Detailed Description

The Report Container is a container widget for composing exportable report pages from existing HMI widgets.

Drop any CDP Studio HMI widgets - labels, meters, node tables, pictures, etc. - into the Report Container and arrange them with normal layouts, exactly as you would inside a Container. When triggered, the Report Container renders its full contents to disk as a PNG, SVG or PDF file, using the file name and folder configured on the widget.

This is intended for operator workflows where the application needs to produce an audit log entry, end-of-shift report, daily summary, or similar artifact - either on demand from a button, or automatically when a control system signal fires.

Composing the report

Place the Report Container in your form, then drop the widgets that should appear in the report into it. Apply a layout (typically Vertical Layout) on the Report Container so the children arrange neatly.

Children are not limited to CDP Studio widgets - any visible widget will be rendered. Use labels, meters, node tables, pictures and grouping containers as you would on any normal page.

The Report Container paints a white background by default so the on-form preview and the exported file both look like a paper page. To use a different colour, change the palette property's Window role in the Designer property editor.

When the host application uses day/night theme switching, set lockedTheme to a fixed theme name to keep the report's appearance constant regardless of the surrounding HMI's theme - so the same form always produces visually identical exports.

Long reports and scrolling

When the report content is taller than the area available in the host window, place the Report Container inside a Scroll Area from the Designer Containers palette and set the scroll area's widgetResizable property to true. The scroll area will provide a vertical scroll bar at runtime while the Report Container itself keeps its natural full size.

Exports always capture the full report content, including parts that are currently scrolled out of view. There is no need to resize the window before triggering an export.

Triggering an export

The Report Container exposes one slot per output format:

• saveAsPng() - write a PNG file.
• saveAsSvg() - write a vector SVG file.
• saveAsPdf() - write a single-page PDF file sized to the full content height.

The typical pattern is to add a single button next to (not inside) the Report Container in your form and connect its clicked() signal to whichever slot matches the format you have decided the report should be produced in, using Designer's connection mode. The operator does not need to choose the format - that decision is made when the form is designed. To trigger from the control system instead, connect a CDP boolean signal to the chosen slot through the standard CDPQt signal-slot bridge, exactly as you would for any other slot.

Each export emits a format-specific signal carrying the absolute path of the written file - pngSaved(path), svgSaved(path) or pdfSaved(path) - which can be wired directly to a label or to a CDP routing string output to display where the file was written. On failure, the matching pngSaveFailed, svgSaveFailed or pdfSaveFailed signal is emitted with a human-readable reason.

File naming

Files are written to the folder named in the saveFolder property - or, when saveFolder is left empty (the default), next to the running application's executable. The file name is built as:

<fileNamePrefix><timestamp><fileNamePostfix>.<extension>

where the timestamp is the current date and time formatted with dateTimeFormat (a standard date/time format string). With the default settings - prefix "report_", empty postfix, format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss" - a save at 14:30:22 on 4 May 2026 produces report_20260504_143022.png (or .svg / .pdf).

Set the postfix to add a fixed suffix, e.g. an operator name or a unit identifier:

...produces Tank3_2026-05-04_endOfShift.png.

All filename parts are sanitised before being joined into a path - characters that are not legal in file names are replaced with underscores. The folder portion is used as-is, so the saveFolder property may contain forward slashes for nested directories. Folders are auto-created on first save if they do not already exist.

Working with reports under routing

Like any other CDP widget, the Report Container participates in the dialog routing system. If the form is opened by a Popup Dialog Button and replaceable routings are in use, all routed widgets inside the report will resolve their values against the substituted routing before the export is triggered. This makes it straightforward to design a single report dialog that produces reports for many components - configure a button per component with the appropriate routing replacement, and the same Report Container will produce a tailored output for each.