Report Templates

If you have reporting needs that are not met by the standard report forms included with Xfmea, you can create custom report templates. These report forms will be shown in the list of available report forms in the Reports window and can be included in your generated reports.

The Report Template window allows you to create your own report templates from scratch or to edit existing user-defined templates. It is accessed by clicking the Add button or the Edit button on the Report Templates tab of the Templates Manager. On the left side of the window, specify a name for the template and, if desired, enter a description of the template. The rest of the window is made up of three tabs.

The Fields tab allows you to choose and configure the fields to be shown in the body of the report.
The Column Header Customization tab allows you to configure the column headers shown in the report.
The Preview tab displays an approximate preview of the template incorporating the settings you have specified on the other two tabs.

Once you have configured all options to suit your needs, click OK. If a standard database (*.rsrp) is open when you save a report, it will be stored in the Standard templates file (*.xrt8) that is active for your computer, and it will be available for use in other databases. If an enterprise database (SQL Server or Oracle) is open, the report will be stored within the enterprise database itself.

Note: Report templates can be used to generate reports for projects that use any interface style. For this reason, all fields are available for use in the Report Template window, regardless of whether they are enabled in the current project’s interface style. When the report is generated, only those fields that are enabled in the current project’s interface style will appear in the report.

Specifying What is Included in the Report Template

On the Fields tab of the Report Templates window, the Available Fields area displays all of the items (i.e., properties) available for inclusion in the report in a hierarchical tree structure. The items that appear in this list will vary depending on the report template type. Click the plus (+) button to open a group and display the items within that group. Click the minus (-) button to close a group and hide the items within that group. To select an item for inclusion in the report, do one of the following:

Double-click the item in the Available Fields area.
Select the item in the Available Fields area and then click the Include icon (>) between the Available Fields area and the Selected Fields area.
Drag the item from the Available Fields area to the desired location in the Selected Fields area.

For the first two methods, the item will be added to the end of the list in the Selected Fields area. When you drag the item, it will be placed in the position where it is dropped.

To select multiple items for inclusion in the report, you can:

Select multiple items in this area by clicking the first item and then pressing CTRL and clicking additional items or by clicking the first item and then pressing SHIFT and clicking another item to select all items between and including the two and then click the Include icon (>) or drag the items to the desired location in the Selected Fields area.
Click the Include All icon (>>) to move all items in the group to the Selected Fields area.

Note: Each query to the database can include a maximum of 225 fields. If your query exceeds this number, you will see a message that notifies you of the issue and asks you to reduce the number of fields and try again.

The Selected Fields area displays the items that have been selected for inclusion in the report, in the order in which they will appear. To change the order of the items, you can:

Click and drag the selected item to the desired location.
Select the item in the Selected Fields area and then use the arrows at the right of the Selected Fields area to move the item up one position or down one position.

For the FMEA Hierarchy and the FMEA Spreadsheet with Items report template types, the Show Two Control Columns option will appear above the Selected Fields area. Select the check box if you want prevention and detection controls displayed in separate columns.

Customizing Column Headers in the Report Template

Each field that you have selected for inclusion in the report template on the Fields tab will appear in the table on the Column Header Customization tab. For each property (i.e., field) shown in the table, you can specify in the Column Width Type column how the column width for the property will be calculated. You can set the column to fit the header, to fit the data in the field, to fit the widest item (both header and data) in the column or to a constant, user-defined width. If you choose to use a user-defined width, specify the width of the column, in characters, in the User Defined Column Width column. If you want the column header to use text other than that shown in the Property Name column, enter that text in the Overwrite Default Header Text column.

Once you have configured all options to suit your needs, you can go to the Preview tab to see what the report template looks like. You can also click OK to save the report template.