Reports

Introduction

The report system uses a template system with tags (Merge Fields). The template contains data tags that are replaced with data when the report is generated. The report template .TX and the generated report are displayed in the report editor, a word like word processor. You can toggle between the generated report and the template using the shortkey F5. So, you can generate the report and then switch to template mode and make adjustments and toggle back to the generated report again. This makes designing the report template very easy.

The report word processor can also print the report and you can export the report to different formats like PDF and DOCX.

Merge Field Report Systems

Merge Fields are placeholders used in documents, typically in templates, to insert dynamic content. They represent specific data points, such as a name, address, or date, which are replaced with actual values when generating a document. In reporting systems, a template containing merge fields is populated with data from an external source, such as a database or user input, to create personalized reports.

Report dialog

There are some settings in the report dialog that are important when generating reports.
— Highlighted Uppercase
— Highlighted Bold
— First letter uppercase
These settings controls how the ingredients in the ingredient list are formatted.
— Recipe weights
These weights can be used to create reports for different recipe weights
— Best before
This setting will be used to create a BestBefore date that can be used in the reports.
— Serving size
Serving size is used to create nutrition data in some countries (ex. US). So, to get correct nutritional data in the report the Serving size needs to be set correctly. If you double click on then “Serving size” text the weight for 2/3 CUP will be set. This is the US serving size for ice cream.

Creating a new report

To create a new report press the “+” button below the Reports list. This will open a file dialog where you can create a new report template file or select an existing file. After you have selected a file the report word processor will open in Edit mode.

You can now add DATA tags to the report (Merge Fields). Let’s add the Name of the recipe and the ingredient list.

Start by changing the Table to Data.

Now double click on Name. This will add the tag <<Data.Name>> to the report.

Press enter in the document to set the cursor on a new row.
Now, double click on INGREDIENTS to add the <<Data.INGREDIENTS>> tag. It should look like this.

Now press F5 to generate the report.

At this point we can press F5 again to toggle back to edit mode and do some formatting of the template. We create a new line between the name and the ingredients and we make the recipe name larger. Something like this.

Press F5 again to generate the report.

Now we are happy with the design and can close the report window. When you close you will be prompted to save the report template.

This describes the basic workflow when creating reports. You use F5 to toggle between edit mode and report mode. In edit mode you can add data to the report and format and design the report.

Data

The available DATA tags are organized in Tables. Each table represents different type of data. The available tables are.

Report

The data in this table contains information about the report and report template

Data

This is the basic data about your recipe. It contains for example the name of the recipe, the ingredient list and allergens as well as other data about the recipe.

RecipeData

There are two RecipeData tables. The difference is that in this table all the add-ins has been merged into the recipe. This means that all nutrition information includes the add-ins. The RecipeData table contains the same data as the Data found in the ICC main window.

RecipeData2

This table is exactly the same as the Data found in the ICC main window. This means that add-ins are not merged into the recipe and the Nutrition information in this table does not include the add-ins. So, depending on what type of report you are making it is important to choose the correct table.

Ingredients

This table contains the ingredients in the recipe.

Addins

This table contains the add-ins of the recipe

Infusions

This table contains only the name of the add-ins that are flagged as infusions in the recipe.

Groups

The Groups table contains data when using Recipe groups and not the current recipe when creating the report.

Adding data

As you saw in the example before you just place the cursor where you want your data tag to be placed and then double+click at the tag you want to add.

Adding tables

To get a list of for example the ingredients in the recipe you have to use the Insert table button.
Let’s add a table with the ingredients to our report.
Start by selecting the Ingredients table when you are in Edit mode and press the Insert table button.

Now press the Table and select 3 columns. This will add a table to the report. It should look like this.

Let’s fill in the headers and add data tags. We add Name, Weight and W%. It should look like this.

Now press F5 to generate the report.

If you toggle back to Edit mode by pressing F5 we can double click in the table to bring up the Table design dialog where we can select different styles and colors for the table.

Setting another style for the table and pressing F5 again will generate something like this.

You can of course format the headers to be a little nicer as well.

Barcodes

You can also add barcodes and QR codes to the report. In Edit mode you go to the Insert tab and select the barcode type you like to insert. Here I select Code128.

Now to connect the barcode to a data tag you will double+click the barcode to bring up the barcode properties dialog.

Now to select a data tag you will press the “…” button in the Datasource field and select the tag you like to connect. Let’s select the Data.Name tag.

Now press OK and then F5 to generate the report.

Example: Recipe report

In this example we will create a report that can be used to save or print your recipe. It will contain the recipe name and all ingredients as well as instructions.

Create a new report an name if Recipe

In Edit mode we add the <<Data.Name>> tag and format it. We also add the total weight of the recipe with the <<Data.Weight>> tag. Then we add a two column table of the ingredients and finally the instructions in the <<Data.Note>> tag.

This is what the template should look like.

Press F5 to generate the report.

Example: EU Nutrient label and ingredients

Let’s make a report to show the ingredient list and nutrient label. Create a new report and call it NutrientsEU. First we add <<Data.INGREDIENTS>>. Now we go to the Insert tab and select Table. Create a 2×8 table. We add text and data to the table for Energy, Fat, Saturated fat, corbohydrates, sugar, protein and salt.

We can also edit the format of a tag (Merge Field) by right clicking and select properties or double clicking the tag. Here we can set the number of decimals and other settings. So we change the Numeric format to one decimal F1 for all weight fields except Salt.

Press F5 to run the report.