Customizing report

Instead of generating a report in a way that VP-UML defined for you, you can develop report templates to customize the report content, to make output match your needs. With report customization, you can select model elements and properties to generate to report. You also can add custom text content. To customize report:

1. Select Tools > Report from the main menu. Then select Generate HTML Report..., Generate PDF Report... or Generate Word Report... depending on the type of report you want to generate.
   

   Open report generator

   NOTE:

   Report templates are shared among HTML, PDF and Word reports. If you just want to design template, but have no preference on the type of report to generate yet, just select either HTML, PDF or Word.

2. Press on the Template drop down menu and select <New> from the popup menu to open the report template editor and start editing template.
   

   To create a template

3. In the Report Template dialog box, enter the template name at the top of dialog box.
4. Construct the report template. A report template is formed by different kinds of components that put together in a hierarchical structure. A common way of building a template is to start with a diagram loop, which can be created from the editor toolbar. Then, select the diagram loop and create children components through its toolbar, such as to create an image component or a element loop for accessing diagram elements on diagrams being looped. To learn how to use the tools in detail, refer to the coming chapters.
   

   A sample template showing the use of diagram loop, element loop, property and custom text components

5. Click Save to save your work.
6. Click Close.

An overview of tools in template editor

Tool Name Description Save Save the opening template. Save as Save the opening template as a new one. Exoprt To export the opening template to a report template file (.vpr). You can import the file to other machines for reusing it. Add diagram loop To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of diagram. Add diagram summary To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of diagram for constructing a tabular diagram summary. Add diagram paragraph To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of diagram for printing its properties in paragraph form. Add element loop (Model) To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping Model. Add root level element loop To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of model element that are at project root (i.e. not being contained). Add element summary To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of model element for constructing a tabular element summary. Add element paragraph To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping specific type(s) of model element for printing its properties in paragraph form. Add all level element loop To add a component to template editor, indicating the need of looping model elements of specific type(s) in whole project. Add custom content To add a component to template editor, indicating the placement of text written by user. Preview template content Preview the template against the project content for report content. Rendering of report is costly especially when the project is large. If your project is large, be patient when waiting for outcome. Preview template structure Preview the template against the project content for report structure. Options Configure report options.

Description of differnet tools in template editor

Ignoring specific diagrams/shapes

A report template is independent of any project file. But if you try to apply a template on a project, you can ignore generating specific diagrams or shapes in that project. To ignore specific diagrams/shapes:

1. Open the template in template editor.
2. Preview the report by pressing  or  from the toolbar.
3. In the report structure tree, select the diagrams or shapes that you want to ignore in generated report.
4. Right click on your selection and de-select Generate from the popup menu.
   

   To not generate model elements

More about Preview

When you try to preview a template, it tries to apply the template on the opening project to form the report structure and to render the preview. Due to the connection between template and project, there are several actions that you can perform with the preview.

Ignoring specific diagrams/shapes

In the report structure tree, right click on the diagram(s) or shape(s) that you want to ignore when generating report and de-select Generate from the popup menu.

Reordering diagrams/shapes

In the report structure tree, right click on the diagram(s) or shape(s) that you want to re-order and select Move Up or Move Down to reposition them.

To edit a template

To edit an existing report template, select it in the generate dialog box such as Generate PDF, then click on the edit button.

To edit a template

To delete a template

To delete an existing report template, select it in the generate dialog box such as Generate PDF, then click on the delete button.

To delete a template