Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of bslattery
bslatteryFlag for United States of America

asked on

SSRS Parameter Width

I need to know how I can expand the width of the parameter entry boxes.  

Here's the info.  

**The server is stored on my SSRS instance and I'm connecting via the ReportManager.
**The parameters are set within the report as multi-value dropdown lists.
**Some of the labels are wider than the width of the dropdown and it is not desirable to scroll to read each entry.

I know that there is undocumented and unsupported (by Microsoft) functionality to modify the CSS behind the ReportManager, but I have been unable to figure out which series of steps I need to take to modify the width of these dropdowns.

This has very high urgency so full 500 to the winner.

Avatar of Chris McGuigan
Chris McGuigan
Flag of Canada image

I don't know of any undocumented feature to hack the report manager to increase width.
But, I believe it does partially calculate the width by looking at some of the data it is going to display. You could try a dummy value at the top of the list padded out with underscores, e.g.
    Select ' (Please select some values ___________________)' As Value
    Union All
    Select MyValue As Value From MyTable
    Order By Value
It's a bit kludgy, but it might work?

The other alternative is to generate your own parameter web screen where you have full control over the layout and link to the report passing the parameters selected into the url. It's more work but potentially a more elegant solution.

Cheers
Chris
Avatar of bslattery

ASKER

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the feedback, but I don't believe the solution you mentioned meets my requirements.  This is the article that I was referring to regarding modifying the css

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ms345247.aspx

I was wondering if you knew what XML element I need to modify in the htmlViewer.css to change my toolbar width.  

I would like to avoid creating my own web page if at all possible due to time and resource constraints.

Looking at the stylesheet mentioned in the article, I would hazard a guess that the following are the most likely style elements;
.ParamEntryCell
{
      padding: 5px;
      vertical-align: baseline
}

.ParamsGrid
{
      margin: 0px;
      padding: 5px
}

I would try simply adding a 'width' attribute in to each and see what happens - however this will affect ALL reports.

Cheers
Chris
Setting values on the width on these parameters had an effect, however it was not the effect I was looking for.  By setting any width value, it chopped the parameter entry area in half.  The value of the width is irrelevant.  
Quote from MS newsgroup from Bruce Loehle-Conger (MVP SQL Server Reporting Services )
RE: Parameter dropdown width

"There is no way to do this that I know of. That sort of fine tuning of the Report Manager UI is not possible. I don't know about RS 2005 but I know for RS
2000 SP2 this is not possible. You would need to create your own web page and then integrate via either URL or webservices."

I am using SSRS 2005 SP1.  
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Chris McGuigan
Chris McGuigan
Flag of Canada image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial