Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

Chapter 17: Reporting for Duty, Sir! A Look At Reporting Services
Now click Finish and the Data Source view is actually constructed and added to our Report Model Project.
While we now have a workable view, the view has some issues we need to deal with prior to using it in
our data model; there are no formal relationships between the Product table and the other tables in the
Data Source view. Let’s fix that….
Manipulating Relationships Between Objects In Data Source Views
While the wizard tries to put information together about our Data Source view, it has to base its
information on the column names, types, and foreign key references in the table. While foreign keys
are great for giving us a well-defined description of the relationship between two tables, there are often
cases where there is, for some reason, a relationship that does not have a formal foreign key defined on
it. In the case of the Data Source view we just created, we have no formal foreign key between Products
and SalesOrderHeader (ProductSpecialOffer joins to both, and that is the only formal way they are
related). The ProductID is, however, a viable join item between the two tables, so we need to add that
reference to the Data Source view.
Start by right clicking on our new Data Source view in the Project Explorer, and select View Designer as
shown in Figure 17-11.
Figure 17-11
Visual Studio brings us up a visual representation of the tables involved in our Data Source view, and, as
you can see in Figure 17-12, it is unaware of the relationship between SalesOrderDetail and Product.
Click and drag ProductID from the SalesOrderDetail table onto the ProductID in the Product table,
and SQL Server will bring up a dialog to confirm the relationship. Click OK and the relationship should
now be shown (as it is in Figure 17-13).
Note that the click-and-drag order to relate tables is the opposite of what is used in most diagramming
tools where you establish foreign keys. In most diagramming environments, you drag from the parent
table to the child; the Data Source view designer works just the opposite.
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