Steps to Designing a Report From Scratch

To create a fresh report in Report Designer, follow these steps:

• Select File > New > Project.
• Select the Business Intelligence Projects project type.
• Select the Report Server Project template.
• Name the new report ProductReport2 and pick a convenient location to save it in.
• Right-click on the Reports node in Solution Explorer and select Add > New Item.
• Select the Report template.
• Name the new report ProductReport2.rdl and click Add..
• In the Report Data window, select New > Data Source.
• Name the new Data Source AdventureWorksDS.
• Select the Embedded Connection option and click on the Edit button.
• Connect to your test server and choose the AdventureWorks2008 database.
• Click OK.
• Click OK again to create the data source.
• In the Report Data window, select New > Dataset.
• Name the dataset dsLocation.
• Click the Query Designer button.
• If the full Query Designer does not appear, click on the Edit As Text button.
• Click the Add Table button.
• Select the Location table.
• Click Add.
• Click Close.
• Check the boxes for the Name and CostRate columns.
• Sort the dataset in ascending order by Name and click OK.
• Click OK again to create the dataset.
• Open the toolbox window (View > Toolbox).
• Double-click the Table control.
• Switch back to the Report Data window.
• Expand the data set to show the column names.
• Drag the Name field and drop it in the first column of the table control on the design tab.
• Drag the Cost Rate field from the Report Data window and drop it in the second column of the table control.
• Place the cursor between the column selectors above the Name and CostRate columns to display a double-headed arrow. Hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor to the right to widen the Name column.

Below figure shows the report in Design view.

     

  

• Select the Preview tab to see the report with data.