If you’re anything like me, you create a ton of objects and have them in various projects. And sometimes, you may want to include one of those objects in another project. This is often the case when you download an example from the web somewhere, but it doesn’t include the entire project. Some of my blogs include the sample that I created for the blog. I don’t include the whole project, because I have assumed that one would know how to create a reporting services project and then add my report definition file into the existing solution. I have recently been asked to show someone how to add a report to an existing solution and as such...I am writing this blog. So without further ado… let’s get cracking…

Create a new Reporting Services Project by loading up Business Intelligence Development Studio. Mine is under All Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 as shown below.

Then click the CREATE: Project… button in the Recent Projects window.

Select the Report Server Project under the Project types: Business Intelligence Projects. Name the project whatever you want, I would recommend something along the lines of SSRS_TestProject or something like that. Save the project in whatever location that you want and should you choose to have BIDS create a folder for the project, set that name accordingly.

Now that you have a project created for test reports. Download one of my examples here. Extract it and then add it to the project that you just created. To add the rdl file right click on the Reports folder and then go to Add and then select Existing Item… as shown below.

Navigate to where the rdl file is located and select it. Then click the Add button as shown below.

When you click the add button, a copy of the file is then copied to your solution folder and then included in your project. That’s all there is to it! Save this project and the file that I gave you because in a not-too-distant post (maybe a few hours), I will show you how to do something nice using this report. Stay tuned!

I hope that you have enjoyed this post. If you did, please take just a moment to rate it below! Also, if you don’t already, please be sure to follow me on twitter at @briankmcdonald. Also note that you can subscribe to an RSS feed of my blogs or find me at any of the below methods.

Brian K. McDonald, MCDBA, MCSD
Business Intelligence Consultant – Pragmatic Works

Email: bmcdonald@pragmaticworks.com

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