Parametric RTF report generation

[deefer]

Hi
I've searched in the forum but couldn't find anything about this...

Let's say I've created a template for the RTF report where I've specified lot's of infos to be generated for each element (tagged values, requirements, constraints and so on) with my custom formatting.

Now I have the need to create reports with different levels of details  (say for  the sales or the tech dept ) and I'd like to somehow enable/disable the sections of the template.

Now the only possibility is to copy the original template and to disable the sections in the new template, with clear disadvantages in terms of modifications impact (if I need to modify something, I have to run through all the affected copy templates).

The suggested solution would avoid this copy, allowing the user to select/deselect the sections in the report generation dialog, while using all the times the same report template.

What do you think?

Davide

[Sunshine]

Sounds like you want to generate a totally different document so a different template is the logical way to go. In the past I've used search name value tags on model docs and excluded element types via the doc generation dialog and its just caused my colleagues headaches as they didn't understand the intricacies of the those features. If you add parameters to include/exclude sections I think it will make doc generation too complex for most people. It is already too complex for some now. So I'd say its not a good idea from an ease of use point of view.

Sorry to its probably not the answer you were hoping for  [smiley=sad.gif]

[deefer]

I just make an example for requirements (since I'm doing reqs management with ea):

in the project specification, I list the requirements with few details (name, text, priority)

In the design documents, I list the reqs with more details, such as connections to other elements or derived requirements.

The template format is exactly the same in both situations, I just exclude the section in the rtf generation window.

By default, ea should enable all the defined sections of the template, so the behavior would be exactly the same as it is now, with no additional complications.

[Sunshine]

Sorry still think it adds too much complexity for most users to add extra parameters. The simpler thing to do is create the most complex template first then copy it and cut out the attributes/elements you don't need for the simpler template.

As a passing thought if you want to exclude connectors you can do this via the Options tab (on the generate rtf documentation dialog) and select all of the connector types to exclude.

Your derived requirements may be able to be filtered out via the element filters or other filters in the same dialog. Perhaps use one of the existing fields such as key words putting "derived" in the requirements you want to filter out.

So you might be able to achieve your desired result using existing features.  I guess it really depends on how you format your template as to whether you can pull it off

Have a play around and let us know how you get on.