How to Use the Report Generator in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional

The Report Generator in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional enables you to query and display information stored in the database server. However, this remains a largely unknown feature to even the most experienced administrators and users.

Accessing the Report Generator in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional will take you further into harnessing the full capability of SOLIDWORKS PDM.

What is the Report Generator?

The Report Generator in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional allows users to create, save, and print reports from file information in the vault. The extension is generally .crp, and results are shown in the pane of the Report Generator.

Results can then be exported to comma-separated value files and imported into spreadsheets or other database tools. To properly generate reports, you will need to know how to format the query, create a transaction query, and finally execute the report query.

Opening the Report Generator

The Report Generator can be accessed after logging into a local vault view for your SOLIDWORKS PDM vault. From there, open the Tools menu and select Report Generator.

Accessing the Report Generator feature

If you have never used this feature before, you may not see any reports available to use. Without sufficient permissions, you will also be unable to import new queries.

Administrative Permissions for the Report Generator

If you need to add new or administer existing report queries, you need to have sufficient privileges in the vault. This can come from either user or group permissions.

Updating permissions to add new report queries

Ensure that you have “Can update report queries” enabled under the Administrative Permissions tab. This would need to be added for every user or group that would be interacting with the Report Generator.

Importing Report Queries

After opening the Report Generator, you can then import new queries to run. If none exist, there are default queries included with SOLIDWORKS PDM so you can learn how to generate reports.

Example query in the default SOLIDWORKS PDM installation

The default SOLIDWORKS PDM installation directory includes a file with multiple reports bundled inside of it, but additional queries can be downloaded from the 3DEXPERIENCE Knowledge Base or generated on your own.

Example Reports

The report examples consist of nine reports, including finding documents in a specific workflow state, with a specified configuration, and even referenced by another document.

Report queries from the default file

These examples are extremely helpful for learning the Report Generator workflow and to reverse engineer your own custom query.

Assigning Report Permissions

When importing a report, you will be prompted to choose which users and groups have permissions to use that query. You can also add or remove rights for these queries to modify who is allowed to see and run them.

Editing report user permissions

Running Reports

Once the reports have been imported, they can be run on your vaults. Use the drop-down menu to select the vault you want to run the query on, then select the report you wish to run and click Run.

Example of a fully run query

A fully run query will provide valuable report information that can be used to understand, organize, and manage files in a more streamlined manner.

Extending SOLIDWORKS PDM Automation

SOLIDWORKS PDM comes with a few helpful example queries to help you understand how the Report Generator works. To take this to the next level, you need to create custom queries to extract the information you need from your vault.

For self-guided learning, consult the SOLIDWORKS PDM Help documentation for information on creating custom reports. However, to leverage our services team to write the queries for you.

To schedule a call to discuss your reporting needs, contact us here.