SSRS report can be downloaded to Excel, but not XML in Firefox and Chrome

Question

I have a SSRS 2012 report in Sharepoint 2010. I have from this report created an opportunity to download the report to Excel with no problems. Now I want to be able to download the report to XML, but when I change
rs:Format=Excel
to
rs:Format=Xml

in the URL the report is not found in Firefox and Chrome. In IE i am able to download the report to XML. Any suggestions on how to be able to download the report to XML in Firefox and Chrome?

Answer 1

Just use IE Tab to emulate an active x browser session. Honestly you are asking "How can a MS product not designed for other browsers, run in them?" I see this question in many different varieties constantly here on Stack Overflow and the common answer is one of two things:

1. Go on the server and change the default behavior of the ENTIRE SSRS service's CSS file to adjust for a different browser.

2. Tell users to use IE tab if they want to view or use MS products in a different browser.

Things like Sharepoint, SSRS, and certain parts of ASP.NET are meant for IE. If you want them to work the same in other technologies you are going to either hack or get a tool someone else designed to emulate IE. Browsers are complex things, you have to ask yourself: "Is this worth a few hours of changing and testing versus just telling people: 'Use this plugin'"?

Some seasoned developers could probably change the CSS and other settings in a few minutes. However you then open up a road of: "Well can we now redesign all of SSRS to be cross browser compatible for every little thing?" Maybe that is acceptable, maybe not. Depends on your priorities. Honestly I want to spend most of my time developing my reports, not worrying about cross browser compatability of a proprietary product and spending more time on that then development of the core product.