Creating Custom Reports

Product(s): WaterGEMS, WaterCAD, HAMMER, SewerGEMS, SewerCAD, StormCAD, CivilStorm
Version(s): CONNECT Edition
Area: Output and Reporting

Background

Starting with the CONNECT Edition, you can now create custom reports that include a number of different features, including flextables, graphs and views of the drawing. You can the save it as a template to use for future models that need to report in the same format. This article will walk through the steps to set this up.

Video

Workflow

You can choose the Custom Report option from the Report menu in the ribbon.

This will open a new dialog used to create Custom Reports.

To begin, click the New button in the upper left and choose Scenario. This will add an item to the list on the left. You will then need to select a scenario that the report will be generated from. You will also need to choose a Selection Set. NOTE: Choosing a selection set is required. If you don't have a selection set, you can create one by highlighting all elements in the model, then right-clicking anywhere in the drawing, and choosing Create Selection Set. 

Once the scenario and selection set is created, you can then set up the report how you like. Items that you can add include graphs and data tables, flextables, and views. You can also add page breaks and line breaks, and insert reports that are already available, such as the Scenario Summary Report. To see the available items, right-click on Scenario on the left of the Custom Report dialog. The sections below will briefly touch on some of these features.

Reusing Custom Reports

Once done, if you need to use the same report in other models, you can use the "Export" button at the top to export to a .RPTX file, which can be imported into another model file. You could also consider setting up the custom report as part of a seed file, along with other standards such as conduit catalog and element symbology. Once done, go to File > Seed > Save to Seed.

Components of a Custom Report

Graphs and Data Tables

Graphs and data tables are related items that show graphic or numeric results for given elements. In order to use these, the graph will need to be saved to the Graphs manager. You can open the Graphs manager from the Home tab or the View tab in the ribbon. To create a new graph, click the New button. You can also open a graph by right-clicking on an element in the model and choosing Graph. To save the graph to the Graphs manager, click "Add to Graphs Manager" in the upper left of the graph.

The data table is access from the Graphs manager as well. If you click the Data tab when a graph is open, you will see the numerical results for the graph data.

To add a graph to the Custom Report, right-click on the Scenario and choose Add > Graphs. On the right side of the dialog, you can choose the graph you want to include from the Name pulldown menu. Remember the graph must to saved to the Graphs manager to be used in Custom Reports. Also remember that the Series Options for a particular graph may refer to a specific scenario, which would override the scenario that the graph or data table is under within the Custom Report. If you would like the graph or data table to reflect the results for the current scenario of the custom report hierarchy, be sure to choose "current scenario" in the Series Options of the saved graph.

NOTE : A feature request is in place to save a "Calculation Summary" graph as a "Named Graph" so that it can be included it in the custom report, reference number is # 479129.

Currently calculation summary graphs can only be saved as pdf and not as a named graph (which can be included in custom report). However as a workaround it is possible to include this calculation summary graph pdf into final custom report pdf externally using adobe or similar applications.

A note on graph and data table timesteps / granularity

Sometimes there is a need to include a data table in the custom report in addition to the graph. In such cases it may be preferable to use a larger timestep in the data table than the graph, so that the graph is clear but the data table does not take up too much space. In Custom Reports, currently (as of version 10.03.04.53), the Data Table definition does not have an ability to override the scenario's output increment but that will be considered for a future release (reference #835175). In the meantime, you can accomplish this by setting up a separate scenario with a larger Output Increment:

  1. Duplicate your calculation options, set the larger Output Increment that you would like to use for the Data Table.
  2. Create a new scenario as a child of the scenario in question and change the calculation options to the new one created in step 1.
  3. Create two separate saved Graphs - one with the Scenario set to the smaller output increment (in the graph Series Options) and the other with the scenario set to the one with the larger output increment.
  4. In the Custom Report, when you add the graph, choose the saved graph that uses the scenario with the smaller timestep, and when you add the data table, choose the graph that uses the scenario with the larger timestep.

Profiles

Starting with the CONNECT Edition Update 3 release of the storm-sewer products (build 10.03.01.08), you can now add profiles to custom reports. To add a profile, either right-click on the scenario from the tree-form or click the New Sections button, then choose Profile. You will choose an existing profile and the profile type (Analysis Profile or Engineering Profile). The profile will then be included in the custom report.

If you have older versions of the storm-sewer products or WaterGEMS/WaterCAD, and you need to include a profile, you can copy the profile by clicking on the copy button situated at the top of the profile window.

The captured profile can then be pasted directly in a report or saved as an image for future use. The profile can also be exported as a DXF if it needs to be included as a drawing to a report. The "Export to DXF" option appears in the pulldown menu by clicking on the Chart Settings in the top left corner of the window.

FlexTables

The element FlexTables are a key tool to viewing results. You can create reports directly from the FlexTables. With the Custom Reports, it is now possible to report the data from more than one FlexTable on the same report.

To add FlexTables to the Custom Report, right-click on the scenario on the left of the dialog and choose Add > FlexTables. On the right side of the dialog, choose the FlexTable you want to use by select the Label selection. By choosing Select FlexTable, the FlexTable manager will open and allow you to choose the FlexTable you want to use. Once you do this, you can also select the time step that you want to use for the Custom Report.

You can include as many FlexTables as you like. They will need to be added individually. You may want to edit the FlexTables to add or remove properties that are displayed. To do this, follow the steps in the following link: Customizing FlexTables for viewing and reporting data -- Moving, adding, and removing columns.

Note:

  • If you are having a problem with the flextable's sort order or filters not being respected in the Custom Report, upgrade to a newer version. This issue was fixed in version 10.01.00.70 of WaterGEMS, WaterCAD and HAMMER and in CONNECT Edition Update 2 (version 10.01.01.04) of SewerGEMS, SewerCAD, StormCAD, and CivilStorm.
  • The "Sort upstream-downstream", "Sort downstream-upstream" and "sort dendritic" are special types of sorts that do not persist and so will not apply in a Custom ReportsYou may need to use one of the workarounds mentioned at the bottom portion of this article, such as using a manually entered numeric user data extension to store the order, or sorting on HGL.

Views

Named Views allows you to zoom directly to certain parts of the model quickly. For instance, if you want to save a view near a pump, but do not want to use the Zoom functions to constantly go back and forth between the view of the pump and the whole model, Named Views can be very useful. To use this, go to the View tab and choose Named Views.

In the Named Views dialog, you can add a view by clicking the New button. You can then use the zoom functions to and panning tool to have the drawing pane display what you want to see. You can then click the Update Named View in the Named View dialog to update the selected view to show what is currently in the drawing pane. If you zoom back out to the full extent of the model and double-click on the named view, the drawing pane will display the view assigned to it.

To add a Named View to the Custom Report, right-click on the scenario on the right side of the dialog and choose Add > Map View. You can then select the Named View by choosing the "Select Named View" option in the View Name selection. If you are using symbology definitions, you can also choose how you want your element symbology to be displayed.

Other Custom Report features

You can further customize the report by adding line breaks, page breaks, and a report title. You can also include other reports available in the program, such as the Scenario Summary report. 

Generating the Custom Report

To create the custom report, click on the Generate Report button. This will create a report with the items you are selected in the order you have selected them. 

Custom Reports in HAMMER

Custom Reports are available in HAMMER as well, and include the transient profiles, time history results, and extended node data that are available in the Transient Results Viewer. You have the ability to include the not just the graphical results, but the numerical results as well. For instance, you can include the Time History graph or the Time History data table (or both). 

Troubleshooting

In some earlier versions of CONNECT Edition (such as Update 1), you may experience issues with custom reports, such as a crash when creating the report. Several issues have been resolved in more recent versions. If you are not already using the latest version, please download and install it, as your issue may be resolved. If not, post on the forum for help.

The Report Options settings will be used in Custom Reports. If you want to include or exclude items from the header and footer of the report, go to the Ribbon Search and search for Report Options. You can edit what is in the header and footer of the report from there. See this link for details: How to change the header and footer for reports.

Recommended
Related