There is absolutely no reason why you can’t directly connect to SQL, but I like the SSRS approach for many reasons, including:

• SSRS allows multiple render formats (PDF, IMG, EXCEL, WORD, etc.), which means that although I can display a Highchart graph using the ATOM feed, I could also allow the user to export the graph’s data in the most convenient format for them, without having to write any further code.
• You can use SSRS Caching and Snapshot features to speed up report data retrieval and processing
• Subscriptions can be transparently done on the SSRS layer, without creating your own custom logic.

As well as many other reasons

If I grab the SSRS ATOM data and the charts displays nicely, what if I want to change the parameters? How would that work? Would we even need SSRS at this point, could we not just run the SQL on the page itself?

I have written an extension on this article, which allows you to embed your Highcharts within SSRS itself, rather than on a separate page, this has a working example that can be deployed with minimal configuration.

Cheers
L

As you said you are working on a complete example, it will be ver nice and helpfull if you could provide the example.

You could actually do all this natively within SSRS (i.e. without Highcharts), via communicating with the SSRS Web Service, which will give you an HTML rendered report that you can just plonk on your page, then all you need to do is add your web controls (which will control the parameters). I’ve got the beginnings of an SSRS Web Service client library to get you started, altho its currently very simple and can only be used as an introduction to the web service.

This is even easier if you’re using asp.net and can use the ReportViewer control, which will manage the communication with the SSRS webservice on your behalf.

That being said, I do really hate how static and stale SSRS reports look, hence the article above.

If you want to break out of the “SSRS chrome” mold, and choose to build your paramterized dashboard using something like Highcharts, then my recommendation is to build a sturdy JQuery (JS) renderer, that takes generic SSRS ATOM and build a graph (based on some configurations), similar to the example above.

Options options options

I am basically wanting to create a dashboard for SRSS reports, with each report having parameters

Sure I can! I’ve been actually trying to find some time to finalize this for a while now. It wont be today or tomorrow, but soon, and hopefully very soon

In the mean-time I am happy to give you a hand with any specific setup you have, and walk you step-by-step through the process. You are absolutely correct; the code in this page in its current state cannot be ported seamlessly into your (or any) environment

Cheers
L