How to Create a Custom Data Warehouse Report
All Commerce Server 2009 Data Warehouse reports are built by using SQL Server Reporting Services.
Reports retrieve data from online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes or Data Warehouse tables. For more information, see What Are the Data Warehouse OLAP Cubes? and Data Warehouse Cube and Table Usage by Report.
Commerce Server 2009 reports are stored in Report Definition Language (RDL), a form of XML. Reports have a file name extension of .rdl. Reports are stored in the /Microsoft Commerce Server 2007/RDLs folder. Folders are organized by business scenario. For reports organization information, see Data Warehouse Analytics Business Scenarios.
You create and modify reports by using Visual Studio. SQL Server Reports are classified as a Visual Studio Report Server Project in the Business Intelligence projects type.
Commerce Server 2009 reports use report parameters to let users filter report display data. See the SQL Server Reporting Services documentation for more information about how to use report parameters.
To modify an existing report
Create a new Visual Studio, Business Intelligence Project, Report Server project.
Add the report .rdl file that you want to modify to the project. You can use the Commerce Server 2009 reports as templates. Commerce Server 2009 reports are located in \Program Files\Microsoft Commerce Server 2007\RDLs.
Modify the report data source as needed. For more information about Data Warehouse classes, see Primary Data Warehouse Business Classesand Data Warehouse Classes. For more information about OLAP cubes, see What Are the Data Warehouse OLAP Cubes?.
Modify the report layout as needed.
Preview the report.
When you have completed the report, save the report.
To create a new report
Create a new Visual Studio, Business Intelligence Project, Report Server project.
Add one or more report .rdl files to the project.
Fill in the data source by using Data Warehouse cube or table sources. Use the existing reports as data source guidelines, if you have to. For more information about Data Warehouse classes, see Primary Data Warehouse Business Classes and Data Warehouse Classes. For more information about OLAP cubes, see What Are the Data Warehouse OLAP Cubes?
Fill in the report layout.
Preview the report.
When you have completed the report, save the report.
Reports Metadata Directory Files
The Commerce Server 2009 tool that installs reports (ReportInstaller.exe) uses two metadata files to add descriptions to folders and reports that it installs on the reporting server. If you add reports and want to use the report installer tool to deploy these reports, you can add the XML description files described in this topic to apply them to your folders or reports.
Each reports directory contains a ReportsDescription.xml file. This file contains localized reports names and descriptions. If you add a custom report to a directory, add an entry in the ReportsDescription.xml file listing the custom report. The ReportsDescription.xml file is prefixed by a category description, for example "AdvertisingReportDescriptions.xml".
The reports directory top-level node contains a FolderDescriptions.xml file. This file contains localized folder names and descriptions. If you add a custom directory to the reports file tree, add an entry in the FolderDescriptions.xml file listing the custom directory. The FolderDescriptions.xml file is prefixed by the localization code, for example "enFolderDescriptions.xml".
If you want to add more folders for the report installer tool to use, the Name element must match the name of the report folder and the folder must be at the same level as the other folders in this file. The following is an example of this.
<FolderDescriptions>
<Descriptions>
<FolderDescription>
<Name>Advertising_Reports</Name>
<Description _loc="locData">Reports to analyze advertising data. Reports in this section include the following: Ad Reach and Frequency by Advertiser, Ad Reach and Frequency by Date, Campaign Event Summary and Campaign Item Summary </Description>
</FolderDescription>
...
</Descriptions>
</FolderDescriptions>