Adding Notes to Reports

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

All tables start with a single column. Click the [+] bar to the right to add more.
Note that a tag query that includes multiple tags or calculations will generate as many columns as needed to display the result of the query.

Retrieve information from Notebook tags to include in reports. Notes may provide important context for developing data in reports. Note data column options include Note ID information, the operator associated with the note, original timestamp, last updated timestamp, and the name of the Notebook tag.

All tables start with a single column. To get started with a Notes Data Set, click + to the right of the column. A new column will appear, highlighted blue. In the Data Cell Properties panel, find the "Data Set" droplist and click the [+] to the right. A dialog will appear prompting for a Name and Type. Choose a name and from the Type droplist, select "Notes". The Data Cell properties pane will change to reflect the options available for the Notes Data Set.

Data Cell Properties for Notes Data Set include a delete button, Data Set selector, Data Set adder, Tag Selector, Data Columns, and filter options.

In this example, Operator Notes have been selected and the data column Tag Name is open for configuration

Data Set Properties - Notes Data Set

In the Data Cell Properties panel for Notes data set you will find the following options:

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. (You can delete Data Sets from the Data Set Manager).

Data Set

Every single custom column configuration can be saved as a Data Set. You can swap the Data Set featured in a column with a different one, edit its configuration, copy to make small changes and save as a brand new Data Set and even completely delete Data Sets (from the Data Set Manager).

You will likely accrue many of them in your droplist. It would be easy to lose track so it's a best practice to give them each a descriptive name.

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.

Set a Tag Hierarchy Context [Optional]

Context can be used in two ways:

  • As a filter, limiting tag selection to those below a parent tag.
  • As a parameter, allowing the same report to be run for multiple contexts or stations.

Setting a context for a tag query column.

For a Note data set, you may find it totally unnecessary to use a Context tag as a filter. The Notebook tag may exist at the / root of your hierarchy. Skip straight to the 'Tag Selector' button to open a tag selector dialog showing only Notebook tags by default. In most applications, you will see what you're looking for.

To use Context as a parameter, you must first create a parameter. Refer to Define Parameterized Reports. Note that a value must be assigned to the parameter for use in the Report Studio before you can continue with further steps. Proceed to tag selection as usual. When operators run the report, they will be prompted to select a station or other parent tag to use for that instance of the report. Use Report Tags to predefine a choice for the parameter.

Select a Notebook tag

You have the option of selecting a tag from the tag browser or selecting a report parameter. When using the Tag Selector, remember to use the 'Select Tag' or 'Add Query' buttons to add your selections before clicking OK.

Data Columns

Data columns are the Notebook Tag data points that will be included in the report. There are a few listed by default, you can add others by scrolling down and clicking the <<Click to Add>> tool when it appears. Remove data columns by selecting the column you wish to remove and clicking x. The columns will appear on the report in the order that they are listed here. Rearrange them by selecting a data column and using the arrow buttons to change the order. There must always be at least one data column for every Data Set.

  • Operator- The username that was logged in to the application when the note was submitted.
  • Original Timestamp- The timestamp from when the note was submitted. Recommended when displaying 'Whole Thread'.
  • Last Updated- The timestamp from the most recent comment left on a note.
  • Note- The contents of the note, the message.
  • Tag Name- The name of the notebook tag.
  • Note ID- All notes, including comments, have their own GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).
  • Parent Note ID- The GUIDClosed Globally Unique Identifier. of the parent note. This value appears with note entries that are 'comments' nested under parent notes.

Filters

Narrow down the notes that appear in a report by configuring Filter settings. Some filters can be configured by text string or parameter. You can add and manage report parameters from the Parameter section in the ribbon. Add, modify and delete parameters from here, and optionally configure default values.

The icon on the left manages parameters. The icon on the right manages their values.

  • Note- Text or Parameter. Narrow down notes by a fragment of text or custom parameter. You can also make this case sensitive and choose whether or not to include comments.
  • Operator- Text or Parameter. Narrow down notes by Operator.
  • Display- Droplist. "Note Only" (default) only includes parent notes, not comments. "Whole Thread" displays all notes including comments. With "Whole Thread" selected, comments will appear under their parent note. Threads are coalesced this way to make it easier to see how events unfolded. Including the "Original Timestamp" data column is recommended. The parent note will have a timestamp sequential to the report record timestamps, but comments may have been added to the parent note at any time. Original Timestamp will show when subsequent comments were actually submitted.

Maximum Records

Optionally, set a maximum record limit for notes that appear within a report.

You cannot add Notes data set with a pivot table. Existing Notes columns will be dropped if you switch to a Pivot configuration. You may include Notes in a Transpose table, they will appear grouped together in relation to the location of the row on the canvas.

Sample Report with Notes

The same report includes a Timestamp column that shows one record per minute over a custom timespan, a Tag Query column displaying data from I/O & Calculations tags, and Notes from the Operator Notes default Notebook tag.

The Notes dataset has been configured to display the Whole Thread and include data columns "Tag Name", "Original Timestamp" and "Note".

The second note is a comment that was added to the"Good morning..." parent note. Notice how the Original Timestamp is out of sync with the Date column in the report? Threads are coalesced to keep the conversation together. Including Original Timestamp preserves the timeline.