Automatic Reports - Learning

[zsobieXK43E]

I am attempting to setup the Automatic Reports.  I am confident in my ability to create the .set file and Save/Open Report Grouping.  However, I am not able to find clear instructions on how the reports are actually created.  Are there tutorials/videos that better explain how this works?  What is 'Drawing Information for Table Output'?  Why can I not select an existing drawing?  

[rhesusminus]

Did you try to press the HELP button in the dialog?

Also, this is a function that both updates existing reports, but also GENERATES new drawings. That's why you can't choose an existing page.

There are no videos that I know of that explains this. You should consider attending a paid training.

Give a name to the first drawing. Select the template you want to use (with your title block in it preferably) and press OK. Reports will be updated/generated.

[alds02]

It doesn't work in a way that I could live with here at my present company, but at the previous one I did set it up.

I recall that Automatic Reports sort of forced me into allowing it to create the drawings for my BOM the first time, so I created set files for that, and then afterwards it was capable of updating those, so I needed a different grouping with different set files. This is due to the "put on drawing" "update existing" check boxes that are captured in the set files.

My designer here won't accept it because he wants the BOM to be the second drawing in the project and doesn't want to rearrange drawings at the end of his work. So he's just going to run the reports the slower way.

[zsobieXK43E]

It is a very odd design forcing you to create a new DWG file at the end of the project.  If I understand correctly, shouldn't you be able to put your BOM on the second sheet and use this function to update that BOM?  

[alds02 · Accepted solution]

I certainly would prefer that, but I wasn't able to figure it out. As far as I can tell, new BOM have to be in new drawings at the end. But as I mentioned, you can also do a group that updates. So as long as the BOM on the second drawing was done in a replaceable method, automatic reports could be used from then on.

We don't have large or frequently updated BOMs on most projects, so the designer said "Forget it."

[jaya_priya_ramasamy · Accepted solution]

You can create report format setup file with the option-update existing in table generation setup. Then run the automatic report by choosing the .set file created. For the first time, it will create a new drawing at the end. Then you can drag the drawing to the required place in the project tree and also rename it. Then if you run the automatic report, it will keep updating the existing table.

Regards,
Jaya Priya Ramasamy
Senior QA Analyst
www.autodesk.com

[zsobieXK43E]

Thank you!  It feels like a trap defaulting to 'Insert New' when creating a .set file.  I also discovered that you can open the .set file and change the Update Existing to Insert New to avoid the creation of new DWG file.