Reporting: 13 questions to answer before getting started

I get the following questions quite often and thought I gather my thoughts together in this blog post

• “Which reporting components should we use in WPF?
  Is it Infragistics, Telerik, syncfusion”
   
• “Is DevExpress XtraReports Suite still state of the art for reporting?”
   
• “Do you prefer SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) over Crystal Reports?”

Figure: Not sure if I should respond or remain silent

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SSRS - QA from the BI class

Q1: Where do i get help for the expression syntax in the report designer?
Q2: How can I create a report template, so that I don't have to start from a blank report each time?
Q3: Is it possible to skin the Report server Website? I can make an asp.net page, but I think the Report Server page is probably adequate. Probably the better option is to use report services in Sharepoint?

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SSIS and SSRS - QA from the BI class

Q
SSIS can export data into excel files, and SSRS can also do this. Which way is better / more appropriate in which circumstances?

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SQL Server Integration Services - QA from the 1st BI class

Q1 How to trigger SSIS/SSRS jobs manually/on-demand without using the SQL Agent. How can I let end users trigger dtsx packages. Are there API hooks that I could run from a VBScript form (ideally) or perhaps .NET
Q2 I would like to know how you loop through different directory and upload files from various directories using SSIS. It will be great if you can give some demo.

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