A number of Carlson routines use a dialog box called Report Formatter Options to allow you to specify how and which results of calculations should be presented in the report. This report routine lets you select a set of data to report and the format of the selected data. The report can be displayed in either the standard report viewer as described in the previous section, Microsoft® Excel or Microsoft® Access.
The data set in the Report Formatter may be thought of as a spreadsheet, where columns are various fields related to a single item such as time period, drillhole, area and etc. Each new row represents a new item. Descriptions of these field names are displayed in the Available list of the Report Formatter. To include a data field in the report, highlight the field name in the Available list on the left and pick the Add button. This moves the field name to the Used list on the right. The order of items in the right list defines the order in which they will be displayed. In addition, the items may be sorted as specified by the user in the right column. Items are first sorted by the first column, then items with the same value in the first column are sorted as specified for the second column, and so on.
These subsequent sortings do not modify sortings of previous columns. If you specify no sorting for some column (even the first one) then no sorting will happen in subsequent columns either. For example, you may want to sort production by mining panel name but not by month.
To generate the report after selecting columns and other preferences, click on Display button. It will bring up a standard report viewer showing the report data. Upon exiting the viewer, you come back into the Report Formatter for further data manipulation if needed. The other data output and destination options include saving the specified data into a comma-delimited text or CSV file, creating a spreadsheet preview whereby the data may be exported using several methods, and direct export to Microsoft® Excel. Due to the popularity of the Excel output choice, you can also customize certain Excel options, including setting mirror output, just prior to export. Data can also be merged to combine current and old reports, and it be exported to XML format files. There is an option for output to other database formats as well.
You may define new columns as equations based on existing columns. Click on the Edit User Attributes button to add a new field name. A list of the existing attributes is available for reference.
User attributes may have one of the several summation options just like program-generated ones (except that for them these options are set by program). The summation level is defined by the "Total" pop-up list in the middle of the dialog. By default only grand total will be displayed at the bottom of the list. By picking the next item in that box, you will get subtotals added each time the value in first column is changed. It makes most sense to use this kind to summation if the corresponding column is sorted. For example if the first column is "Area Name" and it is sorted, and "Total" is set to "Grand, Area Name" the report will have a sub-total for each distinct Area Name. This feature makes the Report Formatter a very flexible tool for results exploration, even before or without using a spreadsheet.
Various forms of reports may be saved and recalled using controls in the top line of the dialog.
To save a new version of the format, type in a new name (or use default to overwrite old one) and click on the Save button. The next time that you come to the Report Formatter from the same Carlson routine it will recall this last format. To pick another format just pull down on list of formats in the left top corner and pick which format to use. To Delete an unwanted format, pick it from the list first and then click on Delete button.
There are several Microsoft® Excel export options provided. You
may specify a spreadsheet
file to load before export, as well as a left upper cell to start with
and sheet number to use. Totals
which are reported when using built-in viewer may be skipped when using
Microsoft® Excel export.
For commands that process reports using perimeter polylines, the
Report Formatter has an option to create GIS links between the
polylines and the database records when the Export to MS Access
function is used. Some commands that apply are Surface Mine Reserves
with the pit polylines and Underground Timing with the panel polylines.
When the polyline data is available for the GIS Links, there will be a
report field called Handle. This Handle field is the AutoCAD entity
name for the polyline and serves as the hook for the GIS link. The
Handle field does not need to be put into the report Used list in order
to create the links. When the Export function is called with the MS
Access method, there is a pop-up window prompt for whether to create
the GIS links. When these links are created, you can then use the GIS
Data commands from the GIS module to manage and report the data.
