creating reports from drofus with xf designer

1.1.

CREATING REPORTS FROM DROFUS WITH XF DESIGNER

Version 1.2

TABLE OF CONTET

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................5

2. GETTING STARTED ................................................................................................6

2.1. INSTALLING XF DESIGNER ...................................................................................6

2.2. USING THE SAMPLE PACKAGE ............................................................................6

3. XF DESIGNER USAGE............................................................................................7

3.1. GET XML FROM DROFUS AND ASSIGN DATA SOURCE .....................................7

3.2. BASICS USAGE.......................................................................................................8

3.3. UNDERSTANDING XPATH EXPRESSIONS ...........................................................9

3.4. COMMON WAYS TO CREATE A REPORT .............................................................9

3.5. CREATING A REPEATING SECTION ...................................................................10

3.6. CREATING A REPEATING TABLE ........................................................................10

3.7. CREATING A FIELD ..............................................................................................11

3.8. STYLE FORMATTING(FONT, WEIGHT ETC) .......................................................11

3.9. DATA FORMATTING A FIELD (DATE, NUMBERS) ..............................................12

3.10. USING BUILDING BLOCKS ...................................................................................12

3.11. UNLOADING BUILDING BLOCKS .........................................................................13

3.12. PAGE LAYOUT AND PAGE SET ...........................................................................13

3.13. ITEM INFORMATION IN HEADER/FOOTER .........................................................17

3.14. IMAGES FROM XML AND STATIC IMAGES .........................................................18

3.15. DECIMAL SYMBOL ...............................................................................................19

4. IMPORTING REPORTS TO DROFUS ...................................................................20

4.1. EXPORTING TEMPLATE FROM XF DESIGNER ..................................................20

4.2. IMPORT REPORT TEMPLATE TO DROFUS ........................................................20

5. EXAMPLE REPORTS ............................................................................................22

5.1. REPORTS ..............................................................................................................22

5.2. BUILDING BLOCKS ...............................................................................................29

5.3. CREATING INDEXES ............................................................................................37

5.4. STYLESHEETS .....................................................................................................38

5.5. VIDEO TUTORIALS ...............................................................................................39

5.6. MARGIN AND PADDING PITFALLS ......................................................................39

Creating reports in dRofus with XF Designer

6. DROFUS XML DOCUMENTATION........................................................................40

6.1. GENERAL ..............................................................................................................40

6.2. LEVEL ....................................................................................................................40

6.3. ROOM ....................................................................................................................40

6.4. FF&E ITEM / ARTICLE...........................................................................................41

6.5. DYNAMIC GUI (RDS, FF&E SPECIFICATION)......................................................42


ILLUSTRATIONS

Image 1: Exporting XML from dRofus ................................................................................7

Image 2: XF Designer User Interface .................................................................................8

Image 3: Edit Xpath expression window ...........................................................................10

Image 4: Dynamic GUI XML ............................................................................................42


1. INTRODUCTION

dRofus contains a rich set of predefined reports ready to use. This is the most common

and simple way to get data from dRofus to a PDF. In some situations however you need

greater control over the data or the layout in the reports, or you simply want to create a

new type of report that does not exist. For these cases this document aids you in using

the Ecrion XF Designer tool to create reports from dRofus. You could use another tool if

you prefer, as long as you could use XML1 as a data source, but we have chosen to use

XF Designer because it is in our opinion a high quality tool that is powerful and simple to

use and has great support of the XML standards that dRofus is using. It also gives you the

ability to export the final report layout for importing back into dRofus so everybody, without

XF Designer, could generate a report in dRofus using the new layout.

XF Designer is based on the XML standard and it would be a great benefit to have some

knowledge of XML technologies such as XPATH.

1 eXtensible Markup Language


2. GETTING STARTED

2 . 1 . I N S T A L L I N G X F D E S I G N E R

The tool and license can be found at

http://www.ecrion.com/products/xfdesigner/overview.aspx.

2 . 2 . U S I N G T H E S A M P L E P A C K A G E

You can download a sample package, containing example reports and data sets and this

document, from http://www.drofus.com. The sample package contains:

dRofus XFDesigner UserGuide.pdf: This document.

Reports: Example reports that can be used as a starting point for creating similar

reports or simply to learn how to use XF Designer. Documentation for each report

template is explained in chapter 5.1. In the sub folder pdf you can see a preview of

the samples.

Building Blocks: Building blocks are reusable template parts that can be used in

multiple report templates. The building blocks are explained in chapter 0.

Stylesheets: Stylesheets are documents that can define common styles (fonts, sizes,

colors etc.) that enable you to quickly change styles in multiple reports in one place.

The sample style sheet is explained in chapter 5.4

Images: Images used in the samples.

Video tutorials: Screen casts with examples of how to create reports and using the

samples.

XSL: Common special xsl files to include in reports to simplify some tasks.

XML: Sample data sets for the sample reports and using with XF Designer

http://www.ecrion.com/products/xfdesigner/overview.aspx

http://www.drofus.com/


3. XF DESIGNER USAGE

3 . 1 . G E T X M L F R O M D R O F U S A N D A S S I G N D A T A

S O U R C E

When starting to create a report in XF Designer, the first thing you have to do is assign a

data source. The data source is an XML file with data from dRofus. You can either use

one of the sample XML files in the sample pack or generate one from dRofus. If you are

making a report for a specific project it will be beneficial to generate it from dRofus since

the data in the XML file may be specific to this project. Find the report under Reports and

exports in dRofus that is similar or contain the data you want to use in the new report.

Make the data selection and options you want. Go to More options → Format and set it to

XML:

Image 1: Exporting XML from dRofus

Note that some of the options will limit what data to get (e.g. what room) and some will

also define what XML to export for each room. E.g. the images will not be part of the XML

unless the "With pictures" option is checked. Also note that not all the xml attributes will be

included unless there exists data about it for the current item. E.g. if you have an extra

room core field in your project that attribute will only be included for the rooms that

actually have any value for it. Therefore it is recommended that you limit your xml to only

a part of the database when you are designing the report and that this has all the data that

you want to have in the report. We recommend that at least two items such as rooms

should be included in your data to get a correct preview.

Save the file and in XF Designer choose Home → Assign Data Source and browse to the

XML file under Data Source. The XML data will be shown in the Data Source pane (3)

(default to the right) as in the image below. Now you can begin creating the report by

dragging and dropping the data from the Data Source (3) to the document/page (1).


Important to Google Chrome users: Because of a bug in chrome version 15 and below, you need to either

remove the drofus.xml file from the downloads folder between each time you run this report, or you can go to

options ( ) → Under the Bonnet → Downloads and make sure that "Ask where to save each file before

downloading" is checked. You don’t need this in version 16 (currently beta).

Image 2: XF Designer User Interface

3 . 2 . B A S I C S U S A G E

The XF Designer consists of the following important elements:

1. The document: This shows the design of the document and can be edited directly

similar to a word processing tool

2. Navigation bar: Shows the currently selected element/section in the document and

lets you navigate to an element in an easier way than using the 1 if the element has a

small or no visible space.

3. Data source: You can browse and drag and drop data from the data source on to the

document. Here you can also see the page layout and page sets. To see the page

sets check the "Pagination" option in View→Show/Hide.

4. Properties pane: Detailed properties for the selected element in 1 or 2

5. Ribbon menu


One of the first things you probably want to do is set up the page layout (see chapter 3.13)

and create a header and footer. This is done in the Page Layout ribbon. You can also use

a building block to create the same header/footer in multiple reports, see chapter 0.

3 . 3 . U N D E R S T A N D I N G X P A T H E X P R E S S I O N S

A fundamental thing when building a report based on XML data is to understand some

basics about XPath. XPath is a syntax used to describe parts of an XML document and

you can think of it as a path to the data you want. You can refer to a set of nodes such as

all the rooms in the document, a specific attribute like the room name attribute in the room

and many other variants.

XF Designer will help you create most of these expressions for you, but it is

recommended to get some understanding of this. In some of the more advanced

reports/tasks you might also need to edit some expressions manually.

When you refer to multiple nodes you refer to a node

set. In the example image to the right the expression

/drofus-xml/room-container/room

refers to all the room nodes under the room-container

node, in this case two rooms. You use this kind of

XPath expression when you want to do something for

each room in the XML.

If you want to get a specific attribute value, such as the

value of the project name attribute, you can use

/drofus-xml/property-set/@project_name

There are also functions that you can use to make tests or other operations, e.g. sum,

count etc: The expression

count(/drofus-xml/room-container/room)

returns the number of rooms in this document, 2.

3 . 4 . C O M M O N W A YS T O C R E A T E A R E P O R T

There are three main methods used in building a report; repeating table, repeating section

and dynamic page set.

A repeating table creates a table with one row for each item in a node set. You can

create a repeating table of all the room nodes and get one row per room.


A repeating section creates an area for each item in a node set. It is used when

you want to show more data than one row per item. You can create a repeating

section for all the rooms and e.g. show a table with some of the room attributes.

Dynamic page set creates one or more pages for each item in a node set. It inserts

a page break after each item.

3 . 5 . C R E A T I N G A R E P E A T I N G S E C T I O N

Almost every report will need at least one section unless you use a repeating table as

explained in the next section. A repeating section is a paragraph that will be repeated for a

chosen item in the XML file, e.g. if you want to do something for each room in the XML.

Sections can also be nested inside each other. To create a section do one of the

following:

Position the cursor where you want to insert the section and select Insert->Repeating

Section. In the following window you can define an Xpath expression to what you

want to repeat on (see previous chapter about XPath). The easiest way is just to

navigate to the data, double click on the node (in this example room) and the

expression is created for you. Then click OK.

Image 3: Edit Xpath expression window

You can also locate the item you want to repeat on and drag it from the Data Source

window (pane 3 in Image 2) onto the document where you want it. When you drop it,

choose Repeating Section.

When this is done, the text “Customize this for…..” will appear. Remove this and start

placing text or fields (see 3.7).

3 . 6 . C R E A T I N G A R E P E A T I N G T A B L E

A common use of table is to have one table row for each item in the xml file, e.g. you want

one row per room. To create this do one of the following:


Drag the item you want to have one row for each item of from the navigation bar (3)

onto the document (1). Then select Repeating table. You can substitute the default

column fields with your chosen column fields.

Create a table from Insert->Table with one row and header (if you want this) and the

desired number of columns. Then position the cursor in the row (the second one if

you have a header), right click and select Convert to repeating row. Then select the

item to repeat for, e.g. /drofus-xml/room-container/room to repeat for each room.

3 . 7 . C R E A T I N G A F I E L D

Inserting a field is the common way to get data from the XML source into the document.

To insert a field you can either just drag and drop the data element you would like to show

from the data source window or position the cursor where you want to place the field and

select Insert->Field. Again, you will be asked for an XPath expression. It is important to

note the Context that is printed at the top of the window, as the XPath expression you

create will be relative to this.

In this example you are in context of a room, e.g. you have created a section or repeating

table for each room. You can then navigate to the attribute you want by e.g. expanding

core and double click on the room_func_no attribute to get the room number. This will

construct the following expression:

core/@room_func_no

3 . 8 . S T Y L E F O R M A T T I N G ( F O N T , W E I G H T E T C )

You can format your text in the report in three different ways:

Use the Home → Font menu options


Use the properties pane window. That way you can also set this to parts of the report

that is not "visible" in the preview. E.g. set a font or color to a block for a large part of

the report.

Use styles from a style sheet. Home → Styles. This is similar to styles in Word and

lets you create common styles and easily change them later. You can also share

styles between multiple reports. If no styles are present you can choose Home →

Styles → Change Styles to create a new style sheet or assign an existing one.

3 . 9 . D A T A F O R M A T T I N G A F I E L D ( D A T E , N U M B E R S )

If you have an xml field that you would like to apply a specific formatting to (e.g. last

changed date) you can specify this under the group Home → Formatting. Make sure you

first select the field you would like to format. You can then:

1) Choose from a list of predefined formatting or

2) Set a custom format

Under custom format you can create your own pattern or choose between a wide range of

predefined patterns. Example:

dd MMM yyyy hh:mm a

This will print the date with the month with only three characters followed by the time

without seconds, with AM/PM (10 Nov 2011 03:16 PM).

3 . 1 0 . U S I N G B U I L D I N G B L O C K S

Building blocks are reusable components that you can insert into you reports. The sample

package comes with some building blocks that you can use in the reports that you create.

Not only are building blocks an easy way to create new reports fast, but if you extract

common parts of your reports into a building block you can update the building block and

in that way update all the reports that is using the building block.

To add a building block place the cursor where you want to insert it and choose Insert →

Building block. Then locate the building block in the building block directory of the sample

package. You can also use the pull down menu under the same menu after you have

added the building block directory under Insert → Building block → Manage building

blocks.


A building block is made for a specific data context (in the xml), e.g. the room core must

be in the section that has the room node as context. The building blocks included in the

samples are described in chapter 0.

3 . 1 1 . U N L O A D I N G B U I L D I N G B L O C K S

If you have inserted a building block into your report and want to edit it, but do not want to

save the changes to the building block file, you can right click on it and select Unload

Building Block. This inserts the content of the building block into the report. This way your

changes will not affect the building block file.

3 . 1 2 . C O N T E X T O F B U I L D I N G B L O C K S

Most of the building blocks require you to be in a specific context. This is important to

understand if you would like to use a building block. This is because the X-paths are

normally relative with regards to the context of where you are (see 3.7).

E.g. if you have a building block that is intended to be used in the room context and would

like to use this in a new report you must first make sure you are in the room context by

e.g. inserting a repeating section for each room (below room-container) and then insert

the building block in this repeating section.

3 . 1 3 . P A G E L A Y O U T A N D P A G E S E T

In your report you can have multiple different layouts and parts of your document. The

page layout specifies page size, margins and content of headers and footers. Each part

of the report, called a Page Set, uses one or more page layouts. It is in the page set that

you define the content of the report. For example you can have a cover page with one

layout and no header/footer and one page set with the RDS for each room that has

another page layout. You can even have different layouts for different header/footer for

odd and even pages. For example:


In order to view the pagination setup, make sure to check the pagination check box in

View → Show/hide → Pagination.

Page layout

To add a page layout, right click on the "Layouts" and select "Add page layout". To

rename a page layout, right click on the layout and select "Rename".

A document layout has the following regions:

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Body. This is where the content of the report flows…

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Footer, with "precedence" checked

You can edit the page layout by either double clicking on it in the pagination window or

selecting an option from the menu: Page Layout →Layouts

In the page layout properties window, you can define both the page size in general (in the

Page properties) and the size of the different regions.

Important: The body region (where the main content of the report is added) does not

have a size (the page has it), but it has margins and padding. The margin is the total

margin from the page size to the body content. So if you for example would like to have a

header that is 3 cm high (Extent) you need to set both the extent of the header and make

sure that the body has a top margin of at least 3 cm. Otherwise, the content of the body

and header would overlap. If you check the precedence option for the header or footer it

will fill the total width (precedence over the left and right regions):


Two column page layout

You can let the body region of a layout flow in two columns. This can be used to both

show more information in a single page or to e.g. setup a report with different elements in

two columns. You can set the number of columns from the menu Page Layout → Columns

or in properties for the Page Layout select the Regions tab and Body region "Column

count".

Edit footer / header

Each page layout has a header and a footer you can edit and add content to. You can edit

the content of the header and footer by either double clicking in the header/footer area of

the page with the page layout you would like to edit or you can choose which page layout

to edit from the bottom part of the menu option: Page layout → Layouts → Edit page layout.

Page set

A page set is where you define the content of your report and where you normally add the

xml. Usually you apply one page layout to all the pages in a page set, but you can also

add two different layouts and let one layout be for the first page and another for the rest.


You can also add one page layout for odd pages and one for even pages if you for

example would like to only show page number in one of them.

To create a new page set go to Page Layout → Pages → Add page set. From the "Add

page set" dialog click "Add" to specify what page layout to use for the new page set.

You can organize the order of the page sets by right clicking on the page set in the

Pagination view and select "move up/down".

Dynamic page set

A dynamic page set is a page set that create (at least) one page per item from the XML.

An example would be an RDS report where each page has information from the room.

The best way to do this is to add a dynamic page set.

From Page Layout →Pages, click the lower part of the "Add page set" and choose "Add

dynamic page set":

Click Add to add the layout you would like to use for the RDS report.

Click the small arrow to the right of the "Repeat" to navigate to the room node from XML

that each page should get data from:


From the sort option you can define what order the rooms should come in. Click the small

arrow to the right of the "Sort" and click add to add a parameter from the XML and set

sorting options. The following example is ordered by name and then by programmed area:

3 . 1 4 . I T E M I N F O R M A T I O N I N H E A D E R / F O O T E R

In order to show information about the item (e.g. room or FF&E) in the header or footer

you should use a "Dynamic page set" as described in 3.13. Then you can just insert fields

(3.7) as normal into the header and footer.


3 . 1 5 . I M A G E S F R O M X M L A N D S T A T I C I M A G E S

Images from dRofus (in XML)

If you would like to use images from dRofus in your report, you cannot drag and drop

them in, but need to go to: Insert → Graphics →Image. Select the "…" button on the right of

the "File Url":

Select the xml element based on your context to get the path:

And press OK.

Defining max width and height of images from XML

To control the size of the image we can resize the image in design view, but this will not

be good enough, since the size of the room core is not actual size from the building block

and we need to set a max width/height. The way to do this is to get the size you would like

to use by changing the size in designer mode. In order to free form both width and height


you must make sure that "Preserve Aspect Ratio" under Image Tools → Format is not

checked. You can now preview to validate that max size is correct, but as you can see the

image will not preserve the correct ratio. Open properties and then copy the values from

Image → Content width/height to Width/height in Positioning and change from non-uniform

to uniform scaling:

External images

You can also include images that are not stored in dRofus. Just select the image you

would like to include. It is important that you then check the "Embed File" option else the

images will not be included when generating the report on the server:

3 . 1 6 . D E C I M A L S Y M B O L

You must use the English decimal symbol (.) when assigning decimal numbers in a report.

The reason is that the dRofus report server internally uses the English locale.


4. IMPORTING REPORTS TO DROFUS

4 . 1 . E XP O R T I N G T E M P L A T E F R O M X F D E S I G N E R

Templates made in XF Designer can be exporter to an XSL template file and the imported

into dRofus so that the user can run it from within dRofus like any other report.

Important: Before you export from XF Designer make sure you enable a plugin in order

for the CSS (style) information to be included properly. Go to File → Options → Plugins and

select Ecrion.CSS.Serializer as the Current CSS Serializer plugin.

To export your report to an XSL template file uploading go to Home → Export to XSL.

4 . 2 . I M P O R T R E P O R T T E M P L A T E T O D R O F U S

When you have exported the template file you can import it back into dRofus. Go to the

Reports and Exports and choose the built in PDF report that contains the data and options

that the new report is based upon. If you used one of the samples that follow this

document, the report to use stated under “XML from report” section in chapter 5.1. In the

options screen for the report, make the choices that you want to be non-configurable for

the user when he runs the report. E.g. if your report is room list and you want the XML to

contain area sums that will make your report work, check the “With area sums” checkbox.

This will always be checked and read-only for the users that later run your report. Press

‘New/Save’ at the bottom of the screen (if you do not see this button you do not have write

permissions to the module this report is intended for)

Make adjustments to the title and description as you want. Tick away the Shared

checkbox if you only want this report to be visible to you. If the report is shared it could


optionally be placed in a folder (you have to make the folder in the report overview in

advance).

Then choose the “Custom template” option and then select your XSL file for upload. You

could also optionally upload your original design file (XF Designer file) so that you or

anyone else can download this to make new adjustments to the report. Click OK when

you are finished. The new report is now visible in the report tree and is ready to run.


5. EXAMPLE REPORTS

5 . 1 . R E P O R T S

FF&E list

Filename: FF&E list.xfd

Level Beginner

XML from report: Other export->FF&E Catalog XML export - Include FF&E items - Include FF&E cost - With sub FF&E

XML sample file: xml/ffe_with_cost.xml

Key concepts Table repeat, sum

This report prints out FF&E items in a table. If the item has sub items, this is printed below

the parent. The report uses a repeating table row (see 3.6) for each /drofus-

xml/article-container/article. Inside the name column there is a repeating section

for sub-article-list/sub-article that will list the sub FF&E items.

At the bottom we use the sum function to sum the cost for all items. The XPATH

expression for this is:

sum(/drofus-xml/article-container/article/cost/price/net/excluding-

vat/)

FF&E list grouped

Filename: FF&E list grouped.xfd

Level Advanced

XML from report: FF&E -> FF&E lists -> FF&E list grouped by FF&E level

XML sample file: xml/ffe_with_cost.xml

Key concepts Dynamic indentation, condition, table repeat, key/index

This report demonstrates how to print the hierarchical FF&E catalog structure with FF&E

items. The report traverses the <level> structure that represents the FF&E catalog

structure. To do this we have a repeating section over the <level> nodes. It is important to

note that <level> nodes are nested in each other to represent the hierarchical structure.

For this reason, simply drag and drop the first level on to the document and create a

repeating section over the expression that is created (/drofus-xml/level). The expression

will not work because it will only iterate over the <level> nodes at the top level, not the sub

levels. To get this done we use an expression that will select all <level> nodes in the

document regardless of where it is placed in the XML structure. This expression can be:

//level


To get an indent for subgroups we use a dynamic value for the ‘Alignment & Indentation -

> Start Indent’ property set to: concat(@depth*5,’mm’). This uses the depth attribute for

the level which is 0 for the group (top level), 1 for subgroups etc. this is multiplied with 5

and the result is concatenated with mm that gives the length unit in millimeter. You can

use inc to get inches. This gives an indentation of 0 for groups, 5 for subgroups, 10 for

sub sub group and so on.

Below each group is a table with FF&E items (articles). The table is inside a conditional

section where the condition is count(article) > 0 that will return false if there is no items in

the group. This will prevent the table header to appear when there is no need for it. You

can insert a conditional section from Insert->Conditional Section.

The table has a table header and a repeatable row as explained in 3.6. Use the XPATH

expression article.

In the xml source the level node has child nodes called <article> that represents an FF&E

item. This node has only one attribute, @ref, that contains an id to an article item under

the /drofus-xml/article-container node. To get to the FF&E item data we need to do a look

up under the correct <article> node that has this same id. To do this efficiently we create a

index that we can use. See 5.3 to learn more about indexes. To do this, paste the

following code into the Review->Global XSLT window.

<xsl:key match="article" name="article-index" use="@id"/>

This will index all <article> nodes based on the id attribute.

To create a table column, e.g. the FF&E no column, choose Insert->Field and enter the

following XPATH expression

key('article-index', @ref)/core/@article_func_no

You could then of course copy/paste this field into the other column. Look under article-

container/article for available fields.

The sum for each group is printed after each FF&E listing and the sum for groups with sub

groups is also listed after each of the subgroups. To get this done we have two conditional

sections. The first one will print the sum after each listing and should be done only if there

are no sub groups so the condition for this is:

not(level)

To get the sum for all the groups that have subgroups, we need to do this at the end of the

last subgroup. To do this we use the following condition:

not(following-sibling::level) and parent::level

This one ensures that it is the last level and that it has a parent level.


Room list

Filename: Room list.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: Room -> Room list -> With area sums

XML sample file: xml/rooms.xml

Key concepts Repeating table, key/index

This is a simple list of all rooms. It has a repeating table (see 3.6) for room that was

created by just dragging the <room> XML node from the data source pane (3) from

drofus-xml/room-container into the document.

The “hard” part of this report is the third column that shows the top function name

(department) in which this room is placed. The header field for this column uses the top

<level> attribute description which contains the description of this function level. This uses

the following expression

/drofus-xml/level[1]/@description

This simply goes to the first level node in the document and gets the @description

attribute.

To get the column content we have to look in the <level> hierarchy which represents the

functional structure. In this we will find all the same rooms as in the <room-container> but

only the rooms that has a @ref attribute that refers to the room-container/room/@id

attribute. To be able to reference this room we need an index. To create this, paste the

following code in to the Review->Global XSLT window.

<xsl:key match="room" name="room-ref-key" use="@ref"/>

This will index all <room> nodes based on the ref attribute. We can then use this to look

up the same room as we are currently processing by doing

key('room-ref-key', @id)

Because we also want the top level above this room the complete expression for the field

is:

key('room-ref-key',@id)/ancestor::level[last()]/@name

This looks up the room in the level tree, gets all the level nodes above it, picks the last

one and the gets the name attribute, phui...


Room list by function

Filename: Room list by function.xfd

Level Advanced


XML sample file: xml/rooms.xml


This report is almost identical to the FF&E list grouped report described above. Since the

<level> nodes in this case represents the room functional hierarchy just as it represented

the FF&E catalog structure the <level> traversing will be identical, we just refer to rooms

and use the room-container instead of the article and article-container nodes. The sums

are also constructed the same way.

Room list by group

Filename: Room list by group.xfd

Level Advanced


XML sample file: xml/room per group.xml


The Room list by group example is also identical to the FF&E list grouped report in that

now the <level> nodes represent the group type/group structure. It has some simplification

of the fields in the header and the sum for each top level is removed since it is not

interesting to see the sum for programmed area for a group type in total.

RDS – simple sample, building blocks

Filename: RDS - simple sample, building blocks.xfd

Level Beginner

XML from report: Rooms -> Room Data Sheet

XML sample file: xml/rds-datatypes-sample.xml

Key concepts Room info in header, building blocks, dynamic page set

This report is built up almost only by using building blocks. We have defined a custom

header so that we can show both the room function number and the geographical (if it has

any value) in the header. It also uses a dynamic page set for each room ordered by room

function number. See 3.13 for how to create dynamic page sets and change the order of

the rooms. See 3.10 on how to insert building blocks. The room core building block needs

an index over all the room ref nodes so the following xpath expression has been added in

the Review->Global XSLT window:

<xsl:key match="room" name="room-ref-index" use="@ref"/>


RDS – simple sample, building blocks with FF&E list

Filename: RDS - simple sample, building blocks with FF&E list.xfd

Level Beginner


XML sample file: xml/rds-datatypes-with-ffe-sample.xml


This is the same report as the RDS – simple sample, building blocks report except that it

also contains the FF&E in room building block.

RDS – simple sample

Filename: RDS - simple sample.xfd

Level Beginner



Key concepts Room info in header, dynamic page set

This report is basically the same as the RDS – simple sample report. However, instead of

using building blocks we have unloaded the building blocks so the content of the building

blocks have been copied into the report. This makes it very easy to adjust everything in

the report.

RDS – cafeteria sample, 2-column with images

Filename: RDS - cafeteria sample, 2-column with images.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: Rooms -> Room Data Sheet → With pictures

XML sample file: xml/rds-cafeteria-sample.xml

Key concepts Layout in two columns. Positioning and including images.

This report is created by first creating a page layout of A3, defining two column layouts in

the body region and setting the orientation to landscape.

Then, using building blocks, add room core information and RDS data. By default the RDS

data would flow directly below the room core. In order to make the RDS data always start

in column 2 you have to select the block-repeat element for the RDS in the navigation bar

and in the properties set Keeps & Breaks → Break Before to column.

See chapter 3.15 on how to insert images from xml. I used the position of the image to

define what image was the detail image and what was the key plan image. In the source

path for the image I therefore modified it to:

pictures/picture[@position='1']/@image_data. To get image 2 (key plan) we just

change position='2'. By default the images would overflow if they are too big, so we need

to control this by setting a max size and placement as described in the images chapter.

The key plan: After adding the image. Right click on it and select "Absolute positioning". I

can then drag it to the bottom left corner of the report.


The room core building block needs an index over all the room ref nodes so the following

xpath expression has been added in the Review->Global XSLT window:


RDS - room template simple sample

Filename: RDS - room template simple sample.xfd

Level Beginner

XML from report: Room Templates (or Templates) -> Room Data Sheet

XML sample file: xml/ rds-room-template-offices.xml


This is a report of RDS for a room template. It has a table with core information about the

room template and uses the dynamic gui building block for the specification. We have

defined a custom header so that we can room template values in the header. It also uses

a dynamic page set for each room template ordered by room function number. See 3.13

for how to create dynamic page sets and change the order of the rooms. See 3.10 on how

to insert building blocks.

RDS - room template simple sample with FF&E list

Filename: RDS - room template simple sample with FF&E list.xfd

Level Beginner

XML from report: Room Templates (or Templates) -> Room Data Sheet

XML sample file: xml/ rds-room-template-offices.xml


This is the same report as the RDS – room template simple sample report except that it

also contains the FF&E in room building block.

Page layout sample

Filename: Page layout sample.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: Room → Room Data Sheet OR Equipment list per room


Key concepts Cover page, different page layout for different part of the document

This sample illustrates some of the possibilities with different page layout and page sets

(see chapter 3.13).

It includes a cover page with some data in the template and some data from the XML,

then a blank page. These first pages do not have any header and footer. The rest of the

report is one page per room and they both have a header, but different footer if it is an odd

or even page number.


FF&E in room

Filename: FF&E in room.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: Room → Equipment list per room

XML sample file: xml/ffe_in_room.xml

Key concepts Building Blocks, Dynamic page set

As the RDS – simple sample report this report uses a dynamic page set for each room

ordered by room function number. It also uses the standard header and footer building

blocks and the room core building block. In addition it has the FF&E in room building

block. The FF&E in room building block needs an index of all the articles and the room

core building block needs an index of all the ref rooms in order to function properly so the

following xpath expression has been added in the Review->Global XSLT window:



FF&E specification

Filename: FF&E specifications.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: FF&E → FF&E specifications (→ With pictures)

XML sample file: xml/ffe_specification.xml

Key concepts Building Blocks, Dynamic page set, Keys, Images

This report uses a dynamic page set for each article (FF&E item) ordered by FF&E

number (see 3.13). It uses the standard footer building block, but created a custom

header (copied the building block) and added the FF&E number. It uses the FF&E

specification building block to show the specification.

The FF&E "Core" information is shown in a table. The price is formatted using the

formatting tool (see 3.9). The placement information is the only advanced entry here.

Since we don’t know what depth in level the FF&E item resides and the level structure is a

separate structure in the XML (see 6.2) we use an inline repeat to iterate for each level

above, starting at the bottom using the following XPATH:

key('article-ref-index',@id)/ancestor::level

The first part key('article-ref-index',@id) uses an index to find the level for the article

(FF&E). The second part ancestor::level means get all the ancestors of type level (all the

parents) from the level. And we then print the number and name for each of them. In order

for this to work we also need a key defined in Review → Global XSLT:

<xsl:key match="article" name="article-ref-index" use="@ref"/>


Dynamic GUI (RDS, FF&E specification) styles and options

Filename: Example of dynamic GUI styles and options.xfd

Level Medium

XML from report: Room -> Room Data Sheet

XML sample file: xml/rds-datatypes-layout-sample.xml

Key concepts Building Blocks, Dynamic GUI, Parameters

This report shows the usage of building blocks to show dynamic GUI and to pass options

to this.

It also shows how the “XSL report template” value when defining dynamic GUI in the client

has when using the dynamic GUI building block.

Spesific placement of dynamic GUI flags/groups

Filename: Custom placement of tabs and groups from dynamic GUI.xfd

Level Medium


XML sample file: xml/rds-room-template-offices.xml

Key concepts Building Blocks, Dynamic GUI, Parameters

This report uses the dynamic GUI building blocks to show specific flags (tabs) and groups

in your report.

Use style sheets to modify the looks of dynamic GUI reports

Filename: Using CSS styles to modify dynamic GUI report.xfd and Using CSS styles to modify dynamic GUI report-original.xfd

Level Easy


XML sample file: xml/rds-datatypes-layout-sample.xml

Key concepts Building Blocks, Dynamic GUI, Parameters, Style Sheets

These reports use the dynamic GUI building block to print RDS, but assign a different

style sheet (drofus2.css and drofus.css) to show how they report changes.

It also contains some tips and tricks if you would like to make your report more compact.

5 . 2 . B U I L D I N G B L O C K S

Building blocks can help you create new reports fast, but they can also let you modify

common parts in multiple reports in only one design file – the building block file.

The building block must normally be in the context of a specific element in the XML. E.g.

the room core building block will only work as expected if the context where it is used

matches room. If the context is wrong the xpath expressions in the building block will not

retrieve any values.


Room Core

Filename: room-core-bb.xfc

Level Medium

XML context: room

Shows selected information from the room. It is built to look like the default from existing

reports in dRofus.

Header

Filename: header-bb.xfc

Level Beginner

XML context: (none)

This building block is a simple header with project logo, and constructor and project name

in left corner and name of the report in the right corner with a solid border at the bottom of

the header.

Footer

Filename: footer-bb.xfc

Level Beginner

XML context: (none)

This building block is a simple footer with information about who generated the report and

when (from the xml) and page number. It has a solid border at the top of the footer.

RDS specification (Dynamic GUI)

Filename: rds-bb.xfc

Level Beginner

XML context: Room

This is a simple wrapper using the dynamic GUI building block to enable it to be used in

context of room.

FF&E specification (Dynamic GUI)

Filename: ffe-specification-bb.xfc

Level Beginner

XML context: Article (FF&E)

This is a simple wrapper using the dynamic GUI building block to enable it to be used in

the context of article (FF&E).


Dynamic GUI Simple (RDS/FF&E specification etc)

Filename: dynamic-gui-bb-simple.xfc

Level Medium

XML context: Any node that has flags, e.g. RDS, equipment-specification etc

This will create a table and show all dynamic GUI in a table. All data is presented using

one building block which means you can easily modify everything. All the formatting is set

in the style sheet for easy manipulation. See chapter 6.5 for how this xml is exported. See

5.4 for description of the different styles used.

Note that this does not use the flag and group layout-mode so that all data is presented in

the same setup/layout.

The building block is created as a table that creates a row for each flag and with flag label

using style dyn-flag-header. For each group within the flag it creates a new row with the

group label using style dyn-group-header. For each element within the group it creates a

new row and shows the element label in the left cell using style dyn-element-label. In the

right cell it shows all the fields for the element.

Each field has a @label property but in order to know if this should be shown before or

after the @value we use an inline condition and look at the attribute @show-label

(1=before, 2=after).

The field also has a property @data-type which specifies if the field is a logic (checkbox),

numeric, option (combobox/radiobox), date, html (formatted text) or text. We use this

information to print different values using an inline condition.

If @data-type is logic we look at @db-value to show an image of a checked/unchecked

check box instead of the Yes/No values.

If @data-type is html we convert the html data in order to print the text and keeping the

formatting (colors etc) from the database the html value in the child element html-data

must be converted. We provide a sample XSL to convert this (reports/xhtml2fo.xsl). In

order to use this you must first include this: Go to Review → Template → Global XSLT

and add this value:

<xsl:include href="xhtml2fo.xsl"/>

In the document where you have html data and would like to call this you must manually

edit the text view of the report and type this when you are in the context of an element

(field) with html data:

<xsl:apply-templates select="html-data"/>


Dynamic GUI (RDS/FF&E specification etc)

Filename: dynamic-gui-bb.xfc This building block is also using:

dynamic-gui-fields-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-flag-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-group-description-group-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-group-dyn-field-table-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-group-element-label-column-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-group-general-bb.xfc dynamic-gui-group-layout-selector-bb.xfc

Level Medum (Usage), Advanced (Modifications)


Parameter(s) options = see below for description

This is an alternative (preferred) to using the dynamic-gui-bb-simple.xfc building block.

Look at the sample reports Custom placement of tabs and groups from dynamic GUI.xfd

and Example of dynamic GUI styles and options.xfd for how to pass parameters and see

the effect of possible options.

Instead of one building block that handles flag, group, element and field nodes, it is

broken down into several building blocks. It also has logic where it uses different building

blocks depending on the XSL report template defined in the Dynamic GUI editor in dRofus

(layout-mode in XML) for both flag and group:

Terminology: Here I will use the same name of the different parts of the dynamic GUI

that we use in the xml. See section 6.5 for description of the different parts.

Options: This building block can take several options (described below) in order to modify

the layout further. To give an option to the building block you must double click on the

building block and click the "more >>" button to add parameters. Add a parameter with the

name options and in value you specify the option(s). If you would like to give more than

one option, just add them all in the value separated by comma.

Placement of groups within a flag

Flags (or tabs) are the top level of grouping we have in dynamic data (normally presented


as tabs in the dRofus client). Within each flag we have one or more groups. We currently

support three different forms of layout:

flag: Default layout. It will then print all the groups one at the time using the whole

available width. It will order by column number first and then row number. Meaning it

will print everything from column one, then all the groups in the second column etc.

two-column-flag: This will print the groups in two columns. First it will place everything

set to be in column one and two in client And then, if there are groups that are not in

column one or two it will split the rest over the two columns.

thee-column-flag. This behaves exactly like two columns, except one more column.

Different group styles

The XSL report template styles for flag is mostly about how to layout the groups, but for

groups we have more options for how the data is presented.

The following styles are supported:

description-group (and document-group). This will print the element label (if the

element has one) in a separate row and then print the element in the whole available

width.

group. This is the default, and most common group. This will print the data the most

similar to the way it is presented in the client. It will make one column for the element

label and then one column for the fields (data) where all the data for the element will

follow. So if you have an element with a text field and then a numeric field the

numeric data will be printed right after the text is finished.

flow-group. This will just create one row for each element and let the fields (data)

follow right after the element label (no defined with for element label). Use this if you

have very limited space and it is not important to make the data align.

dyn-field-table. Like group it creates a column for the label, but then it will create a

new table for each element with as many columns as the element has fields. So if you

have two elements with three fields each it will be aligned. This is nice to use if you

e.g. has many elements with multiple check boxes each and they all have a label. If

you use group they will not align, but if you use this they will. Numeric values can be

right aligned if specified in option.

two-column and three-column. This will split the elements into two or three columns

within the group. It will use the same order as they have in the client, but in column

one print the first halve (or third) and then continue to the next column. Each group

are using the group style. The only exception is if the option to show check boxes first

is set - then the style flow-group is used instead. Note that if the group already is

within a flag that is two or three column the available space for each column is very

limited.

Options to pass to the building blocks

Custom element label column width: For all the group styles except flow-group and

description-group we print the group element label in a separate column to align the fields

(data). The default width of this is 35% of the available width and the rest goes to the data.

But in some cases you have very long or very short labels and would like to change this. If


so just pass the option element-label-column-percentage-width=XX where XX is the

percentage value for the column (do not include the %).

Column width when using multiple columns: If you have a flag or group XSL style with

more than one column we adjust this up so that you get a larger % of the available group

for the label. Two/three columns style is often used when you have many "simple"

elements with e.g. numeric or check boxes, and you therefor need more space for labels

(if you have default 35% of the page width for labels and you have a two column then

there is only 17.5% of the page width for label). In the case of two/three columns where

therefore “automatically” adjust this value. The algorithm we use for this is as follows:

two-columns: Label width = (column-width) + ((column-width) * (100-column-width)%).

E.g. if column width is 35, then column width of two column = 35 + 35*65% = 58%. In

other words - if you have a small percentage for column width then you get a relatively

larger width in two columns (but the width in cm is still smaller) than if you already have a

large percentage for the column width.

Specify columns for dynamic field table: When using dynamic field table the default

behavior is to give each field the same relative width. E.g. if three columns they all get 1/3

each no matter if it is a checkbox or a text field. You can pass options to specify the

relative size for each column using the option: dyn-field-table-column-width-NN=XX. Here

NN must be replaced with the column index and XX is the relative size.

If you use this option it is important that you specify enough values for the maximum

number of columns that are going to be printed. If you e.g. have one element with four

fields and one with three, you must specify four values. The element with three would then

only use the first three.

Right align numeric data in dynamic field table: If using dynamic field table you can

give an extra option: right-align-numeric-in-table=true to make right align numeric values

in the column.

Important note for dynamic field table: The built in version of this style is much more

fragile when it comes to using this style. It expects that all the elements in the group has

the same number of fields - and if it does not it will crash. So use this style with care, and

if you use it the built in reports might not work.

Indentation for disabled elements: In dRofus you can set up the dynamic GUI so that

some fields are enabled or disabled depending on if a check box is checked or not. This is

a quite common "pattern" and used e.g. to enable a description field. But sometime you

also use this to enable/disable all the fields in another element. In that case the whole

element is enabled/disabled by another field. In the default reports these elements are not

printed at all unless the field is checked. But when using these building blocks they are.

The default style for this is that the label is grey (you can modify the style dyn-disabled-

label in the CSS if you would like to show this in another way). But one thing you cannot

control using this style is the indentation. To set indentation of elements that are

enabled/disabled by a checkbox in another element set: element-is-disabled-bylabel-

indent=XXyy. Note that this option not only need the value XX, but also the unit yy (e.g.

mm, px, pt etc).


Show checkboxes in front of element label: If the first field of an element in dRofus is a

checkbox, and this field does not have its own label one could say that the checkbox is for

the element and not the field it selves. But in the client and the default layout in the reports

is to show it after the element label.

You can overwrite this feature in the report by passing the option show-checkbox-before-

element-label=true. If the first field of an element is checkbox and the checkbox does not

have its own label (or it has a label, but the option Show label= "Do not show label") then

the checkbox is printed before the element label and excluded from the fields to print after.

A special note about using this style in combination with the two- or three-column-group

xsl style: Normally when using two- or three-column group style we would split the

elements into two or three parts and print each of them in a column using the group

layout-style. But if show checkboxes in front option is set and we have a two- or three-

column group we would print them using the flow-group style instead. This is because a

normal pattern for using this is to have a lot of checkboxes in a group and optionally some

text fields after the checkboxes. If we use the group style in a two or three column there is

very limited space left for the content column (with fields). And we also do not need to

align the checkboxes any more (they are in front) so any additional fields would just flow

after the element label.

Control if group label should be printed: Default behavior is that before we print any of

the elements in the group we print the group label if the group has any label. You can

control the style (font/borders/colors etc.) in the style sheet, but using an option you can

also control when it should be shown (or not).

You can pass the option show-group-label=mode, where mode is one of:

always: Will always make room for the group label even if the group does not have a

label.

nonempty: Will print the label if the group has any label (even if it is not shown in the

client). This is the default behaviour.

inclient: Will print the label only if the group has a label and it is also shown in the

client (e.g. "Show border" is true for the group).

never: Will never print the group label.

Using more than one option: More than one option can be given to the same parameter

option, just comma seperated.

Example: To give the element label column width of 25%, show checkboxes before

elements, never show group label, indent disabled elements by 5mm and custom columns

for the flow table - use the following option:

show-checkbox-before-element-label=true,element-is-disabled-by-label-

indent=5mm,element-label-column-percentagewidth=25,show-group-

label=never,dyn-field-table-column-width-1=1,dyn-field-table-column-

width-2=2,dyn-field-table-column-width-3=12


Dynamic GUI for one or more specific flag(s)

Filename: dynamic-gui-flags-from-id.xfc

Level Medium


Parameter(s) flag-numbers = comma separated list of flag-ids to include options = see dynamic gui building block for description

This is a building bloc that lets you use the dynamic GUI building blocks, but instead of

printing all the content, you can pass the flag(s) you would like to print. E.g. if you would

like to have a custom table layout with some flags in column 1, then some images in

column two and then the rest of the flags after this.

See the dynamic GUI building block for description (layout and options) and sample report

Custom placement of tabs and groups from dynamic GUI.xfd for usage.

Dynamic GUI for one or more specific group(s)

Filename: dynamic-gui-groups-from-id.xfc

Level Medium

XML context: Any node that has groups, e.g. flag in RDS, equipment-specification etc

Parameter(s) flag-number = flag-id to get groups from group-numbers = comma separated list of group id’s options = see dynamic gui building block for description

This is a building bloc that lets you use the dynamic GUI building blocks, but instead of

printing all the content, you can pass the group(s) you would like to print.

See the dynamic GUI building block for description (layout and options) and sample report

Custom placement of tabs and groups from dynamic GUI.xfd for usage.

FF&E in room

Filename: ffe-in-room.xfc

Level Medium

XML context: room

This building block shows an FF&E list for room. It could be used in a separate report or in

combination with for instance RDS.

It contains a repeating table over room/occurrence-list/occurrence to list all occurrences in

room. To get to the FF&E item information we use a key/index since the occurrence is

only a reference to articles in drofus-xml/article-container. We use this in the global xslt:


To get e.g. the FF&E number we do like this

key('article-index',article/@ref)/core/@article_func_no


It includes sub FF&E it they exists. They are italic and the number is indented and this is

done by doing some conditional formatting on the table-row and the block around the

FF&E number.

5 . 3 . C R E A T I N G I N D E X E S

Take a look at the following xml. It contains one function level with one room node and a

room-container with one room node:

<drofus-xml>

<room-container>

<room id=”123”>

<core name=”foobar”/>

</room>

</room-container>

<level>

<room ref=”123”/>

</level>

</drofus-xml>

I want to create a report which traverses the level structure and shows information about

the rooms underneath them. The traversing is done by creating a repeating section with

/drofus-xml/level as xpath expression. However, the room node underneath the level node

is only a reference node (ref node), meaning it links or refers to a corresponding room-

container/room node. Ref nodes are used in order to avoid duplicating information several

places in the xml file. The link between the two room nodes is that the value of the @ref

attribute equals the value of the @id attribute.

When traversing the level node and we find the room ref node, we need a way to retrieve

the corresponding room node since it contains all the room data. The way to do this is by

creating an index. This is done by manually inserting the following xpath expression into

Review->Global XSLT window.

<xsl:match key=”room-index” match=”room” use=”@id”/>

It creates an index called “room-index” containing all the room nodes in the xml file that

contains a @id attribute. It is possible to create several indexes in the same document.

They just need a unique name.

In our report I want to insert a repeating table showing the room name for all the rooms

underneath the levels. Then I insert a field with the following xpath expression:


key(‘room-index’, @ref)/core/@name

I am in the context of a room ref node which has a @ref attribute. Using the @ref value I

retrieve the room node with a matching @id value from the index called “room-index”. The

xpath expression key(‘room-index’, @ref) returns the room node and it contains a core

node with a @name attribute.

Important: The xsl in a building block might require one or more indexes to be defined.

This can either be done in the Review->Global XSLT Window for the building block or in

the main report using the building block.

5 . 4 . S T Y L E S H E E T S

In XF Designer you can assign a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) in order to extract the style

from the layout. This is an easy way to define a common style (e.g. font size, weight etc.)

for common elements in your reports. Then you only need to update your style to change

how your report looks like.

In the samples all the reports uses the style sheet dRofus.css. In addition there is also a

style sheet dRofus2.css that you can try to assign to any of the sample to see the

difference. They both have the following styles:

Style name: Description/use

block.report-common Special style that is applied to the root block in the document. Here you can define the common font and style etc. for all the elements that do not explicitly get another style later.

.core-header-cell Defines the background color etc. for the header row in the item core tables.

.core-body-cell Defines the border around the item core in building block.

.core-label Labels in room core building block. Sets font style to italic

.core-value Values in room core building block. Sets font weight to bold, right aligns the text and sets some padding at the end.

.dyn-flag-header-cell Used for the table cell holding dynamic GUI flag label information. Sets background to gray and centers the text.

.dyn-flag-body-cell Defines the border around the content of the flag (the groups).

block.dyn-group-header The group label in dynamic GUI. Font weight bold and a border/line below the label.

block.dyn-element-label Label of elements in dynamic GUI

block.dyn-element-values

Values (fields) for dynamic GUI. Sets font style to italic.


5 . 5 . V I D E O T U T O R I A L S

1) Room list

This video demonstrates how to use one of the samples included in this package and

customize it to contain the data we would like. It demonstrates:

Export data from dRofus and assign it to a report

Change the order of a repeating row (order of the rooms).

Change the content of the report both in header and room list

2) FF&E Specification

This video demonstrates how to create a custom report from scratch. In this case a FF&E

specification report. It demonstrates:

Create a new report and define page sets and layout

Inserting a building block

Customize the report by modifying the style sheet

Set properties to block elements

Create a custom cover page

5 . 6 . M A R G I N A N D P A D D I N G P I T F A L L S

The XF Designer and the drofus reportserver use different software to generate the

reports. Unfortunately it sometimes causes reports exported from XF Designer to look

different than it does in XF Designer. This is only a problem when assigning margins

and/or paddings to blocks and table cells.

top-margin for blocks - Margins don’t appear in XF Designer but will appear in

reports generated on the drofus reportserver.

margin and padding for table cells – it’s best to avoid assigning margins and

padding to table cells since they seem to be supported quite differently.


6. DROFUS XML DOCUMENTATION

6 . 1 . G E N E R A L

drofus-xml: This is the root node

drofus-xml/property-set: This is general properties for the project and the reports. The

most important properties here are:

o drofus-xml/property-set/@constructor: Project constructor

o drofus-xml/property-set/@project_name: Project name

o drofus-xml/property-set/@print_date: Timestamp for when the XML was

generated.

o drofus-xml/property-set/@title: Report title

drofus-xml/project-pictures: This node contains logo/image for the project. There are

3 types of images: image-small is the small logo intended for report, image-large is

the pictures showed on the login screen of the client, image-large-print could be used

as a front-page large picture for print. To create an image in the report see 3.15.

6 . 2 . L E V E L

The /drofus-xml/level nodes are general grouping of rooms and articles and will have

different meaning for different reports. If you run a normal room list, the levels is the

functional structure but if you run list per group the level will be the group types and

groups. If you run an FF&E catalog report, the level is the catalog structure. The level

nodes can also be nested in each other so /drofus-xml/level/level is a sub function or sub

group. Under each level you will find room/article that represent rooms and FF&E items.

These contains only a @ref attribute that reference the same item in the /drofus-xml/room-

container or /drofus-xml/article-container, see below.

In addition, the level node may contain a /drofus-xml/level/cost or /drofus-xml/level/area-

sum that contains FF&E cost or room area sums depending on the report type.

6 . 3 . R O O M

Rooms are represented by the /drofus-xml/room-container/room node. This node has a

@id attribute that references back to a /drofus-xml/level/room/@ref attribute as explained

above.

Room core attributes are contained in the /drofus-xml/room-container/room/core node.

The content of this will be dependent on the project as also extra room core attributes,

group types etc. are included as attributes. Most of the attributes are self explainable but

the most important are:

room/core/@room_func_no: Room function number


room/core/@name: A concatenation of the room_name and description attribute,

separated by a comma

room/core/@room_name: Room name

room/core/@description: Room description

room/core/@program_area: Program area

room/core/@design_area: Designed / Actual area

room/core/@architect_no: Geographical room number

In addition, the room may contain room/property nodes that represent additional

properties (extra room core attributes). These are also in the core as attributes but are

represented as node in addition to enable project independent access (as you can iterate

through all property nodes, but if you are making a project dependant report it is easier to

pick a core attribute directly)

Below the room you will also find:

room/rds: The room data sheet. See 6.5 for more details on how this is organized.

room/occurrence-list: FF&E list / Equipment in room list.

o room/occurrence-list/occurrence: Represent an occurrence of equipment in

room

room/occurrence-list/occurrence/@parent_article_id: If this attribute is

present, the occurrence is a sub article occurrence and the id is a

reference to the parent article id.

room/occurrence-list/occurrence/@priority: The priority of the

occurrence.

room/occurrence-list/occurrence/article: Reference the article / FF&E

item in the article-container

room/occurrence-list/occurrence/cost/amount: Contains the net and

gross quantity of this occurrence

room/occurrence-list/ occurrence/cost/price: Contains the net and

gross sum price for this quantity (net/gross count * unit price)

room/cost: Contains the sum and count of occurrence/cost with the same nodes and

attributes as the occurrence/cost.

6 . 4 . F F & E I T E M / A R T I C L E

Articles are represented by the /drofus-xml/article-container/article node. This node has a

@id attribute that references back to a /drofus-xml/level/article/@ref attribute as explained

above.

Article core attributes are contained in the /drofus-xml/article-container/article/core node.

Most of the attributes are self explainable but the most important are:

article/core/@article_func_no: Article number

article/core/@article_name: Article name

article/core/@price: Unit price


article/core/@reference: Reference

In addition you will find the following in the article node.

article/ equipment-specification: Contains the specification for the FF&E item, se 6.5

for more info)

article/occurrence-list: Contains the occurrences of this article in room. See

room/occurrence-list for more information.

o article/occurrence-list/room/@ref: A reference to the room in the /drofus-

xml/room-container.

6 . 5 . D YN A M I C G U I ( R D S , F F & E S P E C I F I C A T I O N )

The dynamic GUI is exported as a tree with one or more flags that has groups that has

elements that has fields. It has the same structure as when you edit it in the dynamic GUI

editor.

The image below explains how it is exported:

Image 4: Dynamic GUI XML

The XML has the structure:

<flag flag-no=’X’…>

<group group-no=’X’…>

<element group-element-no=’10…>

<field …/>

</element>

</group>

</flag>

Flag - (tab) E.g. El power

Group - E.g. Supply

Element - (row) E.g Reserve power - prioritized supply

Field - (data element/parameter) E.g. numeric/text/boolean input


Please note that the XML is not ordered in the same order as you see it in the client, but

the position attribute has this information and you should use this to order the data in your

reports.

Each element has a @label that defines the label of the element. For fields it also has an

attribute @show-label. If this is 1 the label is shown before the value in the GUI, if it is 2

the label is shown after the field.

Field has the attribute @data-type which tells if the field is a logic (checkbox), numeric,

option (combobox/radiobox), date, html (formatted text) or text. Each field also has a

@value which contains the language specific and human readable value.

If field has @data-type = logic the @value will contain a language dependent Yes/No

value. It also has a attribute @db-value which is independent of value and will be either

true or false.

If field has @data-type = html (formatted text) the @value will contain the text value as

"normal" unformatted text. In addition it will have a child element html-data that contains

the html data.

See the sample building block dynamic-gui-bb.xfc for example usage.

Addressing specific fields and values

In the samples and building blocks included the dynamic GUI values is processed in the

order they are structured in the XML file. This layout will adapt if data changes but is

limiting if you want to control exactly where specific flags, groups or fields are printed. If

you want to get a specific field value from the dynamic GUI data dragging and dropping

from the XML data tree will generate the following XPATH

flag/group/element/field/@value

This is unfortunately no good because it will match all field values and not the specific one

you are after. To achieve this, you have to add some conditions for which flag, group,

element and field you want. Each element in the structure has a number that is used as

identification (e.g. flag-no, group-no etc.) so we use this to address the field we want e.g.:

flag[@flag-no='10']/group[@group-no='10']/element[@group-element-

no='11']/field[@field-no='10']/@value

This will get field in flag with no 10, group 10, element 11 and field 10.

Be aware that when doing this the report will not work if you move the field to for instance

a different group or you run the report on a different project where the UI is not the same.

creating reports from drofus with xf designer

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