Question

I want to read an appSettings value from the c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\Reporting Services\ReportManager\Web.config file and display it in a report.

I added a reference to System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a and set field Value property to
System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings("SomeKey").

All I got is an ultra-useful #Error message.

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I found the Can you reference appSettings in an SSRS report? question, but I’d like to avoid creating a custom assembly if possible (after all, what I want to do, requires no custom logic).

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Bonus question:

• How can I troubleshoot this problem? Where can I find more
  detailed information about error
  that occured? (I checked the files
  in c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL.4\Reporting
Services\LogFiles and Event Viewer – there’s nothing there.)

Answer 1

I managed to make it work (with the help of this article)!
It turned out that I was doing everything almost right from the beginning – I only had to change small details:

1. I moved appSettings to the
   c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL.4\Reporting
Services\ReportServer\web.config file
   (all attempts to access
   ReportManager\Web.config failed).

2. I replaced the System.Web
   reference with
   System.Configuration,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a.

3. I used
   System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("SomeKey")
   to read the value.