Open a browser and navigate to your reporting server (e.g., http://localhost/reports/). Once
there, navigate to the folder where you instructed the Report Wizard to place
your finished report and locate the Report1 report. Once
you click on the link, you will be greeted by a dialog requesting a parameter
for you. Select a location and then click View Report just
as you have done in the designer. After a few seconds of churning, your report
will be rendered.
Once it is rendered, try opening it up in Excel. To do
this, specify the Excel option from the Select a format
drop down as indicated in Figure 4.
Figure
4
Once you have selected the Excel export format, click
on the Export link and Reporting Services will provide
you with an available download containing the results of your report. Save the
report and then open it once it finishes downloading or just open it directly
if you would prefer. Once opened, you can see that SSRS has done a great job
of outputting your report to this Excel document. It has even preserved some
of the formatting (such as color).
Figure
5
While the data you wanted to output has been accurately
rendered, if you had placed any charts or graphs into your Reporting Services
Report, they would have been outputted to the Excel file as static images not
as data-bound graphs. Likewise, if you need to add any conditional formatting
or other formulas to your report you are free do to so; you will just have to
do it again each time you output the report. What would be nice would be a way
to make formatting changes and preserve them for future export operations. Happily,
with a sample report now created, you are ready to see what OfficeWriter can
bring to the table.
