SSRS: Create custom error message when an external web-service is down

Question

I'm fixing the last bugs on my SQL Server Reporting Services 2016 application.

I've just realised that when one of my external web-services is down, the application crashes: 'An error ocurred during local data processing'.

How can I check if the web-service is down (or not) when calling it? This would be easy on a conventional .NET project, but this application is supposed to run on the SSRS portal. I would like to show a custom error message.

Answer 1

You can embed a custom assembly into your report. And let that assembly check the service endpoints. You might also be able to do this in Custom Code as you can include System.Web as a referenced assembly and create a response in Report Code, however, it will be much easier in your custom assembly.