I am having a horrible time registering the custom DataExtension described in the book. I downloaded the sample and built the project. I've added pre-build and post-build steps to copy the DLL (I'm using the C# project only).

Within VS.NET BIDS, the DataSource is registered by the name in the config files (not the DataSetConnection.LocalizedName which shows up when everything is truly installed and registered properly). However, when I close DataSource dialogs I get an error suggesting I look at the RSReportDesigner.config - it looks fine.

When I use IE7 and the ReportManger URL, the DataSource list does not contain any sign that our DataExtension is registered.

I am a bit baffled by the registry entries. They basically fall into two categories; types and URLs.

According to the instructions in the book, the "RsReport*.config" have type entries that take the form "<[u]Namespace.Extension.Connection</u>>,<[u]Namespace.Extension</u>>". Simple enough, except this is the one the designer complains about. These entries would be the same for either the C# or VB solution. Interestingly, the C# project's default namespace "DataSetDataExtensionCS" is not used anywhere in the project (which uses "[u]Wrox.ReportingServices.DataSetDataExtension</u>").

According to the instructions in the book, the "*Policy.config" contain URLs that look like a normal path, but end in the namespace-dot-dll - which doesn't look like a normal URL (eg "...\[u]Wrox.ReportingServices.DatSetDataExtension.dll</u>"). Also, it doesn't match the DLL name which actually ends in "CS" or "VB" depending on the project. I'm a little baffled by just what these entries are supposed to be - URLs or namespaces or what.

If anyone can help me straighten this out, I would appreciate it. Is the same configuration supposed to work with either the C# or VB versions? Is their some log file somewhere that I can be looking at to see what is wrong? Is their some way to cause these files to be loaded manually (trying to open ReportServer.asmx in VS.NET was interesting).

Thanks.

I found a work around. I changed the assembly name to "Wrox.ReportingServices.CustomDataExtension" so that it looks like the path. I still don't know what it is supposed to be, but it doesn't matter since both assembly and namespace now look the same.

Oh, yes yes yes.

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you :-)

I've been working on this for the past two days, and it now works. Now for the next stage

Regards

&lt;&lt;&lt;Bryan Avery&gt;&gt;&gt;