Hi @FredericoM ,

Yes you can create more interactive reports with custom client reports (RDLC) using the FSMVSPackage provided by the R&D. There are some simple steps to set up the extension package in Visual Studio and once it’s correctly set up and made the connection with the FSM endpoints (to make the connection with the FSM database, in VS go to Tools → Options → FSM then provide the endpoint url and correct database type along with a valid studio user name and password), you can start creating report projects. With the custom report designer tools you can add tables, images, text, matrixes etc. (you can simply google and get many answers for RDLC reporting questions since there is no limitation in designing the RDLC files) Also you need to create datasets with queries in order to retrieve data dynamically from FSM. Other than that, you need to be aware on the layout widths as the layouts could get messy sometimes once the rdlc is uploaded to FSM.

Once everything is good to go, you need to upload that particular RDLC file to Admin → System → Report Admin and also pass the necessary parameters in the parameters tab / set up datasets in the datasets tabs to generate the reports. Also remember to upload the exact file name for the file path as well otherwise it will not be triggered.

Then go to File → Reports to generate report with the parameters (e.g.: task_id) and click on any print or excel / word button to generate report. Again, if you need to automate the report generation, you might need to write custom code /policy.

Also make sure that the highlighted application parameters are correctly setup.
 

I have herewith attached the extension package to design the reports for your reference and also note that you might need to configure Visual studio with NuGet packages (for VS 2017) in case if you encounter issues while setting this up (There is a bug in the extension Microsoft Rdlc Report Designer for Visual Studio that the ReportViewer shows up as a non-visual component).

Hi @Saranga Amaraweera ,

Thanks for the reply I will take a look at this, and is it possible to generate PDF documents using this RDLC packages? 

Or using another packages, because in the end we would need to create a pdf document with data coming from a Task. 

Hi @FredericoM , yes you can generate .pdf, .xls, .docx extensions with this.

Hi @Saranga Amaraweera ,

Is there any documentation about this?  I’ve installed the FSMVSPackage and the report viewer NuGet package.  I’ve been able to edit RDLC reports that already have a dataset even before doing this, but I’m not sure how to setup the datasets for a new report RDLC file from within visual studio.

Hello @csanders ,

I have already mentioned the steps to upload the custom report in the previous message to @FredericoM .   If you have completed designing the RDLC in the designer, you just need to go to Report Admin screen in FSM and create a report name, and make the report as a client report. Also make sure the File Name of the report should be similar to the name of your RDLC file (e.g. : If your rdlc file name is abcd.rdlc, then File Name field should also be abcd) otherwise it will not be uploaded to the client reports directory.

Then go the parameters section in the report admin and add your parameters if you’re passing any as in the above image.

After that, you need to include each of your datasets similar to the datasets that you have created in the RDLC report. See the image below.
 

sample dataset associated with a parameter : 

select task.actual_start_dttm, task.actual_end_dttm, place.name
from task, place
where task.place_id_cust = place.place_id and
task.task_id = @task_id

Then finally if everything is okay, then you need to upload your RDLC file to client reports directory in FSM. In order to do that, you need to go to Upload Report section as shown below and upload the RDLC file . (You can do this on the very first step)

Now clear all cache and go to Reports screen in FSM and check your report there, pass the necessary parameters and click on print button to view the report in PDF format. Otherwise there are other options to view it on different formats. Hope this helps you!
 

@Saranga Amaraweera,

Thanks for the detailed reply, unfortunately you skipped over the part I was asking about.

My question is about setting up the Datasets in Visual Studio.  When I edit existing rdlc files in Visual Studio they already have a data source set to Metrix.  How can I setup that data source in Visual Studio for a new rdlc file?  I’m assuming that Visual Studio can connect to the FSM server and import the datasets from the queries in the Report Admin screen?

Thanks!

In your VS project (if you have set up the package successfully) you need to go to the Tools ->Options.

Then under options you should see the FSM extension that you have added

Set the correct Endpoint address, studio credentials to FSM and set OK.
 

Then you can make the connection with your datasets and test this. Hope this helps!

@Saranga Amaraweera ,

I was using the URL to a test server where my account wasn’t active.  Once I pointed it to the correct server it connected.

When I clicked the preview button I got an error saying it couldn’t find a file called Metrix.UI.ClientReports.dll.  Including how I got passed this in case anyone else has this issue.

This file was installed with the FSMVSPackage so I just had to search for it on my computer and then copy it to the \Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies folder in my Visual Studio installation directory.

Everything's working great now.  Thanks for your help!