Support : Dialog Search Aids : Successful Searching : WORD : Creating a Word Report

Creating a Word Report

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

You set up one or more templates that set out which fields to include in the report, what fonts and styles to apply and what boilerplate text to add. Search results are pulled into a Word template to create a fully formatted report. This can be a time saver if you regularly reformat search results in the same way to produce attractive, easy-to-read customized output.

To produce a Word report:

1. Use the XML command to download and save your search results in XML format. Download or create the Word template that your report will use if you have not already done so — See Preparing your Word Template.
   
   
2. Click the Reports tab in the Type-Ahead buffer.
   
   
3. Click Create Report in the Word 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 Word, loads the results data into the template and displays the Word document. The data from each results record is now formatted according to the template specifications. When you close the Word file, a .doc 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 Word file to a different location.

Preparing your Word Template

The Word template defines how DialogLink builds a Word report from your saved XML search results file. Once you have defined a Word 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 a Word 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 a Word report:

1. Click Get Template in the Word 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 Word\BioMedical
   One template was downloaded
   The template files are saved in the Word folder in the path Dialog>Link>Scripts>Word.
   
   
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 a Word 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 a Word ‘report' presentation.

To create a template for a Word report:

1. Click Create Template in the Word 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 Word Report window opens.

3. The New Document Layout area of the Configure Word Report window contains a column for each file represented in the XML results file being used for analysis. 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. Select a style that you'd like to use from the Paragraph Style drop-down list and click Add. The style name is added to the New Document Layout display. Paragraph styles are defined in the "report.dot" Word template file that resides with DialogLink program files. You can modify this file to add or change paragraph styles as well as to modify page layout instructions (margins, headers, footers, etc.) for the final report.
   
   
5. The Field box now displays the data fields that are present in the first database. Highlight a field whose data you would like to format with the selected style and click the right arrow buttonto move the field tag to the Report Element box to complete the field selection. The field now appears in the shaded cell in New Document Layout area. You may repeat the select and move process to specify that the selected style be applied to several fields, but only one field name displays in the New Document Layout area. Click a cell in the New Document Layout area and the full list of the selected fields for that style displays in the Report Element box.
   
   
6. You have the option of applying additional styles such as bolding a subfield of a field you have defined as Normal style or inserting your own text or new line commands. The number that displays beside each field tag indicates how many subfield levels are associated with the field (e.g., "jn : 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 text and/or HTML instruction that you want to precede the field or subfield data and in the After box enter the corresponding HTML closing tag or other formatting. You may enter more than one style instruction in each box. For example, journal name can be italicized and preceded by text “PUBLICATION SOURCE:” by entering PUBLICATION SOURCE: <i> in the Before box and </i> in the After box for a jn 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.

7. If you have more than one file, click the next table cell in the row to display a list of the available field tags for the next file. As before, select which field(s) from this file should receive the style.
   
   
8. When you have defined a style for all the data fields you want to include in the Word report, select File > Save As. In the Save As window, name the template file and click Save. The template file is saved in the Word folder in the path Dialog > Link > Scripts > Word.
   
   
9. Close the Configure Word Report window.

Editing a Word Template

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

To edit a Word template:

1. Click Edit Template in the Word 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 Word Report window opens and displays the template settings.
   
   
4. Modify the template, following the procedure described in Creating a Word 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 Word Report window.

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