Merlin – Adding an option in a report template

Report template options are saved in theÂ /Contents/info.plist within a Merlin‘s report template package and shown in the order they are defined.Â Therefor, should you want to add another option for your custom report:

You open the info.plist as found in your report template package under /Contents
Check the dictionaries defined for the keyÂ PWReportParameters
And define your own dict in the position you would like it to be shown

Note: Use existing options as reference on how to define checkboxes, lists, or text entry fields

Some examples:

1. You have created a copy of the existing Next Due Activities report (as explained here) and want to add an option to disable the “Group” column in the outputted table.

Your workflow

Open theÂ info.plistÂ as found in your report template package under /Contents
Copy the dict definition for another checkbox option (for example this forÂ withProjectImage)
And paste
Edit theÂ strings forÂ key andÂ title in the pasted dict.

<dict>
<key>key</key>
<string>withGroup</string>
<key>title</key>
<string>Group</string>
<key>valueClass</key>
<string>NSNumber</string>
<key>style</key>
<string>bool</string>
<key>defaultValueString</key>
<string>0</string>
</dict>

Note: A defaultValueString of 1 means that this option is on per default. You may enter a 0 if you want this option to be off.

Save your changes
Open the Report.xslt from your lproj folder (for this post, we assume you are editing Report.xslt out of /Contents/Resources/English.lproj)
Locate on the start of the Report.xslt the rows defining the parameter names. You can search for
```
param name="withProjectImage"
```
Copy this line and paste
EnterÂ withGroup instead of Â the pastedÂ withProjectImage:

<xsl:param name=”withGroup”/>

Locate the row outputting the Group title in the table, it is
```
<th>Group</th>
```
Do a test for the value of $withGroup by 1 and allow it to be shown only then
```
<xsl:if test="$withGroup = 1"><th>Group</th></xsl:if>
```
Locate the row outputting the Group’s value in the table, it is
```
<td width="18%"><xsl:value-of select="../title"/></td>
```
Do a test for the value of $withGroup by 1 and allow it to be shown only then.

<xsl:if test="$withGroup = 1">

<td width="18%"><xsl:value-of select="../title"/></td>

</xsl:if>

Note: There are 2 rows to change. Once the table outputting whenÂ <xsl:if test=”$showResource = ” “> and a second time for <xsl:if test=”$showResource != ” “>

Save your Report.xslt file
Restart Merlin if it is already running
Open your project
Call File > New Reportâ€¦ Â and select your thus changed report
It won’t show the “Group” column per default, but you can enable its display in the options:

2. You have created a copy of the existing Cost Distribution report (as explainedÂ here) and want to add an option to disable the “Group” column in the outputted table.

See next blog post for the workflow

______

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Merlin – Adding an option in a report template

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