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Automating Reports

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Combine your business system data with labels containing Reports. Create reports in NiceLabel Designer and fill your reports with data from your business systems in NiceLabel Automation.

Your completed reports use your business system data to print. NiceLabel Automation:

  • Receives your business system data.

  • Parses your data with a data filter.

  • Populates your Report with parsed data.

  • Executes printing for your new populated reports with a trigger.

Creating temporary databases

You need to design your Reports before you automate them. To design reports, you need to connect them to a database.

If you use data from external business systems for reports, you have no database to work with. To work correctly, report data needs a hierarchical structure with clearly defined elements.

Create a temporary database with data from your business system (Usually XML or JSON data). With your temporary database, design and configure your reports. Your temporary database is only for setup. Configured reports print using Automation triggers, not your temporary database.

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Data from your business system with no hierarchy.
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Data with hierarchy you can use to print reports.
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Sample XML data you need to design reports (unparsed).

For you temporary database, create a CSV text database file. You have multiple options:

  1. Manually convert your data structure to a CSV text file:

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    Manually creating temporary CSV text databases.

  2. Use a common XML to Excel or XML to CSV conversion tool and manually format your data in a spreadsheet.

  3. Use an Automation data filter to automatically parse your data into a CSV text database.

Designing automated Reports

Open Designer to create your Report with your temporary CSV text database:

  1. Connect your temporary CSV text database to your Report.

  2. Design your report using your CSV text data as variables for objects in in your Repeater Definition.

    Note

    Match your variable names with data names in your data filter to map your data correctly.

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    Designing reports with your temporary CSV text database.

Creating data filters

Create a data filter in Automation to use in your report (Refer to your included example trigger for more information on creating XML filters):

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Configuring your XML data filter.

Tips for creating data filters for reports:

  • You can use Structure Import Wizard to import your data structure.

  • Name your elements in data blocks of repeatable elements.

  • Set your elements as assignment areas or set sub-items as variables.

Creating triggers for your new data filter

Note

For your trigger to work, your data source names in Designer must match the data block field names in your data filter.

  • Include a Use Data Filter action to apply your data filter.

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    • Enable Collect records for report to collect all records in a table Automation uses to open your report labels.

      Note

      Use the same data structure names in your reports, triggers, and filters.

  • Include a Print Label action.

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    • Enable All (unlimited quantity).

Run your trigger. Your report now automatically updates with new data and prints with your trigger.