How to Create Excel Reports > Working with PivotTables

Working with PivotTables

A PivotTable is an interactive table that summarizes data to present it in a meaningful way. You can rotate a PivotTable's rows and columns to see different summaries of the source data, or drill down to show details. By displaying different views of data, PivotTable reports allow you to easily compare data, see patterns and relationships, and analyze trends.

Reporting Services cannot export a report to Excel format while maintaining a PivotTable. Report users have to to manually set up PivotTables every time they they export a PivotTable report from Reporting Services to Excel.

The following example uses the AdventureWorks2000 sample database that ships with Reporting Services. It is assumed that you already know how to set up a report in Excel using OfficeWriter Designer. If you do not know how to do this, see Create Your First Excel Report.

Step 1. Add Data Markers to Your Workbook

1. Open Microsoft Excel and create a new workbook.
   
   
2. Click Add Query on the OfficeWriter toolbar.
   
   
3. Follow steps 2-11 of Create a Database Query in Create Your First Excel Report.
   
   
4. In the Add Tables dialog box, find the PurchaseOrderHeader table in the list and select Add. Click Close.
   
   
5. In Microsoft Query, drag the following fields to the query: EmployeeID, TotalDue, and VendorID.
   
   
   
   
6. Add the Vendor table and its Name field to the query. Make sure the VendorID field from the PurchaseOrderHeader table is connected to the VendorID field from the Vendor table.
   
   
   
   
7. From the File menu, select Return to OfficeWriter Designer.
   
   
8. Add the fields - as data markers - and a header row to your report, as shown.
   
   
   
   
9. Publish the report.
   
   
10. Click View on the OfficeWriter toolbar to see the populated report.
    
    
11. Click Close Report View to return to the report template.

Step 2. Create a PivotTable

1. With your mouse, highlight both the header row and the row containing your fields.
   
   
2. Open Excel's Data menu and select PivotTable and Pivot Chart Report to open the PivotTable Wizard.
   
   
3. Select Microsoft Office Excel list or database from the top section and PivotTable from the bottom section and click Next.
   
   
4. Since you highlighted the header and field rows of your report, the Step 2 screen should already contain the cell range to use. Click Next.
   
   
5. Select New Worksheet and click Finish. You should now have an empty PivotTable in your worksheet, as shown.
   
   
   
   
6. Click the Vendor Name field from the field list box and drag it to where it says Drop Row Fields Here.
   
   
7. Click and drag the Employee ID field to where it says Drop Column Fields Here.
   
   
8. Click and drag Total to where it says Drop Data Items Here. Your PivotTable should look like this:
   
   
   
   
9. By default, this will give us a count of rows for each vendor/employee combination. However, for our example, we want a sum of the totals for each vendor/employee. So, on the PivotTable where it says Count of Total, right-click and select Field Settings. Under Summarize by, change Count to Sum and click Ok. Your PivotTable should now look like this:
   
   
   
   

Data Placeholders

When the report is executed, the data markers that you created in Step 1 will be replaced with values from the database. To ensure that the PivotTable is constructed properly, you must replace the data markers with placeholder data - any data that will be of the same format as the real output data. For example, if the field is numeric, such as our EmployeeID field, we may use a zero or any other number. If the field is a character field, such as the Name field, we need to use a character placeholder. For our example, we will use the word 'none' for Name and a zero for EmployeeID.

1. Under the Vendor Name label, replace '=%%Query1.Name' with 'none.'
   
   
2. Under the Employee ID label, replace '=%%Query1.EmployeeID' with '0'.
   
   

When you insert placeholder data, never use a real value. For example, if you are displaying a city name, don't use 'Boston' for the placeholder data. The results returned for 'Boston', in that case, may not behave as expected. The same holds true for numeric data. Try to find a value that will never actually be in the query's result set.

Refreshing the Data

There is one more thing to do before trying our PivotTable. Right-click on the PivotTable and select Table Options. Near the bottom of the left column, make sure Refresh on Open is checked. If you do not check this, when the report is viewed, your PivotTable will be empty.

Viewing the PivotTable

Publish, and View your report. Notice that on the first sheet, your data columns display the correct data.

Now look at the sheet containing your PivotTable. You should find the EmployeeID numbers across the top and all the vendor names along the left column. Each cell will contain the sum for each vendor/employee combination.

Click on the down arrow next to the Vendor Name label. Clear Show All and just select a few vendors.

Do the same for the EmployeeID field.

Now look at your results.

Viewing the Report in Reporting Services Report Manager

In your browser, type the path to the Report Manager (Usually http://<YourReportServer>/Reports). Navigate to the report and view it.

To see the report as you designed it with OfficeWriter:

1. From the Select a format drop-down list, choose Excel (.xls) designed by Officewriter.
   
   
2. Click Export.
   
   
3. You will be prompted to save or open. If your report contains a chart or a PivotTable, you MUST select Save. After it saves to disk, then you may select Open to view it.

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