Creating a Custom Template for Reports

You can use the template feature in PC-DMIS Blade to design custom formats for reports. The format of the template is based on the entries that you define in a text file called a Template Definition file. This file contains two types of entries:

Modal commands - These entries define the extra properties to include with each form plot.
Cell definition commands - These entries define the template's boxes and their contents. To define the box location and size, specify the X and Y corners as percentages of the entire page. When you define the box size and location, you also define the content of the box, such as a form plot, static text, and best-fit statistic. You can assemble several boxes to create your own format.

To create a Template Definition file, follow these steps:

Create a text file for the template. This file should be in the same folder and have the same name as the Nominal file, but its file extension must be TPL.

If the Nominal file is named MyBlade.NOM, then the Template Definition file must be named MyBlade.TPL.

The template reports data for every blade section. If one section has different requirements than other sections, it should have its own Template Definition file. The name of this file must be the name of the Nominal file, followed by an underscore ( _ ) and the section name.

If MyBlade has a section named A-A that needs its own template, then the Template Definition file must be named MyBlade_A-A.TPL.

Add modal commands and cell definitions to the template definition file. See "Modal Commands" and "Cell Definition Commands" below.
To enable PC-DMIS Blade to use the template, set the AutoPrint option (in the Plot Options area on the Reporting tab) to Template. This setting replaces all other automatic plotting options.

Modal Commands

The following table lists the modal commands and their settings.

When you specify a setting, it applies to all of the plots that follow it until you change the setting.

Modal Command	Description	Default Setting
SET POINTTOL OFF/ON	Controls whether individual point tolerances display	OFF
SET STOCK OFF/ON	Controls whether STOCK Distribution graphics add to the plots	OFF
SET ZONE OFF/ON	Controls whether zone form position labels add to the plots	OFF
SET WHISKERS OFF/OUT/ON	Controls if and when the deviation whisker labels plot	OFF
SET THICKNESS Index	Controls whether any of the thickness calculations display on the plots	Zero (show none)
SET SIDEMAG #.####	Sets the side magnification	1.0
SET ENDMAG #.####	Sets the end magnification	1.0

Cell Definition Commands

Cell definition commands contain the cell type as the keyword, followed by four numbers that define the position and size of the cell in the report output. The four numbers are interpreted as percentages of the output page. The numbers are always defined in this order:

XStart (Left), XEnd (Right), YStart (Top), and YEnd (Bottom)

- The X values range from 0.0 to 100.0, measuring from left to right, where 0.0 is the left margin and 100.0 is the right margin.
- The Y values range from 0.0 to 100.0, measuring from top to bottom, where 0.0 is the top margin and 100.0 is the bottom margin.

If more information is needed to define the cell, it follows the first five fields.

The following table lists the cell definition commands.

Cell Definition Command	Description
HEADER XStart XEnd YStart YEnd	Draws the standard PC-DMIS Blade Section Header in the defined box.
PLOT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd CALCULATION [Optional Side List]	Draws a form plot. CALCULATION is the name of the blade calculation from which the plot derives (for example, CVMAX). Optional Side List defines the sides to draw in the plot. The choices are CVX, CCV, LE, and TE. If you do not define a list, the template draws all sides.
ZONEFORM XStart XEnd YStart YEnd	Draws the Zone Form table for the current section (if zone form is computed) in the defined box.
CMM XStart XEnd YStart YEnd	Draws the CMM style output for the current section in the defined box.
BESTFIT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd BestFitNumber [Optional Side List]	Outputs the best-fit statistics. You can control which sides are included in the output by supplying the optional side list. If you do not supply a side list, the template reports all sides.
TEXT XStart XEnd YStart YEnd JUSTIFICATION NumberLines	Outputs one or more lines of text in the defined box. JUSTIFICATION, which should be LEFT, CENTER, or RIGHT, defines how the text aligns within the box. NumberLines defines the number of lines of text to be output. The lines of text should immediately follow this entry. TEXT boxes do not draw a border. You can use them to add descriptive text to another cell by defining them to overlap other cells. In general, cells can overlap. The last cell that you define appears as they are drawn and in the order that you define them in the template definition file.

You can create more than one entry in the Template Definition file. To define a page split for multiple-page template reports, use the keyword NEWPAGE. This keyword has no modifiers.

Example of a Template File

HEADER 0 100 0 5

SET WHISKERS OUT

SET SIDEMAG 2

PLOT 0 100 5 25 CVMIN CVX

SET SIDEMAG 7

PLOT 0 100 25 45 CCMIN CCV

SET ENDMAG 5

PLOT 0 50 45 60 LEMIN LE

SET WHISKERS ON

SET ENDMAG 1

PLOT 50 100 45 60 TEMIN TE