SSRS – Understanding Report Parameter Visibility | Datta's Ramblings on Business Intelligence 'N' Life

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SSRS – Understanding Report Parameter Visibility

23 Apr

Report Parameters in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) form a very powerful component. Report Parameters offer following capabilities:

Allows end users to interact with the report by allowing them to
- Filter the data in the report
- Drill-down or drill-up a report/data item (using cascading parameters)
- Carry out other custom capabilities like show or hide specific components/fields within a report, to control the initial view of a drill-down report (collapsed/expanded) etc.
Allows the reporting applications to capture the user related information like User Id etc. for implementing data level security related capabilities and other capabilities.
Allows implementation of drill-through reports by passing parameters from parent report to child report.
and the list goes on…

A Parameter in a SSRS Report has various properties like Name/Prompt, Data Type, Visibility, Available and Default Values, and a bunch of other parameters under the advanced section of the Report Properties Window.

One of the most important among these properties is the Parameter Visibility, which controls whether a parameter is visible to the end user or is invisible. If invisible, whether it is accessible to other applications/in other interfaces or not. Following are the 3 visibility options available for a Report Parameter:

Visible
Hidden
Internal

Following table provides a comparison between each type of parameter visibility.

Visible	Hidden	Internal
Accessible for read/write within the report	Accessible for read/write within the report	Accessible for read/write within the report
Values can be passed to this type of parameter (when present in the child report) in case of a drill-through report implementation	Values can be passed to this type of parameter (when present in the child report) in case of a drill-through report implementation	Values cannot be passed to this type of parameter (when present in the child report) in case of a drill-through report implementation. This type of parameter is read-only and not accessible in parent report.
Accessible for read/write by the end-user	Not accessible to the end-user directly (but if some visible parameter is linked to this parameter, then any changes to visible parameter will impact the hidden parameter state)	Not accessible to the end-user
Accessible to applications (for read/write) as part of integration	May or may not be accessible to applications (for read/write) as part of integration	Not accessible to applications as part of integration
Accessible in Report Manager for modifications to properties like Default Value, Visibility, and Prompt etc.	Accessible in Report Manager for modifications to properties like Default Value, Visibility, and Prompt etc.	Accessible in Report Manager for modifications to properties like Default Value, Visibility, and Prompt etc.
Use this parameter if this needs to be accessible to the end-user and also accessible to other application as part of integration	Use this parameter if this needs to be hidden from the end-user but would be required as part of drill-through report, implementation of reporting logic etc.	Use this parameter if this needs to be hidden from the end-user, should not be accessible in drill through reports or other application as part of integration etc. Use this if it is required for implementation of any reporting logic.