SSRS report definition is newer than Server

Question

I created some reports in Visual Studio 2015 with all the latest updates. However, when I try to deploy the reports I get this message:

The definition

Answer 1

I recently ran into this issue as well. I found that I only needed to change two items in the .rdl file in question.

1. Change FROM:

   Report xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2016/01/reportdefinition" xmlns:rd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner"

   TO:

   Report xmlns:rd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner" xmlns:cl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2010/01/componentdefinition" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2010/01/reportdefinition"

Unlike other responses, I needed 2010 instead of 2008. I would check an .rdl file that you have already deployed.

2. Remove the "ReportParametersLayout" block.

Note: If I removed ReportSections block, it did not work as others have noted.

Answer 2

I had the same issue when switching to VS2017 and installed Report Designer Version 14.2.

For me only 3 steps needed to fix the issue.

1: Set Change the xmlns to "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition"

2: Remove ReportSections" and "ReportSection" (Only Tags).

3: Remove report ReportParametersLayout section.

The only thing you need to memorize is to point xmlns to 2008/01

Other 2 steps can be seen in the error message after you change to 2008/01 and try to run the report.

Answer 3

The most simple and straight forward solution. I would suggest you to find Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportViewerControl.WebForms in Manage NuGet Packages of the current project and update this dll version to latest version.

Navigate from VS menu: Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Manage NuGet Packages for Solution

Answer 4

I have automated this task.

create a form with a textbox named "TextBoxFile" and a button. In the code of the click button:

    Dim xmlDoc As New XmlDocument()
    xmlDoc.Load(TextBoxFile.Text)
    Dim root = xmlDoc.DocumentElement 

    For Each elel As XmlNode In root.ChildNodes
        Debug.WriteLine(elel.Name & " " & elel.NodeType)
    Next

    If root.Attributes()("xmlns").Value <> "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition" Then
        root.Attributes()("xmlns").Value = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition"
    End If

    Dim nsmgr = New XmlNamespaceManager(xmlDoc.NameTable)
    nsmgr.AddNamespace("bk", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition")

    Dim autoRefreshElements = root.GetElementsByTagName("AutoRefresh")
    While autoRefreshElements.Count > 0
        root.RemoveChild(autoRefreshElements(0))
    End While

    Dim ReportParametersLayout = root.GetElementsByTagName("ReportParametersLayout")
    While ReportParametersLayout.Count > 0
        root.RemoveChild(ReportParametersLayout(0))
    End While

    Dim ReportSections = root.GetElementsByTagName("ReportSections")

    If ReportSections.Count > 0 Then
        ' Move content of ReportSections just below the block.
        Dim ReportSection = ReportSections(0).ChildNodes()

        ' First, copy the elements after
        Dim precedent = ReportSections(0)
        For Each child As XmlNode In ReportSection(0).ChildNodes
            Dim clone = child.Clone
            root.InsertAfter(clone, precedent)
            precedent = clone
        Next

        ' After deleting the existing block
        While ReportSections.Count > 0
            root.RemoveChild(ReportSections(0))
        End While
    End If

    xmlDoc.Save(TextBoxFile.Text) 

    MsgBox("Ok")

Answer 5

I actually ran into a similar problem where a change I needed to make resulted in an "Undocumented Error/Invalid RDL Structure" error in 2016, so I edited the RDL file so I could open it in an earlier version and make my changes. Not too hard, but you need to make a couple of tag edits.

For new reports you should probably just use an older version, but for existing reports you can do this: (I reverted to 2008)

• Change the Report tag:
  • Remove MustUnderstand="df"
  • Change the xmlns value to "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition"
  • Delete the xmlns:df attribute.
• Delete the entire "ReportParametersLayout" block.
• Delete the "df" tag and its content.
• Delete the "ReportSections" and "ReportSection" opening and closing tags (not the content).

Actually wrote some superhackish code to do this as part of a blog post, but the manual edit is simple enough.

Answer 6

The settings below should be set to your sepecific version of SSRS, and then take the RDL from the \bin directory

Or, after updating the TargetServerVersion, simply use right click | deploy from the rdl.

The accepted answer is significantly more difficult/prone to error/unlikely to work across multiple versions of ssrs, and needs to be applied each time you change the rdl.