Problem

The Search Tool in PDM is extremely effective; however, there are instances where some advanced reporting is necessary. Hence, this article describes how to use the Report Generator feature in PDM Professional to search a selected file vault using one or more queries. The Report Generator also provides the means of querying a SQL Database, without running the query from within SQL Management Studio. Note: This feature is not available in PDM Standard.

Solution

1. Open the PDM Administration Tool (Windows Start Menu > SOLIDWORKS PDM > Administration)
2. Log in to the Vault as Admin
3. Right-click on the User or Group for which you want to give permission to run reports and select Open
4. Select Administrative Permissions, and then check "Can update report queries"

5. Open the Local Vault View and access the Report Generator from Tools > Report Generator

6. To import a query, go to File > Import Query as shown below

7. When importing a report, we will be prompted to choose which Users and Groups will be able to run a Report. Only the users and groups who were given permissions to run reports in PDM Admin Tool, as mentioned above, will be listed.

8. After we have imported the report(s), select one or more reports, then select the Vault to run the query and click on the "Run (green arrow)" icon as shown below to generate the result.

9. We can then click on the Save icon to save the result as a CSV file.

The report query Report Examples 1.crp is installed by default to C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS PDM. For more detailed information regarding the creation of a PDM Report, please reference the PDM Administration Guide.

For additional support, existing customers can submit a ticket or new customers can contact Hawk Ridge Systems.