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Session Reports (Pro)

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Session Reports (Pro)

Serial Studio Pro can export any recorded session as a self-contained HTML report or a PDF. The report includes a cover page, session metadata, per-parameter summary statistics, and one interactive Chart.js plot per numeric dataset. It's a share-ready artifact for teammates, customers, or a lab notebook, generated from the same SQLite session database used by the Session Explorer.

Generating a report

  1. Open the Session Explorer from the Sessions button on the toolbar.
  2. Select a recorded session.
  3. Click Generate Report in the session detail pane.
  4. Configure branding, page, and section options in the dialog (see Options).
  5. Click Export PDF (or Export HTML on builds without the embedded browser engine).

A progress dialog appears while charts render and (for PDF) the page is rasterized. The output format depends on the build: builds with the embedded browser engine produce a PDF, and builds without it produce a self-contained HTML file. When finished, the file is written to:

<Workspace>/Reports/<Project Title>/

The workspace root is the folder set under Settings → Workspace. Project titles are sanitized so the filename is always safe.

What's in the report

The report has four sections, each independently toggleable:

SectionContents
Cover pageLogo, company name, document title, project name, session ID, duration, sample count, parameter count, start/end timestamps, author, generation date
Test informationProject title, session ID, start/end times, duration, sample count, parameter count, tags (as chips), and session notes
Measurement summaryPer-parameter table with sample count, min, max, mean, and standard deviation. Non-numeric datasets show for numeric columns
Parameter trendsOne Chart.js line chart per numeric dataset, laid out in a responsive grid. A screen-only overlay chart (hidden on print) plots all parameters on shared axes for shape comparison

Options

All options are persisted between runs, so you only configure them once per project.

Branding tab

  • Company name, document title, author name
  • Logo: PNG, JPG, or SVG. Embedded inline so the HTML stays self-contained.

Page tab

  • Page size: A0–A6, B4, B5, Letter, Legal, Executive, Tabloid, or Ledger. Reports always print in landscape orientation.
  • Line width: 0.5 – 3.0 pt (default 1.4)
  • Line style: solid, dashed, or dotted

Sections tab

Toggle each of the four sections on or off independently. An extra Annotate min, max, and mean values on plots checkbox overlays those statistics on each chart. Turning off Parameter trends produces a text-only summary report that renders instantly and prints to a few pages.

HTML vs PDF

Both formats ship the same content, rendered from the same template.

HTMLPDF
Single fileYesYes
Self-containedYes (Chart.js, CSS, JS, and logo are inlined)N/A (rasterized)
Interactive chartsYes (hover, tooltip, overlay toggle)No (charts are rendered as images)
File sizeLarger (embeds Chart.js + raw data)Smaller, fixed per page count
Best forInternal review, web sharing, debuggingCustomer deliverables, regulatory submissions, printing

Which format you get is determined by the build: builds that include the embedded browser engine export a PDF, while builds without it export the self-contained HTML.

How charts are rendered

Charts use Chart.js 4.x, bundled inside Serial Studio. No network access is required, since the full library, stylesheet, and client runtime are embedded in the HTML at render time.

Downsampling

Long sessions are downsampled to a maximum of 10,000 points per chart using first/min/max/last bucket decimation across 2,500 equal-count buckets. This preserves the signal envelope (peaks and valleys survive) while keeping charts responsive even for sessions with millions of samples.

If you need the full-resolution data, export the session to CSV from the Session Explorer instead.

Numeric formatting

Tick labels use scientific notation for values with magnitude below 10⁻³ or at or above 10⁶. Otherwise they display with three decimal places. Colors rotate through a muted HSL palette (base hue 210°, stepped by 48° per parameter) tuned for print legibility.

Performance notes

  • HTML export is near-instant for any session size: the template inlines the data as JSON and all rendering happens in the browser when the file is opened.
  • PDF export is slower. Serial Studio loads the HTML in an off-screen browser, waits for Chart.js to finish rendering, then rasterizes the page. Expect a few seconds for sessions with many datasets.
  • The report is independent of the live project: it pulls session data directly from the SQLite database, so you can regenerate reports from archived sessions long after the original project has changed.

See also