2.6. SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio

SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio is a development IDEsimilar to Visual Studio 2005for developing Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Reporting Services projects. Business Intelligence (BI) Development Studio lets you develop these projects independently of the server and organize groups of projects into solutions. BI Development Studio lets you deploy projects to testing, staging, and production servers.

BI Development Studio functionality is added to Visual Studio 2005 on computers where Visual Studio 2005 is installed.

Launch BI Development Studio by selecting Start All Programs Microsoft SQL Server SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio from the taskbar. BI Development Studio has five main windows:

Designer

Designs and creates objects in the project; provides a code view and design view of each object appropriate to the object type.

Solution Explorer

Manages projects in the solution.

Properties

Views and modifies properties of an object.

Toolbox

Contains controls available for an object. Controls are often available only in the design view.

Output

Displays output, debugging, error, and other information during compilation and execution of the solution.

Figure 2-18 shows the BI Development Studio with a sample Analysis Services project loaded.

Figure 2-18. Business Intelligence Development Studio with sample Analysis Services project loaded