Managing Items in Folders

You now know how to load items into folders on the Report Server. Of course, we live in a dynamic world, so things seldom stay where they are originally put. We need to be able to move items around as we come up with better ways of organizing them. We also need to be able to delete items as they are replaced by something better or are simply not needed anymore. Fortunately, the Report Manager provides ways for us to do this housekeeping in an efficient manner.

Moving Items Between Folders

As an example, let’s create a more descriptive folder for our Nametags report and its supporting items. We begin by moving a single item to this new folder. Then, we look at a method for moving multiple items at the same time.

Moving a Single Item

Here are the steps to follow to move a single item:

1. Open the Report Manager in your browser and navigate to the Galactic Delivery Services folder.

2. Click New Folder. The New Folder page appears.

3. Type 2006 Conference for Name and type Materials for the 2006 User Conference for Description.

4. Click OK to create the new folder.

5. Click Chapter 06 to view the contents of this folder.

6. Click Show Details.

7. Click the icon in the Edit column for the Nametags report. The Nametags report Properties tab appears.

8. Click Move. The Move Item page appears.

9. Select the 2006 Conference folder in the tree view.

10. Click OK to move the report to this folder.

11. Click the 2006 Conference link at the top of the page to view the contents of this folder.

Moving Multiple Items

You can see the Nametags report has been moved to the 2006 Conference folder. However, the report cannot function until the supporting items are also moved to this folder. Moving each item individually, as we did with the report, is rather time-consuming. Fortunately, there is another way:

1. Click the Galactic Delivery Services link at the top of the page.

2. Click Chapter 06 to view the contents of this folder.

3. In the Detail view, you see check boxes next to each item in the folder. These check boxes work with the Delete and Move buttons in the Contents tab toolbar. When you click Delete, any checked items are deleted. Likewise, when you click Move, any checked items are moved.

4. Click the uppermost check box (the check box to the left of the word “Edit”). Checking this check box checks all items in the folder. Unchecking this check box unchecks all items in the folder. Because we are moving all the items in the folder, we want all the items to be checked.

5. Click Move in the Contents tab toolbar. The Move Multiple Items page appears.

6. Select the 2006 Conference folder in the tree view.

7. Click OK to move these items to this folder.

This method works for moving a single item, multiple items, or the entire contents of a folder. Just check the items you want to move and click the Move button. Remember, you need to be in the Detail view when using this method.

This section demonstrated moving reports and supporting items. You can also move whole folders using the same techniques.

Deleting a Folder

The Chapter 06 folder is now empty and ready to be deleted. As with the Move function, you can accomplish this in two ways. The first way is to view the Properties tab for the folder you want to delete, and then click the Delete button. Just for fun, we’ll try the second method.

Deleting a Folder Using the Check Boxes and Toolbar

1. Click the Galactic Delivery Services link at the top of the page to view the contents of this folder.

2. Check the Chapter 06 folder.

3. Click Delete. The confirmation dialog box appears.

4. Click OK to confirm your deletion. The Chapter 06 folder is deleted.

Folders do not need to be emptied before they are deleted. If the Chapter 06 folder had contained reports, supporting items, or even other folders, these would have been deleted along with the folder.

Renaming a Folder

In addition to moving and deleting items, we may also want to rename items. Let’s give the Chapter 09 folder a more descriptive name:

1. Click the icon in the Edit column for the Chapter 09 folder. The Chapter 09 Properties tab appears.

2. Replace the contents of Name by typing Rendering Test Reports. Then type Reports for testing the performance of various rendering types for Description.

3. Click Apply.

4. Click the Galactic Delivery Services link at the top of the page.

5. Click Hide Details.

This same technique makes it just as easy to change the names and descriptions for reports and other items. Just because it is easy to make these changes does not mean you should do it often. Once users become familiar with a folder name, a report name, or a report’s location within the folder structure, you should change it only if you have a good reason to do so.

You may have noted that we could have changed the name of the Chapter 06 folder rather than going through the move-and-delete processes of the previous sections. This is true; we could have simply changed the folder name. If we had done that, though, you would not know how to do moves and deletes!