Luke Hayler - SQL Server developer

A while back I wrote a post about how to toggle the visibility of rows/columns in tables/matrices for SSRS 2005. In the comments of that article someone asked how this was done in SSRS 2008. The short answer was that the method is the same. However, setting all the properties can be confusing as their whereabouts is a little different. Hopefully this post will clear things up.

Let’s do this by way of example:

I created a project with a single report. The Data source is AdventureWorks2008 and we are looking at Total Sales figures by Year & Month (keep it simple right?). I have set up a matrix object and added the required fields and set subtotals for Month & Year. See Fig 1. below:

Objective: Enable Toggling of the Month group, using the Year Group as the Toggle Item

At this point I want to point out two key areas, as this is where we will be concentrating our efforts:

1. The Row/Column Groups section at the bottom of the designer
2. The Visibility Properties at the bottom right corner (Last item in the Properties list – but only when an object is selected)

Now, select the drop-down arrow for the Month Row group (See Fig 2.), choose Properties and then select the Visibility tab.

The objective is to enable toggling of the Month rows in the Matrix. We could choose to Show or Hide the Month rows when the report is initially run, or to make this decision based on an expression. Using an expression will determine which rows are expanded and which are collapsed when the report is run initially. I have chosen to use an expression:

=IIF(Fields!YEAR.value=2001, False, True)

This says that if the Year group value is ‘2001’ then show the Month Sales Total values (‘Expanded’), else Hide the Month Sales Total values (‘Collapsed’). See Fig 3. below:

Also note (in Fig 3. above) that I have set the YEAR cell as the Toggle Item. We’ll configure this next.

Once you have set the above properties go back to the designer and highlight the YEAR cell in order to view its properties. These should be on the bottom right, otherwise right-click the cell to bring up the properties window. Find the Visibility > InitialToggleState property and set it using the following Expression:

=IIF(Fields!YEAR.Value = 2001, True, False)

This says that if the Year group value is ‘2001’ then show the toggle icon as ‘Expanded’ (True), else show it as ‘Collapsed’ (False). This allows us to ensure that we are in sync with the expression we used to set the initial visibility of the Month rows. Fig 4. shows the end result of all this hard work:

The Visibility Properties

Understanding what each of the three visibility properties does will help to use them effectively.

Hidden – Can be set to either ‘True’ or ‘False’. This can be done by selecting True or False from the drop down, or by using an expression to set either of those values after evaluating a condition. True equates to the object being hidden and False to the object being shown (tricky eh?).

InitialToggleState – This is only applicable if the object that you have selected can toggle the visibility of other objects. It refers to the state of the toggle icon and can either be ‘Collapsed’ (‘+’) or ‘Expanded’ (‘-‘). As explained by way of example above, setting this to ‘’True’ sets the icon to the ‘Expanded’ state, and False to the ‘Collapsed’ state.

ToggleItem – Use this property to set the object that will enable the user to toggle the visibility of another item. In the example above, I have chosen YEAR as my toggle item for the Month Group.

Beware the Gremlins

You need to be aware of setting properties for the right objects or groups, or you may find that your report does not display correctly:

Fig 4. shows what happens when you set the Visibility properties for the Month & Data CELLS in the report instead of the Month Group properties. Setting the Month Group visibility properties means that you won’t get that nasty white space, and there’s no need to set the visibility of the cells (in this instance).

I have placed the example project in a nice little zip file for all you folks that might want such a thing.