Assuming a fairly conventional SSRS 2012 report (in Visual Studio 2012) with a main report, a set of sub-reports, a shared dataset that is populated at the start of the report, and a shared datasource.
Is there any simple way within a sub-report's custom code (this is VBA, right?) to access the shared dataset, either to read or update records locally? (No updates back to the database itself.) I'm seeing hints out there that this is possible but no clear examples yet.
And if the above is possible, assuming that a call in the sub-report changed a record in the shared dataset, could that record change be displayed in the main report body?
Yes and No.
I think the overall concept would work but a few points won't.
I don't think you'd be able to use the report dataset with VBA. The code won't have access to the report's datasource directly. You'd probably need to use ADO to access the db from VB.
The only way to see the updated data would be to refresh the report - either manually or automatically on the timer.
I don't see how the subreport is going to figure out what to update the value to. You might have some idea that I'm not seeing right now.
The easier way I see this working would be to use parameters that default to NULL. Then select the row to update with one parameter and the value with another. Then have an UPDATE in your main query that only runs if your parameters are populated.