SSRS: Is it possible for an action to load a subreport?

9
votes

I want to have users click on a column of a histogram and have that action load a subreport contained based on an attribute of that column.

This would make SSRS reports a bit more interactive and a lot more useful.

I noticed that when specifying actions, we get the following dialog which has "go to report" but not "load subreport".

Maybe there's hope in "Go to URL" and javascript?

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3
sql-serverssrs-2008reporting-services
I think you're confusing two very specific terms. A "subreport" is a section of a parent report that is defined elsewhere. When a data element of the parent report is rendered, the "subreport" is called and the visual output is injected. The "go to report" option allows you to specify a "drill through" report. In this case, one data element will cause the user to link to a new, but related report. The original is placed on a "stack" and the user can navigate "back" to your histogram, but it's still a 100% independent report. I believe this is the option you want. – jklemmack
Hi ssyladin. No, no confusion. I want the subreport to be re-injected into the original report. I don't want to navigate away from the original report. If SSRS doesn't work this way, then the answer to my question is no. The hope is that SSRS could work more like a web page rather than something static. If the URL to go to is a javascript instruction that reloads a subreport in the current report that would be ideal. But I'm not sure whether SSRS works that way. – Michael J Swart
+1, great question. I'd like to be able to do this too. – Chris Townsend
SSRS posts when ever you click on anything, such as sorting tables or toggling hidden items. This leads me to believe you cannot use javascript to interact with it. – cadrell0
I guess you're right cadrell0. Go ahead and post that as an answer. – Michael J Swart

3 Answers

4
votes

Well, sort of. You could set the Go To Report function to go to the Parent Report (back to itself), and pass a parameter that updates the subreport. Not elegant, but it works. I've used it to create a tabbed "form" and use the "tabs" to switch out the subreport below.

2
votes

I have used "Go to Bookmark" and instead of loading a subreport, it simply jumps to another page in the report that shows the details of the chart item selected. Good luck.

2
votes

The answer is no, it is not possible to re-load a subreport based on a click using SSRS.

Several people mentioned this to me in different places: @cadrell0 says:

SSRS posts when ever you click on anything, such as sorting tables or toggling hidden items. This leads me to believe you cannot use javascript to interact with it

On twitter, I get the simple, straightforward advice:

Subreports in SSRS don't work that way. See Summary of Characteristics here - http://bit.ly/v0erHi

In general, If you want a more interactive experience, you need to do web development or find another solution that is not SSRS. A Microsoft solution that looks promising is Power View. It comes out soon and it may provide a better way to explore data.