Yes, I’ve been quiet lately. I have a ton of ideas lining up for blog posts, but I need to get back to a “normal” pace. After conference season (PASS and Connections), I have been super busy with various projects – like co-authoring Introducing SQL Server 2012 with Ross Mistry and teaching classes like BI Immersion this week. One might say I’m having too much fun! Is that possible?
Background
Today’s post was inspired by a problem I encountered on the first day of the BI Immersion class. To make things easier for folks to have a working environment in which to try out the topics we discuss during the BI Immersion class, I recommend they get a freely available VHD with the entire Microsoft BI stack installed and configured. It’s evaluation software so it only works for a limited time, but it should be enough time for learning until you get your own permanent environment set up. Also, it’s not quite the entire BI stack, but we fix that during class by adding PowerPivot for SharePoint and adding another Reporting Services instance in SharePoint integrated mode. (Side note: Adding PowerPivot for SharePoint to an existing farm can be challenging – may need to do some fiddling to get it working.)
The Problem
As I was demonstrating Reporting Services (native mode) using the aforementioned VHD, I noticed that the Data Feed button was missing from the HTML Viewer toolbar. Yet, it was there in the toolbar when using Reporting Services in SharePoint integrated mode. You use this button to export data to PowerPivot for Excel – or any application that can consume an ATOM data feed. Where did the button go?
The Solution
My guess is that this VHD was not created from scratch using SQL Server 2008 R2, but rather migrated from an earlier version and somehow the RSReportServer.config file didn’t update properly. When I looked at the file for clues about the data feed button, I noticed that a rendering extension was missing. I added it back in as shown below (see the highlighted text), then opened up Report Manager to look at a report. Hooray – the button is back!
(Sorry about the lack of wrapping – I’ll fix it later. Have to get to class!)
<Render> <Extension Name="XML" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.XmlDataReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering"/> <Extension Name="NULL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.NullRenderer.NullReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.NullRendering" Visible="False"/> <Extension Name="CSV" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.CsvReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering"/> <Extension Name="PDF" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.PDFRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering"/> <Extension Name="RGDI" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.RGDIRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering" Visible="False"/> <Extension Name="HTML4.0" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.HtmlRenderer.Html40RenderingExtension,Microsoft.ReportingServices.HtmlRendering" Visible="False"/> <Extension Name="MHTML" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.HtmlRenderer.MHtmlRenderingExtension,Microsoft.ReportingServices.HtmlRendering"/> <Extension Name="EXCEL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ExcelRenderer.ExcelRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ExcelRendering"/> <Extension Name="RPL" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.RPLRendering.RPLRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.RPLRendering" Visible="False" LogAllExecutionRequests="False"/> <Extension Name="IMAGE" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.ImageRenderer.ImageRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.ImageRendering"/> <Extension Name="WORD" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.WordRenderer.WordDocumentRenderer,Microsoft.ReportingServices.WordRendering"/> <Extension Name="ATOM" Type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.Rendering.DataRenderer.AtomDataReport,Microsoft.ReportingServices.DataRendering" Visible="false"/> </Render>