Chapter 4: A Visit to Emerald City: The Report Wizard

Overview

If the relational database concepts of Chapter 3 were new to you, you may feel like you have been through a twister and are not in Kansas anymore. You can take heart in the fact that we have completed the preliminaries and are now ready to start building reports. So, with no further ado, strap on your ruby slippers and follow the yellow-brick road, because you are off to see the wizard!

That wizard is, of course, the Report Wizard found in Visual Studio .NET 2003. Like the ruler of Emerald City, the Report Wizard is not all powerful. For example, the Report Wizard will not allow you to make use of all the features available in Reporting Services. The wizard is, however, a great place to get a feel for the way reports are constructed.

Note

Beginning with this chapter, we will be creating sample reports using the Galactic database. If you have not done so already, go to http://www.osborne.com, locate the book’s page using the ISBN 0072232161, and follow the instructions to download and install the Galactic database.