Reporting Services Data Connection Problems

First, I am very new to programming, so please use the most basic descriptions in any replies. I have created a simple program in VB express and would like to be able to generate a report for a database used in my program through SQL Server Express. My goal was to have someone using my program on a laptop (not connected to a server or network) to be able to generate this report through my program in VB express without installing additional software, based on the local database on their computer. So, I thought using Reporting Services would best accomplish this. I went through the AdventureWorks tutorial and had to play with the connection settings so it would finally let me connect to the DB in the Visual Studio "Report Wizard". Now, when I try to connect to a datasource for my program, I get log on problems. I don't want to have to log on to anything to run this report. Since I actually got the AdventureWorks database report to work, I know there is a way to do this, but can't figure the specfiic settings. See the error below that I get.

Login failed for user ''. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection.

For anyone reading this, does this sound like a practical way to accomplish my objective or would there be an easier way to generate a report through VB express? Since I haven't gotten to the build process, I am still unclear as to how reporting services reports (if not using a web server) plays into the whole picture. Would a user have to install another program other than my VB express program to view reports that I create through Reporting Services (again, if I don't want to use a network server and instead have reports generated from their local DB on their computer).

Obviously, I have a lot to learn yet, but any help getting started would be greatly appreciated!

Eric

Hi Eric,

Reporting Services requires that you install IIS onto the computer and is generally used for setting up a reporting server that is used by multiple people. It is not really the appropriate choice for generating reports for a single user application.

Sadly, VB Express does not support the report designer, this is something that the VS team reserves for customers who purchase larger Editions. You can download the report viewer control for VB Express, which allows you to display reports created in other editions of VS. The report viewer can also display reports that are running from a Report Services server.

If you wish to pursue using Reporting Services any way and don't want to require a connection to a central reporting server, each user of your application would be required to install both SQL Express and Reporting Services in addition to your application. Since Reporting Services requires IIS, you would not be able to display reports on Windows XP Home computers as they do not support running IIS.

Mike

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Thanks Mike! That answers my question very well. It was not the answer I was hoping to hear, but now I know not to spend more time with Reporting Services. If I were to purchase the full version of Visual Studio 2005, would I get a version of Visual Basic that would include the report designer that you mentioned? Do you think that would be the way to accomplish my goal as described above?

Thanks Again!!

Eric