Customizing Quick Reports

The Quick Report function in the VibrationVIEW software can be modified to fulfill a test standard and increase test report efficiency. Customers can generate custom reports associated with their vibration test profiles to compile all the necessary data with one click.

Question

A customer contacted Vibration Research for help:

“I am running the following classical shock test: 3+ and 3‐ pulses in the three orthogonal axes on 20 test samples. I need to generate a report for my customer with the run name highlighted, the accelerometer location for each of the 21 channels, the test schedule details, and the accelerometer calibration details. One graph must display all the channels. Then, I need a report for each channel with the same test details.

Currently, I am creating one graph at a time. I edit the graph annotation to show the channel description, then use the standard Quick Report and select Active Graph, Test Schedule, and Accelerometer Details. I have to edit the .rtf document to remove the channels I don’t need and manually highlight the run name at the top. This process is going to take me days! How can I make it easier/faster?”

Answer

When the user selects or adds information to a test, the Quick Report feature retains it with the associated profile. Using this feature, the customer can develop a custom Quick Report form to streamline their reporting process.

To access the Quick Report feature, select the Report button in the main toolbar.

Step 1

In the PC’s local drive, navigate to C:\VibrationVIEW\Templates\Shock\QuickReports. If creating a report for a different test mode, select the sine/random/etc. folder instead.

Locate the Quick Report .htm and .rtf files. The .htm file is the form, and the .rtf file is the associated report (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Quick Report files in the PC’s local drive.

Step 2

Right-click on the .htm file and select Open with > Notepad to edit the current .htm file (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Quick Report .htm file in the Notepad program.

Step 3

Select File > Save As and rename the file to the same name as the test profile. This will force the Quick Report feature to use the custom report form for the test profile.

Step 4

Edit the .htm file to include the desired changes.

Make sure to change the name of the .rtf Quick Report template file to the correct file name (located at the bottom of the .htm file). For example: < input type=”hidden” name=”TEMPLATE” value=”QuickReports\RMTS_ShockReport.rtf”> (Figure 3).

Figure 3. The line in the .htm code for the .rtf file name.

Step 5

Save the changes to the custom .htm file.

Step 6

Under C:\VibrationVIEW\Templates\Shock\QuickReports double-click the file QuickReport.rtf.

Step 7

Select File > Save As and rename the file the same name as the .htm file in Step 4. Make sure to save this file as a .rtf file.

Step 8

Edit the custom report template. For more information on the PARAM and FORM field information, visit this blog post or navigate to the VibrationVIEW Help Index and select Reports and Forms. Make sure to use the same naming scheme as the .htm file to recall the correct data.

Step 9

Save the new .rtf file.

Step 10

Close the .rtf and .htm files.

Testing The Solution

Step 1

Open a test data file related to the new Quick Report form and report.

Step 2

Select Report and fill out the new form. Select OK.

Step 3

A report should appear with the custom report template that incorporates the information filled out in the form.