Starting in DuraFlex 9.1.x, ink use reporting has been added as an optional license that will allow you to quickly get ink use and printhead consumption data for jobs and your printhead. This feature works identically for DuraBolt and DuraCore. Screenshots were produced on a DuraFlex.


To access the ink use and printhead consumption data, open the DFE, then click the gear icon to the right.


If you have a new installation of DuraFlex 9.1.x, you will see two new tabs to the right of DuraFlex. If you don't see these tabs, you may be running an older version of the DFE for your product, or upgraded from a previous version and restored a backrest backup. Skip to the bottom of this article for instructions on how to add the tabs into the DFE.


The reporting pages can also be accessed outside of the DFE if necessary. The URL's are as follows:

Ink use report page: http://localhost:81/Ink%20Usage%20Calculator/index.html

Printhead consumption report page: http://localhost:81/phusage/index.html


If you are accessing these pages from a different system than the one the Navigator Server runs on, you can replace "localhost" in the above URLs with the IP address of the Navigator Server PC. For example, if your Navigator Server IP address is 10.0.0.18, then the URL would be: http://10.0.0.18:81/Ink%20Usage%20Calculator/index.html


Ink Usage Reporting

1: Configure button

Clicking the Configure button will expand the configuration area of the Ink Usage Reporting.


2: Maximum number of jobs to display

This caps reporting to only show up to this number of jobs in the reporting list based on any filtering you have applied. Filtering will be covered below.


3: Enable Columns

This allows you to toggle on/off the display of each of the following items in the report list. Note that if you export the results, only the selected columns here will be in the exported results.

  1. Start Time: When the job started printing on the press
  2. End Time: When the job finished printing. Finished printing includes jobs that were cancelled or encountered a fault. If the job is run again to finish the printing, you will get an additional report line for each time the job prints. No data is overwritten or removed.
  3. Job ID: This is the Navigator Job ID that is optionally displayed in the DFE, and automatically displayed in the Client application.


  4. Job Name: This depends on how you have your workflow configured. If things are left as default, then the job name will be extraced from the PDF's document title stored within its metadata. 
  5. Pages: Total number of printed pages, not the number of pages in the PDF (unless you printed a single copy of all pages).
  6. Filename: Filename of the PDF used to print the job. This is also used for filtering later in this document.
  7. Job Number: This refers to the internal job number used in the print controller. These always start with a number of leading 0's. For example: 00000000000000000000000000076a81, or 00000000000000000000000000076a81-384. The -384 would be referring to our internal job ID (see c above).
  8. Media Length: Total length of media that printed.
  9. Res X DPI: Different presses print at different resolutions. Since this document is using DuraFlex as an example, then the resolution for X will always be 1600.
  10. Res Y DPI: This is the resolution you printed at. Since this document is using DuraFlex as an example, then this will show 640, 954 or 1600.
  11. ICC Profile: This is the output ICC profile used when printing the job.
  12. Stage: For duplex systems, this will be 1 or 2 depending on which stage the job printed on.
  13. Result: If the job printed sucessfully, or if there were any faults or errors.
  14. Cyan: Total amount of Cyan ink used for the job.
  15. Magenta: Total amount of Magenta ink used for the job.
  16. Yellow: Total amount of Yellow ink used for the job.
  17. Black: Total amount of Black ink used for the job.
  18. Cost: Calculated only on this webpage, meaning this isn't a column in the ink use database. The amount is derived from the total amount of each ink used versus the cost per letre of ink defined (below).


4: Ink Cost per litre of ink

This is used to calculate each individual print run cost as well as give you a total based on the records displayed. Unfiltered results will be for all jobs shown on the report page.



5: Filters

File Name: Partial or complete file name. This searches each record's filename for whatever alpha-numeric text you enter into this field. For example, if you had a number of files for your own MIS job number 53886 that were named something like 53886_1.pdf, 53886_2.pdf, 53886_3.pdf and so on, you would type in "53886" here. It would show all files with that in the file name. If you had rework on one of the parts of the job, then you can put in the exact filename to list all of the times only that file was printed.


Start Date/End Date: Allows you to filter a date range. This can be used with or without a file name filter.


6: CSV

Copy CSV to clipboard: Copies the report data into the clipboard as CSV formatted data. This can be pasted into some spredsheet software.


Download CSV: Allows you to download the report data in CSV format.


7: Totals for jobs displayed below

Data from the job list below is consolidated into this line giving a total number of pages, media length, total amount used for each color, then the sum total of all of the individual jobs listed.


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If you want to use this data directly in other programs, please refer to this article on how to do so: https://help.xitron.com/a/solutions/articles/1000326887.


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How to Add Additional Tabs to the Interface in the JSON File

 

If the tabs for Ink Usage Reporting and Printhead Ink Consumption are not present in the DFE, you can edit C:\Navigator\Navigator\htdocs\DFE\Resources\CustomInterface.json and add the entries yourself.


The JSON file controls the tabs displayed in the interface. Each tab consists of three key-value pairs, and new tabs can be added by following a specific pattern.

Structure of Each Tab

Each tab follows this format:

  • SettingsTitle# → The display name of the tab.
  • SettingsURL# → The file path or link the tab should open.
  • SettingsParameters# → This must always be false.

Each new tab must have an incremented number (#), following the sequence.

Existing JSON File (Before Adding New Tabs)

Below is an example of the existing JSON file before adding new entries:

"SettingsTitle1": "Configuration Editor", 
"SettingsURL1": "dce/calibration.html", 
"SettingsParameters1": false,
    
"SettingsTitle2": "Help", 
"SettingsURL2": "http://help.xitron.com/support/solutions/1000133088", 
"SettingsParameters2": false,

Adding New Tabs

Now, we will insert two new entries for:

  1. Ink Usage Reporting (SettingsTitle1)
  2. Printhead Ink Consumption (SettingsTitle2)

Since these are inserted before the existing tabs, we must renumber the existing entries (Configuration Editor and Help) to SettingsTitle3 and SettingsTitle4 respectively.

Updated JSON File (After Adding New Tabs)

"SettingsTitle1": "Ink Usage Reporting", 
"SettingsURL1": "Ink%20Usage%20Calculator/index.html", 
"SettingsParameters1": false,
    
"SettingsTitle2": "Printhead Ink Consumption", 
"SettingsURL2": "phusage/index.html", 
"SettingsParameters2": false,

    "SettingsTitle3": "Configuration Editor", 
"SettingsURL3": "dce/calibration.html", 
"SettingsParameters3": false,
    
"SettingsTitle4": "Help", 
"SettingsURL4": "http://help.xitron.com/support/solutions/1000133088", 
"SettingsParameters4": false,

Key Takeaways

✅ Always increment the numbering (#) for new tabs while renumbering existing ones if necessary.
✅ Ensure each entry follows the exact JSON format with double quotes ("") around keys and values.
✅ Keep SettingsParameters# always set to false as it is required.
✅ Verify the syntax using a JSON validator like https://jsonlint.com/ before saving.

By following these steps, you can successfully add new tabs to your interface without breaking the JSON structure.


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NOTE: This feature requires additional licensing to work. If you want to check to see if you have this option available, open the Navigator Server, then Server Setup>Product Features. In the Features list, look for "Ink Reporting." If it is enabled, then the feature is available. If you have just purchased this option, ink use data will not begin logging until after the code has been applied and the Navigator Server restarted. Any job run previous to activating this feature will not retroactively show ink use data.