After widening columns, most rows appear blank???

Question

I have not touched ssrs for a long time. I'm using sql server 2008 r2.

When I create a new tabular report with the wizard, at first the three columns show ok in the preview. As soon as I start adjusting the person's name column in design view so that they are wide enough for the name to show fully, rows start becoming blank in preview. It's a very peculiar behavior.

Sample Data

ID      Name                         Role

1        Smith, Joe                 Clerk
2        Somelongname, Dave Driver

If I leave the columns very narrow, both rows appear, and the report rows are tall enough to show the wrapped last name (up to the comma)

If I widen the Name column so that it's wide enough to show the last name for "Somelongname, Dave", only that name appears, and while "Somelong, " is shown on the row complete (not wrapped), the first name is missing, and the row is tall enough for two lines, even though the second part is blank. All report rows that have shorter last names than "Somelongname" are blank.

If I widen the column a bit more, all rows are completely blank.

Answer 1

Hi Rusticloud,

I have tried to reproduce the issue in my test environment, however, everything goes well. Here, I suggest that you:

• Remove the fields from the table/matrix, and then drag the fields from the dataset into the tablix manually.
• Create another report by dragging the table/matrix control manually instead of using the Report Wizard, and check the issue again.

If the issue persists, please send me the RDL file of the report to sqltnsp AT Microsoft.com (Please replace AT with @) or upload the files to skydrive.live.com so that we can make further analysis.

Regards,
Mike Yin

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Mike Yin
TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

I tried exactly the same report on another pc and it worked ok. Both pcs have sql server 2008 r3, and vs 2008 pro installed. However, a difference is that on the first machine that does not handle the columns correctly, when I choose the BIDS launcher in the sql 2008 r3 start menu, the vs shell integration studio is launched, not full vs. I may try to repair that installation, and maybe it will work correctly if I create the project via vs pro.