Original LXSeries Forum

I make extensive use of “Group” designations in my light planning. I would love to have a custom GROUP report showing the positions, instruments, circuiys, colors, etc of all lights in each group

rbryson

LXFree reports are created using template files. These files are stored in the Library/Application Support/lx/reports folder for both the system and the user. When LXFree is asked to create a report, it looks in these folders for available templates and displays them in the "Choose Report to Create" menu. LXFree can read and use both binary and XML based report templates.

Both template formats store information about the content of reports. For list based reports such as a channel list or instrument schedule, this includes information on how to sort the report as well as the columns and their formatting. The binary format also stores some page setup information.

You can customize reports by adding columns with the "Add Column" command. You can also click on a column header and delete the column or change its font using the font panel. You can drag to rearrange columns. You can then save the report format as a template using the "Save" command. The binary format is the default with a .lxreport extension. Changing the extension to .lxxreport produces an XML template file. (Reports contents can also be saved as .txt or .html)

There will eventually be a report editor that will assist in creating and editing report templates. However, XML is a text based format that can be edited using a text editor such as BBEdit or the freeware TextWrangler from Bare Bones Software (barebones.com). So, it is possible to edit report templates without the dedicated editor. It is possible, for example, to create a group report by altering a copy of one of the existing reports.

To create a new template based on one of the existing reports, open LXFree and choose "Create Report" Select "Channel List" from the popup menu. From the Channel List window, choose "Save." Save the template as "Group.lxxreport" (the name Group is not important but the .lxxreport extension is critical).

Open your new report template file using a text editor and scroll down until you find the "<key_one>" tag. Change "chan" to "grp" on the next line. Save the file and place it in the Library/Application Support/lx/reports folder.

You could also alter the columns in your new report using a text editor. But, it is probably easier to do that within LXFree and then resave the template.

NOTE: XML report templates are currently available under 10.4 and later. Reports function under 10.3.9 but are missing features such as headers and footers when printed.

Two updates to this post:

You will probably want to change the title of your new report. This is located between the <title> tags in the XML file. Otherwise you'll have a group report titled "Channel List"

The problem with XML report template files and 10.3.9 has most likely been resolved. LXFree 0.9.1210 is available for download. (There is no update for the regular 10.4 and later version)