Lesson 3: Load a Report Definition from the Report Server

After you have created your project and generated the classes from the RDL schema, you are ready to load a report definition from the report server.

To load a report definition

1. Add a private field at the top of the ReportUpdater class (module if you are using Visual Basic) for the Report class. This field will be used to maintain a reference to report that is loaded from the report server for the life of the application.

   private Report _report;  
   

   Private m_report As Report  
   

2. Replace the code for the LoadReportDefinition() method in the Program.cs file (Module1.vb for Visual Basic) with the following code:

   private void LoadReportDefinition()  
   {  
       System.Console.WriteLine("Loading Report Definition");  
   
       string reportPath =   
           "/AdventureWorks 2012 Sample Reports/Company Sales 2012";  
   
       // Retrieve the report definition   
       // from the report server  
       byte[] bytes =   
           _reportService.GetItemDefinition(reportPath);  
   
       if (bytes != null)  
       {  
           XmlSerializer serializer =   
               new XmlSerializer(typeof(Report));  
   
           // Load the report bytes into a memory stream  
           using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(bytes))  
           {  
               // Deserialize the report stream to an   
               // instance of the Report class  
               _report = (Report)serializer.Deserialize(stream);  
           }  
       }  
   }  
   

   Private Sub LoadReportDefinition()  
   
       System.Console.WriteLine("Loading Report Definition")  
   
       Dim reportPath As String = _  
           "/AdventureWorks 2012 Sample Reports/Company Sales 2012"  
   
       'Retrieve the report definition   
       'from the report server  
       Dim bytes As Byte() = _  
           m_reportService.GetItemDefinition(reportPath)  
   
       If Not (bytes Is Nothing) Then  
   
           Dim serializer As XmlSerializer = _  
               New XmlSerializer(GetType(Report))  
   
           'Load the report bytes into a memory stream  
           Using stream As MemoryStream = New MemoryStream(bytes)  
   
               'Deserialize the report stream to an   
               'instance of the Report class  
               m_report = CType(serializer.Deserialize(stream), _  
                                Report)  
   
           End Using  
   
       End If  
   
   End Sub  
   

Next Lesson

In the next lesson, you will write code to update the report definition that was loaded from the report server. See Lesson 4: Update the Report Definition Programmatically.

See Also

Updating Reports Using Classes Generated from the RDL Schema (SSRS Tutorial)
Report Definition Language (SSRS)