Customer Deployment Requirements for Reporting Services Express?

Hello. I have a version of SQL Express with Advanced services. I created a report and all seems well in Report Manager on my computer. Now it's time to deploy my report to some customers.

1. Can I create an application in Visual Studios Express to view my report? I've read things online that seem contradictory to me and I'm hoping you can clarify this.

2. On a customer machine, if they have a .net application that can render my report, will they have to install reporting services on their computer or can the .rdl file run independently of reporting services if plugged into a .net viewer component? If it was called from a .net application, then Report Server and Report Manager aren't really needed are they? I have a situation where we don't want to use IIS on customer computers if we don't need to. Since the reports will not be adhoc, we're hoping to avoid needing to install Reporting Services on customer computers.

Thanks!

Debbie Erickson

Not sure on #1.

On #2, you should be able to render the report through the ReportViewer control, which removes the need for the Report Server and Report Manager (and IIS), as it handles the report rendering.

Custom Task: How to access/modify the variables of a package

Hi,

I'm trying to simplify the deployment process of my project. I already had some troubles with the config files but lets say I solved that issue. I'm going to read a flat file and set the variables of my packages from this file. I was thinking to use a Script Task to do that but I will need to copy this task in every package (I have at least 30). So if I want to make some change this will be painful.

Then, I came up with the idea of creating a Custom Task called Config File Task. I'm working on this but I got stuck trying to get the variables from the package that is running my Config File Task.

This is the code I had in the Script Task:

Dim streamReader As New StreamReader(Dts.Variables("ConfigFilePath").Value.ToString)
Dim line As String
Dim lineArray As String()
Dim variableName As String
Dim variableValue As String
Dim readConfigurations As Boolean = False

While (streamReader.Peek() <> -1)
line = streamReader.ReadLine()
If line = "[CONFIGURATIONS]" Then
readConfigurations = True
ElseIf line = "[/CONFIGURATIONS]" Then
readConfigurations = False
Else
If readConfigurations And line <> "" Then
lineArray = line.Split("|".ToCharArray())
variableName = lineArray(0).Trim()
variableValue = lineArray(1).Trim()

If Dts.Variables.Contains(variableName) Then
Dts.Variables(variableName).Value = variableValue
End If
End If
End If
End While
Dts.TaskResult = Dts.Results.Success

All I want to do is set the variables that exists in each package from the config file. In my UI Class (ConfigFileTaskUI.cs) I can have access to the variables via the TaskHost which is passed as an argument of Initialize() method.

Any thoughts? I'd really appreciate some help!

P.S. I've been working on this for 2 days!

I don't have an answer to your question, but have you looked at using package configurations (SSIS > Package Configurations from the BIDS menu)? these can be stored as simple XML files that can be used for the same purpose as what I think you are trying to do here.

Note that BIDS will not save connection string passwords for you - you would have to open the XML file and edit it manually to add these if you are using it for connection strings.

You can use these XML files to store variable values as well as lots of other properties of your package objects. You could write your own code to manipulate the contents of the XML configuration files however you like.

Another option would be to store your values in a database and fetch the values into the variables using SSIS Execute SQL tasks or a similar method.

Maybe you've thought of all this already and ruled it out for some other reason - but based on your post this would seem a much simpler method?

|||Hi Slicktop,

Yes, I tried the XML config file but you cannot have configurations that don't exists in the package. About the SSIS_Configuration table, I thought of this but it's not a good idea for my deployment process. Somehow, I need to get the information from this table and put it in a flat file so I can store it in CVS. Plus, I need to fill this table every time I deploy my packages. I know this is not so difficult but my client don't want to do this.

There is a property in the Package object which disable the warning messages from the configuration file. If I set to True, I don't get an error message when I have just one XML config file with multiple configurations which they may or may not exists in the package to be executed. I don't like doing this because it doesn't seem right.

Thanks for your ideas.|||

What about just reading the flat file using SSIS? You could either load it into a work table and then query it to set variables, or maybe even use a transform to extract the values you need.

When you say "you cannot have configurations that don't exist in the package", what do you mean exactly? Your variable names aren't defined in the package?

|||That's right!. I don't have the same variables in every package. I have a log file per package so in the flat file I have:

log_package_1 = something
log_package_2 = something
log_package_3 = something
conn_db = connection string to db
file_vpn = path to the vpn file

and so on, so in package 1 I only have declared variable log_package_1 but not the rest of the variables of my flat file. Reading the flat file with SSIS could be a possible option but the thing is I have a custom flat file, I mean it's not comma separated and I have some "tags" so I don't think SSIS can read it.

Thanks for the ideas!|||

well obviously I don't know all the details of your situation but it sure seems like you are trying to do this the hard way.

Is there some reason why your custom flat file has to have a "custom" format?

If your goal is to dynamically populate package variables, and the variable names are defined in the package definition, then you can use package configurations to do this. If your goal is to have only a single flat file that contains all variable values across multiple packages, then why not just write these into a standard, machinable format (XML, delimited file, whatever) and then use SSIS to load the file into a DB table. Then from each package, query the table for the variable values needed for that particular package and use the resultset to populate the package variables.

Your table could be generic, with two varchar columns, var_name and var_value.

so, in package 1, you could write an execute SQL task that runs "select var_value from control_table where var_name = 'log_package_1', etc.

If you put a bit of thought into this you could probably make parts of this solution quite generic so that you could write it once and copy/paste the tasks into each package or nest your packages to re-use it. for example, maybe add a "package_name" column to the control table that you could use to query all variables for a package using the same SQL.

sorry, I know I haven't answered your original question (don't know the answer) but thought maybe there is a better (easier) way to do this.

|||Why are you punishing yourself with such a masochistic task?

I mean, why not just use XML Configuration files?|||

Has the original question been answered?

The Task.Execute method is where you will place the code that reads from the file and sets variables. The execute gives you access to the VariableDispenser object as on of the parameters, in much the same way as the TaskUI.Initialize method does, is this not enough?

The Dts.Variables syntax you have used in the Script Task is not applicable, you need to manually control the locking in the variable dispenser. Look at the Lock* methods as documented for the variable dispenser.

|||Hi DarrenSQLIS,

No, the original question haven't been answered yet. I know that Dts.Variables is not applicable in my case when creating a Custom Task. I checked the VariableDispenser object and there are a few methods. For example, the GetVariables(ref Variables variables) but I don't have the collections of variables to pass it as the parameter for this method.

I think I need somehow to tell SSIS which variables are for read-only access and which ones are for read/write. Even so, I would like to know first the variable name and their respective values first. The VariableDispenser object seems useless because I don't know how to get the variables within the package that is executing my Custom Task.

My goal is to know the name of all the User Variables in a package and then set these variables to their respective values that I'm reading from a flat file.

Using XML configuration files is not a solution, I'm not going to set the SuppressConfigurationWarnings property to True in each package. Probably you think I'm trying to do it the hard way but I have to follow some constraints and standards from my client.

Thank you all for your replies.|||

The methods, GetVariables, LockOnForRead or LockOneForWrite all expect a reference parameter of type Variables. This is just the variables collection that is filled with the 'locked' variables that you have asked for, e.g.

Variables variables = null;
variableDispenser.LockOneForRead(this.SnapshotName, ref variables);
snapshotName = variables[0].Value as string;
variables.Unlock();

From what you're saying though you don't know in advance what variables you want to lock, and that is a problem. There is no way to just ask for a list of all variables. I assume your pseudo config item and the variable name match, so at best you can loop through the config items and ask if a variable of that name exists, using the VariableDispenser.Contains method. If found then lock it and do what you want, but you cannot just eneumerate a collection of all variables in the package to find out what is there.

|||Hi DarrenSQLIS,

Yeah, you're right! My pseudo config item and the variable name match so I can loop through the config items and that's what I did. I wasn't understanding the purpose of the GetVariables() method of VariablesDispenser. After I played with it some time I realized it copies the variables from the package that you lock (read-only or r/w) before to the Variables collection that you pass by reference. Then you can access the variables from this collection and set them. What I don't understand completely is how the variables are return to the package or VariablesDispenser. I'm guessing is after you unlock them.

Well, thank you so much for your tips/ideas/suggestions. I finally finished building my Custom Task as I wanted. It's a shame you cannot access all the variables without knowing the name of the variables ahead. In this case I'm assuming that whatever is in the package is also in the config file but my process will fail if the package has a variable that the config file doesn't.sql

Custom Task deployment

Hi all,

I'm having a nightmare trying to test my custom task.

I get the following error message when trying to add the task from the toolbox...

Cannot create a task with the name "myTask, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b8e53511af163eb7". Verify that the name is correct.
(Package)

Program Location:

at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Executables.Add(String moniker)
at Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Design.DtsBasePackageDesigner.CreateExecutable(String moniker, IDTSSequence container, String name)

Any ideas?

Cheers.

Is the task registered in the GAC? Also, it has to be copied to your Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Tasks folder (sounds like you have already done that).

Have you signed the component? Again, sounds like you have already done this, just covering the bases.

|||

Hi,

thanks for your response, but yeah it turns up in the toolbox so I had to sign it and GAC it to get to that stage.

I've done everything that is supposed to be required to get it working so I'm just out of ideas now.

Cheers.

|||

Sorted it now, turns out you have to GAC all assemblies referenced by the task not just the task itself.

Silly me.

Custom Task Deployment

Hello All,

We have developed some custom tasks which we currently deploy the standard way. That is, we install the custom task assemblies in the DTS\Tasks folder and we also install the assemblies in the GAC. Due to some deployment practices we are trying to implement we would like to be able to remove the assemblies from the GAC and install them in some other location. I have tried installing the assemblies in the DTS\Binn folder, but this does not appear to be working. When I drop the custom control flow tasks onto the package's control flow tab I get the "Cannot create a task with the name ..." error.

Is it possible to not have the custom task assemblies in the GAC? Are there any tricks to getting it to work?

FYI, our assemblies are signed. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with our troubles.

Thanks,

Rob

1234123412 wrote:

Hello All,

We have developed some custom tasks which we currently deploy the standard way. That is, we install the custom task assemblies in the DTS\Tasks folder and we also install the assemblies in the GAC. Due to some deployment practices we are trying to implement we would like to be able to remove the assemblies from the GAC and install them in some other location. I have tried installing the assemblies in the DTS\Binn folder, but this does not appear to be working. When I drop the custom control flow tasks onto the package's control flow tab I get the "Cannot create a task with the name ..." error.

Is it possible to not have the custom task assemblies in the GAC? Are there any tricks to getting it to work?

FYI, our assemblies are signed. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with our troubles.

Thanks,

Rob

Unfortunately (for you) they are required to be in the GAC.

-Jamie

|||

It makes sense (standard .Net assembly loader stuff), and as indicated in the post below , the assemblies can be loaded from the execution host directory as well. It is not documented, and probably not supported either. I know that the designer uses the DTS\ObjectType folders, so have you tried it in DTS\Task and DTS\Binn at the same time? If so and it still does not work, then why not try the supported/documented method ;) In theory the designer only requires the DLL in the DTS\Task folder, the GAC is used at runtime.

The only other reason for the error, is that the assembly you are trying to add, as stored in the toolbox "metadata" is no longer the assembly you actually have. Maybe clearing out the toolbox will help. If you changed the strong name, then you will have to fix up any packages and also sort out the toolbox.

Re: Custom SSIS Task Deployment - MSDN Forums
(http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=803910&SiteID=1)

Why not install them in the GAC as usual?

|||

Our issue is that we have several data access layer assemblies which are shared by our custom tasks and some web applications. The problem is that on several of our developer machines we are having build problems when building the web applications. We get error messages when we try to register the assemblies in the GAC. It has something to do with the ASP.Net worker process "locking" the assemblies even though the web application isn't running.

I haven't been able to get the custom tasks to work if they aren't in the GAC, but since the web application/GAC issue is just with the DAL assemblies it is really the DAL assemblies that we want to avoid putting in the GAC. I am able to put the DAL assemblies in the DTS\binn directory and keep the custom task assemblies in the GAC. This solves our problem.

Thanks for your repsonses.

Custom SSIS Task Deployment

I've written several custom Control Flow and Data Flow components for SSIS. I'm trying to deploy a new Control Flow Task, however it will not show up in the "Choose Toolbox Items" window.

I have my dll's all in the right place. Because of other painful issues we have not used the GAC, and instead have put our DLL's that are referenced in the following directory: C:\program files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn. This has worked fine for other custom tasks, but not for this one.

The only things that are different about this transform are the following:

1. Not only does the task inherit from Task, it also implements two interfaces that I wrote.

2. One of the assembly references is actualy an executable instead of a dll. This is unusual, but I've done it with other .NET projects and not had any trouble.

I could move the code I need from the EXE out to a DLL. If somebody knows what could be causing this please respond?

Is your task in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Tasks ? That is where the Choose Toolbox Items looks for task, or just Reset Toolbox and it will add/remove according to the valid tasks it finds in that folder.|||My task dll is in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Tasks folder. The difference is the dll's it references are usually placed in the DTS\Binn folder. However for some reason when I added this particular task it didn't look in the Binn folder instead it looked in the Tasks folder for it's supporting dll's. When I added the supporting dll's to the Tasks folder it showed up fine in the choose toolbox items list. I'm not sure what is different from my other tasks and this one that would require the referenced dll's to be in the same folder?|||In turns out the problem didn't have to do with either the EXE or the interface implementation. When we referenced code in our other custom tasks it was only locals inside Task methods. However this time since I was implementing an interface as part of a task it needed the referenced dll's at the time Visual Studio retrieves the list of tasks. So in addition to having the referenced dll's in the DTS/Binn folder I needed them in the DTS/Tasks folder as well.

Custom SSIS Task Deployment

I've written several custom Control Flow and Data Flow components for SSIS. I'm trying to deploy a new Control Flow Task, however it will not show up in the "Choose Toolbox Items" window.

I have my dll's all in the right place. Because of other painful issues we have not used the GAC, and instead have put our DLL's that are referenced in the following directory: C:\program files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn. This has worked fine for other custom tasks, but not for this one.

The only things that are different about this transform are the following:

1. Not only does the task inherit from Task, it also implements two interfaces that I wrote.

2. One of the assembly references is actualy an executable instead of a dll. This is unusual, but I've done it with other .NET projects and not had any trouble.

I could move the code I need from the EXE out to a DLL. If somebody knows what could be causing this please respond?

Is your task in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Tasks ? That is where the Choose Toolbox Items looks for task, or just Reset Toolbox and it will add/remove according to the valid tasks it finds in that folder.|||My task dll is in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Tasks folder. The difference is the dll's it references are usually placed in the DTS\Binn folder. However for some reason when I added this particular task it didn't look in the Binn folder instead it looked in the Tasks folder for it's supporting dll's. When I added the supporting dll's to the Tasks folder it showed up fine in the choose toolbox items list. I'm not sure what is different from my other tasks and this one that would require the referenced dll's to be in the same folder?|||In turns out the problem didn't have to do with either the EXE or the interface implementation. When we referenced code in our other custom tasks it was only locals inside Task methods. However this time since I was implementing an interface as part of a task it needed the referenced dll's at the time Visual Studio retrieves the list of tasks. So in addition to having the referenced dll's in the DTS/Binn folder I needed them in the DTS/Tasks folder as well.sql

Custom Report Items

Hi,
I want change reports' style after the deployment, so each client can have his style.
Nobody know I can do?

(change the color of table/matrix, insert a image...)Hi,

this can′t be done by a normal predefined report, you have to use the report builder for that. By creating a report model you wil lhave the avaibility to let the user create his own reports from scratch.

HTH, Jens Suessmeyer.

http://www.sqlserver2005.de

Custom connection manager doesn't show up in VS?

I've created a very simple custom connection manager, and I followed the deployment instructions at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345276.aspx. Basically, that was just copying the assembly to %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Connections, and then registering the asssembly in the gac.

However, when I open VS, right-click on the connection manager pane, and then choose new connection, my custom manager does not appear. What am I missing?

Here is the class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Xml;

namespace MyCoolCompany

{

[DtsConnection(DisplayName="Sharepoint Connection Manager",

Description="Connect to Sharepoint lists",

ConnectionType="Sharepoint",

ConnectionContact="My Cool Company",

UITypeName="SPDataFlowComponent, MyCoolCompany.SharepointConnectionManagerUI")]

class SharepointConnectionManager: ConnectionManagerBase

{

}

}

this is because your class is SharepointConnectionManager private

The code should be:

public class SharepointConnectionManager: ConnectionManagerBase

HTH,
Ovidiu

|||Oh, duh :( It's always the simple things that kick my butt! Thanks a lot for that.|||

I have follwed the instruction from MSDN exactly, I can see my cusom connection manager listed with the others.

But when I have to add it to the Package, an error occured indicating, that the "connectionType" can not be found.

The samples from SSIS including 2 connection managers work properly, but with a different connectiontype do not.

Please help, what I should do exception to that what is on MSDN .

Thand you

|||

What is the value for the connection type attribute property you have set?

What is the full error? What exactly are you doing at the time of the error?

|||

Thank you for the response.

I have written a Customo Connection Manager, with the Type provided in the Class-Attribue "Outlook",

and the following Error was occurred, when I want to add it to the Package :

For the connecting manager '{1E4D8049-5916-4034-A298-C702CAC1F3CB' given Outlook-connecting type is not recognised as a valid connection manager's type. This mistake is returned if a connecting manager is provided for an unknown connecting type. Check whether you have properly given the name of the connecting type. (Package)

And these are the calls from the SSIS-Designer:

bei Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Wrapper.IDTSConnections90.Add(String bstrConnectionType)
bei Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Connections.Add(String connectionType)

my Code is as follow :

[

DtsConnection(ConnectionType = "Outlook",

DisplayName = "OutlookConnectionManager",

Description = "An Outlook Connection Manager",

IconResource = "Oraylis.Dts.ConnectionManagers.OutlookConnManagerIcon.ico")

]

public class OutlookConnManager : ConnectionManagerBase

{

private string Filename;

OutlookConnManager()

{

Filename = string.Empty;

}

public override string ConnectionString

{

get { return this.Filename; }

set { this.Filename = value; }

}

public override object AcquireConnection(object txn)

{

}

public override void ReleaseConnection(object connection)

{

}

public override DTSExecResult Validate(IDTSInfoEvents infoEvents)

{

return DTSExecResult.Success;

}

}

The connection manager should at the moment do nothing, just to be inserted in the Package.

Custom connection manager doesn't show up in VS?

I've created a very simple custom connection manager, and I followed the deployment instructions at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345276.aspx. Basically, that was just copying the assembly to %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Connections, and then registering the asssembly in the gac.

However, when I open VS, right-click on the connection manager pane, and then choose new connection, my custom manager does not appear. What am I missing?

Here is the class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Xml;

namespace MyCoolCompany

{

[DtsConnection(DisplayName="Sharepoint Connection Manager",

Description="Connect to Sharepoint lists",

ConnectionType="Sharepoint",

ConnectionContact="My Cool Company",

UITypeName="SPDataFlowComponent, MyCoolCompany.SharepointConnectionManagerUI")]

class SharepointConnectionManager: ConnectionManagerBase

{

}

}

this is because your class is SharepointConnectionManager private

The code should be:

public class SharepointConnectionManager: ConnectionManagerBase

HTH,
Ovidiu

|||Oh, duh :( It's always the simple things that kick my butt! Thanks a lot for that.|||

I have follwed the instruction from MSDN exactly, I can see my cusom connection manager listed with the others.

But when I have to add it to the Package, an error occured indicating, that the "connectionType" can not be found.

The samples from SSIS including 2 connection managers work properly, but with a different connectiontype do not.

Please help, what I should do exception to that what is on MSDN .

Thand you

|||

What is the value for the connection type attribute property you have set?

What is the full error? What exactly are you doing at the time of the error?

|||

Thank you for the response.

I have written a Customo Connection Manager, with the Type provided in the Class-Attribue "Outlook",

and the following Error was occurred, when I want to add it to the Package :

For the connecting manager '{1E4D8049-5916-4034-A298-C702CAC1F3CB' given Outlook-connecting type is not recognised as a valid connection manager's type. This mistake is returned if a connecting manager is provided for an unknown connecting type. Check whether you have properly given the name of the connecting type. (Package)

And these are the calls from the SSIS-Designer:

bei Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Wrapper.IDTSConnections90.Add(String bstrConnectionType)
bei Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Connections.Add(String connectionType)

my Code is as follow :

[

DtsConnection(ConnectionType = "Outlook",

DisplayName = "OutlookConnectionManager",

Description = "An Outlook Connection Manager",

IconResource = "Oraylis.Dts.ConnectionManagers.OutlookConnManagerIcon.ico")

]

publicclassOutlookConnManager : ConnectionManagerBase

{

privatestring Filename;

OutlookConnManager()

{

Filename = string.Empty;

}

publicoverridestring ConnectionString

{

get { returnthis.Filename; }

set { this.Filename = value; }

}

publicoverrideobject AcquireConnection(object txn)

{

}

publicoverridevoid ReleaseConnection(object connection)

{

}

publicoverrideDTSExecResult Validate(IDTSInfoEvents infoEvents)

{

returnDTSExecResult.Success;

}

}

The connection manager should at the moment do nothing, just to be inserted in the Package.

Custom authorization with forms authentication

We are currently implementing forms authentication in our RS deployment. The
MSDN sample helped get us started. We are now faced with the authorization
implementation.
How do I go about telling RS which user has access to which folder/report?
Telling RS which users will be administrators? Do I still get to use
role-based security and can create/edit my roles through the Report Manager
or do I need to assign indepentent permissions per user?Ray,
Yes, you would establish role-based security policies just like you would do
with Windows-based security. Your authorization extension will have the
final say if the user is authorized to perform a given action. For example,
if you need to implement role membership rules, you can change the
CheckAccess overloads to account for the addtional rights that the user will
get based on her role membership. Debugging the CheckAccess overloads should
help you clarify how this could be done.
--
Hope this helps.
----
Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
----
"RayG" <RayG@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:40831253-2400-44A3-8A2E-3FF9171C7510@.microsoft.com...
> We are currently implementing forms authentication in our RS deployment.
The
> MSDN sample helped get us started. We are now faced with the
authorization
> implementation.
> How do I go about telling RS which user has access to which folder/report?
> Telling RS which users will be administrators? Do I still get to use
> role-based security and can create/edit my roles through the Report
Manager
> or do I need to assign indepentent permissions per user?|||Ray,
Let me clarify. The default implementation of a custom authentication
extension as demonstrated in the MS sample relies on the role-based policies
the report administrator has established for a report item. This is very
much the same as the Windows-based role-based security the comes by default
with RS. So, for example if you have a web customer with an id of johndoe
and you want him to view a given report by URL, you can grant him Browser
permissions to that report using the Report Manager. This is pretty much all
you have to do to get John Doe set up for Forms Authentication assuming that
you "inherit" the MS sample code.
At the same time, the Forms Authentication model of RS is very flexible. For
example, it is typically impractical to create role-based security policies
for individual users, especially for Internet-facing applications. Then,
what you can do is to implement additional logic in your CheckAccess
overloads to take in consideration the application role membership your
users have.
The beauty of this model is that the authentication and authorization
implementation is totally outside the Report Server and responsibility of
your extension.
Does this all make sense now?
--
Hope this helps.
----
Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
----
"RayG" <RayG@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B0C6D8D1-B26E-42FA-BB46-CF3918FB15EB@.microsoft.com...
> I think I was under the wrong impression, then.
> Instead of telling RS which user has which type of access to which
resource
> and then letting RS allow or deny access when it receives requests, seems
> like it's me who will decide whether to allow or deny, as I will be
servicing
> the security side of the requests.
> If I am correct and this is the case, how is this role-based security? I
am
> getting a resource and a user and simply responding with a "Yes" or a "No"
> based on my internal logic (security database).
> Please clarify.
> Thanks!
>
> "Teo Lachev" wrote:
> > Ray,
> >
> > Yes, you would establish role-based security policies just like you
would do
> > with Windows-based security. Your authorization extension will have the
> > final say if the user is authorized to perform a given action. For
example,
> > if you need to implement role membership rules, you can change the
> > CheckAccess overloads to account for the addtional rights that the user
will
> > get based on her role membership. Debugging the CheckAccess overloads
should
> > help you clarify how this could be done.
> >
> > --
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > ----
> > Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
> > Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
> > Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
> > Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
> > Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
> > ----
> >
> > "RayG" <RayG@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:40831253-2400-44A3-8A2E-3FF9171C7510@.microsoft.com...
> > > We are currently implementing forms authentication in our RS
deployment.
> > The
> > > MSDN sample helped get us started. We are now faced with the
> > authorization
> > > implementation.
> > >
> > > How do I go about telling RS which user has access to which
folder/report?
> > > Telling RS which users will be administrators? Do I still get to use
> > > role-based security and can create/edit my roles through the Report
> > Manager
> > > or do I need to assign indepentent permissions per user?
>|||Hi Teo,
I am having a problem similar to RayG's, using the forms authentication
sample code. I put some debug statements into the
Microsoft.Samples.ReportingServices.CustomSecurity.Authorization class,
CheckAccess methods. I also commented out the logic in the
AuthenticationExtension and AuthenticationUtilities classes such that all
logon attempts are permitted without password checking (return true).
I found that when accessing report resources using an identity that is
defined in MSRS, that the Authorization.CheckAccess methods are invoked. I
set up security on the Home folder and one subfolder, and was able to use
combinations of groups to restrict access appropriately. I also found that
when you use a logon credential that is not defined in MSRS (that is, not
used in any object's ACL), that the Authorization.CheckAccess methods are not
invoked. For example, I set up a "Users" group, and granted it access to a
folder. Logging on as "Users" I could access this folder. Logging on as
"User" gave me an access denied message, as expected, however, none of the
Authorization.CheckAccess methods were invoked either...unexpected.
This presents a problem, as I am trying to set up groups in MSRS that map to
user groups in my application. It seems that because the
Authorization.CheckAccess methods are not invoked in this case, there is no
opportunity to extend them with custom authorization code which would take
advantage of a user's GenericPrincipal role affiliations (using a
GenericPrincipal object I attached to the HttpContext earlier) to facilitate
group-to-group mapping for confirming or denying access to a resource.
I don't know if this is a bug in MSRS, or if I have simply misconfigured
something. Any ideas? Thanks.
-Rob Hoffman
"Teo Lachev" wrote:
> Ray,
> Yes, you would establish role-based security policies just like you would do
> with Windows-based security. Your authorization extension will have the
> final say if the user is authorized to perform a given action. For example,
> if you need to implement role membership rules, you can change the
> CheckAccess overloads to account for the addtional rights that the user will
> get based on her role membership. Debugging the CheckAccess overloads should
> help you clarify how this could be done.
> --
> Hope this helps.
> ----
> Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
> Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
> Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
> Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
> Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
> ----
> "RayG" <RayG@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:40831253-2400-44A3-8A2E-3FF9171C7510@.microsoft.com...
> > We are currently implementing forms authentication in our RS deployment.
> The
> > MSDN sample helped get us started. We are now faced with the
> authorization
> > implementation.
> >
> > How do I go about telling RS which user has access to which folder/report?
> > Telling RS which users will be administrators? Do I still get to use
> > role-based security and can create/edit my roles through the Report
> Manager
> > or do I need to assign indepentent permissions per user?
>
>|||Rob,
How did you test that CheckAccess overloads are not invoked? Please note
that they will be invoked only during runtime. If you use the Report Manager
they are not invoked. Instead, GetPermissions will be called. Therefore, you
need to duplicate the same permission checks in GetPermissions as you would
in CheckAccess. I suggest you refactor the common logic from CheckAccess
overloads in a helper function so can be easily reused.
So, just like with Windows authentication, your security authentication
extensions will authenticate the user based on the user identity. In other
words, if I am Bob and I belong to role Sales Reps, I will log in as Bob. In
my authorization extension I will authorize the user based on the user
identity and role membership. Once again, you need to do this in both
CheckAccess and GetPermissions, the later being used by the Report Manager
as a result to a call to the GetPermissions SOAP API.
--
Hope this helps.
----
Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
----
"Rob Hoffman" <RobHoffman@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7BE3E0A3-95C0-46D3-B589-7AAB38A38B1D@.microsoft.com...
> Hi Teo,
> I am having a problem similar to RayG's, using the forms authentication
> sample code. I put some debug statements into the
> Microsoft.Samples.ReportingServices.CustomSecurity.Authorization class,
> CheckAccess methods. I also commented out the logic in the
> AuthenticationExtension and AuthenticationUtilities classes such that all
> logon attempts are permitted without password checking (return true).
> I found that when accessing report resources using an identity that is
> defined in MSRS, that the Authorization.CheckAccess methods are invoked.
I
> set up security on the Home folder and one subfolder, and was able to use
> combinations of groups to restrict access appropriately. I also found
that
> when you use a logon credential that is not defined in MSRS (that is, not
> used in any object's ACL), that the Authorization.CheckAccess methods are
not
> invoked. For example, I set up a "Users" group, and granted it access to
a
> folder. Logging on as "Users" I could access this folder. Logging on as
> "User" gave me an access denied message, as expected, however, none of the
> Authorization.CheckAccess methods were invoked either...unexpected.
> This presents a problem, as I am trying to set up groups in MSRS that map
to
> user groups in my application. It seems that because the
> Authorization.CheckAccess methods are not invoked in this case, there is
no
> opportunity to extend them with custom authorization code which would take
> advantage of a user's GenericPrincipal role affiliations (using a
> GenericPrincipal object I attached to the HttpContext earlier) to
facilitate
> group-to-group mapping for confirming or denying access to a resource.
> I don't know if this is a bug in MSRS, or if I have simply misconfigured
> something. Any ideas? Thanks.
> -Rob Hoffman
> "Teo Lachev" wrote:
> > Ray,
> >
> > Yes, you would establish role-based security policies just like you
would do
> > with Windows-based security. Your authorization extension will have the
> > final say if the user is authorized to perform a given action. For
example,
> > if you need to implement role membership rules, you can change the
> > CheckAccess overloads to account for the addtional rights that the user
will
> > get based on her role membership. Debugging the CheckAccess overloads
should
> > help you clarify how this could be done.
> >
> > --
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > ----
> > Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
> > Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
> > Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
> > Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
> > Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
> > ----
> >
> > "RayG" <RayG@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:40831253-2400-44A3-8A2E-3FF9171C7510@.microsoft.com...
> > > We are currently implementing forms authentication in our RS
deployment.
> > The
> > > MSDN sample helped get us started. We are now faced with the
> > authorization
> > > implementation.
> > >
> > > How do I go about telling RS which user has access to which
folder/report?
> > > Telling RS which users will be administrators? Do I still get to use
> > > role-based security and can create/edit my roles through the Report
> > Manager
> > > or do I need to assign indepentent permissions per user?
> >
> >
> >|||Teo,
Thanks for turning me on to the GetPermissions method...adding a role check
there did the trick. To check the invocation of the CheckAccess overloads, I
just wrote some debug statements to a log file. Thanks again for your help.
-Rob Hoffman
"Teo Lachev" wrote:
> Rob,
> How did you test that CheckAccess overloads are not invoked? Please note
> that they will be invoked only during runtime. If you use the Report Manager
> they are not invoked. Instead, GetPermissions will be called. Therefore, you
> need to duplicate the same permission checks in GetPermissions as you would
> in CheckAccess. I suggest you refactor the common logic from CheckAccess
> overloads in a helper function so can be easily reused.
> So, just like with Windows authentication, your security authentication
> extensions will authenticate the user based on the user identity. In other
> words, if I am Bob and I belong to role Sales Reps, I will log in as Bob. In
> my authorization extension I will authorize the user based on the user
> identity and role membership. Once again, you need to do this in both
> CheckAccess and GetPermissions, the later being used by the Report Manager
> as a result to a call to the GetPermissions SOAP API.
> --
> Hope this helps.
> ----
> Teo Lachev, MCSD, MCT
> Author: "Microsoft Reporting Services in Action"
> Publisher website: http://www.manning.com/lachev
> Buy it from Amazon.com: http://shrinkster.com/eq
> Home page and blog: http://www.prologika.com/
> ----
[SNIPPED]

Custom Assemblies Deployment

Hi,
I have 2 Reports and I created a Custom assembly. I am referencing the
Custom Assembly from both the reports and everything is working fine on my
PC.
I want to deploy those reports and the custom assembly to client. can
somebody point me the steps i need to deploy the custom assembly at the
client place.
My Problem is how can i deploy the custom assembly which my reports r
referencing.
Many Many Thanks
Chandra
--
Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.comHi Chandra,
Hope this link will help you
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=842419
But I have a different problem with Custom Assembly, I am using the .NET
dll (the dll does the decryption of the credit card#).But when I view the
report on the Report Preview screen, I can see the decrypted value, but
when I deploy the rdl in my local reportserver and when I view the report
in the IE, I can see the #Error on the creditcard# field..
Do u have any clues...
Thanks in advance.
Balaji
--
Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.com|||Thanks very much
I will look at the article
Thanks
Chandra
--
Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.com