Reporting Module: Roadmap

Ignition
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Can I get any sort of clarity on where IA is going with the Reporting module, or if there are any upgrades in the pipeline? I get the feeling that this module's development has stagnated as it feels considerably behind the other modules provided.

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Hi @Adriaan.leRoux,

We do have some plans to make some improvements within the Reporting module. There isn't a roadmap or anything formalized yet, but Its definitely something we are aware of and this exact task is on someones To-Do list.

Ill pass this thread along to the dev so when they have some time maybe they can update this thread.

Hope that helps,
Jonathan C

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I appreciate the feedback, thank you very much

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Hi Adriaan,

I can say that there are plans for the Reporting Module, a feature is currently in development even, but so far we haven't yet set a formal roadmap. This might change in about 2 months, and I'll try to update you with the status then. It can be a frustrating to not have anything definitive, especially if there's something you think is lacking with the software or improvements you'd like to see. Also, input on how we can improve your workflow or experience using the software is always appreciated.

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I think a little more detail in the user manual would go a long way. Currently the reporting module seems to be documented largely in the IU training video, which makes it annoying as a reference if it's been a while between reporting module uses.

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Thanks Amy,

I'll take a look at what's in the videos and compare it with what we have in the Manual and see if we can improve on this.

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Hi there, I am off sick at the moment, but I'll do a thorough write up when I am back at work next week

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  • Move Report pages up and down, reorder

  • Headers & Footers

  • Snap grid for easy layout

  • Preferred ranges on charts / Desired areas. Currently this has to be drawn in with a box

  • Timeseries pen order, move up and down easily

  • Reorder Schedules

  • Easy to use table of content, like an insertable component like MS Word

  • Large Reports:

    • large reports take very long to render, and becomes a nuisance when doing small changes to the layout and so. going to the designer segment and then back to the preview causes all the data to be generated again.
    • For this I would either like to be able to preview a single page, or to have a button to "refresh" the data when I need it, instead of it automatically re-generating the data
    • for some reason it is quicker to schedule a report and have it mailed to my inbox than to preview it in the designer

  • When working on a report, I would like to be able to 'disable' or hide a page. For example, if I have a daily report, and the changes I make take longer than a day to do, I do not want to see the page I am currently working on being put in the report in its half finished state

  • Print/page margins

  • Preview report data, especially when scripting is involved

  • a dashed line when the data quality is bad. I recall this feature, but I don't see it working

  • A better GUI, or easier way to create the emails that are being sent. nothing fancy, but some sort of interface for formatting

  • Hyperlinks that take you to different pages (Or a clickable ToC)

That's my 5 cents for now

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I would like the ability to use the expression language and scripting languages on the report components cells.

The simple table objects should have the ability to adjust the cell size via properties like the regular table component.

The ability to add as many summary rows on the bottom of the table component as needed.

The ability to do conditional formatting on columns of the report objects like excel can do.

Fix issues where the simple report component renders at different sizes in design verses runtime mode.

Just an overall round of random bug fixes. I have had times where the report module completely locks up and I end up losing work. It is very frustrating.

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If would also be very useful to retrieve an objects value usually a TextShape object. we may have these
in many places on a free form report. And we need to do some math on these. it gets difficult.
to get the average of two values we have @(tag_history.cellasidelvl_in_r + tag_history.cellbsidelvl_in_r)/2@
it would be better if it worked like Excel TextShape1 + TestShape2 /2. Of course the TextShape would
have a unique name. As is is now they are all named TextShape.
Now be able to use this TextShapes value in a different TextShape, like Excel. I do this often
in chemical reports, and it gets very difficult. In Excel I woud have ((B2 + C2 / 2) * D3) + E3.
Now replace each reference with something like @tag_history.cellasidelvl_in_r@.
very hard to follow in the current reporting module

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The docs from the developer of the "library" used by the Reporting module is pretty helpful.
https://www.reportmill.com/support/DesDocs.html

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Thanks guys for your input,

I've had similar thoughts on some of these and it's great to know that it will be of use if implemented. Some are completely new to me, so that's great too, and I'll look at those and try to evaluate them.

Just an overall round of random bug fixes. I have had times where the report module completely locks up and I end up losing work. It is very frustrating.

If you haven't posted a bug report when this happens, please do. Losing work is a sure way to have people hate software, just having to redo what you've already done is very frustrating and defeating. We'll try to reduce some of the bug tickets in the queue and hopefully that will help.

Update: regarding a Roadmap. Internally we'll have a trajectory set in March, but unfortunate that will not be public facing.

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