Expression of XML tags in custom reports

I'm attempting to design a brew sheet/production report for our small 1BBL brewery that more closely meets our needs vs. the stock stuff that is available in BS. Making and/or modifying an existing report to either show or hide the information from the recipe that we want to see is pretty easy (I can hack my way through the HTML and CSS to do this), but what I'm mystified by is whether it's possible to influence how XML tags are expressed in the outputted report.

In the HTML template, for example, I have something like "$MASH_INGREDIENTS." It's not surrounded by any HTML tags or CSS styles. However, if you apply a report template to a recipe and then use the "Save Report" function to actually cook a standalone HTML file from the recipe, you can see that the XML tag has been replaced with a whole host of HTML and CSS. The CSS styles are referenced in the "style.css" file, so I could at least influence the look of some of these HTML elements. However, what I can't seem to figure out is if there is a way to control WHAT the XML tags are replaced with in the exported or printed report. For example, "$MASH_INGREDIENTS" turns into an HTML <table> tag with a bunch of nested tags that control the structure of the table... but what if I didn't want some of those tags (and therefore, columns and information) to appear? Is there any document that we can modify to control the expression of the XML tags into HTML, or is hardwired into BS and you get what you get?

(I think I know the answer to this, but...)

Thanks!

cmbrougham said:

However, what I can't seem to figure out is if there is a way to control WHAT the XML tags are replaced with in the exported or printed report.

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To my knowledge, those tables are not accessible for modification. I've tried without success to modify shopping reports (to include brand and supplier info), as well as other reports. It appears that tables are baked in.

The only reports that I've successfully modified are the ones that can be imported and printed in the recipe window.

If there is a method, I'd like to learn it, too.

Thanks brewfun--that was my suspicion, that this was hard-wired into BS with no clear means of user control of how these XML variables are expressed. I've checked out every user-editable file installed along with BS (at least, those that I could find) and didn't see anything indicating this was possible.

Perhaps Brad can clarify, whether this is how BS works or whether it's now BeerXML works. If it's the former, I'll make a feature request for this.

For the record, I found your production reports that you use in your brew house--nice work! They're a few magnitudes of overkill for our brew house, however, since we record all measurements and times (at least during the brew itself) directly into a Google spreadsheet open on an iPad. We print hard copies which get hung on the fermenters and then moved to the brites, and then finally filed. For our immediate hard copy in the brew house, I need a fairly simple recipe and procedure outline. I'm getting there, but there's a lot of extra... chaff... that gets printed on the sheet that really has no relevance or use to us during the brew. What I'm building will be light years improved beyond the stock thing we've been using, though... I just need it a bit better

cmbrougham said:

For the record, I found your production reports that you use in your brew house--nice work!

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Thanks! That's great to hear.

They're a few magnitudes of overkill for our brew house, however, since we record all measurements and times (at least during the brew itself) directly into a Google spreadsheet open on an iPad. We print hard copies which get hung on the fermenters and then moved to the brites, and then finally filed.

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As a 1 bbl brewery, you're fine. But, get to 15 or more and the world will change. Maybe the forms will become more useful with time. Maybe you'll improve them and repost to help other brewers (including me). The way to think of brewhouse records is that you're really talking to your future self, when you have to delegate and need consistency.

Based on your description, my Cellar report may be more helpful than the full production. It just covers the recording of the beer's progress. The Gravity/pH tracking is meant for every four days or so and gives you insight into yeast health. The trub weight can tell you if you're losing beer (aka, profit) because it's 80 to 90% water weight. With multiple employees, it's the only reliable way to see what's been done, and when.

There are several pro specific brewing programs with more sales forecasting and supply management features. After all, a real brewery is a massive conveyor with more in common to running a railroad than a bar or restaurant.

What I'm building will be light years improved beyond the stock thing we've been using, though... I just need it a bit better

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I'd love to see it, sometime. Sounds excellent!

Excellent information--thank you. And it just so happens that we're in the process of expanding, adding a 15BBL production facility at a separate location. Pretty exciting stuff--our system got a water test last week and the fermenters and brite were stood up this weekend! So shiny...

The 1BBL facility will stay in operation, partially because it has to (state law) and mostly because we'll use it to develop new recipes as well as one-offs and pub specials. The systems are so radically different--the 1BBL system is in reality just a large-scale homebrew system--that while we can certainly use similar practices and methods between the two brew houses, they will require different methods of recording and tracking. While I will be working at the bigger facility on some occasions, I'll mostly be focused on the smaller one for the time being and want to clean up and simplify our recording there. We've already begun to track other types of data required by state and federal laws, and since BeerSmith isn't built with this in mind, other means need to be employed; for example, we track ingredient lot codes for each batch on a Google spreadsheet accessible throughout the brewery on iPads and computers. It's a bit janky but you do what you have to do.

Anyway, I'll keep fiddling with it and see what I can do with the report template. I've done about as much research as I can, and all signs point to not being able to do what I want, but we'll see...

cmbrougham said:

And it just so happens that we're in the process of expanding, adding a 15BBL production facility at a separate location. Pretty exciting stuff--our system got a water test last week and the fermenters and brite were stood up this weekend! So shiny...

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Congrats! That's great news!