Custom FormsAuthentication by means of a proxy...

I need to understand how to go about and implementing a custom SSO in SSRS. The scenario is that I have a custom J2EE application that handles authentication and I need to make SSRS to use it. I've done quite a bit of reading but is still unclear about possible ways to do it.

One way could be to place a proxy that uses webservices (SOAP) to call on RS. When user accesses the page, it would check the session for the SR token and if it is not present it would check with the authentication server if the user is logged on and if he is, it would log him on to the RS and store the generated token in his session. Otherwise it would simply pass on the token to the RS. Is this the correct way of thinking? Are there any other possible ways to do it? Would it be possible to generate a correct cookie from SOAP-reply and set it for the user so that he then could automagically access the RS withouth the proxy?

As I understand, one could also implement IAthentication (?) interface (the one with the logon-method) that could call on the authenticationserver. This would enable direct display of the reports without a proxy, but the code would have to be written in .NET (so far I failed to find a single code-sample that would work in a fresh install of development tools for RS2005 and that includes msdn). Any comments on that?

Thanks in advance!
Nobody knows anything?

Custom DataSets

Is there any way to add a dataset to RS without it being a SP or Query? I
have .Net code that handles all of the database connections and SP calls and
returns datasets that I would like to plug into RS for my repotsOn Dec 20, 4:37 pm, Adam <A...@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Is there any way to add a dataset to RS without it being a SP or Query? I
> have .Net code that handles all of the database connections and SP calls and
> returns datasets that I would like to plug into RS for my repots
You could try using the Code section (via: Layout view >> Report drop-
down >> Report Properties... >> Code tab); however, I'm not certain
that it will work. That said, its best for performance for you to use
the built in dataset options available (preferably stored procedure-
based datasets). Hope this helps.
Regards,
Enrique Martinez
Sr. Software Consultant|||Thanks I will keep that in mind.. the only issue I have with the SP route is
moving the code across environments(DEV, TEST to PRD). Each of these
environments are on different servers with different connection strings.
"EMartinez" wrote:
> On Dec 20, 4:37 pm, Adam <A...@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > Is there any way to add a dataset to RS without it being a SP or Query? I
> > have .Net code that handles all of the database connections and SP calls and
> > returns datasets that I would like to plug into RS for my repots
>
> You could try using the Code section (via: Layout view >> Report drop-
> down >> Report Properties... >> Code tab); however, I'm not certain
> that it will work. That said, its best for performance for you to use
> the built in dataset options available (preferably stored procedure-
> based datasets). Hope this helps.
> Regards,
> Enrique Martinez
> Sr. Software Consultant
>|||You can do data processing extension but it is non-trivial and I really
recommend against it.
As far as moving across Dev/Test/Production. This is no problem whatsoever.
While reports can have their own per report data source I strongly suggest
not doing that. Instead you use shared data sources. The first time you
deploy a report based on a shared datasource the datasource gets deployed.
By default thereafter the data source does not get deployed. After the first
deployment of the datasource you set up the connection strings and
credentials for that data source. For each place (Dev/test/production) you
would have different connections/credentials.
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Adam" <Adam@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2E856BD3-2D8F-430F-8CDD-C67A3160BC08@.microsoft.com...
> Thanks I will keep that in mind.. the only issue I have with the SP route
> is
> moving the code across environments(DEV, TEST to PRD). Each of these
> environments are on different servers with different connection strings.
> "EMartinez" wrote:
>> On Dec 20, 4:37 pm, Adam <A...@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>> > Is there any way to add a dataset to RS without it being a SP or Query?
>> > I
>> > have .Net code that handles all of the database connections and SP
>> > calls and
>> > returns datasets that I would like to plug into RS for my repots
>>
>> You could try using the Code section (via: Layout view >> Report drop-
>> down >> Report Properties... >> Code tab); however, I'm not certain
>> that it will work. That said, its best for performance for you to use
>> the built in dataset options available (preferably stored procedure-
>> based datasets). Hope this helps.
>> Regards,
>> Enrique Martinez
>> Sr. Software Consultant|||On Dec 21, 8:50 am, "Bruce L-C [MVP]" <bruce_lcNOS...@.hotmail.com>
wrote:
> You can do data processing extension but it is non-trivial and I really
> recommend against it.
> As far as moving across Dev/Test/Production. This is no problem whatsoever.
> While reports can have their own per report data source I strongly suggest
> not doing that. Instead you use shared data sources. The first time you
> deploy a report based on a shared datasource the datasource gets deployed.
> By default thereafter the data source does not get deployed. After the first
> deployment of the datasource you set up the connection strings and
> credentials for that data source. For each place (Dev/test/production) you
> would have different connections/credentials.
> --
> Bruce Loehle-Conger
> MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
> "Adam" <A...@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:2E856BD3-2D8F-430F-8CDD-C67A3160BC08@.microsoft.com...
> > Thanks I will keep that in mind.. the only issue I have with the SP route
> > is
> > moving the code across environments(DEV, TEST to PRD). Each of these
> > environments are on different servers with different connection strings.
> > "EMartinez" wrote:
> >> On Dec 20, 4:37 pm, Adam <A...@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >> > Is there any way to add a dataset to RS without it being a SP or Query?
> >> > I
> >> > have .Net code that handles all of the database connections and SP
> >> > calls and
> >> > returns datasets that I would like to plug into RS for my repots
> >> You could try using the Code section (via: Layout view >> Report drop-
> >> down >> Report Properties... >> Code tab); however, I'm not certain
> >> that it will work. That said, its best for performance for you to use
> >> the built in dataset options available (preferably stored procedure-
> >> based datasets). Hope this helps.
> >> Regards,
> >> Enrique Martinez
> >> Sr. Software Consultant
You're welcome. Also, you could have a table that exists in every
environment that basically tells what the environment is and the
locations of the remote environments and uses linked servers to
execute the local stored procedure of the desired environment. Hope
this helps further.
Regards,
Enrique Martinez
Sr. Software Consultant