DataView reports are the main tools for displaying and analyzing measurement data that has been
recorded on your AEMC instrument and downloaded into DataView on your PC.
These reports provide a visual presentation of this data, displayed in graphical or tabular
format.
They can also serve as filters for selecting only certain types of data to view.
This enables you to create multiple reports, each with a specific purpose that focuses
on information that is of most interest and relevance to you and other readers of the
report.
This video introduces you to DataView reports.
We describe the basic components that comprise a report, and how you can uses them to build
your own customized report templates.
Note that in addition to DataView reports, you can also use DataView to view measurement
data as a Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet.
However, the focus in this video will be on DataView reports.
The process for creating a DataView report starts when you store a recording session
on your AEMC instrument.
When you subsequently start DataView and connect to the instrument, you can download this data
from the instrument to the PC using the Control Panel.
This downloaded data can then be viewed, stored, and printed as a DataView report.
A key concept in the report generation process is the DataView template.
The basic function of a template is to organize and filter measurement data stored on the
PC as a .dvb file, also known as a DataView database file, and display it for viewing
and analysis.
To accelerate and simplify report creation, DataView provides several standard report
templates that ship with the product.
Each of these templates is designed for a specific type of instrument, Control Panel,
and configuration.
You can use these templates "as is" to generate a report, or customize them to your requirements.
You can also design your own templates from scratch, to create reports that display data
of specific relevance and interest to your application and facility.
All DataView templates are identified by the file extension .dvt; reports generated by
a template are stored on your computer as .dvw files.
Templates can be "attached" to a DataView database .dvb file, so that when the database
is opened the data within it by default will be displayed and formatted in accordance with
the attached template.
In this way, the template serves as a window into the database.
Conversely, a template can have a database attached to it, so that any time the template
is opened it will contain data for display.
This helps you see how measurement data will be displayed in reports you create from this
template.
Note that you can also create templates that display data from multiple DataView databases.
This can be useful when creating a single template for viewing data measured by two
or more different types of AEMC instruments.
Creating a report from a template is basically a two-step process.
First, select the template to be used to format the report.
Second, choose the database or databases that will supply the data for the report.
Each step must be completed in order; the template must be selected before a database
can be specified, and the database selections must be completed before the report can be
generated.
DataView reports consist of frames.
These are rectangular areas within the template that display data in various forms, including
lines, text, and graphs.
The frame determines what data will be displayed, and how it will be visually presented in the
report.
Frames can be added, deleted, modified, and moved around the pages of the report.
DataView supports a number of different frame types, for displaying graphs, text, lines,
boxes, arrows, and OLE objects.
There's also a special Table of Contents frame for navigating through the pages of the report,
and a general-purpose generic frame.
Frames can also be linked, so that the content displayed in one frame determines the content
in the linked frame.
For example, the report illustrated on the screen includes a frame listing data in a
table, a graph frame showing test measurements over time, and a linked legend frame that
explains the colors in the graph.
Note that the example report consists of multiple pages (identified by the tabs at the bottom
of the report), which allows for the display of a wide variety of data from multiple perspectives.
You can add, modify, move, and delete pages from a DataView template, so that all reports
created from that template contain the pages you specify.
DataView includes a number of features for viewing and analyzing reports online, including
the ability to zoom in on specific data.
You can also print reports for hardcopy distribution.
For example, frames that display graphical trend data allow you zoom in, zoom out, step
left, step right, pan left, pan right, pan to the start of the recorded measurement data,
and pan to the end of the data.
Each of these commands can be selected from the Zoom menu or from the toolbar, as explained
in the online Help that comes with DataView.
This concludes our quick introduction to DataView reports.
In future instructional videos, we will provide details on the many robust features DataView
offers for creating, customizing, and viewing DataView reports.
Please check our YouTube channels for additional videos about DataView and other AEMC products.