Bold Reports Integration
ReportBridge uses Syncfusion Bold Report Viewer to render paginated SSRS reports (.RDL/.RDLC) with live PostgreSQL data — hosted on AWS EC2 behind an Application Load Balancer.
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What is Bold Reports
Bold Reports is a Syncfusion product that provides a full-featured report server and viewer for paginated reports. It supports the RDL/RDLC specification (the same format used by Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services) and renders pixel-perfect, print-ready output.
Why ReportBridge uses Bold Reports
- Native RDL/RDLC rendering — no conversion or re-authoring required
- PostgreSQL data source support via Npgsql connector
- Embeddable viewer control for iframe integration
- Export to PDF, Excel, Word, and other formats
- Self-hosted — runs on your infrastructure with full control
Architecture
Bold Report Viewer runs on an EC2 instance behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) with auto-renewing SSL certificates. The ReportBridge admin and viewer apps communicate with it via signed embed URLs.
User Browser
└─► ReportBridge Viewer (Domo iframe or standalone)
└─► ALB (reports.report-bridge.com, HTTPS)
└─► EC2 Instance (Bold Report Server)
├─► PostgreSQL (customer data via Npgsql)
└─► Report Storage (uploaded .RDL/.RDLC files)The Bold Reports instance is shared across tenants but uses per-organization data source credentials and category isolation to enforce separation.
Embed Integration
Reports are embedded in the ReportBridge viewer using iframes with HMAC-SHA256 signed URLs. This ensures that only authenticated users with valid tokens can access report content.
Embed Flow
- User selects a report in the ReportBridge viewer
- Viewer app requests an embed URL from the Lambda API
- Lambda generates an HMAC-signed URL with the report path, user context, and expiry timestamp
- Viewer renders the signed URL in an iframe
- Bold Reports validates the signature and renders the report
Note: The embed secret is configured per-tenant in the admin Settings page. The embed_signature field must match the Bold Reports server configuration.
Data Sources
Bold Reports connects to customer databases using shared data source definitions configured in the Bold Reports admin panel. ReportBridge manages these via the admin API.
Supported Connectors
- PostgreSQL (Npgsql) — Primary connector for migrated reports
- SQL Server — Legacy connector for reports not yet converted
Data Source Isolation
Each tenant organization has its own data source credentials. Reports reference shared data source names, but the actual connection strings are resolved per-tenant at render time.
Report Formats
ReportBridge supports the standard RDL/RDLC paginated report format used by SSRS. Reports can be uploaded directly without modification.
RDL (Report Definition Language)
Server-side reports with embedded data source references. Standard SSRS format.
RDLC (Client Report Definition)
Client-side variant with data provided at runtime. Used in Visual Studio projects.
Parameters
Single-select, multi-select, date, and cascading parameter types are supported.
Export Formats
PDF, Excel (.xlsx), Word (.docx), CSV, and HTML output via the viewer toolbar.
Security
The Bold Reports integration enforces multiple security layers:
- HTTPS only — ALB terminates TLS with auto-renewing ACM certificates
- Embed signature validation — Every embed URL is HMAC-signed with a per-tenant secret
- Network isolation — EC2 instance in a private subnet, accessible only via ALB
- Reports marked non-public — Bold Reports setting "Disable Mark Reports as Public" is enabled, preventing anonymous access
- Viewer user separation — A dedicated viewer user with restricted permissions handles all embed requests