Documentation

Generate Reports

11 min read

The Generate Reports dialog is used to generate different types of reports about the design, including running reports created by the Report Maker.

Shortcuts

Default Keys: None

Default Menu: Output

Command: Output Report

Locating this option

Available from: Output menu > Reports option

How to Generate a Report

Each report can be run separately or all together by dragging the cursor over the list. Multiple reports can be run by picking each report required and holding down the Ctrl key at the same time.

To run a single report, a double-click over the report name will act the same as pressing the Generate Report button on the dialog. Use OK if you to wish to leave the dialog after generating the report.

List Of Report Names

Standard Reports - Check this button to show all Built-in Reports applicable to the current design type in the report list.

User Reports - Check this button to all formattable reports (reports controlled by Report Maker format files) applicable to the current design type in the report list.

Below the list of report names is a box that shows a description of the currently selected report. Click on one of the reports in the list to see its description, which includes the report title, description, and (for User Reports) the name of the report format file.

Folder For Report Files

This section defines where the report files are written when they are generated from this dialog. Normally for a design file the report folder and filename template used are taken from the Design Report Folder, but an item being edited from a library will use the Library Report Folder. Whichever is used, the values are presented here in case they need to be changed.

You can choose from four different settings by selecting from the drop-down list.

  • Design Folder : report files will be written to the same folder as the design file itself. If the design has not been saved yet, or the report is not design specific, the report will be written to the general folder. (See General Folders).
  • This Folder : you specify the folder where all report files are written. If you type a relative path it will be applied to the current working directory. You can use the pop-up menu to the right of the folder name box to insert keywords that will be replaced with the correct text when the report file is generated. These keywords are explained in the Report File Names Template section below. in this page.
  • This Folder below design file : you specify a folder name which will be appended to the folder in which the design is stored. For example, if your design is stored in “C:\My Projects\Board 6\Revision 2.pcb”, you can set the reports folder name to “Reports” and all the design’s report files will be written to the folder called “C:\My Projects\Board 6\Reports”. You can use the pop-up menu to the right of the folder name box to insert keywords that will be replaced with the correct text when the report file is generated. These keywords are explained in the Report File Names Template section below.
  • General Folder : report files will be written to the general folder. (See General Folders).

Report File Names Template

This section defines how the report file names are constructed.

You can type fixed text into the box, this might be used to specify a folder under the design folder, for example, **Reports**.

Use the drop down menu button to the right of the file name box to insert keywords that will be replaced with the appropriate text when the report is run.

The first set of keywords, above the menu dividing line, are only inserted once and therefore show a tick on the menu when inserted. Click on an inserted keyword in the menu to remove it from the template. The keywords below the line can be added multiply and so do not show a tick when inserted, and have to be removed by editing the template. The keywords you can use are described below:

  • Date : $(Date) The Date when the file is produced. The format used is the short form of the system time format, but with all special file path characters replaced with a dash character.

  • Design Name : $(DesignName) The name of the design the report is being generated for.

  • Design Type : $(DesignType) The type of the design that the report is being generated for. This is the default file extension text, so “pcb” for a PCB design, “sch” for a schematic design and “pfp” for a footprint.

  • Design Variant : $(Variant) The name of the Current Variant being used for the design. If variants are not being used, or the current variant is set to the master design variant, the keyword will simply be removed from the file name.

  • Report Group : $(ReportGroup) The name of report group that the report is in. Each standard report in the list can allocated to a report group using the Report Group box at the bottom left of this dialog. The user reports can have a report group assigned by including the Set Report Group command in their script. If the report being run is not in a group this keyword will simply be removed from the file name.

  • Report Title : $(ReportTitle) The title of the Report. This is the title you can see in the list of reports to the left of the dialog, e.g. “Design Status Report”

  • Time - $(Time) The Time when the file is produced. The format used is the short form of the system time format, but with all special file path characters replaced with a dash character.

  • Design Attribute : $(ATTR) Use this to insert the value of a design level attribute into the filename when the report file is generated. If the attribute does not exist, or its value is empty the keyword will not be used and will be removed from the name. Choosing this keyword from the menu will add ”$(ATTR)” to the template, where “attr_name” must be replaced in the template with the name of the attribute you want to use.

    e.g. If the design has an attribute “JOB_NO” with the value “1806”, then ”$(ATTR)” will be replaced with “1808” in the name.

    Note: If the attribute value is for a file name rather than a folder, all folder path special characters in the value will be replaced with an underscore character when the template is applied.

  • Start Pre-Text and End Post-Text: $(PRE) $(POST) Most keywords are obvious, but the $(PRE) and $(POST) keywords are a little different. They are used to add text either side of another optional keyword, but only if it is not blank. So if the optional keyword has a value then the text between the pre-text keyword and the optional keyword will be included and the text between the optional keyword and the post-text keyword will be included. If the optional keyword results in blank text the pre-text and post-text keywords, and all text between them, will be removed from the filename.

    For example ”$(PRE)[$(Variant)]$(POST)” will be replaced by “[USA]” for a report for variant “USA” and will produce nothing for a report with no variant.

  • If..Then..Else: $(IF)xxx$(MATCHES)xxx$(THEN)xxx$(ELSE)xxx$(ENDIF) There are also a set of advanced keywords that can be used to create conditional folder and filename templates. For example to have completely different report file names or folders for each of the different design types. The following keywords are added from the menu item as a combined set, but they can also be inserted by hand. If the full set is added from the menu you have to replace each “xxx” text with your own text or keywords:

    $(IF) $(MATCHES) $(THEN) $(ELSE) $(ENDIF)

    If the text following the ”$(IF)” keyword matches the text following the ”$(MATCHES)” keyword, the text following the ”$(THEN)” keyword will be included in the name, otherwise the text following the ”$(ELSE)” keyword will be included. There must always be a ”$(ENDIF)” keyword at the end of the condition. Using ”$(MATCHES) allows you to use wildcard characters in the text following it, but you can replace it with keywords ”$(=)” or ”$(!=)” to test exactly equals or not equals respectively. Note: nested conditions are not allowed, i.e. an ”$(IF)” keyword should not be placed inside another ”$(IF) … $(ENDIF)” sequence.

    For example, for design “myDesign.pcb” with design level attribute “Issue” with value “V02” the following template ”$(DesignName)-$(IF)$(DesignType)$(MATCHES)PCB$(THEN)$(ATTR)$(ELSE)Drawing$(ENDIF)” will produce “mydesign-V02” for a PCB design and “myDesign-Drawing” for a schematic design.

Note: If you have selected a report in the list and are not using Change Report File Name then the file name with the keywords replaced will be shown in the file name box.

If the template is for a file name rather than a folder, all folder path special characters will be removed from the name when the template is applied. If the template text is too long for the box, hover over it to see a tooltip window with the full text.

Append To Existing - Use this to add the report to the end of a report file that already exists.

Change Report File Name

Use this if you want the report file to be a specified name. If a file name is specified and more than one report is selected, make sure append is checked and separate reports is unchecked, otherwise some of the reports will be lost.

If you leave the file extension off, the default report extension will be added. If you just type a file name with no directory, the above mentioned reports folder will be used.

Leave unchecked to use the above mentioned default report name. The file name and location where the report will be written are shown. If more than one report is selected it will only show the file name for the first. If the name is too long for the box, hover over it to see a tooltip window with the full name.

Append - Initially set to the default Append To Existing value . Use this to add the report to the end of a report file that already exists.

Output To

Choose whether you want the report to be saved to a file and if it is to be viewed now.

  • File Only
    • Saved to file, but not viewed via editor.
  • File and View Report
    • Saved to file and viewed using Notepad or the editor associated with this type of file.
  • View Report Only - The report is viewed using Notepad or the editor associated with this type of file. A file is produced (in the general folder ) but there will be an attempt to delete it after running up the editor.

Settings

No Headers - Use this if you do not want the standard report header at the start of the report.

Separate Reports - Only available if more than one report type are selected and No Headers is unchecked.

Use this if you wish each of the reports selected to be written to individual files. If the box is left unchecked, the reports are concatenated into one report in the order they appear in the list.

Multiple Headers - Only available if more than one report type are selected, Separate Reports is unchecked and No Headers is unchecked.

Use to include the standard header before each report type in the concatenated report. Leave unchecked if you just want one header at the start of the report.

Make / Modify your own Report

Click the “Report Maker” button to use the Report Maker to create or modify a User Report.

Own units for Standard Report

By checking the Own units for Standard Report box, you can change the units to use for the current report, these units will then be used regardless of the current design units. This option is obviously only relevant to reports which contain length or angle information.

Report Group

Each Standard Report in the list can allocated to a report group using this box. Type the required report group name or drop down the list to use a group name that has already been allocated to another report. The report group can be used when specifying the Folder For Report Files above, to separate reports into different folders based on their group name.

The report group for a User Report will be displayed but can not be edited here. User Reports can have a report group assigned by including the Set Report Group command in their script.

Variant Specific Reports

If your design is using variants, where applicable, the output produced by a report, such as a Parts List, will be specific to the particular design variant that is ‘Current’ at the time the report is generated. If this is the case, the variant name will be included in the report heading.

Report Maker | Built-in Reports | Design Report Folder | Library Report Folder | Report Units

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