SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 print jobs very large and slow

Using SSRS 2005, BIDS and SQL Server MGMT studio to develop the queries. I have a few reports published to the ReportServer, which is working great, with the exception of when I try to print any of these reports.

A two page (text, with some 'colored in' fields - no images) report produces approximately a 2-4MB print job.

A recent attempt to print a 50+ page report (again text, with some 'colored in' fields - no images) is producing a 60+MB print job, which I canceled because it's completely ridiculous.

SO:

I ended up contacting Microsoft's reporting services group to resolve this. It is a 'known' problem and is being 'considered' to be fixed in the 2011 release of SQL Server... In other words I'm stuck with large print jobs.

Here's what we did:
1) Try to print the reports directly from Reporting Services and saw a large spool file size.
2) Exported the report to excel, spool size was very small. PDF-export jobs were still fairly large.
3) Tried some possible workarounds: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=919543 They weren't feasible.

Finally, he discussed the case with his senior engineer and got the following information:

"This is a known issue with Reporting Services. It is due to a fundamental architectural issue with the EMF format. To resolve this issue would require moving Report Server printing away from the EMF format. This is currently under consideration but is a potentially destabilizing change due to the number of code points requiring change and the fact that any mistakes would be highly visible. i.e. affecting the printed report layout. This issue will not be resolved in the short term and may be addressed in the next release of Report Server.

While there is no solution present, The best way would be to limit the number of graphics on the report, avoid gradients in graphs and other images, use a more compact image format, such as GIF/JPG, print at lower DPI, export to PDF and print from there, etc."


So, up a dirty creek with no paddle.

Thanks.

Dilemma

It's kind of fun to think of some in the southern states who's jaws dropped at Palin's nomination. The scene plays out comedically in my mind:

(White guy) Pa: Ma! That damn McCain picked a woman!

(White gal) Ma: Well, now who the fuck ya gonna vote for?

Pa: Well, shit me. Can't vote for the black Muslim. I ain't votin. I'm gonna sit here and drink beer.

[And the rest of us smiled as he sat on his lazy ignorant ass.]

Christianification

Oh dear.

Here we go.

Again.

Guitar Praise
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/thank-god-guita.html

About 2 years behind... sounds about right for the 'Christian Industry' (tm).

Vote (not) McCain!

I'm very happy I do not have to vote in the upcoming American election, only because the system is so bizarrely corrupt.

If I had to I'd likely end up voting Obama, possibly for a third party, but almost never would vote for McCain. He's out of touch. Here's an article and a study of the two candidates suggested tax policies. The numbers show: Obama's plan put more money into the hands of the masses, McCain's bulldozes it to the rich.

Article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/why-mccains-wealth-matter_b_120933.html

Study
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411741_updated_candidates.pdf

Blue Iris Surveillance Review

Our company was looking to install a couple cameras for basic asset tracking. Nothing Big Brother, just your standard security measures. After a bit of research I settled on the D-Link DCS-1110 camera. It has POE, which reduces the wiring, and advertised motion detection and recording to a SMB share.

Of course, as with most D-Link things, the hardware works great. The software...crap.

So I was forced to find an alternative. It soon became clear that I needed to use the good hardware in conjunction with some good software that could provide the motion detection and recording for me. A little bit of Googling brought me to Blue Iris.

I was quite skeptical at first, primarily because the cost of the product is so reasonable. Most of the other video products out there either accompany cameras, or are rediculously expensive, but the full Blue Iris product can be had for $50.

I installed the demo, went in clean and quickly. No bloat here. Next was to install the DCS-1110. Working with the interface was great. There are *alot* of options, but they are well laid out over several tabs. I had some problems connection to the DCS-1110 properly, so I checked the help file. It has fairly detailed information as well as some specific information on the D-Link series of cameras. Tried everything I could, but no luck. Convinced I was missing something, I contacted the developer by email.

In the end, it was me - not the product - that had been mis-configuring things. However, the real kicker was the support response time: 30 minutes. Working as an IT professional I can safely say that a 30 minute turn around time on a SUPPORT email is a very very rare thing. I was immediately confident in the product, thanks to Ken at Blue Iris. I get the feeling they are a one or two man shop, which gives me the warm fuzzies when buying from them.

We've since added a second camera, tinkered with the settings, and really had continued success with the product. This stuff Just Works. And that's so rare these days.

http://blueirissoftware.com/

Materialism...

A friend posted this, and I wanted to remember it, so I post it here.

"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it?
Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom?
Material abundance without character is the path of destruction."

- Thomas Jefferson

So THAT's...

...what 300 million people bending over sounds like.

W Bush's legacy : a record $482 billion deficit

Bastard.

Baa - Shleepie People

After writing the piece on Post-Denominational thinking, I had dinner with a good friend of mine. He brought up an interesting rebuttal that somewhat deflates the ideas in that piece. Essentially it comes down to this:

People like to be stupid.

Of course, taken factually this is untrue. In a physiological sense most humans have the capability for great levels of thought. However, the argument is that people would rather be told what to do, then think of a solution themselves. This is visible in many many aspects of our society, and really has become entrenched into how we do things.

It’s just so much easier to be stupid. Call it laziness or maybe apathy, but if we (the society) don’t have to read another article, or try another approach, or consider another solution to xyz problem - we don’t. If there is a system in place that semi-functions, we often don’t even question its effectiveness or efficiency.

There are many examples of this. Politics is the elephant in the room, but other examples include: cars (transportation in general), energy and environmental and economic policies, city design and infastructure, living and housing arrangements, materialism, and of course religious institutions.

If people don’t want to (and as a result of apathy - cannot) think critically, then truly a system where the congregation holds the pastor accountable will not work. They will be sheep, listening, waiting, and eating when they are told to.

I still think these are great ideas, but they will only apply to a very small percentage of church attendees.