Create Reports for Recipe & Batch Management

The Report Studio is still under development and has not officially been released. Be warned that code may change such that reports you create with this pre-release trial version might need to be updated in order to continue working after your next VTScada update.

Until the official release, documentation for the Report Studio will open in response to the F1 key but will not be shown in the menu system. To view a table of contents for the complete chapter, navigate to The Report Studio

If your query involves more than one tag or more than one calculation, additional columns will be created as required when the report runs, to a limit of 30 columns. You do not need to create a separate column for every tag and every calculation.

To generate a report using the recipe batches data set, start by clicking in the header row of column A as shown in the following image to open the Data Cell Properties panel. (Timestamps can be supplanted with Batch Start Time.)

Selecting the column header in order to access properties

Select column A to define an Recipe Data Set

What to Expect in the Data Cell Properties Panel

Click on the [+] beside "Data Set". Give the data set a unique name. Click on "Type" and select Recipe Batches. Your panel should now contain all of the following elements:

Delete the column

The trash can icon in the header of the Data Cell Properties panel deletes the column. Note that deleting the column removes it from the table but does not remove the data set definition. There is currently no way to delete or rename a data set definition.

Data Set

Every "time" column definition, every tag query, every recipe batches query and every alarm and event query is stored as a named "Data Set". You are advised to give each a descriptive name because it is likely that you will eventually have many.

This field gives you the option to perform the following actions:

  • Select an existing Data Set, perhaps one that you have created previously.
  • Click the plus button [+] to create a new data set with a name of your choosing.
  • Click the pencil button to allow editing of the following properties.
  • Click the copy button to clone a data set.

Type

By selecting the type, the tools that are available in the Data Cell Properties panel will change to suit your report type. Must be set to "Recipe Batches" to create reports for Recipe Book tags.

Select a Recipe Book tag

You have the option of selecting a tag from the tag browser or selecting a report parameter. Try clicking the tag selector on the right-hand side and selecting a recipe book tag from the tag browser.

Data Columns

Data columns are the recipe batch properties that will be included in the report. There are a few listed by default, you can add as many data columns as needed by clicking the <<Click to Add>> tool at the bottom of the list. There must always be at least one data column for every data set.

  • Batch Number - The user provided batch number.
  • Batch Start Time- The recorded start time of the batch.
  • Batch End Time- The recorded end time of the batch.
  • Parameters (All)- If Parameters (All) is selected, a column will appear in the final report for every Recipe Parameter tag.
  • Recipe Name- The name of the recipe associated with each batch.
  • Recipe Version- The recipe version number associated with each batch.
  • Step- Multi-step batches will be broken out into multiple lines. Step denotes to which step each line refers.
  • Note- User-provided notes associated with each batch.
  • Batch Duration- The period of time the batch took, the time units can be specified.
  • Step Start Time- The recorded start time of the step
  • Step End Time- The recorded end time of the step
  • Step Duration- The period of time a step took, the time units can be specified.
  • User- The user account that was logged in when the report ran.
  • Parameter (Custom)- Split one recipe parameter out from "Parameters (All)" (that becomes "Parameters (Remaining)") Parameter (Custom) will display the selected parameter in the column name. Add multiple instances to split out multiple parameters.

Data columns can be reordered by clicking the arrows under the Data Columns box. They can be removed by clicking on the one you want to remove and then clicking the [x] under the box.

To include step-related information in the report, include at least one of the following: Step, Step End Time, Step Start Time, Step Duration, Parameters (All/Remaining), Parameter (Custom).

Generating your Report

  1. Name your data set.
  2. Select the Recipe Batches type.
  3. Select a Recipe Book tag.
  4. Select your data columns and change formatting as desired.
  5. Re-order your columns as it suits you (Try moving start and end times to the top of your list)
  6. Don't forget to save your changes.
  7. Preview your report to see if you need to make adjustments.

Notes

By default, retrieval is restricted to a maximum of 1000 batches/steps. You can increase this limit by modifying the MaxBatchesPerRecipeBook application property.