties, fill in the dataset name and click the "New" button next to the "Data source" drop down box.



You can use your shared data source here.



Once that is ready select "Query Designer" to set up a query string.



In the Query Designer provide your SQL and click "Ok".



Then click "OK".

Finally we will see that your dataset is visible in the Report Data pane for the fields we selected.



Your Data Set is ready

Now drag and drop a text box and table item into the design area.



Finally, to run the report click the preview tab. See the end result below.