Customizing Reports

This interface consists a number of related components which are used to configure report templates. These components are organized conceptually as follows:

Report Configuration Toolbar

Table 1. Report Configuration Toolbar actions

Report Attribute Components

This component grouping consists of the following user interface controls:

Name. This combo box contains the names of all report templates currently loaded in the system. It is used to select a report template for editing.
Description. This text entry field is used to associate with the report template a brief description of its purpose.
Always interpret highest level protocol. Selecting this checkbox adds a Summary Interpretation column to the end of the report template, which provides a brief synopsis of the highest level (innermost) protocol contained in the current trace record.

Sample Report View

The Sample Report View is a table component (see Figure 1) which provides a visual preview of the current report template's layout. Its display is somewhat different from that of the actual Overview Report, however, in that it does not present actual data, and always includes hidden columns. As columns are added, removed, or edited through the other components on the Columns page, this view is refreshed dynamically.

The report template may be manipulated using this view as follows:

Selecting a column for editing. A column is selected as the current column being edited by clicking anywhere on the column. This highlights the column and loads its properties into the Column Properties panel.
Deleting a column. A column may be removed from the current template by selecting that column and pressing the <Delete> key. Multiple columns may be deleted simultaneously by selecting a range of columns and pressing the <Delete> key.
Reordering columns. A column may be dragged by its header to a new location in the template to change the order of the columns.
Resizing columns. A column's width may be changed by dragging the right edge of that column's header to the left (to reduce the width) or to the right (to increase the width).

Note that this view does not contain the Mark column which appears in the Overview Report. This column is not an attribute of a report template; rather, it is added to every report template by the Overview Report component to provide bookmarking functionality.

Column Attribute Components

A group of related components enable the properties of the currently selected column to be edited. This group consists of the Column Properties panel and three Protocol Browser views.

Two types of report columns may be defined for a report template:

Field Data Column: This type of column is used to display the data extracted from a specific protocol field, such as a network address, a TCP port number, or a timestamp, for example. A typical report template consists of multiple field data columns.
Summary Interpretation Column: This type of column is used to present a brief summary of the data in the current trace record. The summary is comprised of information contained in the innermost protocol decoded by the Trace Analyzer for the current record. There may be at most one such column per report template. This summary is defined at the time the protocol definition is created, and may not be changed by the user.

Column Properties

As a column is added to the template or is selected for editing in the Sample Report View, its attributes are displayed in the Column Properties panel. This panel presents a table, in which each row represents a different attribute of the report column. An example of this table is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Column Properties panel view

The properties of the selected report column may be edited from this view. The properties are defined in Table 2.

Table 2. Column Properties

Protocol Browser Components

The Protocol Browser components in the Available Protocols and the Selected Protocol Field Details areas (see Figure 1) are used by the Report Configuration interface to permit the assignment of protocol fields as data sources for Field Data columns. A protocol field can be added as a data source to a report column in one of the following ways. See the Browsing Protocol Definitions section for a detailed description of the three related Protocol Browser components.

Double click on a protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree view in the Available Protocols section. This adds a field data report column to the end of the current report template. The selected protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree is the column's primary data source.
Select a protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree view in the Available Protocols section, then click on the Add Column icon in the Report Configuration Toolbar. This adds a field data report column to the end of the current report template. The selected protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree is the column's primary data source.
Select an existing report column in the Sample Report View. Select a protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree view in the Available Protocols section. Click on the button in the Value cell of the Add alternate source row in the Column Properties panel. This adds the selected protocol group or field in the Protocol Layout Tree as an alternate data source to the selected report column.

Control	Action	Description
	Create New Template	Prompts the user for a report template name and creates a new template containing no columns initially. Template name must be unique. The new template is displayed and is ready for editing.
	Clone Current Template	Prompts the user for a report template name and creates a copy of the currently displayed report template which uses the new name. Template name must be unique. The template copy is displayed and is ready for editing.
	Rename Current Template	Prompts the user for a report template name and applies the new name to the currently displayed report template. Template name must be unique.
	Delete Current Template	Prompts the user for confirmation, then permanently deletes the currently displayed report template.
	Add Column	Adds a column to the end of the currently displayed report template. The new column's data source is the protocol field currently highlighted in the Available Protocols component. The column's properties default to values provided by that protocol field.
	Delete Selected Column	Deletes the column currently highlighted in the Sample Report View.
	Delete All Columns	Clears the currently displayed report template by deleting all of its columns.

Property Name	Meaning	How to Edit
Heading text	Text which appears in column header.	Click on Value cell for this row and type new text value.
Column width	Width of the column in pixels.	Click on Value cell for this row and type new width value; or Drag right edge of column header in Sample Report View.
Heading color	Color applied to the column header.	Select checkbox in Override default heading color row if not already selected; click button which appears in this row's Value cell; select a color from the color selection dialog window which appears.
Show interpreted data	Toggle between raw vs. interpreted data display mode for the column.	Select/deselect checkbox in Value cell.
Hide column	Marking a column as hidden ensures that column is only displayed when Show Hidden Columns is enabled in Overview Report.	Select/deselect checkbox in Value cell.
Format clause*	Override the default format clause of the primary data source for this column with the format clause specified.	Click on Value cell for this row and type new format clause; remove current value to use default format clause for primary data source.
Primary source*	Defines the protocol group or field which will first be checked for data to display in this column; if not present, the alternate source(s), if any, will be checked.	Edit current primary source. Click on Value cell for this row and type the fully qualified protocol field ID for the new protocol group or field to be used as the primary data source for this column. Remove the current primary source. Click on Value cell for this row and remove all text from the Value cell for this row; the next alternate source becomes the primary source. Note: this action is only permitted if an alternate source has been defined.
Alternate source n*	Defines the protocol group or field which will be checked for data to display in this column, if the primary source returned no data. There may be zero or more alternate data sources; they are checked for data in the order defined here.	Add a new alternate source. Click on the button appearing in the Value cell in the Add alternate source row. The protocol field ID appearing on the button represents the protocol group or field which will be added as an alternate source. This ID changes as different protocol fields are selected in the Protocol Layout Tree component. Remove an alternate source. Click on Value cell for this row and remove current value. Change an alternate source. Click on Value cell for this row and edit current value. The new value must be a valid, fully qualified protocol field ID.