If you are already familiar with Reporting Services in other editions, the following list to describes how Reporting Services works in SQL Server Express:

• All server components must be installed on a single server. You cannot use a remote server for the report server database.
  
• All data sources that provide data to reports must be from SQL Server relational databases are that are installed on the local SQL Server instance.
  
• All reports are processed on demand. Scheduled or unattended report processing is not supported.
  
• Data source connection strings and Reporting Services URLs have different default values in a SQL Server Express installation. SQL Server Express always installs as a named instance. Any URLs or connection strings must include the instance name. The following examples illustrate the syntax you should use.
  

  Item	Example syntax
  Connection string to the sample AdventureWorks database hosted on a local SQL Server Express instance	Data Source=localhost\SQLExpress; Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks
  URL to a report server and report server endpoint	http://localhost/reportserver_SQLExpress
  URL to Report Manager	http://localhost/reports_SQLExpress

• The AdventureWorks sample database is not installed or attached automatically. Setup does not install or attach the database for you. To get the database, you must download it from a Microsoft Web site. After you download and install it, you must attach it to the local SQL Server Express Database Engine instance. Although you cannot use SQL Server Management Studio Express to manage a report server, you can use it to attach databases used by the report server. For more information about how to download and installing samples, see Initial Installation (Reporting Services).
  

Reporting Services in SQL Server Express has all the same software requirements as other editions of Reporting Services. For more information, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2008.

To create reports, you must install the SQL Server Express Toolkit. It includes the version of Business Intelligence Development Studio that is used with SQL Server Express. The SQL Server Express Toolkit is installed separately from other SQL Server Express components. For more information, search the Microsoft Web site for installation instructions for SQL Server Express with Advanced Services.

The reports that you create in the Express edition of Business Intelligence Development Studio can use all the report definition features that you find in other editions of Reporting Services. For example, you can create drillthrough reports, subreports, and parameterized reports that include charts, tables, matrices, and lists.

You can reuse or copy report definitions that you created in other editions. Be aware that if you publish a report that you created in an earlier version of Reporting Services, the report will be upgraded to use the most recent SQL Server report definition format.

After you create a report definition, you can publish it to a report server. To make a published report available to users, you must use Report Manager to create role assignments that grant access to the report. For more information about creating, publishing, and securing reports, see Designing and Implementing Reports Using Report Designer (Reporting Services), Publishing Reports to a Report Server, and Creating and Managing Role Assignments.

To view published reports, you can use a browser or Report Manager, or create a custom application that uses a ReportViewer control to host reports.

The Report Server Web service can be accessed programmatically. Although you can access all of the report server SOAP endpoints, you cannot use all the features. If you cannot use a method, Reporting Services returns an error. For more information, see Programming Features for Reporting Services Editions.

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