Data Explorer
Access the Data Explorer by clicking the View menu in Visual Studio, selecting the Other Windows option and then selecting Data Dynamics Reports Data Explorer.
Once you add a data source and dataset to the Data Explorer, you can drag a field from it onto a data region or onto the report body itself to create a text box containing an expression, the scope of which depends on the context of the drop location.
Data Sources
Add a data source by clicking the Add icon and selecting the Data Source... option.
The Data smart panel is where you select the type of data to use, provide a connection string, and choose other options for your data source. Access it by right-clicking a data source in the Data Explorer and selecting Edit. You can also elect to use a shared data source reference, use a single transaction, and select the method for handling credentials. Once you have finished supplying the necessary information, clicking the Accept icon causes the name of the data source to appear in the Data Explorer. You can add more than one data source to a report.
Datasets
The Dataset smart panel is where you provide a command type and query string and choose other options for your dataset. Access the Dataset smart panel by right-clicking the new dataset in the Data Explorer and selecting Edit. You can also control the timeout period and other data options, and add fields, parameters, and filters to pull exactly the data you need. With some data types, clicking the Validate icon automatically populates it with the fields pulled by your query. With the XML data type, the fields must be added manually with XPath expressions. Clicking the Accept icon causes the name of the dataset and the names of the fields to appear under the data source name in the Data Explorer. You can add multiple datasets to a data source.
See Also
Reference
Connecting to a Data Source
Tutorials
Creating a Shared Data Source