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Given that Sql Server Reporting Services is designed to be open and extendable, and that the bundled Report Manager isn't that great, are there any alternative open-source SSRS Front-ends out there?

By 'front-ends' I guess I mean web apps that can display the available reports on the reports server, gather the required parameters (hopefully in a more flexible way than Report Manager) and then run the reports. I'm imagining things that are built using the Asp.Net ReportViewer component, but have better parameter gathering.

I've found one on CodePlex: reportviewer.codeplex.com (edit: actually, this looks like a winforms solution, but its the closest I've found) ... but I'm wondering if there are others out there, cos this seems like an area in which lots of people have had to 'roll their own'.

codeulike
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  • I take it you're looking for an "out of the box solution here"? My company developed an in-house web front-end from scratch which was actually a relatively straightforward exercise. The SSRS web service makes it easy to gather parameters and run reports on demand. I appreciate that the DIY solution isn't applicable to everyone though. – GShenanigan Mar 11 '11 at 12:55
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    I can definitely do it DIY, but I like to leverage existing stuff if there is any. – codeulike Mar 11 '11 at 13:32

1 Answers1

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To answer my own question: There didn't seem to be any alternative open-source SSRS Front-ends out there, so I have built one and open-sourced it:

CrissCross at Github

You point it at your SSRS server and then off it goes - it can display the report catalogue and lets users run any report. So far I've optimised it towards reports with lots of optional parameters and lots of multi-picks, but it should be able to handle any SSRS report. And if it can't, you can get stuck into the code and change it.

The main difference to the standard SSRS Report Manager is in the presentation of parameters: CrissCross is more ajaxy, and (being open-source) more customisable.

See the github site for more details.

codeulike
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