Benefits of OfficeWriter Designer .NET
- platform support
- stability
- RDL robustness
- better parameter support in view
Limitations of Designer .NET
- Shared data sources
- Reporting formulas
- Word
- Report Models
- SharePoint
- Backwards compatibility with OfficeWriter Reporting Services formulas
- Query builder
- Backwards compatibility with RDLs created from MS Query integration
Feature Set |
OfficeWriter Designer .NET |
OfficeWriter Designer |
---|---|---|
PLATFORM |
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|
Office 2007 |
Excel 2007 (up through SP3) |
Excel and Word 2007 SP2 or SP3 |
Office 2010 |
Excel 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit) |
Excel and Word 2010 (32-bit only) SP1 |
Office 2013 |
Excel 2013 (32-bit and 64-bit) |
Excel and Word 2013 (32-bit only) |
System requirements |
.NET 4.0 or higher \Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime (VSTO) |
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) \MS Query \Latest Microsoft service pack \Security Bulletain MS-012-060 |
SSRS VERSIONS |
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|
SSRS 2005 |
Not supported |
RDLs created in VS 2005 supported. |
SSRS 2008 (R2) |
RDLs created in Visual Studio 2008/2010, Report Builder 3.0 |
RDLs created in Visual Studio 2008/2010, Report Builder 3.0 |
SSRS 2012 |
RDLs created in Visual Studio 2010/2012, Report Builder 3.0 |
RDLs created in Visual Studio 2010/2012, Report Builder 3.0 |
BASIC FUNCTIONALITY |
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Open a report (server/disk) |
Prevents users from opening multiple reports at once |
Users can open multiple reports at once which often corrupts reports |
Save a report (server/disk) |
Defaults to XLSX. Remembers last-saved file format. |
Defaults to XLS for each save. Does not remember last-saved file format. |
View |
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|
Import a template |
Supported |
Supported in Excel and Word |
Report properties |
Available in the toolbar |
Can only be edited when saving to disk |
Insert data place holders based on data sets |
Supports inserting data markers (Excel) \\\ |
Supports inserting data markers (Excel), merge fields (Word) and defining repeat blocks (Word) |
Native query builder |
Not currently supported |
Available through MS Query integration |
ROBUSTNESS |
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|
Datasets |
Add, remove, rename without corrupting the file |
Data sets may be added. Any other operations may cause the report (RDL) to become corrupt. |
Fields in data sets |
Add, remove, rename without corrupting the file |
Fields may be added. Any other operations may cause the report (RDL) to become corrupt. |
SSRS REPORT FEATURES |
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|
Shared data sources |
Fully supports RDLs that store absolute paths to shared data sources (i.e. RDLs created in Report Builder 3.0). Does not currently handle RDLs that only store data source name (i.e. RDLs created in Visual Studio) |
Correctly handles shared data sources with absolute and relative paths stored in the RDL |
Report Models |
Not currently supported |
Supported |
Formulas/expressions defined in Visual Studio or Report Builder |
Not currently supported |
Not currently supported. * |
SHAREPOINT |
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|
Open from a report library |
Not currently supported |
SharePoint 2007 supported |
Save to a report library |
Not currently supported |
SharePoint 2007 supported |
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY WITH OFFICEWRITER DESIGNER |
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|
RDLs with OfficeWriter Reporting Services formulas |
Formulas will be preserved. Reports that have formula data markers will still populate the formulas. Formulas are not accessible for adding, removing, or modifying in Designer .NET |
N/A |
RDLs with Word templates from OfficeWriter Designer |
Fully backwards compatible. |
N/A |
RDLs with Excel templates from OfficeWriter Designer |
Fully backwards compatible. |
N/A |
RDLs created from MS Query integration in the OfficeWriter Designer |
Not currently supported. |
N/A |