Resolving WinCC V7 AlarmControl Report Column Width Issues

Problem Description

Operators running WinCC V7.0 (and the related service packs V7.0 SP1 through SP4) frequently encounter an unreadable printout when sending the contents of a configured AlarmControl (also referred to as WinCC Alarm Control Classic) to a physical or virtual printer. The runtime picture shows a perfectly arranged alarm table, but the print job emerges with the following symptoms:

• Columns printed at extremely different widths: one column might be ~10 pixels wide while the timestamp column expands to 200+ pixels and pushes other fields off the page.
• Headers wrap onto multiple lines or get truncated.
• The message text column collapses to a single-character gutter, making the actual alarm information impossible to read.
• Numeric fields such as Number, State, or Acknowledgement print at extreme aspect ratios that make the table unusable for compliance auditing.

The defect is purely cosmetic at print time; the runtime AlarmControl still displays correctly. The cause is the interplay between three components: the AlarmControl picture object, the Alarm Logging editor's Message Block configuration, and the Report Designer layout used during the print request.

Root Cause Analysis

WinCC AlarmControl does not store per-column pixel widths internally. Column widths in both the runtime grid and the printed report are derived from the character length of the corresponding Message Block in the Alarm Logging database schema. Each Message Block (Date, Time, Number, State, Class, Text 1…Text 10, Tag, Process Value, Operator, Comment, etc.) carries two configured attributes:

When a user adds a new Message Block (for example, Text 7 to capture an operator-supplied comment) but leaves the default Length field untouched, the Alarm Logging editor seeds the new block with a length of 0 or 255 depending on the block type. The AlarmControl then attempts to compute a printable width using the formula:

column_width_px = block_length_chars * char_em_width_factor * DPI_scale + padding

A default length of 200 for a free-format text block versus a length of 10 for the Number block produces the exact 1:20 ratio that operators describe as "tiny columns next to a huge wall of whitespace." The "Apply project settings" check box in the AlarmControl configuration only governs whether the runtime column widths match the design-time column widths — it does not change the underlying block lengths.

Method 1 – Configure Alarm Logging Message Blocks (Fastest Fix)

For most installations, sizing the Message Blocks correctly resolves the print width problem without touching Report Designer at all.

Step 1 — Open the Alarm Logging Editor

1. In WinCC Explorer, right-click Alarm Logging and select Open.
2. In the navigator tree, expand the project, then select Message Blocks.

Step 2 — Audit Current Block Lengths

The default WinCC V7 block schema is:

Anything larger than these recommended lengths dramatically inflates the printed column width because the character multiplier scales the print width non-linearly with the table's overall font size.

Step 3 — Adjust Each Block

1. Right-click the Message Block name (for example, Text 1) and select Properties.
2. Change the Length field from the existing value (commonly 0, 200, or 255) to a value matching your largest expected text payload, plus a safety margin of 5–10 characters.
3. For boolean blocks (State, Acknowledgement, Single Acknowledgement), keep length at 1 or 2. Expand only if you intend to embed a word label.
4. Confirm with OK.

Step 4 — Recompile the Project

In WinCC Explorer, select the project root node and click Compile → OS > Server. This regenerates the AlarmControl display files (*.pdl) and forces all client stations to redistribute the alarm schema on next reload.

Method 2 – Build a Custom Print Layout with Report Designer

If the AlarmControl must remain on screen with its current 5–7 columns but the printed copy must obey a different visual layout (legal-size paper, landscape, condensed header), a custom Report Designer layout is required.

Report Designer Architecture in WinCC V7

Report Designer is a separate application embedded in WinCC Explorer, sharing the WinCC Explorer shell but isolating its own document tree. Key terminology:

For WinCC V7 the canonical manual is the SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.0 SP4 — Report Designer Programming Manual published by Siemens Industry Online Support.

Step-by-Step — Custom AlarmControl Print Layout

Prerequisites

• WinCC V7.0 SP3 or later installed on the engineering station.
• Project open in WinCC Explorer; project has at least one working AlarmControl picture.
• Microsoft SQL Server (the WinCC project database) accessible — the layout will use an OLE DB connection.

Procedure

1. Open Report Designer. In WinCC Explorer right-click Report Designer → Open. A blank layout document appears with a Page Header, Report Header, Body, Report Footer, and Page Footer band already pre-defined.
2. Set the paper geometry. Select Page > Page Setup. Switch to the paper size you require (e.g. A4 landscape) and configure margins (12 mm top/bottom, 10 mm left/right is typical).
3. Insert the AlarmControl table object. From the toolbox on the left select the Table control and place it inside the Body band. Right-click the table and select Runtime connection.
4. Select the AlarmOCX data source. In the dialog that opens, choose Alarm Control Classic as the data provider. Confirm the picture name, e.g. AlarmWindow, and the Alarm Logging database.
5. Add columns and define widths. Double-click the table to open the column editor. Add one column per Message Block you wish to print. For each column set the Width (in mm or inches) explicitly. The values you enter here override the Alarm Logging defaults.

    +-----+------+--------+--------+----------+
    | Date| Time | Number | State  |   Text 1 |
    | 25mm| 22mm | 18mm   | 12mm   |   90mm   |
    +-----+------+--------+--------+----------+
      total = 167mm < usable_width = 257mm (A4 landscape minus margins)

6. Test the data binding by pressing F5 (Preview). The preview window shows the last N alarms that were present at the time the print job was last triggered.
7. Save the layout to the project's \<project>\wincc\winccprj\<server>\Reports directory with a meaningful name, e.g. @AlarmPrint_A4.rpl.

Linking the Layout to a Print Job

1. Close Report Designer.
2. In WinCC Explorer, right-click Print Jobs → New Print Job.
3. Name the job, e.g. AlarmDailyReport.
4. In the Print Job properties choose the previously created layout (@AlarmPrint_A4.rpl).
5. Under Trigger select User-driven and reference the AlarmControl picture object by name.
6. Ensure Print on request only is checked if operators must approve each print.

Adjusting Column Width Manually in Layout Editor

If the column width dialog in Report Designer does not expose a numeric property (a known issue with older V7.0 builds when the so-called Dynamic Wizard is disabled), you can force widths through the XML representation of the layout:

1. Close WinCC Explorer to release locks on the .rpl file.
2. Open the layout file in a text editor such as Notepad++.
3. Locate each <Column> element and add or modify Width="600" (the unit is twips: 600 twips = 1 inch).

<Table>
  <Columns>
    <Column Name="Date" Width="1500" />
    <Column Name="Time" Width="1400" />
    <Column Name="Number" Width="1100" />
    <Column Name="State" Width="800" />
    <Column Name="Text_1" Width="3500" />
  </Columns>
</Table>

4. Save the file (ensure the encoding remains ANSI; WinCC V7.0 cannot read UTF-8 layouts).
5. Re-open the project and immediately re-test by triggering the print job.

Verifying the Output

After either Method 1 or Method 2, validate the result with the following checklist:

1. In WinCC Explorer: open AlarmControl, right-click the AlarmControl preview, and verify that the on-screen columns match the configured widths.
2. In runtime: activate the project (or run WinCC Runtime) on the engineering station. Trigger the print via the AlarmControl toolbar Print button.
3. In the printer queue: locate the spooled PDF or physical page in landscape orientation, count the columns, and verify all pages are present.
4. In AlarmControl > Properties > Message Block: confirm that the block lengths match the values documented in the engineering log.
5. In the SMS audit table: open SQL Management Studio against the WinCC project database and verify SELECT TOP 10 * FROM MS_AlarmView returns rows with the new column width attributes.

Common Configuration Pitfalls

Upgrading From WinCC V7.0 to V7.4/V7.5 Behavior Differences

Operators porting fixed V7.0 projects to modern WinCC V7.4 or V7.5 should be aware of three material differences:

1. Block length cap. V7.4 SP1 introduces a hard cap of 128 characters per Message Block to prevent accidental runaway widths. Projects migrated from V7.0 with legacy 200/255-char blocks are automatically clamped on first compile.
2. Report Designer now uses Visual Studio-style XML tags. The .rpl file format is binary-compatible, but the column width property moved from Width to ColumnWidthMillimeters. Older manually-edited .rpl files may need migration using the Report Designer Migration Wizard.
3. WinCC Audit — Alarm-control printing as evidence. V7.4 added a Print as Evidence mode that adds an SHA-256 signature line to each alarm printout, useful for 21 CFR Part 11 or ISA-95 audit environments.

When rebuilding a legacy AlarmControl printout on a new runtime, prefer building the layout from scratch in the modern Report Designer rather than trying to hand-edit XML.

Hardware Considerations

Because character-to-pixel width conversion depends on the installed printer driver and DPI, two sites running the same project on different printers can see different column widths. Always test on the printer model that will be deployed in production:

• HP LaserJet Pro M404 (203 DPI): widths scale cleanly at 100%.
• Generic Windows PDF Printer (300 DPI): may overshoot by 10% on wide columns.

If you must support multiple printer types per site, deploy a per-printer .rpl and assign it through the Print Job configuration based on the Windows Printer name.

Cross-References to Other WinCC Controls

The same Message Block / Column Width principle applies to other WinCC controls that archive data and offer print jobs:

• WinCC User Archive — table print layout uses the same Report Designer tool with User Archive as the data source.
• WinCC Online Table Control — dimensioning follows tag archive block length definitions.
• WinCC Ruler Control — column widths in the report come from the archive configuration, not the picture editor.

Summary Field Configuration

Always commit Message Block lengths to engineering documentation. A minimal audit table per project is:

Block        | Length | Alignment | Visible | Notes
-------------+--------+-----------+---------+----------------------
Date         | 10     | Left      | Yes     | DD.MM.YYYY
Time         | 11     | Left      | Yes     | HH:MM:SS.mmm
Milliseconds | 3      | Left      | No      | Included via Time
Number       | 8      | Right     | Yes     | Leading zeros
State        | 1      | Center    | Yes     | Glyph only
Class        | 10     | Left      | Yes     |
Text_1       | 60     | Left      | Yes     | Primary text
Text_2       | 30     | Left      | Yes     | Tag value
Text_4       | 25     | Left      | Yes     | PLC address
Text_7       | 80     | Left      | No      | Free comment, hidden

FAQ