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In the world of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), the need for customization is often inevitable, especially when it comes to creating dynamic and interactive reports. One of the most useful custom features is conditional formatting, which allows us to change the appearance of our report based on the data it contains. In this post, we will take a deep dive into how to use custom code in SSRS to apply conditional formatting. We will use SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake, OpenAI + SQL, and Databricks technologies to demonstrate this.

Conditional formatting in SSRS is primarily achieved using embedded code. Embedded code in SSRS is written in Visual Basic and provides a way to create reusable code that can be called from multiple places within the report. It is especially useful for complex calculations, string manipulation, and, of course, conditional formatting.

Let's take a simple example. Suppose we have a sales report and we want to highlight the rows where the sales amount is above a certain threshold. The following embedded code would accomplish this.

Function HighlightSales(sales As Decimal) As String
If sales > 10000 Then
Return "LightGreen"
Else
Return "White"
End If
End Function

The function above takes a decimal value (sales) as an argument and returns a color based on the sales value. To use this function for conditional formatting in your report, you would call it in the BackgroundColor property of the TextBox or whichever report item you want to format.

But what if our data is sitting in Azure SQL and we want to leverage the capabilities of Microsoft Fabric for compute or use Delta Lake for storage? Or even better, what if we want to employ the AI capabilities of OpenAI + SQL to fetch and analyze our data? How do we make our SSRS reports work with these technologies?

The good news is that SSRS is highly compatible with these services. You would simply connect your SSRS to your Azure SQL database or Delta Lake as you would with a local SQL Server database. Once connected, you can fetch and manipulate your data using T-SQL, and then use the fetched data in your SSRS reports. For using OpenAI + SQL, you can create stored procedures in your Azure SQL database that call the AI functionalities and then call these stored procedures in your SSRS reports.

Consider a scenario where we are using Databricks to process our data and store it in Delta Lake. We can create a view in Azure SQL that fetches this data using PolyBase. We can then connect our SSRS to this Azure SQL database and use the view as the data source for our report. The following T-SQL script creates such a view.

CREATE VIEW SalesData AS
SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET(
'SQLSERVER',
'DataSource=;Database=',
'');

In conclusion, SSRS coupled with embedded code provides a powerful tool for creating dynamic, interactive, and visually appealing reports. Furthermore, its compatibility with Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake, OpenAI + SQL, and Databricks makes it a go-to solution for reporting needs in any SQL Server environment, whether on-premise or cloud-based. As always, it's crucial to understand your business requirements and data infrastructure to make the most out of these technologies.

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