Report Builder 2.0 - Gauge

This is new in Reporting Services 2008. Like chart, gauge is also a data region. Gauge has only a single data region unlike a chart. It has the look of any industrial meters (measuring instrument) with a range of values and the indicator showing the present value or some configurable value. They can be used together with both table and matrix elements.

When you add a gauge to a report, it comes up positioned within a gauge panel. The properties of this can be accessed when you click outside the boundary of the gauge. When you want the gauge to display data, you should associate its data property with the dataset. Gauge, like chart also has a myriad of properties which can be accessed from its Properties window.

In Hands-on exercise 6.3, you will be adding a radial gauge to display the data and a linear gauge to display an average.

Report Items

Textbox, image, line, and rectangle are the items you find in the Report Items section of Insert. You will be using textbox and image both of which may be bound to related as well as unrelated database variables. In the case of textbox, you have an option to use a static text, a field from the built-in fields, or connected to one of the fields from the dataset. A table added to a report has textboxes in its cells, but you can add a textbox outside the table and bind it to an aggregate value related to the dataset.

Similar to the textbox, an image added to the report can be embedded, originate from an external source; or being one of the dataset fields. An image can be added to the current report by right-clicking the Images folder in Report Builder and picking an image from your hard drive which can then be simply embedded in the report using the Image report item. This way you can add a logo to your report.

A line cannot be bound to the dataset. Its purpose is purely to provide support as a graphic separator element. The rectangle is also used to improve the visible appeal. However, it can contain other items, even data regions. You can control the rendering behaviour of items placed inside a rectangle (parent control) for the controls placed inside the rectangle. The rectangle will be an anchor for the items placed within it and move when the rectangle is moved in the report design.

When the line or the rectangle is used inside data regions you may use their RepeatWith property to allow them to be rendered when the report gets displayed.

In the next chapter you will use images in a database to get displayed in the report.