Report Templates

A report template captures the shape of a report: which sections it has, what each heading says, whether a chart and a data table belong in it, how the page is set up and which output format it is meant for. Save it once and every later report — single or batch — comes out identical.

Headings and narrative text are written as patterns with data variables in them, so a single section definition adapts itself to whatever file, channel and analysis it is applied to.

Opening the template editor

Start Menu → Report → Template Editor.
The Edit button next to the template dropdown in Batch Report.

Templates are stored one file per template in your personal application data folder, in a plain text format you can open, read and diff. That makes them easy to keep under version control, copy between machines or hand to a colleague.

Built-in templates

Three templates are created for you the first time the Report Center is used. They are a good starting point: duplicate the closest one with New and adapt it, rather than building from nothing.

Template	Format	Structure	Use it for
Standard Analysis Report	Word	One section per result with chart and metrics table	The everyday written test report
Charts Only	PowerPoint	Full-page charts, no table, no narrative	Review meetings and presentations
Summary Table	Excel	Metrics tables with a channel and peak summary line	Handing numbers on for further calculation

Editor layout

The top of the window selects and manages templates; the middle defines the document; the list at the bottom defines the sections.

Document settings

Setting	Meaning	Default
Name	What the template is called in the Quick Report and Batch Report dropdowns	New Template
Format	The format preselected when the template is chosen	`docx`
Orientation	Landscape or Portrait	Landscape
Margins	Page margin in millimetres	25 mm

Landscape suits reports dominated by wide charts — spectra, colour maps, run-up plots. Switch to Portrait when the document is mostly text and tables.

Section options

Sections are edited as a list. + Add Section appends one; the small buttons on each card move it up, move it down or delete it. Each card has four settings:

Setting	Meaning
Title	Heading pattern. Data variables in it are replaced with the real values when the report is generated.
Narrative	Paragraph placed under the heading. Also a pattern — leave empty for a section with no prose.
Chart	Include the rendered chart images of the matching result.
Table	Include the metrics table of the matching result.
Data	Which results this section applies to — see Data slots below.

Data variables

Anything written as {Category.Property} in a Title or Narrative is replaced with the real value at generation time. The Available Variables panel at the bottom of the editor lists them all, so there is nothing to memorise.

Category	Variables	Yields
File	`{File.Name}`, `{File.Path}`	Source measurement file name and full path
Channel	`{Channel.Name}`, `{Channel.Unit}`, `{Channel.Index}`	Channel identification of the analysed signal
Analysis	`{Analysis.Algorithm}`, `{Analysis.Kind}`	Which analysis produced the result
Result	`{Result.Footer}`, `{Result.SV}`, `{Result.Max}`, `{Result.Min}`, `{Result.Mean}`, `{Result.PeakFreqHz}`, `{Result.PeakValueDb}`	The footer line, the single value and summary statistics of the result
System	`{System.Date}`, `{System.User}`, `{System.AppVersion}`	Generation date, Windows user name, application edition

Free text and variables mix freely. A narrative such as

Channel: {Channel.Name}  |  Peak: {Result.PeakFreqHz} Hz @ {Result.PeakValueDb} dB

is rendered as a complete sentence per section. A placeholder for which no value is available in a given context is left in the text unchanged, which makes it easy to spot when proof-reading a first draft.

Data slots

The Data field of a section decides which results it is applied to. This is what lets one template hold, for example, an overview section followed by one section per measurement channel.

Value	Effect
`all`	The section is repeated for every available result. This is the default.
`slot:0`, `slot:1`, ...	Only the result at that position, counting from zero.
`match:Order*`	Only results whose title starts with `Order`.
`match:*Ch.1`	Only results whose title ends with `Ch.1`.
`match:Loudness vs. Time`	Only the result with exactly that title.

Matching is not case sensitive, and the wildcard * is supported at the start or at the end of the pattern. Naming your analysis pages consistently makes these patterns dependable.

Letting the AI Assistant draft a template

The AI Assistant can list the saved templates, apply one to the current results and save the report structure you have arrived at as a new template. Describing the report you want — "a Word report with one section per channel, chart and table, headed with the algorithm and the file name" — is often faster than filling in the section cards by hand. Open the result in the Template Editor afterwards and refine it.

The assistant organises structure and wording only. Charts and values in the finished report always come from the analyses computed on your data.

Sharing templates

Because each template is a separate readable file, sharing means copying a file — no export step.
Keep a team folder of approved templates and copy them to each workstation, so that everyone delivers the same document layout.
Naming the template after the deliverable rather than the author (Gearbox acceptance report, not my template 2) pays off as soon as the dropdown has more than three entries.

Tips and common pitfalls

Edits are lost after switching templates. Changes to name, format, page setup and section cards are held in the editor until you press Save. Save before selecting another template in the dropdown.
New creates and stores a template immediately, so it appears in the dropdown right away; rename it and press Save.
Delete asks for confirmation and is permanent. The built-in templates are only recreated automatically when no template at all is left, so keep a copy of any you rely on.
Start with one section using all. Split into several sections with slots or match patterns only once the simple version is producing the right document.
The template's Format is a starting point, not a restriction — you can still pick a different format in the report dialog after selecting the template.
Test a new template on a single result through Quick Report before using it for a whole batch.

A template decides structure, wording and page layout. It never influences which values are reported: those always come from the analysis results themselves.