Using the Sample Reports

The Historian application includes three typical sample reports that demonstrate the power and ease-of-use of the Excel Add-In. Use them directly in your application or modify them to fit your requirements.

This manual contains hypertext links that open the provided Historian Sample Reports directly in Excel. If you did not install the Excel Add-In, or if you have moved the Sample Reports from the Sample directory, or moved the Historian.chm file from its installed location, you will receive an error when you select on these links and will be unable to take advantage of this functionality.

The three sample Excel reports are built using tags from the Simulation Collector. You must have the Simulation Collector installed on a machine and collecting data to the Historian Server in order for these reports to work. The Historian Batch Report Sample.xls file also uses Batch ID and Product ID tags from the Simulation Collector. These are Simulation Collector points that are configured to store string data types.

To ensure that the sample reports work correctly, you must add the string tags. These are the last five tags in the tag collector list. Add the string tags in Historian Administrator by browsing the Simulation Collector and adding all of the tags by selecting the Add All Tags check box. Alternatively, you can run the Add Tags to Simulation Collector.bat batch file in the Historian\Server directory of the machine that has the Simulation Collector.

In addition, when you first install the Simulation Collector it prompts you for the number of simulation tags it should create (but you must still add the tags for collection using one of the two methods above). The default is 1000. Do not make this value less than 30.

When opening a Sample Excel report, you may receive a message prompting you to update all linked information in the workbook (Yes) or keep the existing information (No). It is recommended that you select No and keep the existing information. The links will be automatically updated for your worksheet. Save your worksheet after the links have been updated.