Reporting Services Deployment

Question

I need to create a repeatable process for deploying SQL Server Reporting Services reports. I am not in favor of using Visual Studio and or Business Development Studio to do this. The rs.exe method of scripting deployments also seems rather clunky. Does anyone have a very elegant way that they have been able to deploy reports. The key here is that I want the process to be completely automated.

Answer 1

We use rs.exe, once we developed the script we have not needed to touch it anymore, it just works.

Here is the source (I slightly modified it by hand to remove sensitive data without a chance to test it, hope I did not brake anything), it deploys reports and associated images from subdirectories for various languages. Also datasource is created.

'=====================================================================
'  File:      PublishReports.rss
'
'  Summary: Script that can be used with RS.exe to 
'           publish the reports.
'
'  Rss file spans from beginnig of this comment to end of module
' (except of "End Module").
'=====================================================================

Dim langPaths As String() = {"en", "cs", "pl", "de"}
Dim filePath As String = Environment.CurrentDirectory

Public Sub Main()

    rs.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

    'Create parent folder
    Try
        rs.CreateFolder(parentFolder, "/", Nothing)
        Console.WriteLine("Parent folder created: {0}", parentFolder)
    Catch e As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try

    PublishLanguagesFromFolder(filePath)

End Sub

Public Sub PublishLanguagesFromFolder(ByVal folder As String)
    Dim Lang As Integer
    Dim langPath As String

    For Lang = langPaths.GetLowerBound(0) To langPaths.GetUpperBound(0)
        langPath = langPaths(Lang)

        'Create the lang folder
        Try
            rs.CreateFolder(langPath, "/" + parentFolder, Nothing)
            Console.WriteLine("Parent lang folder created: {0}", parentFolder + "/" + langPath)
        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
        End Try

        'Create the shared data source
        CreateDataSource("/" + parentFolder + "/" + langPath)

        'Publish reports and images
        PublishFolderContents(folder + "\" + langPath, "/" + parentFolder + "/" + langPath)
    Next 'Lang
End Sub

Public Sub CreateDataSource(ByVal targetFolder As String)
    Dim name As String = "data source"

    'Data source definition.
    Dim definition As New DataSourceDefinition
    definition.CredentialRetrieval = CredentialRetrievalEnum.Store
    definition.ConnectString = "data source=" + dbServer + ";initial catalog=" + db
    definition.Enabled = True
    definition.EnabledSpecified = True
    definition.Extension = "SQL"
    definition.ImpersonateUser = False
    definition.ImpersonateUserSpecified = True
    'Use the default prompt string.
    definition.Prompt = Nothing
    definition.WindowsCredentials = False
    'Login information
    definition.UserName = "user"
    definition.Password = "password"

    Try
    'name, folder, overwrite, definition, properties 
        rs.CreateDataSource(name, targetFolder, True, definition, Nothing)
    Catch e As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try

End Sub

Public Sub PublishFolderContents(ByVal sourceFolder As String, ByVal targetFolder As String)
    Dim di As New DirectoryInfo(sourceFolder)
    Dim fis As FileInfo() = di.GetFiles()
    Dim fi As FileInfo

    Dim fileName As String

    For Each fi In fis
        fileName = fi.Name
        Select Case fileName.Substring(fileName.Length - 4).ToUpper
            Case ".RDL"
                PublishReport(sourceFolder, fileName, targetFolder)
            Case ".JPG", ".JPEG"
                PublishResource(sourceFolder, fileName, "image/jpeg", targetFolder)
            Case ".GIF", ".PNG", ".BMP"
                PublishResource(sourceFolder, fileName, "image/" + fileName.Substring(fileName.Length - 3).ToLower, targetFolder)
        End Select
    Next fi
End Sub

Public Sub PublishReport(ByVal sourceFolder As String, ByVal reportName As String, ByVal targetFolder As String)
    Dim definition As [Byte]() = Nothing
    Dim warnings As Warning() = Nothing

    Try
        Dim stream As FileStream = File.OpenRead(sourceFolder + "\" + reportName)
        definition = New [Byte](stream.Length) {}
        stream.Read(definition, 0, CInt(stream.Length))
        stream.Close()
    Catch e As IOException
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try

    Try
   'name, folder, overwrite, definition, properties 
        warnings = rs.CreateReport(reportName.Substring(0, reportName.Length - 4), targetFolder, True, definition, Nothing)

        If Not (warnings Is Nothing) Then
            Dim warning As Warning
            For Each warning In warnings
                Console.WriteLine(warning.Message)
            Next warning
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("Report: {0} published successfully with no warnings", targetFolder + "/" + reportName)
        End If
    Catch e As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Public Sub PublishResource(ByVal sourceFolder As String, ByVal resourceName As String, ByVal resourceMIME As String, ByVal targetFolder As String)
    Dim definition As [Byte]() = Nothing
    Dim warnings As Warning() = Nothing

    Try
        Dim stream As FileStream = File.OpenRead(sourceFolder + "\" + resourceName)
        definition = New [Byte](stream.Length) {}
        stream.Read(definition, 0, CInt(stream.Length))
        stream.Close()
    Catch e As IOException
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try

    Try
    'name, folder, overwrite, definition, MIME, properties 
        rs.CreateResource(resourceName, targetFolder, True, definition, resourceMIME, Nothing)
        Console.WriteLine("Resource: {0} with MIME {1} created successfully", targetFolder + "/" + resourceName, resourceMIME)
    Catch e As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Here is the batch to call the rs.exe:

SET ReportServer=%1
SET DBServer=%2
SET DBName=%3
SET ReportFolder=%4

rs -i PublishReports.rss -s %ReportServer% -v dbServer="%DBServer%" -v db="%DBName%" -v parentFolder="%ReportFolder%" >PublishReports.log 2>&1

pause