1.1.Components Used to Generate Reports

Report Generation Software

Author: / Dave Quayle
Date: / 7thDecember 2011

Contents

1.Introduction

1.1.Components used to Generate Reports

1.1.1.Log File

1.1.2.Scan Files

1.1.3.Template File

1.1.4.Translator File

2.Getting Started

2.1.Setting up the log file

2.2.Collect some data

2.3.Templates and Translator files

2.4.Generating a Report

3.Creating and Amending Template Files

3.1.Example of how to create a template

3.1.1.The Header

3.1.2.The Scan Data

4.Mapping the Data

5.Transferring files to a Desktop PC

6.Appendix 1

7.Appendix 2

8.Appendix 3

9.Appendix 4

1.Introduction

This document is an introduction on how to use the TDScan reporting software. The reporting software allows the operator to summarise TOFD and Strip Scan files that have been analysed, in a tabular format.

1.1.Components used to Generate Reports

To generate a report, a number of different components are required:

1.1.1.Log File

Every time a TOFD or Strip Scan is done, an entry is added to a log file. When a report is run, it asks for a log file. The contents of this file tell the reporting software which scan files to look at.

1.1.2.Scan Files

To generate a report, one or more scan files are required. These files should have been analysed, and any defects marked.

1.1.3.Template File

A template file is a Rich Text document that governs how the final output should be formatted. This template can be edited in WordPad (which is built in to Windows) or any other word processing package that can save files in the RTF format (e.g. Word).

1.1.4.Translator File

This file links data in the scan files to places on the template file. The TDScan software provides a mechanism to edit this file.

2.Getting Started

For this example a TOFD report will be created. However, the same principals apply to the Strip Scan reporting software (but only automatic, and not manually added defects are reported).

The first part of the process is to configure the TDScan software to collect TOFD data (include setting up the Text Headers and fields). This process is beyond the scope of this document.

2.1.Setting up the log file

To make it easier to move the files to another machine (either for analysis, archiving or to run the reports) it is recommended that a new folder is created for each job, and the log file and the scan files are contained in that folder. To achieve this, perform the following steps:

From the main menu, select “Setup”, followed by “Report Setup”.
Click on “Tofd Reports” from the left hand pane. Click on the Browse button to the right of this pane.
This will show the windows file window.Navigate to a suitable location and right click with the mouse. Select New, then Folder and create a new folder (in my example I have called it TofdTest).
Open the folder by double clicking it and enter a suitable name for the log file. This should be something meaningful – I have used the name TofdReportDemo. Press the Save button.
A message box will appear asking the operator if they would like to update the Auto File Name folderPress the Yes button. This will configure the software to save the scan files in to the same directory as the log file.
Another window will then prompt the operator to enter a base file name.
Type in a suitable name. This name will automatically set the names of the scan files. For example: TofdDemo_000.scn, TofdDemo_001.scn etc.
Press OK on the filename window, then OK on the Configure reports window. The log file and scan files are now set to go in to the same folder.

2.2.Collect some data

The next part of the process is to collect some TOFD scan data and marking up one or more defects. Doing this is beyond the scope of this document. For demonstration purposes I have performed 4 scans and marked up two imaginary defects in one of the scan files:

2.3.Templates and Translator files

On the TDScan software CD, there are some demonstration report template and translator files. Later sections of this document will describe how to create your own templates – but for this demonstration, the templates from the CD will suffice.

Copy the folder “Report Templates” from the CD to a suitable location on your machine.

Using the report setup screen, expand the “TOFD Reports” option, then the “Daily Activity Report” option and highlight the “Fist Page(Mandatory) option. The screen should look like this:

In the Template File box press the Browse button and find the template, as copied from the CD:

Select “Daily Log Sheet.rtf” and press Open.

Locate the translator file from the same location and press open. The Report Setup screen should now look something like this:

Press Ok to configure the report software, then repeat this process for the Inspection Report.

2.4.Generating a Report

To generate a report, perform the following steps:

Select File, then Tofd reports from the main menu
In the Daily Activity Log Report section, press “Generate”. This will open a windows file browser. Select the log file (as created in Section 2.1
Press the Browse button in the Daily Overview section, and navigate to the log file (as configured in section 2.1)and press Open.
After a short while the process will complete.
Tick “Include scans with no defects” in the Inspection Report box. Press Generate, and select the log file when the browser window opens and click the Open button.
Using windows explorer, navigate to the folder used to store the log file and scan files. It should look something like this:
The daily log sheet and inspection report can be viewed and printed using WordPad, or any other word processing package that is capable of reading rtf files (e.g. Microsoft Word).

3.Creating and Amending Template Files

The template file is used to set the appearance of the report. It can contain a table, different fonts and even graphics and logos. To generate a report you need at least one template file. However, the software allows you to specify two, one for the first page and one for subsequent pages. This is useful if you wish to have the header information and a few lines of data on the first page, and just data on subsequent pages.

There are two types of data that can be incorporated in to a report:

-Header Data – which comes from information in the file. This includes header text, page numbers comments etc.

-Scan Data – this comes from defects that have been marked up in the file (or automatically generated in the case of strip scan).

Appendix 1 contains a list of all the data that can currently be mapped.

A template can be created or amended using WordPad. Every time you want to include some header data, use the ^ symbol followed by a three digit number. E.g. ^003.

Scan data is represented the $ symbol followed by the row as a 2 digit number then column as a 2 digit number. So, $0203 would represent the data for row 2, column 3.

3.1.Example of how to create a template

3.1.1.The Header

If I wanted to create a header for an inspection report, it may look something like this:

^001 / ^002 / ^003 / ^004 / ^005 / ^006
^007 / ^008 / ^009 / ^010 / ^011 / ^012
^013 / ^014 / ^015 / ^016 / Scan Date: / ^017

The bold numbers preceded by the ^ will become the title. The non-bold numbers will form the data.

3.1.2.The Scan Data

Similarly, I would then need to add the scan data. I could add something like:

X (mm) / Y(mm) / Result
Start / End / Length / Start / End / Length / Type / Acc
$0101 / $0102 / $0103 / $0104 / $0105 / $0106 / $0107 / $0108
$0201 / $0202 / $0203 / $0204 / $0205 / $0206 / $0207 / $0208
$0301 / $0302 / $0303 / $0304 / $0305 / $0306 / $0307 / $0308
$0401 / $0402 / $0403 / $0404 / $0405 / $0406 / $0407 / $0408
$0501 / $0502 / $0503 / $0504 / $0505 / $0506 / $0507 / $0508
$0601 / $0602 / $0603 / $0604 / $0605 / $0606 / $0607 / $0608
$0701 / $0702 / $0703 / $0704 / $0705 / $0706 / $0707 / $0708

4.Mapping the Data

Mapping the data simply means joining data in TDScan to the place holders that have been left in the template.

This process can be done by creating a file in notepad and manually linking it – but it is much easier to use the Edit tool built in to TDScan.

There is a demo template file (based on the example in section 3.1) in appendix 2 – which I have called “AGR Inspections Report.rtf”.

To map the data, carry out the following steps:

Select the new template, and clear the translator file from the report setup screen:
Press the Edit key in the Translator Files box. This will run up the report configurator.
The report configurator will start up with the new template and none of the fields mapped. It will look like this:
Double click ^001. This will open up a new window with a drop down, allowing you to select the data you would like to map. Note: Be sure to place the mouse pointer on the text while clicking or the cell will simply be selected.

Scroll down and find HDR_01. This represents the text header label for field 1. This is set up in the configuration screen under the “Text Block Headings” tab. This will replace the placeholder ^001 with the label [HDR_01]
Double click the next header (^003) and replace with header field 2 [HDR_02]. Do this to the remaining heading fields until the report configurator looks like this:
If you accidently assign the wrong value to a placeholder, simply right click with the mouse and select Delete Link. Then double click the placeholder and select the correct label.
Next, map the data placeholders to the text fields themselves. This is done in the same way by double clicking the placeholder and selecting TXT_01. Do the remaining fields, and it should look like this:
Next, map the data fields. Double click the first item and select TOFD_DEF_X1. Check that “Copy to remaining rows” is ticked. This will then map all the fields in the column.
Map the remaining columns as follows: x: End-TOFD_DEF_X2, Length-TOFD_DEF_LEN; y: Start-TOFD_DEF_TOP, End-TOFD_DEF_BOT, Length-TOFD_DEF_HT; Result: Type-TOFD_DEF_CLASS, Acc-INDIC_X_IF_NACC. It should look like this:
Save the file as “AGR Inspections Report”.
The report can now be generated, as described in section 2.4. See Appendix 3 for the results.

5.Transferring files to a Desktop PC

After the data has been captured, it is common practice to analyse the files on a desktop PC, or move the files to server for archiving. As was said in the introduction, the log file contains a list of files captured during the scan. If these files are moved, the folder they are accessed from will be different.

For example, the folder C:\TofdTest exists on a Handy Scan. If I wanted to perform analysis on my desktop PC, I could copy the files to a network drive and access them from there. When I try to run the reporting software from the network drive, the following window is displayed:

This window is asking me to specify the new location of the scan files, which is done by expanding (pressing the [+]) the drive, followed by folders until the folder is found:

Pressing the OK key will update the log file with the new folder, and then generate the report as described previously.

6.Appendix 1

PAGE_CUR / Current Page of the report
PAGE_MAX / Last Page of the report
COMMENT / Comment – comes from the text tab on Hardware Setup
FILE_NAME / Name of the File
SCAN_DATE / Date the scan took place
SCAN_TIME / Time the Scan took place
CUR_DATE / Current Date
CUR_TIME / Current Time
FLASH_SERIAL_NO / Serial Number of equipment that performed the scan
SCAN_MIN_X / Scan start position(x) (TOFD only)
SCAN_MAX_X / Scan end position(x) (TOFD only)
SCAN_MIN_Y / Scan start position(y) (TOFD only)
SCAN_MAX_Y / Scan end position(y) (TOFD only)
PCS / Probe Separation (TOFD only)
PRB_ANG / Probe Angle (TOFD only)
PRB_SNO / Probe Serial Number (TOFD only)
PRB_CRYSTAL_DIA / Probe Crystal Diameter (TOFD only)
SPECIMEN_DEPTH / Specimen Depth (TOFD only)
PRB_FREQ / Probe Frequency (TOFD only)
LAST_CAL_FILE / Last Calibration File (TOFD only)
CAL_BLOCK_TYPE / Calibration block type (TOFD only)
CAL_BLOCK_REF / The calibration block ref (TOFD only)
HDR_xxx / Text Field Names – text tab on Config
TXT_xxx / Contents of the text fields – text tab on Hardware Setup
INDIC_X / Indication Location (x)
INDIC_Y / Indication Location (y)
INDIC_Z / Indication Location (z)
INDIC_LEN / Indication Length
INDIC_AMP / Indication Amplitude
INDIC_ZONE / Indication Zone
INDIC_X_IF_ACC / Indication Acceptable
INDIC_X_IF_NACC / Indication not Acceptable
WELD_STATUS / Number of indications in a file
TOFD_DEF_X1 / Defect start position (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_X2 / Defect end position (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_LEN / Defect length (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_TOP / Defect top (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_BOT / Defect bottom (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_HT / Defect height (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_CLASS / Defect classification (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_STATUS / Defect status (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_COMM / Defect Comment (TOFD only)
TOFD_DEF_NO / Defect Number (TOFD only)

7.Appendix 2

Template used in worked examples:

TD Inspections Limited

^001 / ^002 / ^003 / ^004 / ^005 / ^006
^007 / ^008 / ^009 / ^010 / ^011 / ^012
^013 / ^014 / ^015 / ^016 / Scan Date: / ^017
X (mm) / Y(mm) / Result
Start / End / Length / Start / End / Length / Type / Acc
$0101 / $0102 / $0103 / $0104 / $0105 / $0106 / $0107 / $0108
$0201 / $0202 / $0203 / $0204 / $0205 / $0206 / $0207 / $0208
$0301 / $0302 / $0303 / $0304 / $0305 / $0306 / $0307 / $0308
$0401 / $0402 / $0403 / $0404 / $0405 / $0406 / $0407 / $0408
$0501 / $0502 / $0503 / $0504 / $0505 / $0506 / $0507 / $0508
$0601 / $0602 / $0603 / $0604 / $0605 / $0606 / $0607 / $0608
$0701 / $0702 / $0703 / $0704 / $0705 / $0706 / $0707 / $0708

8.Appendix 3

Report, as generated by TDScan software.

TD Inspections Limited

Client / Green Energy Ltd / Site / Green1 / Building / Main Hall
Location / X1 / Ref / 1234 / Operator / DQ
Probe / P12797 / Couplant / Water / Scan Date: / 7 - December - 2011
X (mm) / Y(mm) / Result
Start / End / Length / Start / End / Length / Type / Acc
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
115.0 / 236.0 / 121.0 / 9.2 / 18.4 / 9.2 / Volumetric
277.0 / 359.0 / 82.0 / 13.9 / 21.1 / 7.2 / Gas

Technology Design Ltd, Wharton Park House, Wharton Park Industrial Estate, Nat Lane, Winsford, Cheshire, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1606 590123 Fax: +44 (0)1606 591253

9.Appendix 4

Flow diagrams & Checklist

To generate a report you need:

Log file / tells report which files to process
Scan files / 1 or more files required must have been analysed
Template file / governs final output must be in RTF format
Translator file / links scan file data to places in report

The Basic Process

Setup Log File

Technology Design Ltd, Wharton Park House, Wharton Park Industrial Estate, Nat Lane, Winsford, Cheshire, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1606 590123 Fax: +44 (0)1606 591253