How to open an .rdl file in Visual Studio?

I have an .rdl file that I need to open in Visual Studio. When I try to open this file, I got an XML file. However, I am unable to see the designer format.

I don't know which version of Visual Studio is used to create this .rdl file.

Is it possible to open a random .rdl file in Visual Studio and see the designer format and, if so, how can I do that?

4 Answers

Correct, the Report Definition Language is just XML. And, as with any other file, you can just open it (File/Open/File...) in Visual Studio, just like in a text editor. In order to see a designer you need to give Visual Studio a bit of context about what sort of file it is by making it part of a Report Server Project.

• Install SSDT for Visual Studio if you haven't already done so
• Create a new project using the 'Report Server Project' template
• Copy/move the .rdl file(s) you have into the folder for the newly created project (eg ..\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\My Report Project\My Report Project)
• Use the "Add Existing Item..." context menu option in Solution Explorer to add the .rdl to the project
• Open report designer by double-clicking the newly added report project item(s)

For opening RDL file in designer make sure you have " Microsoft Reporting Services Projects" Installed.

Refer this :

Once you have the needed extensions (Microsoft Reporting Services, Report Designer) installed and everything updated, what worked for me was to open the .rptproj project, and then open the needed .rdl.

In my case, I was opening the folder and not the project file.

Once I opened the project directly, the reports were opening with the report editor, not the xml editor.