Datawatch model for inconsistent # of lines of report data

bluestar

We occasionally get requests from our users to create a datawatch model that will extract data for reports where the report data does not have a fixed number of detail lines per section. As I understand it, this inconsistent report data format effectively eliminates the multiline trap as a viable solution. So my question - is there another way to address this report data format perhaps using appends and\or page footer templates? A little more description of the report format - some sections have two detail lines (HSA on line 1 and Total on line 2 for example) but in other sections there may be four detail lines (Dental on line 1, FSA on line 2, HSA on line 3, and Total on line 4 for example). Thanks in advance for any direction on this!

CPorthouse

If you could share an example it might be helpful, but if I understand correctly some lines in the report look like this:

Record1
HSA $12345
Total $12345

and some other lines have:

Record2
Dental $123
FSA $50
HSA $75
Total $248

I would tackle the problem saying each line is a detail, and then an append or footer to bring in another field to "group" the details together.

How did you want the records formatted? Does each record need to be on one line:

Record 1 HSA $123545 Total $12345

Record 2 Dental $123 FSA $50 HSA $75 Total $248

or just as a table:

Record1 HSA $12345
Record1 Total $12345
Record2 Dental $123
Record2 FSA $50
Record2 HSA $75
Record2 Total $248

bluestar

Hello CPorthouse - I appreciate the feedback.

Yes, the following is a good example of the format of some of the lines of the report

Record1
HSA $12345
Total $12345

and some other lines have:

Record2
Dental $123
FSA $50
HSA $75
Total $248

and then output in a table format such as the following is what we'd be after

Record1 HSA $12345
Record1 Total $12345
Record2 Dental $123
Record2 FSA $50
Record2 HSA $75
Record2 Total $248

I'd guess I'm still a bit unclear on how to tackle the suggested detail line approach to capture this data due to how the data is not always in the same row on each record. In the above example, HSA is in line 1 for Record 1 and then for Record 2, HSA is in line 3. I could likely be wrong here but was thinking we'd use a multiline trap on a detail template for this but with this inconsistent format wasn't sure that multiline trap was going to work in this case. Or are you suggesting there can be multiple detail templates? If that is the case, then maybe it is the version of Monarch we are on that only appears to allow for one detail template.

Thanks again!