When working with SSR reports, it is often helpful to set up a reporting project in Visual Studio as it will help you maintain versions, provide a high-fidelity editing environment, and enable two-click deployment of reports. Creating a new SSRS project in Microsoft Visual Studio can be achieved by following these simple steps.

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1. Open Microsoft Visual Studio.‍

2. Select File > New > Project > Reporting Services.

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Note. There are two ways to set up a new Project: Report Server Project Wizard and Report Server Project.

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• Report Server Project Wizard: Allows you to set up a new Project and a new report associated with a dataset. The Project contains folders for Shared Data Sources, Shared Datasets, and Reports. The Report folder will contain the new report.
• Report Server Project: Allows you to set up a new Project. The Project contains folders for Shared Data Sources, Shared Datasets, and Reports, all of which are initially empty. New reports can be added by going into the Reports folder and adding either a new Report or new Report item.

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Follow these steps for the Report Server Project Wizard:

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1. Select Report Server Project Wizard in the middle pane.

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• Enter the Project Name.
• Enter or browse for the Directory/Location.
• Select Create a new solution for the action.
• Enter a Solution Name (this can be the same as the Project Name).
• Click the Create directory for solution checkbox if it is a new directory.
• Click OK.
• Wait for Welcome to the Report Wizard to open.
• Click Next.

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2. Wait for the Select the Data Source screen to open.

• Enter a name.
• Select Microsoft SQL Server for the Type.
• Click Edit for the Connection String.

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3. Enter a Server Name.

• Select Authentication.
• Enter the username and password.
• Select the Database name.
• Click OK and wait for the Connection String to populate automatically.
• Click Next.

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4. Select Query Builder.

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5. Select Edit as Text mode.

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6. Type in the SQL query you will use for your Data Set.

• Click OK.
• Click Next.

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7. Select Tabular for Report Type.

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8. Arrange the Available fields to be in the Displayed fields.

• Select the fields.
• Click the arrow button for each section.
• Click Next.

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9. Enter a Report Name.

• Click Finish.

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10. The new Project is created with all of the applicable elements displayed.

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Follow these steps for the Report Server Project:

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1. Select Report Server Project in the middle pane.

• Enter the Project Name.
• Enter or browse for the Directory/Location.
• Select Create a new solution for the action.
• Enter a Solution Name (this can be the same as the project name).
• Click the Create a directory for solution checkbox if it is a new directory.
• Click OK.

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2. The new Project is created with all applicable elements displayed.

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This process should help you in both creating and setting up new SSRS projects.

For either method you choose, you will have an SSRS project open and available in the Visual Studio Solution Explorer pane.

You can add new reports, data sources, or shared data sets. If you choose the Wizard method, you will also have an initial report named Report1 in the Solution Explorer.

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