Echelon NodeBuilder Resource Report Generator User Manual

NodeBuilder®

Resource Report

Generator

User’s Guide

Release 1

Revision 1

@ ECHELON

C o r p o r a t i o n

078-0260-01A

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Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Getting Started 3

System Requirements ..................................................................................... 4

Report Generator Updates .............................................................................. 4

Viewing Reports 5

Report Structure .............................................................................................. 6

Navigation........................................................................................................ 7

Reading Reports.............................................................................................. 8

Saving and Converting a Resource Report..................................................... 8

Printing a Resource Report ........................................................................... 10

Resource Report Generator Wizard 12

Generating a Resource Report...................................................................... 13

Welcome Page ..............................................................................................14

Resource Reports Page ................................................................................ 15

Report Language Selection Page ................................................................. 16

Support Files Preferences Page.................................................................... 17

Dependencies Handling Page....................................................................... 18

Server and Transformation Page ..................................................................19

Finish Page.................................................................................................... 20

Report Generator Progress Window ............................................................. 21

Generating Reports Locally and for Hosting 22

Generating a Local Report ............................................................................23

Generating a Report for Hosting.................................................................... 26

Verifying Hosted Reports............................................................................... 30

Hosting Reports for User-Defined Resources ............................................... 31

Resource File Validations.............................................................................. 35

Providing Supplementary Information 38

Usage.xml Data .............................................................................................39

Using the Usage Hint Editor Software........................................................... 40

Starting the Usage Hint Editor ....................................................................... 43

Creating a Usage Hint ................................................................................... 44

XHTML Restrictions....................................................................................... 45

Customizing Report Presentations 46

XSLT Transformations................................................................................... 47

Report Generator Templates Folder ............................................................. 47

Creating a Custom Report Presentation .......................................................49

Table of Contents i

Introduction

The NodeBuilder Resource Report Generator is a NodeBuilder Resource Editor plug-in that helps you create reports that document resources that you select. You can create reports for standard and user-defined network variable types (NVTs), configuration property types (CPTs), enumeration types, and functional profiles. The report generator converts the resource definitions that you select to extensible markup language (XML) format. The report generator includes an extensible stylesheet language transformation (XSLT) that allows a Web browser or any other application that supports XSLT to format the data in the XML report. You can modify the XSLT files to create custom reports for your resource data. You can host and view reports on your computer, or you can host your reports on a Web server for remote, multi-user access. You can see examples of hosted reports created by the report generator at types.echelon.com and types.lonmark.org.

In addition to viewing reports with a Web browser, you can easily convert reports into Microsoft Word documents, and with XSL or JavaScript knowledge, convert reports into text, RTF, PDF, or any other format.

2 NodeBuilder Resource Report Generator User’s Guide

Getting Started

The following section provides you with information on how to set up your computer to view, generate, and maintain resource reports.

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System Requirements

To generate reports, you need a computer with the NodeBuilder software and Internet access (optional). To view reports, you only need a computer with a Web browser (Internet Explorer 6.0 or later).

Software

Before installing the Report generator, you should have the following software programs installed on your computer:

• NodeBuilder software version 3.1 or later (required)

• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later (required for viewing reports)

• A compression utility such as WinZip for opening downloaded support

files(recommended)

Hardware

If you want to host reports on a Web server, your computer should be connected to the Internet. An Internet connection is required for downloading software updates, hosting and accessing remotely hosted reports, and viewing the LONMARK® Web site for support information.

Report Generator Updates

For the latest report generator updates, visit http://www.echelon.com /downloads/.

4 NodeBuilder Resource Report Generator User’s Guide

Viewing Reports

This section describes how to view and analyze reports. A description of the report structure is also provided.

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Report Structure

Each report created by the report generator contains a single HTML page that serves as an index page. This page, also known as the root index, contains links to pages with report data that describes network variable types, configuration property types, functional profiles, and enumeration types. The root index is also linked to an XSLT stylesheet.

Each report page may also contain links to the LONMARK Web site, or to other sites on your local network or the Internet. The L provides a report for the standard resources, and it provides utilities that may be referred to by resource reports. For example, if your design contains the SCPTbypassTime configuration property type, the report can link to the LONMARK Web site to show details of this configuration property type. The SCPTbypassTime variable is based on the SNVT_time_min network variable type.

Hint: For a practical experience, you may launch your Microsoft Internet Explorer and point it to types.lonmark.org to view the standard resource report.

ONMARK Web site at types.lonmark.org

Figure 3.1 Report Structure

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Navigation

The resource report resembles a Web page and navigating through a report is much like navigating through a Web site. To view a report, launch your Web browser and open the report index page. For example, point your browser to types.lonmark.org to view the following report.

In addition to using your Web browser to navigate through a report, each report page may contain navigation options that allow you to perform a variety of functions. Table 3.1 describes these functions.

Table 3.1 Resource Report Navigation Functions

Navigation Item Description

Root Brings you back to the main report page (or root index)

Show All Lists all report items on a single page

Contact Links to the resource file set developer

LonMark Links to the LonMark Web site

Search box Allows you to perform a specific search on the report page in the reported items by

Print Prints the current report page

typing a name fragment

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Reading Reports

Each resource is listed on its own page and contains detailed information about its type, attributes, related formats, and other useful information. The report page may also list all resources referenced by the reported resource as well as those resources that refer to the reported resource.

Note: Language string resources are not reported separately, but are used by the report pages in place of the appropriate references.

Saving and Converting a Resource Report

You can convert a resource report into a variety of formats including Word documents, PDF files, RTF files, or text files. You can then e-mail, print, or archive these reports. For changing the appearance of a report or more complex format conversions, see the Customizing Report Presentations section.

Saving a Resource Report as a Word, RTF, or Text File

You can save a resource report as a Microsoft Word, RTF, text file, or other word processing document. To save a resource report as a word processing document, follow these steps:

1. Open an existing report with your browser. See the Generating Reports Locally and for Hosting section for instructions on how to generate a report.

2. Navigate to the desired section (Network Variables, Configuration Properties, Functional Profiles, or Enumerations) from the index page.

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3. Select Show All from the report page. This displays all resources in that category (for example, all network variable types).

4. Right click the page and choose Select All.

5. On the Edit menu, click Copy.

6. Start a word processing application that supports HTML content such as Microsoft Word.

7. Create a new document. For example, on the Word File menu, click New.

8. Paste the clipboard into the new document. For example, on the Word Edit menu, click Paste. The report contents appear with formatting intact.

9. Repeat steps 2 through 8 for each section (Network Variables, Configuration Properties, Functional Profiles, or Enumerations) from the root directory to save an entire report. You can skip steps 6 and 7 and use the same document for all sections.

10. Save the new document. For example, on the Word File menu, click Save As.

11. Enter a file name and select the appropriate file type from the Save as Type list.

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12. Click Save.

Saving a Resource Report as a PDF File

You can convert a resource file to an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file, using Adobe Acrobat or any other tool capable of generating PDF documents. For example, to convert a Word format resource report to PDF format, follow these steps:

1. Follow the procedure described above in the Saving a Resource Report as a Word, RTF, or Text File section. Use Microsoft Word as save the file in Word format.

2. On the Acrobat menu, click Convert to Adobe PDF. The Acrobat software converts the report to PDF.

Printing a Resource Report

You can print a resource report. Depending on the resources contained within your report, the printed output may be very large. For example, a report of all standard resources will contain over 500 pages. For large reports, hosting a report on a Web server or creating a report CD may be better alternatives to printing a report. If you choose to print a full report, the following guidelines will assist you in conserving paper while still promoting readability.

Printing a Single Resource Definition

To print a single resource report page, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the desired resource definition from the index page in the report.

2. Select Print from the resource report page or open the File menu and then click Print. The print dialog box appears.

3. Click Print.

Printing a Section

To print an entire section, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the desired section from the root directory.

2. Select Show All from the report page. This displays all resources associated with your section.

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3. On the View menu, point to Text Size, and then click Smallest. This compresses the size of the Web page text and significantly reduces the page count of your report.

4. On the File menu, click Print Preview. The Print Preview screen appears.

5. Click Print. The Print dialog box appears.

6. Click the Layout tab.

7. Select the Landscape orientation.

8. Specify 2 Pages Per Sheet.

9. Click Print.

This report may contain several hundred pages.

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Resource Report

Generator Wizard

The NodeBuilder Report Generator Wizard provides a simple, easy-to-use interface for generating resource reports. The wizard allows you to control many aspects of the generated report.

The wizard guides you through the process of generating a resource report. An explanation of each wizard page is provided below.

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Generating a Resource Report

You can create a resource report using the NodeBuilder Resource Report Generator Wizard. To generate a report, follow these steps:

1. Start the NodeBuilder Resource Editor as described in Chapter 7 of the

NodeBuilder User’s Guide.

Table 4.1 provides a brief description of the functionality of the Resource Editor.

2. Right-click the resource catalog, a resource folder, a resource file set, or an

individual resource definition, and then click Report on the shortcut menu. The wizard appears and allows you to generate a resource report for the resource or resources that you selected. If you selected the resource catalog, the wizard creates a report for all resource definitions contained within your resource catalog.

The following sections describe the individual pages on the wizard.

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Welcome Page

You can choose the report output destination folder and prepare reports for hosting using the Welcome page.

Set the options as described in Table 4.2 and then click Next.

Table 4.2 Welcome Screen Control Options

Item Description

Report Output Location Specifies the location of the output folder in this box. This is the folder is where the

Prepare Locally Generated Files for Hosting

Show All Options Shows all pages of the report wizard screen. Clear this checkbox to skip directly to

generated report is be stored.

Enabling this option formats the report for posting at a specified URL. The default setting is cleared. See the Generating Reports Locally and for Hosting section for more information.

the Finish page with the last report settings intact. The default setting is set. You must visit each wizard page at least once for this option to become enabled.

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+ 36 hidden pages