Defining derived reports

A derived report definition is a report definition that shares the report template and/or content configuration with another report.

In the example there's a base Report A which uses DocA.docx template and has two content items defined: Content item1 and Content item 2.

If a user wants to have a report which has the same content configuration as the report A (in this case TS Plot (T1, T2) and Spreadsheet table (S1)) but use a different layout or style in the output report than Report A he can derive a Report B from the Report A and set the new report template in the Report B. This way Report B will always use the DocB.docx as the template but will have the content generated according to the configuration of ReportA.

If a user wants to keep the report template and configuration of some of content items from one report definition but change the configuration of other content items (in the example the TS Plot for Content item 1 should be based on time series T4 and T5 instead of T1 and T2), he can derive a Report C from Report A and change the configuration of content items in Report C.

Add derived report definition

In order to create a derived report definition user should right-click in the explorer on the report definition he wants to derive a new report definition from and click Create derived report definition...

The System will display a dialog where the user should enter the name of the newly created derived report and click Create.

After creting the derived report definition system will display it in the report explorer with a special icon indicating that the report definition is derived from another one. The report definition from which another report definition is derived can be found in property dialog under Base report definition.

Override derived report template

In order to override the template in the derived report definition select the derived report definition in the explorer, right-click and select Update template...

In the Update template dialog user should select the template file that should be uploaded and optionally select the file to be removed from disk. After pressing the Update button the new template will be saved in the report definition and override the template from the base report definition. Report content items for the derived report will be adjusted (either added or removed) to meet the new template content.

The new report template will be shown in report definition properties window.

Override derived report content

In order to override the report content in the derived report definition select the derived report definition in the explorer, right-click and select Edit content

The content configuration dialog will be shown with a new column (Inherited) which indicates whether the content configuration for a given content item is inherited from the base report definition or defined in the derived report definition.

In order to override the content item definition Inherited checkbox has to be unchecked. This will make the content item configuration editable. User can then set the content according to his needs.

After making all changes the report definition should be saved by clicking on the Save button.