Skip to main content

BI in SQL vNext

New

Fix stability issues with Report Builder

Vote (5) Share
Paul Turley's profile image

Paul Turley on 04 Feb 2015 01:33:05

Buggy behaviors in RB make users give up (especially less-technical business users who this tool was designed for). The rest of us just get angry. These include:
- Sometimes (inconsistently), pressing Enter will close the expression window and other time is adds a carriage return.
- VB functions are (sometimes) translated to full-qualified object references which confuses users.
- Certain field properties are changed when a data region is copied and pasted (example .UniqueName is changed to .Value)
- Expression window just hangs & then crashes.

Comments (3)
Paul Turley's profile image Profile Picture

Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 22:00:24

RE: Fix stability issues with Report Builder

I believe report builder should be web based and not require a windows ad account to use. It should work with claims or oauth. The fact it is not a web based designer makes it hard for end users to leverage. Reporting is different than analysis and all users aren't devs who have visual studio

Paul Turley's profile image Profile Picture

Mike Honey on 05 Jul 2020 21:57:53

RE: Fix stability issues with Report Builder

Sorry Paul, but personally I would prefer if RB was discontinued, and effort put into other SSRS or BI features. IMO It's a massive duplication of features/code (vs Report Designer in Visual Studio) and and of little practical use.

Paul Turley's profile image Profile Picture

Paul Turley on 05 Jul 2020 21:57:50

RE: Fix stability issues with Report Builder

After posting this, an example surfaced in a project I'm working on. In the expression editor, I entered: "=CINT(Fields!Week_of_Year.Value)" and then at some point, the editor has replaced my expression with: "=Microsoft.ReportingServices.RdlObjectModel.ExpressionParser.VBFunctions.CINT(Fields!Week_of_Year.Value)". If this were a more complex expression with embedded functions, it would be unreadable. If the simple form for the expression is acceptable, please don't modify my code. When this happens to new users and students in a class, it really freaks them out.