Report Definition Language

Report Definition Language (RDL) is a standard proposed by Microsoft for defining reports .

RDL is an XML application that is primarily used in Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services . Normally, RDL report descriptions are created by "SQL Server's Business Intelligence Studio" or with Visual Studio . There are also development tools from other manufacturers, and it is also possible to write RDL manually with a text editor . SQL Server Reporting Services and other report applications use RDL to define charts, calculations, texts, images (via links) and other report objects, and generate reports in various formats.

A typical RDL file has three sections:

• Parameters and database connections - parameters that can be entered by the user or populated by other applications, and database connections and queries.
• Field definitions - Extended attributes of the fields that are filled with formulas, dynamic data or database content.
• Page design - display of fields, images, graphs, tables.

Web links

• RDL specification
• Report project using RDL ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• RDL-based reporting system
• ReportViewer Control (Visual Studio 2008)
• Data Dynamics Reports Reporting tool for programmers that can display RDL-defined reports.