Specifying Descriptions
In addition to using meaningful names for reports and folders, you can use another tool—the description—to help your users. You can provide descriptions for both folders and reports; descriptions can have as many as 512 characters and can contain any symbols and characters.
You use descriptions to give users details about the contents of a folder or the purpose of a report. The description can even give users information about required report parameters or the way the report has been sorted and grouped. Meaningful names and descriptions help users avoid having to navigate through a number of folders or test-run reports to find the report they're looking for. The names and descriptions can also make users aware of reports and report features they didn't know existed.
You can attach a description to a report by filling in the report's description property prior to deploying that report from Visual Studio 2005. You can use the Report Manager UI to attach a description to a folder when you create it. You can also use the Report Manager UI to modify the description of an existing folder or report, as Figure 1 shows.
Performing Searches
Search, another feature in the Report Manager UI, uses these meaningful names and descriptions to help you locate reports on the report server. As Figure 2 shows, the Search for prompt appears in the upper-right corner of the Report Manager window. This feature lets you do a simple text-match search of the name and description of items on the report server. Note that this isn't a Boolean search, in which a space is the same as "OR". This search feature looks for entries that match the entire string you entered.The Report Manager UI enforces security during a search, so you see only those folders and reports to which you have the appropriate rights.
Figure 3 shows sample search results.You can click one of the result items to navigate to folders or execute reports directly from the search result list.
Running Right
In no time, Mr. Doors had revised all the report item names and descriptions, and had trained users how to use the search feature. Now, the reports on the report server are a treasure for all people, or at least all the people at National Manufacturing.
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