Custom reports can be created specifying fields, sort orders and selection criteria. These steps detail how to create reports pulling data from one table, if it is required that information be joined between two (2) tables the report will require engineering and may incur an engineering charge. Contact Senstar Technical Support for further direction regarding these types of reports.

Creating Reports

  • Navigate to the Data directory using Windows Explore, the default location is C:\Program Files\Symphony AC\Data. All existing reports are located in this directory and are saved with a file extension of .REP.
  • Locate a report with similar criteria to that of the report needing to be created. To locate the report files quickly, sort all files by type. This can be accomplished by clicking on the Type column heading as shown in the display below.
  • Once a report has been located, right mouse click on the report and select the option to “Open With”, click the “Select a Program from a list” radio button and select Notepad from the program list. From this report, columns and fields can be added or removed based on the desired data to be reported on.
  • The report properties will be displayed in notepad as displayed below:
  • The first Section Labeled Report, details the Title of the Report, what group the report will be displayed in for example Personnel, the database the information will be pulled from, table being used, the sort order of the report data and the amount of columns.
  • Title: Enter the Title of the report; this title will appear at the top of the report when displayed.
  • Group: Enter the name of the group where the report should be located, this can be an existing group or a new group based on the operators preferences.
  • Database: If using Microsoft Access, this information would be filled in with the .mdb file being used, for example a report created on controller information would utilize the Hardware.mdb. If using Microsoft SQL, the database would be Symphony AC.
  • Table: If using a Microsoft Access database, the information for this field would contain the same value as the database. If using a Microsoft SQL database, type in the appropriate table name, for a database schema contact Senstar Technical Support.
  • Sort: Enter the fields in which the report should be sorted by, for example a report requiring a sort of Card Type and then by First Name would appear as Card_Type,First_Name. This will display all records by Card Type alphabetically and then by the First Name of the personnel record alphabetically.
  • Columns: Enter the numeric value for the desired amount of columns in the report. This number should correspond to the amount of columns listed in the report properties.

[Report] Title=History: Events Group=History Reports Database=Events Table=Events Sort=[date] desc,[time] desc Columns=6 Dates=1 Names=1

  • The second section labeled Criteria is not a required section, if it is not required for the report to have a pick list by device or date selection this section is not necessary.
  • Database: If using Microsoft Access, this information would be filled in with the .mdb file being used, for example a report created on controller information would utilize the Hardware.mdb. If using Microsoft SQL, the database would be Symphony AC.
  • Table: If using a Microsoft Access database, the information for this field would contain the same value as the database. If using a Microsoft SQL database, type in the appropriate table name, for a database schema contact Senstar Technical Support.
  • Field1: Enter the field name to create a pick lists, for example, if the operator wishes to display information on readers, inputs and outputs by address enter Address in Field1.

[Criteria1] Database=Hardware Table=Devices Field1=Address Field2=Description QuerySort=Address Description=Devices   [Criteria2] Database=Access Table=Event_Descriptions Field1=Event_ID Field2=Description QuerySort=Event_ID Description=Events

  • Columns determine what fields will be displayed in the report. Each column required for the report will contain individual properties and will determine such things as placement of the field as well as the name of the field.
  • Description: The value entered in the description field will be the value displayed on the column heading.
  • Font Size: Enter the desired font size to be shown on the report.
  • Alignment:
  • Left: Enter in the desired Left alignment value; this value will determine the placement of the column headings, this is based on the pages XY coordinates.
  • Top: Enter in the desired top alignment value; this value will determine the placement of the column headings, this is based on the pages XY coordinates and generally this value will be the same for all columns created.
  • Right: Enter in the desired right alignment value for the column heading.
  • Bottom: Enter the value for the bottom margin. This property determines what the bottom margin will be.
  • Field: The Field indicates the database field in which to report from. Enter the name of the database field to the right of the Field line item. For a database schema containing the database field names, contact Senstar Technical Support.
  • FieldAlignment: Enter the value for the data to be displayed, 0 indicates a Left justify, 1 indicates Center Justify, and a value of 2 indicates Right Justify.

[Column1] Description=Date FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=220 Top=440 Right=450 Bottom=FREE   Field=~Date FieldAlignment=0   [Column2] Description=Address FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=450 Top=450 Right=670 Bottom=FREE   Field=Address FieldAlignment=0     [Column3] Description=Address Description FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=690 Top=430 Right=960 Bottom=FREE   Field=Address_Description FieldAlignment=0   [Column4] Description=Device FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=980 Top=450 Right=1200 Bottom=FREE   Field=Device FieldAlignment=0   [Column5] Description=Event Description FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=1220 Top=430 Right=1500 Bottom=FREE   Field=Event_Description FieldAlignment=0   [Column6] Description=Name FontSize=9 Alignment=0 Left=1590 Top=450 Right=1860 Bottom=FREE   Field=Name FieldAlignment=0  

  • Functions: It is often necessary to have data joined together or have certain functions of the data appear such as having first and last name appear all in one field. A list of functions is provided below and should be placed in the Field column when utilizing functions.

  Defined Functions: ~ACL_Info1 Returns a formatted string of the access levels for each region that is associated to the personnel record. Access Level and Region descriptions are NOT included.   ~ACL_Info2 Returns a formatted string of the access levels for each region that is associated to the personnel record. Access Level and Region descriptions are included.   ~Date Returns a formatted date and time text string from the data.   ~Desc_Lookup Description of numeric value is returned.   ~Full_Name Returns the full name of a personnel record as last_name, first_name   ~Holiday Returns the Holiday date.   ~Log_Type Returns the description associated to the numeric representation of the log type. (ex: Log as an Alarm, Display on Event Manager, Log as an Event, etc…)   ~Trigger Returns the Trigger ID along with the description that is specific to the controller.   ~Macro Returns the Macro ID along with the description that is specific to the controller.