Ansys Dynamic Reporting reports are the result of sending a filtered set of data items through a report template. Data items are chosen with a database query, allowing flexibility in the selection of data to process. Report templates encode the visual appearance of the report, including options for processing the data items that are sent in. Templates can be restricted to a single set of known data or be designed to be executed repeatedly, handling a wide range of expected data. But a template can be changed at any time, allowing it to be augmented with new analyses and information as your needs evolve.

Ansys Dynamic Reporting templates are organized conceptually as trees. Sub--templates are strung together to handle different subsets of data items, often used to visually lay out data on a page. For example, a column layout template may be used to display data in a single column, while a tab layout template could be used to put different collections of data in separate tabs. Any template may have other sub-templates under it to process data. For example, a tab layout template could have other templates under each of the tabs to lay out the information that lands on each tab.

To provide this hierarchical template system of processing data, each template can restrict the set of data items that it processes. Thus, the top-level template is handed all the requested data items, and then each sub-template successively filters the data, ultimately displaying only the data pertinent to its part of the report. It is also possible for any template to perform an independent search of the database for specific data items.