Creating SSRS Drillthrough Reports with Parameters
By Tom Nonmacher
Welcome to SQLSupport.org! Today, we will be delving into a popular subject: creating SSRS Drillthrough Reports with parameters. These reports are valuable tools that allow users to navigate from one report to another while passing information. They provide a detailed overview of data by allowing the user to drill down to lower levels of granularity. This is especially useful when working with large databases in SQL Server 2019, MySQL 8.0, DB2 11.5, Azure SQL, or Azure Synapse.
Creating a drillthrough report starts with building a primary report. For instance, you may have a report displaying sales figures by region. We will use T-SQL in this example. Let's say you have a database with a 'Sales' table that includes 'Region', 'TotalSales', and 'SalesDate' columns. Here's how you could retrieve total sales by region for a particular year:
SELECT Region, SUM(TotalSales) as TotalSales
FROM Sales
WHERE YEAR(SalesDate) = 2020
GROUP BY Region
Now, let's say you want to create a drillthrough report to view sales by individual cities within each region. You would need to create a second report and link it to the first. This second report will require a parameter, which will be the 'Region' from the primary report. This parameter will be used in the WHERE clause of your SQL statement.
SELECT City, SUM(TotalSales) as TotalSales
FROM Sales
WHERE YEAR(SalesDate) = 2020 AND Region = @Region
GROUP BY City
In the code above, '@Region' is a parameter that will be passed from the primary report. This allows the drillthrough report to display sales figures for cities in the selected region only. Note that creating and using parameters may vary slightly depending on the SQL technology you are using.
When using MySQL 8.0, for example, you would define a stored procedure with an IN parameter to achieve the same result. DB2 11.5, on the other hand, allows you to create parameter markers by using the PARAMETER keyword in your SQL statement.
Azure SQL and Azure Synapse also support parameterized queries, making them suitable for creating drillthrough reports. In Azure Synapse, for instance, you can use dynamic SQL to construct a SQL statement that includes parameters. This can be done within a stored procedure.
In conclusion, SSRS Drillthrough reports with parameters are an excellent way to present detailed data in an organized and user-friendly manner. They can be created using various SQL technologies, including SQL Server 2019, MySQL 8.0, DB2 11.5, Azure SQL, and Azure Synapse. By mastering this tool, you can significantly enhance your data analysis and reporting capabilities.