Query to get SSRS report parameters and Drop Down options slow - sql

Question

I need to get a list of parameters for a specific SSRS report and show all the possible drop down items available (along with Report parameter name, DataType, and Prompt).
I'm not sure of other options (if there are any). The query returns exactly what I need, it just takes too long to be useful (10-12 seconds). Is there another way to get these results or make this one faster?
USE ReportServer
DECLARE #dbname VARCHAR(25)
SET #dbname='DBName'
DECLARE #rptlistStr VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE #reportlist table ( path varchar(500), name varchar(500) )
insert into #reportlist
exec [ADA Master].[dbo].[spGetAdminReports] #dbname
set #rptlistStr = substring((SELECT ( ', ' + Name ) FROM #reportlist WHERE NAME = 'rptReport'
FOR XML PATH( '' )
), 3, 1000 )
SELECT NAME, PATH,
y.r.query ('for $s in *:ParameterValue/*:Value return concat(data($s),"|")') [DropDownItemValue]
, y.r.query ('for $s in *:ParameterValue/*:Label return concat(data($s),"|")') [DropDownItemLabel]
, x.r.value ('#Name', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS ReportParameterName
, x.r.value ('*:DataType[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS DataType
, x.r.value ('*:AllowBlank[1]', 'VARCHAR(50)') AS AllowBlank
, x.r.value ('*:Prompt[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS Prompt
, x.r.value ('*:Hidden[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS Hidden
, x.r.value ('*:MultiValue[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS MultiValue
FROM (
SELECT PATH
, NAME
, CAST(CAST(content AS VARBINARY(MAX)) AS XML) AS ReportXML
FROM ReportServer.dbo.Catalog
join master.dbo.ufn_SplitStringArray(#rptlistStr,',') a on NAME COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT = a.Item COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT
WHERE CONTENT IS NOT NULL AND TYPE = 2
) C
CROSS APPLY C.ReportXML.nodes('*:Report/*:ReportParameters/*:ReportParameter') x(r)
OUTER APPLY x.r.nodes('*:ValidValues/*:ParameterValues') y(r)
where x.r.value ('*:Prompt[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') is not null

Answer 1

First and foremost - I would not query ReportServer.dbo.Catalog directly; people do this all the time and it's crazy. Converting img data into VARNBINARY(MAX) then into XML is insanely expensive. If you need this information often I suggest dumping the results of this query into another table (we'll call it "SSRS_RDL") then, as part of your Report Deployment process you would update SSRS_RDL with changes and new records as needed. Even an hourly job that does this will often be enough. This way you're dealing with relational data that is easy to index and can be retreived 1000's of times faster than how you are doing it now.
That said you have a serious design flaw with your code; you are:
executing [ADA Master].[dbo].[spGetAdminReports] to push rows into your #reportlist table
then using XML PATH to turn #reportlist into a string called #rptlistStr
Then using dbo.ufn_SplitStringArray to turn #rptlistStr back into a table
Joining the results of this table to ReportServer.dbo.Catalog
You can get rid of #rptlistStr and the code to populate it from #reportList, and instead join your #reportlist table to ReportServer.dbo.Catalog. In other words, change:
FROM ReportServer.dbo.Catalog AS c
JOIN master.dbo.ufn_SplitStringArray(#rptlistStr,',') a on NAME COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT = a.Item COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT
To:
FROM ReportServer.dbo.Catalog AS c
JOIN #reportlist AS a ON on c.Name COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT = a.name COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT
Lastly:
This query will run much faster with a parallel execution plan. Once you've made the changes I just outline consider using OPTION (QUERYTRACEON 8649) at the end of your final SELECT query (or using Make_Parallel() by Adam Machanic.)