Documentation

1 Quick Start

Get up and running with SSRS2 in under 5 minutes.

using SSRS2.Reporting.NETCore;

// Load your RDLC report
using var report = new LocalReport();
report.LoadReportDefinition(File.OpenRead("Report.rdlc"));

// Add your data
report.DataSources.Add(
    new ReportDataSource("DataSetName", yourData));

// Render to PDF
var pdfBytes = report.Render("PDF");

// Save or return the PDF
File.WriteAllBytes("output.pdf", pdfBytes);

2 Installation

<PackageReference Include="SSRS2.NETCore" Version="1.7.0" />

3 Basic Usage

// From file path
report.LoadReportDefinition(File.OpenRead("path/to/report.rdlc"));

// From embedded resource
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("MyApp.Reports.Report.rdlc");
report.LoadReportDefinition(stream);

// From byte array
var bytes = File.ReadAllBytes("report.rdlc");
report.LoadReportDefinition(new MemoryStream(bytes));

// Single data source
var items = new List<Product> { ... };
report.DataSources.Add(
    new ReportDataSource("Products", items));

// Multiple data sources
report.DataSources.Add(new ReportDataSource("Orders", orders));
report.DataSources.Add(new ReportDataSource("Customers", customers));

report.SetParameters(new[] {
    new ReportParameter("ReportTitle", "Sales Report 2025"),
    new ReportParameter("ShowDetails", "true"),
    new ReportParameter("StartDate", DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"))
});

// Enable hyperlinks in PDF output
report.EnableHyperlinks = true;

var pdf = report.Render("PDF");

Identical output on every platform

Report engines usually ask the operating system for the fonts a report requests. When the machine does not have one, each platform quietly substitutes something different — and the substitutes are not the same width. Segoe UI becomes Helvetica on macOS and DejaVu Sans on Linux, which is about 10% wider. Text then wraps differently, rows grow, and a table row that fits on your laptop falls off the page in your container.

SSRS2 ships metric-compatible fonts inside the package and renders from those, so the same RDLC lays out the same way on Windows, macOS, Linux and in Docker. Nothing to install on the host, and no libgdiplus.

using SSRS2.Reporting.NETCore;

// false means the font files did not reach your output directory
if (!ReportFonts.BundledFontsAvailable)
    throw new InvalidOperationException("SSRS2 fonts missing — output will vary by platform");

// Opt out and use the host's fonts instead (output becomes platform-dependent)
ReportFonts.UseSystemFonts = true;

ReportFonts.AddFontFile("fonts/Corporate-Regular.ttf");
ReportFonts.AddFontFile("fonts/Corporate-Bold.ttf");

4 Export Formats

var pdf = report.Render("PDF");
File.WriteAllBytes("report.pdf", pdf);

report.DisplayName = "Sales by region";
var pdf = report.Render("PDF", "<DeviceInfo><Author>Finance</Author>"
    + "<OwnerPassword>to change it</OwnerPassword><PermitCopying>false</PermitCopying></DeviceInfo>");

// For archives: fonts embedded, the colour profile, what the file says of itself
var archive = report.Render("PDF", "<DeviceInfo><PdfA>true</PdfA></DeviceInfo>");

var deviceInfo = "<DeviceInfo><OutputFormat>PNG</OutputFormat><DpiX>300</DpiX><DpiY>300</DpiY></DeviceInfo>";

// IMAGE writes every page, a stream per page, as Report Viewer does ("PNG" alone renders StartPage)
var pages = new List<MemoryStream>();
report.Render("IMAGE", deviceInfo,
    (name, ext, enc, mime, seek) => {
        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        pages.Add(stream);
        return stream;
    }, out _);

for (var i = 0; i < pages.Count; i++)
    File.WriteAllBytes($"page{i + 1}.png", pages[i].ToArray());

var deviceInfo = "<DeviceInfo><DPI>150</DPI><Quality>85</Quality></DeviceInfo>";

var jpeg = report.Render("JPEG", deviceInfo);

// Word document
var docx = report.Render("WORDOPENXML");
File.WriteAllBytes("report.docx", docx);

// Excel spreadsheet
var xlsx = report.Render("EXCELOPENXML");
File.WriteAllBytes("report.xlsx", xlsx);

Checking reports, and reports you did not write

var report = new LocalReport();
report.LoadReportDefinition(reportDefinition);

foreach (var problem in report.CheckDefinition())
    Console.WriteLine($"{problem.Severity} {problem.Code} {problem.ObjectName}.{problem.PropertyName}: {problem.Message}");
// Error rsFieldReference Title.Value: The Value expression for the text box 'Title' refers to the field 'Nmae'...

var report = new LocalReport { RestrictedCode = true };
report.LoadReportDefinition(uploaded);
// =System.IO.File.ReadAllText("/etc/hosts") is an error:
// [SSRS2001] 'System.IO.File' is not available to a restricted report
var problems = report.CheckDefinition();

var html = report.Render("HTML5", "<DeviceInfo><ActionScript>viewerAction</ActionScript></DeviceInfo>");

// The page calls viewerAction('Toggle', id, event): send the id to your application
report.Toggle(id);
html = report.Render("HTML5", deviceInfo);

AI coding agents: the SSRS2 MCP server

An agent that writes or changes your .rdlc files (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Visual Studio) can read, change and check them with SSRS2. describe_report outlines a report with the role of each item (table, totals, declaration, signature...); compare_reports groups many reports by their structure; edit_report changes one file or hundreds by short operations, leaving what it does not touch byte for byte, and says only the problems the change brought and the pages before and after; validate_report compiles the report as the engine would and returns each problem with its code, item, expression and a hint, and checks where items print, placement rules and row counts against a git baseline; render_preview returns its pages as images and what they print as text; convert_report writes PDF, Word, Excel or PowerPoint. The server runs on your machine, over stdio: your reports and data stay there, and a report's code runs restricted, in a process of its own. It needs the .NET 10 SDK.

# Once: downloads the tool (65 MB), so your client's first start is quick
dnx SSRS2.Mcp --yes -- --help

# Claude Code
claude mcp add ssrs2 -- dnx SSRS2.Mcp --yes

# Codex
codex mcp add ssrs2 -- dnx SSRS2.Mcp --yes

# .mcp.json (Claude Code), mcp.json (VS Code, Cursor)
{ "mcpServers": { "ssrs2": { "command": "dnx", "args": ["SSRS2.Mcp", "--yes"] } } }

# A migration audit of a folder of reports: each one compiled, run and graded
dnx SSRS2.Mcp --yes -- audit ./Reports --out ./ssrs2-audit

Or with nothing to install: the hosted server at https://ssrs2.net/mcp has the same tools, given the report or the Markdown as text (rdlc, or markdown with its pictures), and convert_report answers the file as a download for ten minutes. Calls are limited by address; a licence key in the header Authorization: Bearer raises the limit and drops the watermark. Nothing a call sends is kept after it (privacy).

# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http ssrs2 https://ssrs2.net/mcp

# Codex: ~/.codex/config.toml, the licence key in SSRS2_LICENSE (optional)
[mcp_servers.ssrs2]
url = "https://ssrs2.net/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "SSRS2_LICENSE"

In claude.ai, Claude Desktop or ChatGPT, which send no header of their own, add https://ssrs2.net/mcp/licensed as a custom connector: it asks you to sign in on ssrs2.net with your licence key, once, and then runs licensed (in Claude Code or Codex: add it, then claude mcp login ssrs2 or codex mcp login ssrs2) (how an agent authenticates).

Without a licence key the tools work in full and previews carry a trial watermark. Setup for other clients: SSRS2.Mcp on NuGet. Two sessions of an agent with these tools, step by step: Designing SSRS reports with an AI agent.

An agent in the online designer

In the online designer, Connect an agent gives your browser an address for your agent: the agent then reads and changes the report open in your page while you watch the canvas and the preview, and each of its changes is one step you can undo. The address is your browser's, the same each time, and reaches a page only while you keep it connected.

# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http ssrs2-designer https://designer.ssrs2.net/mcp/<your address>

# .mcp.json (Claude Code), mcp.json (VS Code, Cursor)
{ "mcpServers": { "ssrs2-designer": { "type": "http", "url": "https://designer.ssrs2.net/mcp/<your address>" } } }

• upload_report opens a report file from the agent's machine (an .rdlc, an .rdl, or another tool's report the designer converts) with one command of its shell: the file never passes through the conversation, and the agent gets the report's outline and problems back.
• review_report has the designer's assistant review the report and answers its remarks in the call, each with its item, whether the agent's change brought it, and the fix; edit_report with review: true does it with a change. The assistant reviews for a signed-in person, or for a licence key the agent gives ("headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer SSRS2-…" } beside the url), with which it also reviews report files the agent changes on your machine, sent from its shell as upload_report sends them.

5 Docker Deployment

SSRS2 works seamlessly in Docker containers. Here's a minimal Dockerfile:

# Build stage
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:10.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o /app

# Runtime stage
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:10.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app .

# On Linux, SSRS2 needs fontconfig, which the official .NET images lack
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    libfontconfig1 \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "YourApp.dll"]

6 Migration from Microsoft.ReportViewer

Migrating from Microsoft.ReportViewer is straightforward. Here are the key changes. For a complete comparison of migration options (including Power BI and cost analysis), see the SSRS to .NET Core migration guide.

using Microsoft.Reporting.WinForms;
// or
using Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms;

using SSRS2.Reporting.NETCore;