Question

I’m planning a winform which will let the user preview a report (generated with Reporting Services) and then the user can send the report to certain persons by clicking a button in the form.

I know that reports can be distributed via email using subscriptions, but the problem is that a subscription requires a fixed schedule (once a week/month, etc.), and in my case the report should be sent anytime the user clicks the button – there is no defined schedule.

Is it possible to define a subscription for a report without a schedule?
What is the best way to send a report via email on demand of the user?

Thanks.

(I’m using Sql Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008.)

Answer 1

Simplest way:

• Call the ReportServer web service to fetch the report into your app.
• Send it from your app

Unrelated: the ReportViewer Control may be more useful in your app