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Custom Spreadsheet Reports

In addition to using aPriori's system-defined spreadsheet reports, you can define your own. It is often desirable to use existing, system-defined reports as your starting point.

The system-defined report XML files are in:

apriori_install\ext\cost-watchpoint-report\watchpoints\reportname.watchpoints.xml

The corresponding Excel template files are in:

apriori_install\ext\cost-watchpoint-report\watchpoints\templates\reportname.template.xls

File types

The typical spreadsheet report consists of an XML file defining the data to extract, and optionally, an Excel spreadsheet template file which determines how the output is formatted. To install a new custom report in aPriori, you can either:

  1. Compress these files into a .zip file and install it by selecting:

    Tools>Spreadsheet Reports>Install Spreadsheet Reports

  2. Copy the files into

    user\apriori\version\watchpoint-report-defs

The output files either an Excel spreadsheet, or a comma-separated values (CSV) file, or an XML file.

Report Definition Files

  • .xml Required.

    • Specifies what data to extract from aPriori. Name must end in .watchpoints.xml or the report is ignored when you try to run it from the UI (the restriction is not enforced when running from the command line).

  • .xls (or .xlsx or .xlsm) Optional.

    • Specifies how to format the data. The convention used by Tools>Spreadsheet Reports>Install Spreadsheet Reports is to end the name in .template.xls, and to place this file in a template sub-folder under the reports .xml folder. The template file must be specified with the templatePath attribute to the <report> tag in the .xml file, or it ignored.

  • .zip

    • The .xml file and the .xls (if defined) must be bundled into a .zip file to be recognized by the aPriori Tools>Spreadsheet Reports>Install Spreadsheet Reports command.

Report Output Files

  • .xls (or .xlsx or .xlsm)

    • The default spreadsheet output file.

  • .csv

    • A text output file containing comma-separated values. (Specified with a generateCsv="true" attribute to the <reports> tag in the XML definition file.

  • .xml

    • A text output file containing XML. (Specified with a generateXml="true" attribute to the <reports> tag in the XML definition file.

For more information about the <report> tag and its attributes, see "Elements of Report Files".

Note:

Custom reports are installed locally and are only available to the user who installs them. They are not available to other users even though they may share the same aPriori database server.