Exporting Reports

Any LOGDRAFT report that can be sent to a printer may instead be sent to a disk file so that it can be posted to a web server or e-mailed to clients. The program supports a number of different report export formats:

Exported .DXF, .EMF, etc. files are pictures of your reports -- the depths, soil descriptions, etc. that you entered into the program in order to make these pictures can't be recovered by another program by reading the CAD/.EMF file. If you need to have another program process the numbers or text you've entered into a LOGDRAFT project file, consider using LOGDRAFT's data export option discussed in this page.

To export an LOGDRAFT report as a file:

  1. Choose Print > Reports, Print > Profiles or Print > Subsurface Graphs.
  2. Select the sources that you want to include on your reports, the report and legend forms to be used for the reports and the report scale(s).
  3. Click on the Output settings tab.
  4. Drop the Output to box down and select one of the file formats outlined above.

If you've chosen the Adobe Acrobat .PDF File, Windows Metafile (.EMF), Portable Network Graphics (.PNG) or JPEG File (.JPG): options you'll see the following dialog:

.PDF, .EMF, .PNG and .JPG Output Settings Dialog

.DXF files are somewhat more complicated: if you select the AutoCAD .DXF File you'll see this dialog:

.DXF Output Settings Dialog

There are a number of options available for selecting where and how the reports are generated:

Base file name

When the program creates a file from one page your report (for .DXF, .EMF, .PNG and .JPEG files), or from your entire report (for .PDF files), the file's name will start with whatever is entered into this field.

Add each boring's name to the file name

Without this option, the names of the files created will be whatever you have selected as the Base file name. Checking the Add each boring's name to the file name box alters how the program names the report files: the boring, test pit or well number is added to the Base file name. For example, with the Add each boring's name to the file name box checked and P23291 entered into the Base file name field (representing a typical project number), the program may create files with names like

P92321 B-3 page 1.DXF
P92321 MW-4 page 1.DXF


etc.

Place files in

Sets the directory where your exported files will be placed.

Layer name   (.DXF files only)

Specifies the name of the CAD drawing layer on which your report will be drawn. Layer names may be any combination of alphabetic and numeric characters -- however, many CAD programs cannot handle layer names that include spaces. (MYLAYER is OK, MY LAYER is not.) Since your chosen layer name will be repeated throughout the .DXF report files, the shorter you make the name the smaller in size your .DXF files will become.

Pattern layer name   (.DXF files only)

This selection allows you to specify a different CAD drawing layer for the graphic soil patterns. (Specifying a different layer name for the soil patterns allows you tell your CAD program to "freeze" the pattern layer -- this results in a considerable increase in the CAD program's drawing speed.)

Binary   (.DXF files only)

Binary .DXF files will be smaller (by 25 to 50 percent) and open faster in AutoCAD. The reports will appear the same when viewed in a CAD program no matter if this option is selected or not. Note that very few illustration programs will read binary .DXF report files.

TrueType   (.DXF files only)

If this option is unselected, .DXF report files use a monospaced font (similar to this) for everything on the form, meaning that .DXF reports are less attractive than their printed counterparts. The TrueType option allows you to generate .DXF files that look exactly like the printed versions -- however, some drawing and CAD programs do not support TrueType files.

Compress patterns into blocks   (.DXF files only)

LOGDRAFT features a special "compressed" .DXF option: .DXF files created with the Compress patterns into blocks option selected look exactly like regular CAD drawings but they can be up to 10 times smaller in size. The only drawback? LOGDRAFT takes quite a bit of extra time generating them, especially on a slower computer with an older hard disk.

After you've set your export options, click on the Output button to generate your export files.

CAD files are scaled in either inches or centimeters, depending upon the measurement system chosen in the "Regional Settings" section of the Windows Control Panel.

The .DXF file format (used by CAD files) does not support including logos and other images directly inside of a .DXF file; instead, the logo must be written by LOGDRAFT as a separate file in the same directory as the .DXF file. If you copy the .DXF file elsewhere, you must also copy any .PNG logo file that's referenced by the .DXF file. (By default, AutoCAD will give you a warning when it encounters a missing image file.)