SQL Report Server URL growing out of control (ExecId & PingId)

Question

I have a report that allows users to drill into sub reports and then come back to the main report and enter new criteria. I'm noticing that with each drill down and then back to the main report that the following information is added to my URL with each link clicked:

&ExecId=xq4pydfqqc3eqkygktfx0uah&PingId=f3kthzre4mbyg0mfjsfe0qmu

That is what I get after my first link followed, each additional link produces another:

&PingId=f3kthzre4mbyg0mfjsfe0qmu

After a user has been doing this for a while, the link starts to look like this:

&PingId=hbtv1gyagv4tsx55cdfc1on5&PingId=ghdx5b45fn4qk045zggkpi45&PingId=ykb5ku2jhy1d11iyaguann45&PingId=eryqw4eg3md2bsmsmxmqce45&PingId=3l4ppd45nl1t3355o0cbzij4&PingId=bxcp4l45cosufzba2o5cj355&PingId=oyqnea55wfkefv4552kj1045&PingId=nrhjfxjinnvmgl45rcqqbk55&PingId=44yavxb0rcldabuqzdeekl3a&PingId=3o4mtxy0e4hise454zfvp055&PingId=r1pjxf55o1yy0f55pfd1u345&PingId=m5j5xa550y4dmrqfrsfmczua

We're noticing not only performance issues, but eventually IE just craps out and I assume this is due to hitting the 2083 character URL max (roughly 20 links clicked).

I can find NO information about what the PingId is or what its purpose is. I believe it's like a GUID that tracks what you've done allowing you to drill back out of a report. Maybe that GUID is a representation of a variable being passed into the sub report, I don't know. Is there a way to scrub the URL when you click on a sub report or to drop the tracking that RS is doing? What I do know is that it's giving us a headache.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I found a solution to my problem... This DOES NOT explain what the PingId is and why it's growing. Rather than setting the Action of a field to "jump to report" I changed it to "jump to url". Then I created a formula (see below) that takes the user back to the original report passing the arguments needed. This changes how the report is viewed (notice that it's ReportServer/Pages vs Reports/Pages). I found this article to be helpful: http://dobrzanski.net/2008/08/11/reporting-services-problem-with-passing-parameters-directly-in-the-url/

http://rs/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?%2fDepartment+Reports%2fOperations%2f.Receiving+Stuff%2fPaperless+Receiving&rs:Command=Render&po_number="&Fields!po_number.Value