Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

What is the difference between reports created using Business Intelligence Projects Template and the reports created using .rdlc file which is present in the various file types displayed. Why SSRS needs to be installed when you can create reports using .rdlc file.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

The way I understand it, .rdl is a server controlled report and .rdlc is a client-side controlled report. You have to deploy an .rdl file to a report server and access it using that server. With a .rdlc report, you can create the report and use a ReportViewer control to run the report in your application.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

RDL files are created by the SQL Server 2005 version of Report Designer. RDLC files are created by the Visual Studio 2005 version of Report Designer.

RDL and RDLC formats have the same XML schema. However, in RDLC files, some values (such as query text) are allowed to be empty, which means that they are not immediately ready to be published to a Report Server. The missing values can be entered by opening the RDLC file using the SQL Server 2005 version of Report Designer. (You have to rename .rdlc to .rdl first.)

RDL files are fully compatible with the ReportViewer control runtime. However, RDL files do not contain some information that the design-time of the ReportViewer control depends on for automatically generating data-binding code. By manually binding data, RDL files can be used in the ReportViewer control.

Note that the ReportViewer control does not contain any logic for connecting to databases or executing queries. By separating out such logic, the ReportViewer has been made compatible with all data sources, including non-database data sources. However this means that when an RDL file is used by the ReportViewer control, the SQL related information in the RDL file is simply ignored by the control. It is the host application's responsibility to connect to databases, execute queries and supply data to the ReportViewer control in the form of ADO.NET DataTables.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Thanks Tamer Fathy. But I have certain doubts. I can build reports using the .rdlc files provided by VS 2005. The data could be fetched from any database.To display the report, we have got the reportviewer. The reports as far as I understand will be hosted on the application server not on Report Server as in case of
SSRS 2005. So what are the additional advantages of SSRS 2005 and what are the components that I should install to receive the benefits? I have got sql server 2000 as my backend.

Thanks in advance

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

you don't need reporting service as you use rdlc read this areticle and see the samples

http://www.gotreportviewer.com/

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Thanks Tamer Fathy. But I did not understand the following abstract from the article you asked me to go through.

Q: Why doesn't the ReportViewer control support parameter prompting in local mode?

A: The ReportViewer control does not prompt for parameters when in local mode. It prompts for parameters when it is connected to a Report Server.

In local mode it does not make sense for ReportViewer to prompt for parameters. The rationale is as follows: The most common use of report parameters is to pass to queries as values of query parameters. But unlike the Report Server, the ReportViewer control does not execute queries itself. Rather, queries are executed by the host application, and the result is passed to the ReportViewer control. So the ReportViewer control does not have the opportunity to set query parameters. Applications should take advantage of the parameterization features of Visual Studio data wizards instead.

I have a procedure written in sql server 2000 which would fetch the data required for the report after accepting certain parameters. Now how should I pass the parameters. The data for the parameters would be in the form of a dropdown from which the user would select the values. The data for the dropdown itself comes from a query. How could I do this in a Report Viewer.

The logic explained in the above abstract was not clear to me. Perhaps the knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes would help me understand it in a much better manner. If there is any article to that effect, kindly let me know.

Thanks

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

You welcome any time :),

concerning your question it was easy, this is the difference between the RDL and RDLC in case you need to pass parameters to your reports if you use RDLC which in client side processing as get the data from the database and assign it to the report you need to handle the passing of the parameters by developing the form which get the parameters from the user and then use it in your query then when you get the results you pass it to the report to display.

but if you use server side processing you can use the report viewer control (custom control used to view reports in your application (web or windows)) to handle the parameti hope i explain it in good way and i help you

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Thanks Tamer Fathy. But I have one more doubt. Making use of .rdlc file type and the reportviewer provided by VS2005 instead of SSRS 2005 would mean that the reports will be on the application server rather than being hosted on the reportserver since I won't be having a seprate report server. Will this affect the performance of my application server?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

no this will not affect your application performance as it wil be as you query the data base for specific data

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Hi Tamer Fathy,

This is an amazing thread to clear the doubts about rdl and rdlc.

Temer, one of your statements confused me a bit. In your response on 09-28-2007, 3:28 PM, last paragraph, you say "However this means that when an RDL file is used by the ReportViewer control,... ". Dont you think it should say RDLC and not RDL. Because, in RDL the SQL related information is used from the file itself.

I may be getting it wrong.

Thanks!!

Harry.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

:) you are right I typed it wrong, it must be RDLC NOT rdl thanks for notice :)

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/thread/a5f67556-7223-492f-b8d8-77b118b2cb2c

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Thanks Arun,

That was nice of you!!

Well guys, here is an issue that I am facing with Report Builder. I created a Data Source View using a view from my database. I also created a model that uses this DSV to expose the fields to the enduser. Everything is working great. Now, there are 2 columns (fields) in the view that i dont want to expose to the enduser.

What is the best way out to implement this?? I doubt if this is even possible!!

Thanks!!

Harry.

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Check out http://www.gotreportviewer.com/

Re: Difference between .rdl and .rdlc files

Hi,

Plz tell me, can we show .rdl file i.e. SSRS Reports in asp.net web pages using Report Viewer control. If yes , plz tell the correct way. I searched on many forums, but still I unable to implement it.

I tried by using Report Viewer. By implementing 'Remote Mode' as SSRS reports are being situated on Production Server and also specified 'Report Server URL:http://scdsqldev06.cree.com/Reports/Pages/Folder.aspx?ItemPath=%2fUAT+Bug+Fix&ViewMode=List' & and 'Report Path:/Wafering Bouncer Specs'. But its not working....

PLz help me out. Its urgent....