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Using Parameters to Connect to Other Reports

You can use parameters to relate main reports to drillthrough reports, to subreports, and to linked reports. You can also specify a URL to a report that includes parameter values for report parameters and for URL parameters.

When you design a set of reports, you typically design each report to answer certain questions. Each report can provide a different view or a different level of detail for related information. To provide a set of interrelated reports, create parameters for the related data on target reports. How to pass the appropriate parameter to the target report depends on the type of target report.

Drillthrough Reports

Drillthrough actions are set on the property pages for any text box for a report item. If the target of the drillthrough action is a report local to the report project, you can use the Add button on the Action page of the Text Box Properties dialog box to set the parameter values to pass to the target report. The parameter names will appear in the drop-down list for the local report. For more information, see Text Box Properties Dialog Box, Action.

If the target report is on the report server but not in the local directory, you will need to discover the parameter names of the target report by examining the report properties with Report Manager. You can then manually enter the parameter names and the default values. Parameter names are case-sensitive.

You can use URL Access for any URL-addressable report and include report parameter values as part of the URL syntax. For more information, see URL Access.

Subreports

In Report Designer, a subreport must be a report in the report server project. To set parameters for a subreport, use the Parameters page of the Subreport Properties dialog box.

Note

If you use a subreport in a data region, the subreport and its parameters will be processed for every row in the data region. For this reason, consider whether a drillthrough report is more appropriate.

For more information, see How to: Add a Subreport and Parameters (Reporting Services).

Linked Reports

After a report is published, you can create a linked report from the published report. A linked report can be thought of as a pointer to the main report, but with a separate set of parameters. After you create the linked report, open it in Report Manager and modify the parameters. For more information, see Setting Parameter Properties for a Published Report. Because parameters are managed independently on the server, republishing a main report with new parameter settings does not overwrite the existing parameters settings for either the main report or the linked report. For more information, see New Linked Report Page (Report Manager) or How to: Create a Linked Report.

Specifying URL Parameters

For reports rendered in HTML, you can open a report at a specific page by passing a URL parameter value in the URL address when the report is opened via a URL. The following example opens the AdventureWorks sample Product Catalog report to page 30:

https://localhost/reportserver?%2fAdventureWorks+Sample+Reports%2fProduct+Catalog&rs:Command=Render&rc:Section=30

For more information, see Using URL Access Parameters.

You can also specify a report parameter using URL access. For more information, see Passing a Report Parameter Within a URL.