Uploading Files to a Folder

You can upload files from the file system and store them as managed items in a report server database. What happens when you upload a file depends on the file type.

• Uploading an .rdl file is equivalent to publishing a report.

• Uploading an .smdl file is equivalent to publishing a report model if the .smdl file contains data source view information. If it is missing a data source view reference, an error occurs during the upload. Data source view information might be missing if you upload an .smdl file from a Visual Studio report model project. In report model projects, data source view information is stored in a separate file rather than in the .smdl file itself, and then added to the .smdl file when it is published to a report server.

  Model files that do contain data source view information are those that have been previously published to a report server and then saved from the server to a file on the file system. For example, if you open the General Properties page of a model and click Edit to open the model, you can save the model to a file and then upload that file as a new model on the report server. The .smdl file that you subsequently upload will have all of information that is necessary for model publication.

• Uploading any other file adds it to the report server database as a single binary object. These files are published to a report server as a resource. Resources can be any file type. If the file extension matches a known MIME type, an icon for that MIME type is used to identify the resource type. Otherwise, a generic file icon indicates a resource.

The maximum file size for uploaded items is determined by ASP.NET. By default, the maximum size is 4 megabytes (MB). For more information about maximum file size, see Report and Snapshot Size Limits.

Visually, files that you upload to a report server database are represented in the folder hierarchy with the following icons.

When you upload a file, it is always placed in the folder that is currently selected. You can navigate to the folder that you want to contain the item first, or you can upload a file and then move it to a final location later. For more information, see Moving Items.

To upload a file, use Report Manager. Whether you can upload files to a report server depends on tasks that are part of your role assignment. If you are using default security, local administrators can add items to a report server. If My Reports is enabled, any user who has a My Reports folder has permission to upload items to that folder. If you use custom role assignments, the role assignment must include tasks that support folder management.