SQL Server Interview Questions -- Part 11 (SSRS part 1)

101. What is SSRS 2008 ?
Ans: A report is an organized collection of data, displayed in a readable information format. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 (SSRS 2008) is a server-based platform that helps to address the reporting needs of an organization.

102. What is report builder 2.0 ?
Ans: Report builder 2.0 is a report designer tool that comes as a separate installation package with SQL Server 2008.

103. What are report definition and client report definition files ?
Ans: Report definition files with .rdl extensions are created when you create a report in report builder. It may contain data sources, queries, report layout, data and other necessary reporting needs.
Client report definition files with .rdlc files are created when you create a report using Visual Studio Report Designer to be used with ReportViewer Control.

104. What is a Published Report ?
Ans: A report that is deployed on the report server for viewing is called published report.

105. What is a Rendered Report ?
Ans: Report Server process the published report into viewable output format which contains the necessary data and designed layout. The is called the rendered report which can be HTML or XML or any suitable format.

106. What are the different types of reports that can be created by SSRS 2008 ?
Ans: Ad hoc reports, Cached reports, Clickthrough reports, Drilldown reports, Drillthrough reports, Linked reports, Parameterized reports, Snapshot reports and Subreports.

107. What is a subreport ?
Ans: Subreport is a report inside a main report. Typically, when you want to use a different data source than the main report, you go for subreport.

108. What is a data region in SSRS 2008 ?
Ans: The region where the data is displayed from the dataset is the Data region and columns.

109. What are the different data regions ?
Ans: Chart, Gauge, List, Matrix and Table.

110. What is a Tablix ?
Ans: Tablix is a common term for supporting multiple rows and columns. The rows can be static or dynamic. Table, Matrix and list data regions are based on tablix.