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Please note, Telerik Report Server has been released and is no longer a Community Technology Preview. For an updated tutorial, please read Getting Started with Telerik Report Server.

One of the important announcements made at this year's TelerikNEXT was the availability of Telerik Report Server (Community Technology Preview).

As you may know, we at Telerik already have a reporting solution called "Telerik Reporting" but that is just a report creation and viewing solution. It does not have a server capability wherein you store reports, schedule report generation or preview reports from one single location.

With Telerik Report Server you can store all your company's reports in a single server side repository, but you can still embed them in any .NET application like you do with Telerik Reporting. With Telerik Report Server you can now enable business users to load, upload and delete reports in a friendly way. At the moment, we have released a Community Technology Preview of our Telerik Report Server. So, keeping in mind that it's still early and future versions will likely include significant changes, let's take a look at the Telerik Report Server.

If you missed TelerikNEXT, you can catch up on the highlights of the event, including some significant announcements.

Features

Let's look at some of the features available in Telerik Report Server.

Store, Manage & View Reports

With Report Server you now have the ability to store all your reports in central server–side repository. Users can view, upload and delete reports with a web interface.

Powered by Telerik Reporting

Report Server leverages the processing engine of Telerik Reporting. Telerik Reporting is one of the leading ad-hoc reporting tools in the industry and Report Server makes use of it. You can create reports quickly and efficiently using Telerik Reporting and upload them to Report Server.

Access Reports From Any Device

Telerik Report Server serves the report seamlessly across Phone, Tablet or PC. It provides a user experience that is tailored to specific screen sizes.

User Authentication

Only authorized users can log in to the Report Server. With the current release we have Forms Authentication in place. In coming releases, we will be supporting Windows Authentication as well. We are also working towards supporting user roles and permissions.

Versioning & History

We provide you a mechanism to protect yourself from accidental mistakes. We let you manage versions of your reports and at any point you can revert to an older version of the same report. This is a powerful feature that not only avoids errors, but will let you see who did what to a report.

Fast Report Loading

Since we are talking about a server and it has to serve multiple users, we have a built-in caching functionality which leads to optimized memory consumption and multiple users can load same report faster.

Step-by-Step with Telerik Report Server (CTP)

Now that we know what is Telerik Report Server and its features, let's dive into working with the Telerik Report Server. The first thing to do is to download the Telerik Report Server. You can download Telerik Report Server (CTP) here: http://www.telerik.com/report-server.

At this time, the download is a ZIP file. Unzip the downloaded file to a folder of your choice. Here is what you see after unzipping:

Figure 1: Contents of Telerik Report Server ZIP file
Figure 1: Contents of Telerik Report Server ZIP file

Here are the contents of the zip file:

  • Report Designer - Standalone software for designing reports
  • Telerik.ReportServer.Web - The Report Server software
  • ReportServerManual.pdf - The manual on Report Server
  • EULA - The end-user license agreement

Installing Telerik Report Server (CTP)

In order to set up the Telerik Report Server, follow the below steps:

  1. Make a note of the folder where you have unzipped the Telerik Report Server (CTP) ZIP file. We will need the path to set up the web application.
  2. Open Internet Information Service (IIS) manager.
  3. In the Connections pane expand the Sites node.
  4. Right-click the site in which you want to add the application and click Add Application. I will be creating Report Server Web Application under "Default Web Site".
  5. In the Add Application Dialog box, provide an Alias for the Report Server Application. To keep it simple I will be using "teleriktreportserver" as the alias. You will use this name to access the report server from a browser (e.g. http://localhost/telerikreportserver)
  6. Click the Select button next to Application Pool details. Make sure the Application Pool properties are set to as below:
    • NET CLR Version: 4.0
    • Pipeline mode: Integrated

    I will be using the Default App Pool for this web application.

    You can assign any AppPool to this web application but make sure the above properties are set on the selected AppPool.

    Figure 2: IIS Add Application Dialog
    Figure 2: IIS Add Application Dialog

  7. In the Physical path text box, provide the full path to the "Telerik.ReportServer.Web" folder. This is folder where you have unzipped the contents of the zip file downloaded. You can also use the browse button to navigate to that folder.

  8. Finally click Ok to create the web application

Let's open a browser and navigate to http://localhost/telerikreportserver to access the report server web application. As part of this release, the user authentication is based on Forms Auth. Register a user and login using the registered credentials. Here is a screen shot of the Report Server running on IE:

Figure 3: Telerik Report Server Web Application
Figure 3: Telerik Report Server Web Application

The Report Server Web Application has a connection string set to LocalDB. If you have errors or problems getting the web application up and running, check the connection string and make sure to provide a valid connection string according to your set up.

Configuring the Storage

By default the reports uploaded to Report Server will be stored on the file system and inside a folder called Data within the Report Server web application. There are two more options to choose from for storage: SQL Server and Redis. To change the storage option, click on Configuration button (found on top right corner of any page).

Let's see how to change different option settings:

File System

Figure 4: File System Storage Settings
Figure 4: File System Storage Settings

Microsoft SQL Server

Figure 5: Microsoft SQL Server Storage Settings
Figure 5: Microsoft SQL Server Storage Settings

In order to store report definitions in SQL Server, you will need to provide a connection string to the database. The tables will be automatically created in the database.

Redis

Figure 6: Redis storage Settings
Figure 6: Redis storage Settings

In order to store report definition in Redis, you will need to provide Redis configuration string.

Report Category Management

The first thing to do with Telerik Report Server is to set up categories for your reports. When uploading a Report, a category is mandatory. In order to manage categories, click on the Categories link on home page. You can create a new category, edit an existing category or delete an existing category. Here is a screen shot where I have set up a Category called "Sales":

Figure 7: Report Category Management
Figure 7: Report Category Management

Data Connection Management

Your reports will be connecting to data sources to fetch the data and render the report. I suggest that you do not embed the connection string within the report definition. Instead use a named connection string and create the connection string in Data Connection Management section of Telerik Report Server.

Click on the Data menu on the home page where you can manage connection strings for your reports data sources. One added advantage of defining connection strings is you can easily change the location of the database without having to change the report definitions. You will be able to add a new connection string, edit an existing connection string and delete an existing connection.

Here is a screen shot where I have created a connection string by name "Telerik.Reporting.Examples.CSharp.Properties.Settings.TelerikConnectionString".

Figure 8: Data Connections Management Figure 8: Data Connections Management

Why such a long name? Well, in next section I will be using the example reports we ship along with the download of Report Server CTP and they have been set up to use this connection string. I will be connecting to Adventure Works database. Next up we will see how to upload report definition.

Managing Reports

Click on the Reports menu item on the home page, which will take you to reports management screen. Here you can upload your Telerik Report Definition (.TRDX) files to the Report Server. Creating a new record is simple – provide a name, select a category and upload a .TRDX file. Here is a screen shot where I have uploaded an example TRDX file named Dashboard.trdx.

Figure 9: Report Management Figure 9: Report Management

When you unzip the Report Server CTP ZIP file, you will find Report Designer folder and inside that you will find an Examples folder. We have shipped 13 Telerik Report Definitions (.TRDX) files which can be used for uploading to Report Server.

Figure 10: Example Telerik Report Files Figure 10: Example Telerik Report Files

After you have created a report, select the report in the grid. On the grid toolbar we will see Preview button, Upload Revision button, Edit button, Download button, Copy button and Delete button. On the right hand side we can see an activity list for the selected report. Also if you have uploaded different versions for the same report, a history of the revisions is also displayed. Here is a screenshot of Dashboard report being selected with the activity and revision details shown to the right.

Figure 11: Selected Telerik Report Figure 11: Selected Telerik Report

When we click on the preview button on the grid toolbar, a new window opens up and our report will be rendered within the browser. The viewer is HTML5-based, so you can view this report on a phone, tablet or PC and the experience will be the same.

Figure 12: Report Preview in IE Figure 12: Report Preview in IE

The Future of Telerik Report Server

With this CTP, Telerik has released the Categories, Data Connections and Reports management features. We are currently working on the following features for our future roadmap:

  • More authentication providers;
  • User roles and permissions;
  • Report sharing“ for a selected user or for a group of users;
  • Out of the box report scheduling.

Stay tuned for the next release of Telerik Report Server and, until then - happy coding!


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