BIRT Report Data Source - dataset vs parameter type

ReportServer (EN)
1

Hi,

I’m trying to configure a multiple-select selection criterion populated by a data set inside my BIRT report. I’ve read through the Administrator’s Guide and have a couple of questions:

  1. Under Administration → Datasources can I create a single BIRT Report Data Source with any arbitrary name and reuse it as many times as I need in numerous reports?

  2. When creating the parameter, what’s the difference between the type of DATASET and PARAMETER?

I’ve configured the BIRT report with a parameter called “events” that uses the dataset “eventlist” for dynamic selection. Would I set the ReportServer parameter type to DATASET or PARAMETER? Would the name be “events” or “eventlist”?

Thanks,
Mike

2

Hi Mike,

  1. Yes you just create a single BirtReportDatasource and can reuse it for all your reports. I admit, it’s not exactly straightforward…

  2. With a dynamic parameter you use DATASET and the name of the dataset (eventlist). If you have a static parameter which is not bound to a dataset but uses a fixed list of options, you use PARAMETER (with the parameter name) to load the static list of choices into ReportServer.

Cheers,
Thorsten

3

Thanks Thorsten!

Your note above and an older thread (http://forum.reportserver.net/viewtopic.php?id=94) have good info and probably would make good additions to the admin guide someday.

Mike

4

With this setup I’m able to get my values to show up in the parameter setting under Specific Properties, Default Values, when I double-click to bring up the popup. I have 10 items in my test database and they all show up.

But when I execute the report, go to the parameters tab, and double-click to modify the selection, the popup opens but hangs at “Loading data” forever. No values are displayed.

I don’t see any output in catalina.out while this is happening.

If I cancel out of the popup and try to execute the report again, subsequent tries just show “no data available”.

Thanks,
Mike

5

Hi Mike,

this does not sound right. I’ve raised a bug ticket and we are investigating.

Regards
Arno

6

Hi Mike,

I just gave Birt Datasources a quick test run and could not find any obvious failures. Could you maybe elaborate a bit on
how your parameter is configured, or if possible, send us your rptdesign file?

Thanks,
Arno

7

Yes, I’d be happy to send you the .rptdesign file and the Quick Export from ReportServer.

As a workaround we are able to point to the database as a data source in ReportServer (instead of the BIRT Report data source) and enter the SQL query directly in ReportServer.

Thanks,
Mike

8

Hi Mike,

a quick update. I’ve ran some preliminary tests with your report and data using MySQL as the underlying datasource and so far everything worked fine. We’ll be setting up an oracle test over the next few days
and hopefully then will be able to reproduce the problem.

Regards,
Arno