Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include in RG

Discussion and questions regarding the RadiMation Report Generator.
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ntempone
Posts: 9
Joined: 25 Nov 2015, 17:10

Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include in RG

Post by ntempone »

Dear Radimation support,

When we test an EUT, we usually have more than one "redundancy" to test. While we could treat each redundancy as a different EUT, this is not useful because we need to produce only one report, among many other reasons.

So, if we need to test redundancy "A", and then "B", we get two tests in the EUT window, say Test numbers 1 and 2, with the same "Description" (which is always the TSF name, and no possibility to change it). For example, "RE102 pol H". Since the name is the same, there is no possibility to distinguish between the two from the RG template, and even though we add a field to the General Info button to know which is which, we cannot automate the RG process because the only way we figured out to include the tests is to call them with another name (say "RE102 pol H - redundancy A" and "RE102 pol H - redundancy B"), and then Radimation will ask which test is that, and we can tell it manually, but this has to be done for each test and when there are many of them, this is VERY error-prone.

What would you advice for our situation? We would like if there were a "parameter" that we could call from the report generator, appart from the "description", to specify which test it is (and it could be a number like 1, 2, 3, etc...) and then we know 1 is redundancy A, 2 is B, and this could be useful for other users as well, that maybe need to make tests in many modes of operation for example.. and this parameter could be optional, or defaulted to 1 when you create a TSF?. Maybe to filter or choose the test from some field in the General Info properties?

I hope the question is clear, if not I will try to clearify.

Best regards,
Nicolás.-
Lüder
Posts: 29
Joined: 11 Aug 2015, 15:13
Location: Basel lueder.bosse@endress.com

Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by Lüder »

Dear Nicolas,

I am not Radimation, just an other user. We use an EUT in Radimation for each redundancy so I get fully automated 5 reports to Word and can use Copy&Paste to include it in one report.
Is there a solution for your question? may be interesting for me ;)

best regards
Lüder
ntempone
Posts: 9
Joined: 25 Nov 2015, 17:10

Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by ntempone »

Dear Lüder,

thank you for sharing your experience on this, I also considered treating each redundancy as a different EUT, however this brings many problems while testing, when using the report generator, as you mention, and you would need to duplicate a lot of information about the EUT.

I think that there should be a better solution to handle this. Please let me know if there is any updates on this subject.

Best regards,
Nicolás.-
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joro
Posts: 440
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 09:55
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Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by joro »

Hi Nicolas and Lüder,

We are aware of the problems that can arise with the automatic generation of the report when multiple tests with the same TSF name are performed for an EUT.
In the past I had a discussion with Sander related to this, and then we concluded that it would be nice if it is possible to have more possibilities to select a specific test using the report generator codes.

The conclusion of that discussion was something like:
I agree that it would be nice and more powerful if the 'Test selection' that is done by the Report Generator is more flexible.
Currently the first of the report generator code is matched with the description of a test.
This selection should be more flexible.

The current implementation is: ||<DESCRIPTION>|<SUBKEYWORD>||

I suggest to make it possible to also do a selection on other columns than the 'DESCRIPTION'.
In the new implementation this should also be possible:
||TESTNUMBER = <NR>|<SUBKEYWORD>||
||DESCRIPTION = <DESCRIPTION>|<SUBKEYWORD>||
||NOTE = <NOTE>|<SUBKEYWORD>||

The first part of the main keyword ("TESTNUMBER = ", "DESCRIPTION = " and "NOTE = " in the above examples), will match with the columns that are shown in the list of performed tests table.
Any column that is available in the table can then be used. This will also work for the used RadiMation Version, the test-engineer, the humidity or any other test specific general information item that is present in a test.

It would be very nice if the selection of the test can be done on a combination of two or more columns. A kind of SQL like syntax can then be used to select the corresponding test.
=> ||Description = "<DESCRIPTION>"|<SUBKEYWORD>||

=> ||Description = "<DESCRIPTION>" AND [Test Start time] >= "<DATE>"|<SUBKEYWORD>|| Internally becomes something like: ||SELECT * FROM PerformedTests WHERE Description = "<DESCRIPTION>" AND [Test Start time] >= "<DATE>"|<SUBKEYWORD>||. If multiple matches are found, no test will be added at all.

If no match can be found at all, the selection of the test will fall back to the previous implementation where only the 'Description' column is checked for a suitable test. And if in that case still not valid match can be found, the dialog for the selection of a custom test will be shown to the end-user, where he can select the desired test.
This all is documented and explained in our item #5920: Additional keyword(s) to be able to link to a specific test
When the item #5920 is implemented, it will be possible to use a report generator code to include specific test results in the report, based on the General Information that is provided in a test.
It is still important that the information that is included in the 'General Information' is still sufficient to make a correct selection of the desired test.

Do you think that this proposal will resolve the problem you are observing?
Or do you have another suggestion?

Best regards,
John
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joro
Posts: 440
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 09:55
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Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by joro »

Hi,

In my previous reaction I described some new functionality that we could implement in RadiMation to provide a solution for your problem.
There is however also another already working possibility that could be sufficient for you. In this reaction I would like to describe that functionality, I am not sure if you have tried this, or are aware of this.

The RadiMation report generator has the possibility to use test specific templates in combination with a main template.
This is described at: http://wiki.dare.nl/wiki/index.php/Chap ... _templates
By creating and linking a test-specific template to each relevant test, the test-specific template will be simpler and only include the information of that test.
The main-template allows to provide the general information of the report, and to specify the positions on which the test specific templates should be included/merged.
The advantage of this method regarding your problem, is that it allows you during the start of the report generator to specify which tests should be included, and which not.

See the screenshot below, and notice that only a selection of all the available tests is marked to be included in the final report.
Only include the test specific templates of the selected tests
Only include the test specific templates of the selected tests
IncludeSelectionOfSpecificTests.png (89.81 KiB) Viewed 12739 times
I hope that this gives you another idea of what is possible. Hopefully it allows you to find a correct working solution. If you have some questions, regarding this, please let us know.

Regards,
John
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joro
Posts: 440
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 09:55
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Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by joro »

Hi,

And I have another trick I would like to share with you, making it easier to select the correct test for the report generator.

It is possible to create your own field by 'Add'-ing a 'General Information'. In the screenshot below I have added a 'Final Result' field, which I used to document the final result of the test.
General Information
General Information
GeneralInformation.png (44.08 KiB) Viewed 12739 times
When a report is generated, and a report generator keyword is present for multiple tests, the dialog for the selection of the corresponding test is shown.
In this dialog it is also possible to show the custom field as a column. If a column is not visible initially, the column can be made visible by right-clicking on the column header, and selecting 'Column Chooser'. Then the desired columns can be dragged and dropped to the column headers.
Report generator test selection window, showing the right click menu
Report generator test selection window, showing the right click menu
ReportGeneratorShowingRightClick.png (48.17 KiB) Viewed 12739 times
Once the 'Final Result' column is visible, it maybe easier to select the correct test.
Report generator test selection, showing the 'Final Result' column
Report generator test selection, showing the 'Final Result' column
ReportGeneratorShowingFinalResult.png (39.47 KiB) Viewed 12739 times
It is even possible to sort the column (by clicking on the column header), and to filter on the column contents.

In this example I used a 'Final Result' field, but it is possible to add your own fields, and to use multiple fields.

I hope that this gives you another idea on how to simplify the usage of RadiMation to generate the final report.

Best Regards,
John
ntempone
Posts: 9
Joined: 25 Nov 2015, 17:10

Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by ntempone »

Hi John,

thank you for your useful suggestions.

I have been using the method you mention in your last suggestion (but it is very error prone when there are many tests, and tedious).

The method in the first suggestion is what I would like to be implemented, and what would work best for us, as this allows for a lot of flexibility and is the best way to address our problem.

Your second suggestion is of little use for us, I think, because our problem is not wheather a test is included or not, but where, and which one is it.

When do you think your first suggestion could be implemented?

Best regards,
Nicolás.-
ntempone
Posts: 9
Joined: 25 Nov 2015, 17:10

Re: Multiple tests with same TSF name difficult to include i

Post by ntempone »

John,

even though the second suggestion alone would not solve this particular problem, it would be very nice to still be able to use it in combination with the first suggestion: I mean, you call for example a test like: ||Description = "<DESCRIPTION>"|<SUBKEYWORD>|| and this test uses a test-specific template (the functionality is not lost).
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