Hiding and showing columns is simple in Reporting Services - each column has a "Visibility" property that can be set using an expression. The expression could be driven by a parameter, calculation or data and only needs to resolve to "True" or "False". One way I use to hide and show columns is allowing the user to select which columns to show using a multi-value parameter (to do this, you must be running at least Reporting Services 2005 which introduced multi-value parameters). Here's my method, step-by-step: Step 1 is to set up the parameter. In the "Parameters" dialog, add a new parameter...

Via Delicious Popular Bookmarks, I found a great link to Star Wars-inspired art from design blog Abduzeedo. I loved Star Wars as a kid and my eldest son TJ has inherited the obsession (we even have to ask *not* to talk about Star Wars when we're playing games or discussing movies!) Tags: fun, starwars, art

Recently I needed configurable grouping in an SQL statement - the exact requirement was that the results be grouped by day, week or month, depending on the user's selection. This can be done without a table of dates or dynamic SQL by using a CASE statement in the GROUP BY clause. Here's an example with CASE to achieve configurable date grouping using the "TransactionHistory" table in AdventureWorks: --"group by" variable DECLARE @GroupBy TINYINT --******** CHANGE GROUPING HERE ******** --group by Day (0), Week (1) or Month (2) SET @GroupBy = 2 --**************************************   --need to set the first day of week to be Monday so...

Aussie SQL Server MVP Rob Farley has been busy lately, speaking at TechEd (and blogging his presentation here). He's doing his TechEd talk at the Melbourne SQL Server User Group on Tuesday night and obviously means fair-dinkum business, as evidenced by the subject line of the invite e-mail :-) (The full subject actually read "AUSSUG: Invitation: Improving Your T-SQL Arsenal (Rob Farley)", but in my e-mail client it was cut off...he he...) Tags: funny, email

At work we have a very simple microwave with only 4 buttons (not counting the door open lever/button): This microwave manages to be one of the most effective user interfaces I've ever come across. Pressing the plus ("+") button ups the time in 10 second increments, until you reach 90 seconds, and then it ups the time in 1 minute intervals. Once you pass 90 seconds, the display shows whole minutes. You can't set a time of 17 seconds, for example, or even 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Pressing the minus button decreases the time by 1 minute if the current time...