This blog is part of my series Making Data Tell a Story With SSRS Properties.

Property: Source

The purpose of this property is to specify where a report image is stored.

To access the property, select an image and go to Source. The options are External, Embedded, and Database.

Options:

  • External – an image stored on a server. Specify a URL or path.
  • Embedded – an image uploaded to and embedded in the report RDL.
  • Database – an image stored in a database table.

Example: I want to include the company logo in the header of a sales report.

I add a report header and drag an image control on to it. I select External as the source. I put the URL to the image in Use this image.

When I run the report, the image is in the header.

If I want to have the image embedded with the report, I need to add it. I go to the Report Data pane and select New > Image.

I navigate to the location the image is saved and select it. The image is now available in the report.

To add the image to the report, I drag an image control into the header. I select the image source as Embedded and use the drop-down arrow to select logo_prod as my image.

When I run the report, the image is in the header.

I want to use the image as it is stored in the database. I drag an image control into the header. I select the image source of Database. I choose the field in the dataset my image is stored in, and specify the image MIME type.

When I run the report, the image is in the header.

Further Reading:

Images (Report Builder and SSRS)