New PDF Report Generator

Starting from VP Suite 2.3 Service Pack 1, a new PDF report generator is introduced, replacing the one supported by the earlier versions. In addition to the fresh new look for the generated report, it also supports a higher level of customization such as cover page, header and footer, table of contents, table of figures and diagram ordering.

Animated Demo

Generating a PDF report
1.	Start the Generate PDF dialog by any of the ways listed below.
	Method 1 - Through the menu
	Select Tools > Report > Generate PDF Report... from the main menu.
	Method 2 - Through the toolbar
	Select Click on the button on the toolbar.
	The Generate PDF is shown as below:
2.	Enter the output path of the PDF report. Make sure that the file path spcified is not pointing to a file that is opened.
3.	Select Specify the report generation options, cover page, header and footer. Information about the generation options and how to work with the header and footer will be covered in the following sections.
4.	Press the Generate button to start generating the PDF report.
	If you have enabled Launch Viewer, the report will be opened after the generation has been finished.
Options
	General > Diagram
	Field Description File Location The target location of the PDF report. Make sure that the file path specified is not pointing to a file in-use. Launch viewer Enable it to launch the default PDF viewer to open the generated report after the generation is completed. Generate table of contents Enable it to include the table of contents that list out the chapters' name and the corresponding page numbers. Generate table of figures Enable it to include the table of figures that list out the images name and the corresponding page numbers. Generate diagrams Enable it to include the diagrams' image. Generate reference (file/URL) link Enable it to make the referenced file/URL defined in models click-able in the report. Generate models/ diagrams link Enable it to allow internal linkage within the generated report. (e.g. A child model appear in the Children table of a package is linked to the real position of that child) Shape type style To select the way how models and diagrams titles are shown. Select Icon to show the title in pattern [$model_type_icon_image $model_name]. Select Text to show the title in pattern [$model_type_name $model_name]. Generate Use Case Scheduling Enable it to generate the page of Use Case Scheduling. This option will have no effect if the project does not contain any use case. Generate Stereotypes Enable it to generate the page that list our all stereotypes that are used in the project. Graphics (Anti-aliasing) Enable it to allow the anti-aliasing of images show in the report. Text (Anti-aliasing) Enable it to allow the anti-aliasing of text appear on the images show in the report. Encoding The encoding of the report contents. This option is extremely important when there are model data written in non-English. If a wrong encoding is chosen, the report content will not be displayed properly. Print Diagrams The tree on the left-hand-side list out all the diagrams in the project. Check them to include them in the report. The list on the right-hand-side shows the report content in order. You can press the up and down arrow to reorder the contents in the preferred order.
	General > Page
	Field Description Page size The size of report pages. Page Orientation Select Portrait to indicate that the report is wider horizontally than it is vertical. LandScape is opposite to Portrait. Page Margin Specify the border of pages. You can enter the value directly or drag the dotted line to adjust the value interactively.
	Cover Page
	Field Description Generate cover page Enable it to generate the report cover page. Logo image path The file path of the logo image, that will be shown on the top left hand corner of the cover page. Title The report title. Organization name The organization that owns the report. The text will be shown near the bottom of the cover page. Author name The one who generate the report. The text will be shown under the organization name.
Working with header and footer
To edit the header and footer of the report, open the Header/Footer tab from the Generate PDF dialog box.
	You should see there are six "text boxes" in the dialog. They correspond to the left, center and right section of the header and footer. You can select the items to be appeared in each section. Here are the steps:
1.	Select a section and click on its text box.
2.	You can enter the contents directly and/or select a variable from the list appear at the center of the Generate PDF dialog box. Below is a table that describe what does each variable stand for.
	Variable image Name Description Selection Font Click on it to select a font for the section. Add Image Click on it to select an image to be added to the cursor position. The selection is recorded such that you can reuse the same image the next time. Insert page number Click on it to add a page number variable to the cursor position. Insert page count Click on it to add a page count variable to the cursor position. Insert date Click on it to add a date variable to the cursor position. Insert time Click on it to add a time variable to the cursor position. Insert project name Click on it to add a project name variable to the cursor position. Insert report file name Click on it to add a report file name variable to the cursor position. Insert user name Click on it to add a user name variable to the cursor position.

Sample Reports
	Use Case Diagram
	Use Case Description
	Class Diagram
	Entity Relationship Diagram
	Stereotypes

Downloads

• Project file
		courier.zip (0.2 MB)
• PDF report generated from courier.vpp
		courier.pdf (4.6 MB)

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