Support : DialogLink 5 : Enhanced Features : DialogLink Reports Options

Creating an Excel Report

DialogLink's Create Report function in the Excel Reports section of the Reports tab allows you to apply a template to your search results and view them as an Excel spreadsheet.

You set up one or more templates that define spreadsheet column headings and specify which fields to include in which columns and what fonts and styles to apply. An Excel report is a useful format when you want to compare data between records in a results set. Search results are pulled into an Excel template to create the report. Record fields flow into columns and each individual record from your XML search results file becomes a separate row.

To produce an Excel report:

1. Use the XML command to download and save your search results in XML format. Download or create the Excel template that your report will use if you have not already done so — See Preparing your Excel Template (below).
   
   
2. Click the Reports tab in the Type-Ahead buffer.
   
   
3. Click Create Report in the Excel Reports section. The Choose report template window opens.
   
   
4. Select the name of the template you want to use for the report and click Open. The Choose data file for report generation window opens.
   
   
5. Select the data file that is to populate the template and click Open. DialogLink opens Excel, loads the results data into the template and displays the Excel spreadsheet. The data from each results record is now a row in the Excel spreadsheet. When you close the Excel file, an .xls version of the original file name is created in the Dialog>Link>Download directory. You may also use File>Save As in the normal way to name and save a copy of the Excel file to a different location.

Preparing your Excel Template

The Excel template defines how DialogLink builds an Excel report from your saved XML search results file. Once you have defined an Excel template, you can use it to format future search results from the same files or from files with applicable field structure.

You can download ready-prepared templates or create your own templates from the beginning. Templates can be edited to accommodate any desired changes.

Downloading an Excel Template

To speed template preparation, Dialog has created some templates for you to download. Even if a prepared template isn't completely as you'd like it, it may still be advantageous to download a prepared template and edit it, rather than create a template from scratch.

To create a template for an Excel report:

1. Click Get Template in the Excel Reports section of the Type-Ahead buffer Reports tab. You must be connected to the internet to download templates. The Reports tab content changes to display a list of available templates. Templates are organized into groups. Click the + beside a group name to reveal the templates for that group.
   
   
2. Click the checkbox beside the templates you would like to download. The text ‘Previously Downloaded' appears after a template name and its checkbox is inactive if you have already downloaded that template*. If you would like to preview a template before downloading, select the template and click View.
   
   
3. Click Download to download the selected templates to your computer. Check the response message in the Retrieve buffer to confirm that the template(s) downloaded successfully.
   Example:
   
   Downloading Excel\BioMedical
   One template was downloaded
   The template files are saved in the Excel folder in the path Dialog>Link>Scripts>Excel.
   
   
4. Click the Back button in the Reports tab to return the tab contents to function mode.

* If you need to download a previously downloaded template, you can:

• Delete or rename the originally downloaded template file in order to download the template again to the same directory path.
  
  
• Select Configuration > Options > Directories from the DialogLink menu bar and select a new path in order to download the template to a new directory path.

When you close and reopen DialogLink, the text ‘Previously Downloaded' is no longer present and you can check the checkbox for the template.

Creating an Excel Template

A Create Template function accessed from the Reports tab in the Type-Ahead buffer analyses the fields present in a sample XML results set and lets you choose the arrangement of data fields and formatting styles that you would like to use as a template for an Excel ‘report' presentation.

To create a template for an Excel report:

1. Click Create Template in the Excel Reports section of the Type-Ahead buffer Reports tab. The Select File for Analysis window opens.
2. In the Select File for Analysis window, highlight the XML file of search results you want use as a basis for template creation and click Open. The Configure Excel Report window opens.
   

3. The New Table Layout area of the Configure Excel Report window contains a row for each file represented in the XML results file being used for analysis. File numbers appear in the File column and an arrow to the left of the file number indicates which file is currently being configured. Helpful tips are available for each entry box in the window. To turn off hints, click the Show Tips checkbox to clear the check mark.
   
   
4. In the Column Heading text box, enter a heading name, for example ‘Title', that you would like as the heading for your first spreadsheet column and click Add. The column heading is added to the New Table Layout display. (Note that Excel will allow you to rearrange column order in your final reports).
   
   
5. The Field box now displays the data fields that are present in the currently selected database. Highlight the field whose data you would like to appear under the column heading and click the right arrow buttonto move the field tag to the Report Element box to complete the field selection. The field now appears below the column heading in the New Table Layout area. You may repeat the select and move process to specify that several fields be brought together in one column, but only one field name displays in the New Table Layout area. Click a cell in the New Table Layout area and the full list of the selected fields for that heading displays in the Report Element box.
   
   
6. You have the option of applying styles such as bolding to the field data in a column. The number that displays beside each field tag indicates how many subfield levels are associated with the field (e.g., "ti : 1") and you can define a different style for each subfield. Highlight a field in the Report Element box. The system automatically recognizes the number of subfield levels defined for the field and activates the appropriate number of Before and After text boxes for you to specify styles. Up to five subfield levels may be available.
   
   
   
   In the Before box, enter the HTML tag that you want to precede the field or subfield data and in the After box enter the corresponding HTML closing tag. For example, title text can be bolded by entering <b> in the Before box and </b> in the After box for a ti field tag. If you don't know HTML, click the Field, sf1, sf2 etc links to see a list of common styles such as bold and italic and select a style. The system automatically enters the corresponding HTML tags in the Before and After boxes. You may enter more than one HTML tag in each box. For example, you may want to specify italic and bold, or add a <br/> in an After column to insert a blank line between paragraphs in large text blocks.
   
   

7. If you have more than one file, click the next table cell beneath the column heading to display a list of the available field tags for the next file. As before, select which field(s) from this file should appear under the column heading and create desired field style.
   
   
8. When you have defined all desired column headings, content and styles, select File > Save As.In the Save As window, name the template file and click Save. The template file is saved in the Excel folder in the path Dialog > Link > Scripts > Excel.
   
   
9. Close the Configure Excel Report window.

Editing an Excel Template

You can edit a template that you downloaded or created yourself.

To edit an Excel template:

1. Click Edit Template in the Excel Reports section of the Type-Ahead buffer Reports tab. The Open window opens and displays available templates.
   
   
2. Select the template you wish to edit and click Open. The Select File for Analysis window opens.
   
   
3. In the Select File for Analysis window, highlight the XML file of search results you want use as a basis for template editing and click Open. The Configure Excel Report window opens and displays the template settings.
   
   
4. Modify the template, following the procedure described in Creating an Excel Template.
   
   
5. When you have made all desired modifications, click File > Save to save the template with modifications or click File > Save As to create a new template with a different name.
   
   
6. Close the Configure Excel Report window.

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