When running an SSRS report, the following SSRS error may be encountered: An error occurred during local report processing. Error in the application. Could not find the file”. Followed by the path to the SSRS file. In fact, the missing file is a file with an RSD extension and not an RDS (Report Data Source) file. RDL reports use Report Data Source (RDS) files. Report Definition Language Client-Side (RDLC) files, on the other hand, use Report Shared Dataset (RSD) connections. That is, SSRS reports with a shared connection.
An error occurred during local report processing with SSRS
The complete error in detail: “An error occurred during local report processing. Error in the application. Could not find the file .rsd”. Indeed, encountering this error is blocking during the development of SSRS reports. And potentially time consuming if the report must be started from scratch. Especially if the report file is corrupted and unusable.
This is a report with an RDLC extension which uses an .RSD connection. Not RDL, which is the standard Reporting Services report format, which uses .RDS connections.
Solution to avoid the processing error in Visual Studio
The solution is to relocate the files or create the files for the previously deleted database connections.
I.e., to reuse the exact same name for the connections as previously used. Finally, to avoid this kind of error, it is very important to regularly compile the code of your SSRS project and to save your objects. Indeed, Visual Studio is the main tool for the development of Microsoft BI projects and especially for SQL Server code.
Visual Studio 2019 via the SQL Server Data Tools or SSDT allows the development of SSIS, SSRS and SSAS projects. To go further, the expert-only.com site is dedicated mainly to tutorials on Microsoft IT tools and SQL Server, to learn how to use SSIS, these practical English Microsoft tutorials are a good start. Here is another tutorial for using dynamic queries in an SSRS dataset.
Conclusion on SSRS report processing errors
To conclude, when using SSRS in Visual Studio, an error might pop up indicating a missing .RSD file, not the typical .RDS (Report Data Source) file. This error pertains to RDLC reports that use .RSD connections, different from the standard RDL reports.
If facing this issue, the solution involves either relocating or recreating the files for the deleted database connections, ensuring they have the same names as before. It’s crucial to frequently compile your SSRS project code and save your work in Visual Studio, a primary tool for Microsoft BI projects, to prevent such errors.
FAQ on SSRS reports and file formats
RDL reports utilize Report Data Source (RDS) files, whereas Report Definition Language Client-Side (RDLC) files make use of Report Shared Dataset (RSD) connections. So, SSRS reports with a shared connection typically require RSD files.
RDLC stands for Report Definition Language Client-side. It is a file format used by Microsoft Reporting Services, which represents a client-side version of the RDL (Report Definition Language) report.
Unlike RDL reports, which are processed on a report server, RDLC reports are processed on the client machine (i.e., the computer where the application is running). This allows developers to design and run reports locally without a connection to a Reporting Services server, making RDLC particularly useful for client-side reporting in local applications.
