By: Ray Barley
Overview
Report Builder 3.0 is a click-once application which allows you to run it without actually installing it. When you install SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) 2008 R2, you must configure Reporting Services to run in native mode or SharePoint Integrated mode. You can launch Report Builder from the Report Manager web application (when SSRS is running in native mode) or a SharePoint document library(when SSRS is running in SharePoint Integrated mode).
In order to eliminate the dependency on Report Manager or SharePoint, this topic reviews the Report Builder 3.0 installation steps. The tutorial assumes that you have Report Builder 3.0 installed on your computer.
Explanation
Report Builder 3.0 is available for download on the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Feature Pack site. Report Builder 3.0 requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, which is also available for download at the same location. To install Report Builder 3.0 download the ReportBuilder3.msi file and run it. When you start the Report Builder 3.0 installation, you will see the following message if you do not have the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed:
If the above message appears, download the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, install it, then run the Report Builder 3.0 installation again.
The Report Builder 3.0 installation follows the familiar wizard approach where you step through a number of dialogs in order to perform the installation. You will go through the following steps:
The Welcome page is displayed:
Accept the License Agreement:
Enter your name and your company name:
Select the features to install; Report Builder 3.0 only has a single feature:
If you click the Disk cost button you will see that Report Builder 3.0 requires 142MB of space.
Enter the target server URL:
The target server URL is used to deploy the reports you design with Report Builder 3.0. Normally you will need to get the target server URL from your information systems department. If you do not know the target server URL at this point, you can leave it blank and enter it later in Report Builder 3.0 after the installation is complete.
The final dialog is displayed; click Install to perform the installation:
Additional Information
- For additional details refer to Installing Report Builder 3.0 in the MSDN Library.
- To review the steps required to install and configure SSRS in SharePoint Integrated mode, take a look at the tips Integrating SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services with SharePoint 2010 or SQL Server Reporting Services Integration with SharePoint.
