Is SSRS in Denali taking advantage of Entity Framework?

Question

Hello,

I thought I read that SQL Server Reproting Service in Denail is going to take advantage of Entity Framework as a data source provider.  I can't find any documentation on that.  Does anyone know if this is true?

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-don

Answer 1

I don't know where you read this.  Reporting Services in Denali does not provide a built-in Entity Framework data extension.  One could build such an extension also by building a custom data extension for Reporting Services: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms154655.aspx

HTH,
Robert

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Robert Bruckner   http://blogs.msdn.com/robertbruckner
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Answer 2

Thanks for the response.

In Julia Lerman's book, "Programming Entity Framework, Second Edition" she mentions the future relationship between Reporting Services and EDM.  Specifically, from section 1.2 in her book

.NET is but one tool that uses an EDM. The next version of SQL Server will use an EDM for Reporting Services and you will soon begin to see other Microsoft applications that will adopt the EDM concept as well. In fact, you will find that model-driven development in general is getting more and more attention from Microsoft.

This stuck in my head because we happen to be using both technologies at my company.  I like the idea of working at the conceptual level rather than the database level.   

Regards,

Don

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-don

Answer 3

Thanks for pointing that quote out. I knew I read that somewhere, but, couldn't remember where. It's on page 5. I was wondering the same thing. I don't know much about Reporting Services, but, I was hoping that it's data model would make use of Entity Framework. I guess the SQL Server team decided to continue doing their own thing.

Answer 4

The Analysis Services Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM) builds on the Entity Data Model (EDM) to some degree and exposes metadata in CSDL format, which we consume in Power View, but other than that, Reporting Services doesn't have native support for Entity Framework.

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Program Manager, SQL Server Reporting Services