Defining reports¶
This section describes the process of creating and modifying report definitions.
Add report definition¶
Report definition can be created in the Report explorer by right-clicking either on a Database node or a group node and clicking Add new report definition….
The system will display a dialog where the report type should be selected (currently MIKE OPERATIONS only supports Microsoft Word). The report definition name will be use in the tree view. The report template file is the MS Word document holding the content controls (the template should already be created on disk, for more information see Creating report templates). Clicking “remove file from disk” will delete this file after import. Report definition template allows the user to reuse an existing report definition to save on time configuration. Each content control will be configure in the same way as the control control having the same tag in the report definition template.
After clicking the Add report definition button system will create the report definition and open a data view with report content configuration.
Define report content¶
Report content can be edited at any time. The data view with content configuration is shown when the report definition is created but can also be invoked by right-clicking on report and selecting Edit content... or simply by double-clicking on a report definition in the report explorer.
Content configuration dialog contains of a list of content items identified in the report template and their configuration. For each content item a Content Type (Text, Image, Table or Report) and Content Source (e.g. Favorite image, Indicator value, Timeseries table) is selected.
After selecting the content item in the list its detailed configuration is displayed. Here the user can:
- change the content type of the content item (Text, Image, Table, Report).
- change the content source of the item (for a complete list of content sources see Configuring report content).
- configure content source (for detailed description see Configuring report content).
- configure content formatting (for detailed description see Configuring report content).
- preview the configured and formatted content.
When the content item is configured it is very useful to preview the content by clicking Preview buton (doesn’t work for Report content type) to be sure that the content is exactly what is expected. System will display a dialog with the generated content.
After configuring all content items (the ones that were modified are bold) Save button needs to be clicked to persist the changes and have them used during report generation.
Set report properties¶
The report properties are specific for a given report type and allow user to set some properties of the output report (e.g. a title or author of a generated MS Word document). In order to set report properties select report definition in the report explorer.
Report properties will be displayed in the report definition properties dialog under the Report Properties->Document node. For the MS Word based report following document properties can be set: Author, Category, Comments, Status, Subject, Tags, Title. Property changes are autosaved after each change.
The properties are set on the generated report (e.g. Word document).
View report template¶
User can always save to disk and view the report template that is used to generate a given report by selecting the report definition in explorer, right-clicking and selecting Save template as....
A dialog will be shown where the user can select where the template should be saved and whether to open the template after it’s saved. When Open template after save option is checked the default editor for the report type will be opened, e.g. MS Word.
Update report template¶
The template that is used to generate the report can be changed at any moment. User can either modify the template that is stored with the report definition or can upload a completely new file from disk. In the case of the first option user should select the report definition in the explorer, right-click and select Save template as...
A dialog will be shown where the user can select where the template should be saved and whether to open the template for edit. When Open template after save option is checked the default editor for the report type will be opened, e.g. MS Word.
In the Update template dialog user can 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 report content items adjusted (either added or removed) to meet the new template content.
In the Update template dialog user can 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 report content items adjusted (either added or removed) to meet the new template content.