Reporting - Trimble Report Generator

Trimble Report Generator (TRG) is an application that allows creating reports from system logs that are stored in the system-wide Trimble 4D Control Server database. These reports base on an XML format that allows different output formats such as HTML or PDF.

Report generation works both automatically by schedule and manually on demand. You can customize the report types created by Trimble Report Generator. A report consists of a header and some data, including graphics. Since the data is read from the database, the reports always show some kind of history and never an absolutely up-to-date state of the system. Reports can have a human or machine readable format.

Most modules log results, events and other data to the system-wide database. The Trimble 4D Control Server data base server ensures that all modules outputting any kind of information log into this database. Use the description of the individual modules for detailed information on the information they log into the database, which is then available for reporting.

The Reports

Report types define the header and the data types included in a report. A report type is a template that TRG uses to create a report with data from the database in a specified format. Available formats are HTML and PDF, CSV (Comma Separated Values) and XML. Each report type is defined in a file with specified name (based on XML), therefore Trimble Report Generator can be extended with future report types.

The contents of the reports can be restricted by several filters, such as a data filter (includes only specific types of data), and a time filter (a specific time span). It can include links to other reports or to graphic files.

Starting Trimble Report Generator

To start the Trimble Report Generator user interface for the local host, go to the Trimble 4D Control Server program group and select Trimble Report Generator. The Trimble Report Generator login dialog appears. It is used to connect the Trimble Report Generator UI to the computer running the Trimble Report Generator server, applying specified user rights.

The Trimble Report Generator User Interface

The Trimble Report Generator user interface comes with a menu and three tabs in its main window. It lets you generate reports on demand or in scheduled intervals.

• To manually generate a new report, go to the On Demand Reports tab, select one of the report types, and then click Generate Report. A report generation wizard appears that leads you through the settings (restrictions) for this report. After you have clicked Finish, the report is created and is displayed in the appropriate viewer (for example, web browser, PDF reader). If you have added this report to your favorites, it will be available for future use with the same settings.
• To manually generate a report from your favorite reports, go to the Favorites tab, select one of the report types, and then click Generate. The report is created and displayed in a viewer.
• To add a job for scheduled report generation, go to the Schedule tab and click Add. A report schedule wizard appears that leads you through the settings (restrictions) for this scheduled report. After you have specified the output folder and clicked Finish, the job for scheduled report generation is added to the list of this tab. The report generation will be started in specified periods. Each created report is stored to the output folder.

  Note - The specified output folder resides on the computer running the Trimble Report Generator server.