An InRoads user asked for Mark's help to find an answer to a problem he was having:

Mark, how on earth do I create a simple Cogo report in InRoads that is formatted as "Point # - Northing - Easting - Elevation - Description"!! I've been looking for an answer to this question for months now and no one seems to be able to answer it! I'm beginning to believe that it's not even possible!!

- Dave

Here is the Zen Dude's response:

Dave,

I understand your frustration with something that seems like it should be so easy, and that almost anyone should know how to do if they are using InRoads.

I have an InRoads ALG file that contains a bunch of Survey shots for a topo job. 

You can see all of the information in the InRoads Feedback pane on the right side of the interface.

A quick report can be created under Geometry > Review Geometry Points by just clicking on the Reportbutton. Then you can use the Save As button to save that report to the hard drive. That TXT file can then be brought into Excel to get what you want.

But this gives you a bit more than you wanted, and may be more work than you wanted.

Another option that provides better control over exactly what points are included in the result is to use the formal reporting tools found under Tools > XML Reports > Geometry.

Briefly, you click in the empty field to the right of the Include under the Cogo Points, then go to the Filterbutton on the far right, you'll be able to select the cogo points that you want to report on. Those points will then show up in the Selected window. Anything in that window will be contained in the resulting report.

After clicking Apply, the XML Report Browser will eventually appear. Hopefully you've created some reports before and are familiar with this browser. The key here is to select the report template that formats the data the way that you want or need it. The ListCoordinates.xsl gets pretty close to what you need, and is the closest that I've found in the currently delivered XSL Style Sheets. 

What really needs to happen at this point is to create a new Style Sheet that formats the data exactly the way you need it.  You can copy an existing XSL and just edit it, and it's not really that hard if the one you start with is pretty close. I created a custom XSL sheet that formats it the way that you mentioned to me by copying theListCoordinates.xsl. I'll send it to you as a jump start to getting what you need.

Once you get the correct formatting, then you can either go to File > Save As or right-click in the report window and save it from there.

I trust that this will get you much closer to what you need out of InRoads

Civilly yours,  

- zen