In SSRS 2008, is there any way to add all dataset fields to a table at once?

Question

I'm working with SSRS for the first time. When adding a table to a report, is there any way to add all fields of a dataset to it at once or does it have to be done individually? Drag & drop, insert column -> right is a pain when there are a lot of fields that are being displayed.

Dissidence

Answer 1

It's a bit of a workaround, but the "Add new report" wizard automatically creates a table with the specified columns and groups from your given dataset. I don't believe there's a way to trigger this functionality from within an existing report, but you could create a "sacrificial" report to get what you're looking for - run through the wizard, generate the table, and copy / paste it into your original report. As long as your datasets are the same, it should work just fine...

Hope this helps.

Crumb

This may work well for basic reports, but I couldn't use a sproc with the report wizard. I liked the other method suggested here of using report builder 3 which is a free download from Microsoft. – Saleem

Creating a new report via the wizard works with stored procedures, but does not work when data from a temp table is returned. There is a workaround to this though by doing the following: 1. Run the stored procedure outside of the report 2. Copy the fields from the results 3. Create a select statement based on those fields (Ex: Select null as 'Field1', null as 'Field2') 4. Put the select statement in your report. 5. After the wizard is complete, replace your select statement with the command to execute your stored procedure. – Labefaction

Answer 2

I have a similar problem as the op and am new to SSRS/BIDS. And, I am updating a previously created report which (for me) is too complex to just quickly re-create using the "wizard generation" as the datasource is a web service (with code-generated web service parameters, lots of calc'd datasource fields, etc). It is faster to just copy the .rdl, delete all, and create the table manually.

I thought I would add that (only a little better than op's method, but nonetheless it is time-saving) you can just drag and drop to populate columns w/o the "right click > insert column > right". Just drag the dataset field to the place you want it in the table and BIDS/SSRS will automatically insert a new column. It also helps to drag the latter columns first (i.e. always inserting a previous column) so you don't have to scroll to the right all the time.

Hutson

Answer 3

I was looking for the similar thing and I have figured this out. Open your report in Report Builder 3.0 which is a free BI tool by Microsoft. Go to Insert > Table wizzard. Then just follow the wizard steps to generate auto columns. Save and reopen the file in your visual studio, file will refresh itself.

Ved

Finalist

Answer 4

@Kevin Fisher actually there is no need a workaround. There is way to do this out of the box of Report Builder 3. Open your existing favorite report template. on the tool bar, click on INSERT tab, look for TABLE icon, click on the down-ward arrow at the bottom of the TABLE icon, then choose TABLE WIZARD. Then I guess you know what to do from here. -hope this help.

Iolenta

Answer 5

Using Paginated Reports, go to Table Wizard, Select all fields and drag them to the Value box, then click next, until you get your quick report.

Counterblow

Answer 6

I agree that there is no way to bring all of the columns over from the data set to a table easily. But I came up with a method that helped me:

Insert a blank table (this usually gives you 3 columns). Then insert columns to the right of the table (right click, Insert Column, To the Right), as many times as you need in order for it to equal the number of columns in your data set.

Once you have all the blank columns created in your table, click inside a table cell box and use the drop-down to select the field. This has the added benefit of allowing you to get the fields in the correct order, since I've noticed that the field names in the dataset don't always appear in the same order as the SQL stored proc output.

Uproarious