BorinGS

BorinGS is a fast, easy way to turn handwritten boring- and well-completion logs into report quality output. Use BorinGS to print:

Boring logs
Laboratory results
Well completion data
Fence diagrams

BorinGS is easy to use because of its easy-to-understand data entry screens. Not only does this minimize training time, but it promotes a standard format between boring logs.

Introduction

About the Trial Version

The trial version is fully-functional and will never expire. Until the software is registered with a purchased serial number:

a “nag screen” will appear at random intervals
printed output will contain watermarks
a limited number of layers/samples can be saved (an unlimited number may be entered/printed)

Registering the application with a purchased serial number removes these limitations.

System Requirements

BorinGS runs on most major operating systems, including:

Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8
Macintosh OS X 10.7+

A minimum of 30MB disk space is required regardless of operating system.

Viewing and printing logs requires the following:

A PDF reader (such as the free Adobe Reader)
A printer compatible with your operating system

Installing BorinGS

The software is distributed as a self-extracting installer (Windows) or as a DMG disk image (Mac). The latest version will be named BorinGS4Setup. Installers for specific versions will include the version number; for example, version 4.0.1.0 would have a filename like BorinGSSetup_4010.exe (Windows).

For specific instructions for each platform, please see the appropriate section below. Regardless of platform, you will need to locate the installation file - either where you saved it when downloading from our website, or your CD (if purchased on CD).

Windows Installation

If installing from a CD, the installer should launch automatically. If you have downloaded the installer, or if the CD does not launch the installer automatically, double-click on the installation executable (exe) file to launch the installer.

The installation process may prompt for an installation location. You may either select the default location or specify your desired location. Note that it is NOT recommended to install Version 4 in the same location as previous versions (Version 2 or 3), however it may be installed at the same time (in a different directory).

To uninstall the software, use the automated uninstall feature accessible through “Add/Remove Programs” or “Programs and Features,” depending on which version of Windows is installed.

Note that administrative privileges may be required to install and/or uninstall the software.

Mac Installation

The Mac version of BorinGS is distributed using a DMG disc image. Double click the DMG file to mount the image, and drag the BorinGS.app bundle to the Applications folder. Drag the mounted disc image to the trash to unmount it.

To uninstall the software, simply drag the BorinGS.app bundle from the Applications folder to the Trash.

Registration

BorinGS will operate in trial mode until registered. Trial mode limits the number of layers and samples that can be saved, and watermarks all output.

Purchase BorinGS

You can purchase BorinGS online at http://www.gookinsoftware.com. Once your purchase is complete, you will receive an email with your registration details.

Enter Your Registration Code

From the main menu, select Help-Register to display the registration window. Enter your registration information exactly as given and click OK.

IMPORTANT - Save your registration information. You may be required to provide your serial number when requesting email customer support and/or installing software upgrades.

Software Updates

Minor updates to BorinGS (4.0 to 4.1, etc) are free. You can check for updates in three ways.

Visit the Website

Visit http://www.gookinsoftware.com and look at the most recent version. At the time of publishing this manual, the latest version can be seen along the bottom of the webpage.

Launch BorinGS on a Computer With an Internet Connection

When launching, BorinGS will “phone home” and automatically check for updates, prompting if updates are found.

Click Help-Check for Updates

Clicking Help-Check for Updates from BorinGS will manually check for updates, prompting as in the above step.

Basic Use

The Main Screen

The main data entry screen is designed to look similar to an outputted log, with basic information at the top and the log at the bottom.

List of available logs in the project. The names are taken from the “Log of Boring” designation in the General Information section.
List of available templates.
General information about the project. May be changed for each individual log (in particular, the Log of Boring designation).
Log-specific information (headers), such as date(s) drilled, logged by, etc.
Data entry screens. Use the tabs to enter information for soil layers, samples, water, and well completion data.

About Logs and Data Files

BorinGS stores data in data files using a “.bg4” extension (previous versions used a “.bgs” extension). While you can choose to start a new data file for each boring log, BorinGS is capable of storing many logs in a single data file.

This is especially handy for keeping all of the logs for a given project in a single file. Not only does it make backing up data easier, but once open all the logs are easily available on the left side of the screen. If you need to switch back and forth between logs, you can do so with a click of the mouse.

In the screenshot, you can see on the left side that logs B-1, B-2, and B-3 are all in a single data file (unsaved at the time of the screen capture, as evidenced in the window title “BorinGS - Unsaved Document”). Log B-1 is being edited.

Sample Data

BorinGS comes with a sample data file containing three logs. This file can be helpful when developing templates, or to learn how certain function in BorinGS work. To view it, do the following.

Open a new project

Launch BorinGS and a new project (data file) will be created. If BorinGS is already running and the project is not new, either click File-New Project to start a new project file, or click “New Project” on the toolbar (as shown).

Load the sample project

Click Help-Load Sample Data to load a sample data file.

View the individual logs in the project

The sample project has three logs: B-1, B-2, and B-3. You can select each individual log for viewing and/or editing by clicking it in the list of logs.

How Templates Work

One of the main features of BorinGS is that output is customizable through templates. BorinGS comes with a set of standard templates, which can be copied and modified to suit your needs. The following shows how the built in sample data can be presented in three different manners using different output templates.

Load Sample Data

Click Help-Load Sample Data to load the sample project. Select log B-3 by clicking its name on the left. Begin by selecing “(master 0 lab).tpl” in the templates section.

Basic Log

After selecting the “(master 0 lab).tpl” template on the left side of the screen, click the “Print Log” button on the toolbar (or select File-Print from the manu) to generate a basic log (page 1 shown above). This template presents the log in a basic manner, with no laboratory or well data.

Basic Log with Laboratory Data

Select the “(master 2 lab).tpl” template on the left side of the screen and print the log again. Note that the output is similar to the previous example, but with two laboratory data columns located between the Material Description and Remarks columns. The labels (Water Content, Dry Unit Weight) can be modified in the template.

Well Log

Select the “(master well 2 lab).tpl” template on the left side of the screen to generate a log with well completion data and two laboratory columns. Click the “Print Log” button on the toolbar (or select File-Print from the manu) to generate the log (page 1 shown above). Note that in addition to the two laboratory columns, the well completion log is printed.

How Markup Tags Work

The following tags can be used in many text fields to help format the text the way you would like. The tags are “stackable,” meaning you can use more than one at a given time. For example,

This is bold text.

will print as

This is bold text.

But if we use one tag inside another, like
This is bold italic text.

the text will print as

This is bold italic text.

The built-in markup tags are as follows.

Bold

…

Example: Text is bold.

Italic

…

Example: Text is italic.

Underline

…

Example: Text is underlined.

Font

<arial>…</arial>

<times>…</times>

Example: Text is <arial>Arial Font</arial> and then <times>Times</times>.

Tutorials

Creating a Boring Log

In this tutorial, we will enter data for a simple log, customize the template, and print the log (fixing errors that we may see in the output).

Start the Project

Before you begin, start BorinGS by double clicking (or single clicking, depending on your operating system settings) the BorinGS icon. If the software is registered, the main screen will be displayed. When launching the trial version, a “nag screen” must be dismissed.

Print Blank Logs For Field Use

To help aid field personnel in logging the boring, we will print blank logs for them to take in the field. With a blank log open, select the “(master field).tpl” template and click “File-Print” (or select the “Print” button on the toolbar). A dialog will ask how many feet of log are to be printed. We will be drilling a 20 foot borehole, so keep the default of “30” and click “OK”. The blank log will be displayed in your PDF viewer. Print as many copies as are needed.

Get the Field Logs

Upon completion of drilling (and laboratory testing), we got the following from the field engineer (Joe Engineer). It has been checked by Jane Engineer and is ready for input.

Entering General Information

General information consists of the Project, Project Location, Project Number, as well as the Boring Designation and Figure Number. Enter these values from our sample field log as shown. We will be calling this log Figure A-2 (see the “Figure” field).

Also note that you can change the input and output units in this section. Because our log was taken in ft/in and will also be output in ft/in, no changes are required. We will discuss the “Log Offset” in the well tutorial.

Entering Headers

The headers section consists of the remaining borehole information that is printed above the log. You can either type the data directly into the fields, or use the built in calendar and “quickfill” entry methods. We will do both.

To quickly enter a date, right click the date entry field and select “Calendar” to bring up the onscreen calendar. Click the arrow to the left of the month until May 2010 is displayed. Click on the 28th and then OK. The date will be inserted into the field.

Because we often use the same types of drilling methods on multiple logs, we want to add some quickfill entries. Right click the Drilling Method entry field (1) and select “Add/Edit” (2) to display the editor.

Enter the drilling methods used most frequently, each on its own line. We will enter “Rotary Wash,” “Hollow Stem Auger,” and “Hand Auger.” Click “Done” to dismiss the entry screen.

Now when we right click the Drilling Method field (1), we should see the three drilling methods we have entered. For this example, click “Hollow Stem Auger” to fill the field (2).

To enter the drill rig type, we will use the same method that we just used. Right click the Drill Rig Type field and select “Add/Edit.” Notice that the drilling methods we just entered do not pop up - each remembers its own quickfill list. Enter your commonly used drill rig types, including CME 75 for this example. Click “Done” to dismiss, right click the entry field, and select “CME 75” to fill the field.

The remaining fields can be entered using either quickfill lists or direct entry (typing in the text field). Because groundwater is not typically encountered at the same depth in many borings, it is usually entered directly.

As usual, it is good practice to save the log along the way. This log has already been saved as “tutorialbasic.bgs,” however the “*” indicates there are unsaved changes. Click “Save” to save the file.

When finished, the screen should look as shown.

Entering Soil Layers

Make sure the “Soil Layers and Sublayers” tab is selected, and then click anywhere in the grid to open the soil layer entry screen. Enter “0” for the top value (1), and select “Asphalt” as the material type (2). Enter the material description as shown (3), and click “Next” (4) to begin the next layer.

For the second layer, the “Top” value is 0.5 (feet), the boundary type is “Known” (a solid line), the material type is ML, and the material description is as shown. Again, click “Next” to move to the next layer, and continue until all layers are complete.

To terminate the boring data, you must enter a layer defined with a “Bottom of Boring” boundary type as shown.

Click “Finished” to close the data entry screen, and save the data file.

Entering Water Levels

We encountered water during drilling at 10 feet, so it is a good idea to display a graphical water symbol on the log. Click on the “Water” data entry tab. Enter “10” for the Depth (1). Click in the “Symbol Type” column to display the popup menu, and select either “open” or “solid” (2).

For this example, we will use “solid.” Click in the Text column and enter the text to be printed next to the symbol which, in this case, will be “ATD,” as shown (3).

Entering Samples, Laboratory Data, and Remarks

Begin by selecting the “Samples and Remarks” tab and click on the first row to display the sample data entry screen. Note that on our field log, the second sample (an SPT) is within the depth range of the first sample (a bulk sample). To enter these, begin by entering the data for the sample that starts first (the bulk sample).

Top depth is 0.
Sample length (note that this is in inches) is 60.
Sample ID is 1 (from the field log)
Sample type is “Bulk.” You can either use the pulldown menu or type the sampler type directly into the box.
Horizontal Sample Position - because we want this sample to print on the left half of the sample type column (so that it does not overwrite the SPT sample at the same depth), select “Left.”

Click the “Next” button to finish this sample and begin the next.

The top of the second sample is 1.5, the length is 18 (inches), the Sample ID is 2, type SPT, and Advanced Sample Positioning is now “Right.” This sample also has some laboratory data associated with it: a water content test equal to 5%. Enter this in theWC box as shown.

The rest of the samples should be entered in a similar manner, and when you are finished click the “Finished” button to close the entry screen. Your window should look as shown.

Inserting a Forgotten Sample

If you notice in the previous step, we forgot to enter the remark at 12.5 feet and must insert it. We can either put it at the end of the samples (after the 20 foot sample), or we can insert it in the proper depth order. To keep things neat, we will put it between the 10 and 15 foot samples.

Click on the sample at 15 feet to display the sample display screen, and then click “Insert Sample.” This will insert an entry in the sample list and clear all the fields.

Just like entering the samples before, enter the depth at which you want the remark to begin (12.5), and type the remark in the “Remarks and Other Tests” field. This field can accept line breaks, so if you wish the remark to be split into lines you can do so. Do not enter a sampler type here, since we did not take a sample.

Click Finished to close the entry screen, and our window now looks like this. Don’t forget to save your log.

Previewing the Log

At this point, we have the entire log entered, so we can preview the results using our basic “fieldlog” template. Select the File-Print menu, or click on “Print Log” on the toolbar to generate the preview. The lower left corner of the screen will indicate that the output is being generated, and the PDF will open automatically.

Note that the log has three main problems, as shown above.

The labels for samples 1 and 2 overlap.
The water symbol in the Material Description column is buried under the queried line.
We want the text in the remarks column to be bigger.
The material graphic log (hatching) is not displayed.

To fix these issues, we need to edit both the data and the template.

Fixing Overlapping Samples

Click on the “Samples and Remarks” tab and select the first row (containing the bulk sample). When the data entry screen comes up, notice the text field for the “Vert Lbl Offset” (vertical label offset). This value, entered in log units (in our case, feet), will offset the sample number. In our case we want to shift the sample up 2 feet, so enter “-2”.

Click “Finished” to close the sample entry screen.

Fixing Groundwater Placement

To move the water symbol, we need to edit the template. Right click on the template we are using (master field.tpl) and select “Copy Template.” When prompted enter the new filename - fieldlog2.tpl. The two templates are now listed and are identical. Right click on “fieldlog2.tpl” and select “Edit Columns.”

Note the tab below the displayed columns titled “Groundwater” (1). Each column can optionally display the groundwater icon and associated text. To remove it from the material description column, click on the displayed column “Material Description” (2). Uncheck the box that says “Show Groundwater” (3).

Now select the “Remarks” column and check the “Show Groundwater” and “Show Groundwater Text” boxes. Select “on left” and leave the other values at the default values. Click OK to save the template.

Fixing Font Sizes

There are two ways to fix the font size of our remark. The first is to adjust the “Font Size Override” on the sample entry form, as shown. This has the advantage of being easy for our case, since there is only one remark. The disadvantage is that for a log with numerous remarks, you would have to adjust the font size many times. Leave the remark’s font size at “Default” and click Finished.

To fix this issue for all remarks, we will edit the template.

Right click on “fieldlog2.tpl” and select “Edit Columns.” Under Displayed Columns, select the Remarks column. Under the Width and Lines tab, note the “Data Fontsize” textfield. Change this value to “10 pt” and click OK to save the template.

Adding a Graphic Symbol Column

We need to edit the template to add a column (ordinarly we would have done this in the same step as fixing the font size, but as this is a tutorial we are splitting the steps). Right click on “fieldlog2.tpl” and select “Edit Columns” to bring up the column editor.

Note that in the list of available columns on the left there is a “Material Graphic Symbol” column. Double click that column to add it to the “Displayed Columns.” It will appear at the bottom of the list, but we want to have it printed before the Material Description. Either click on the “Material Graphic Symbol” text on the right and drag it into position before the Material Description text, or click the “Move Up” button until it is in the proper place.

Note that under the “Data Fontsize” there is a note saying “All columns: 7.45 in/7.2 in.” This is showing how wide all of your selected columns are compared to how wide your log is. Since we added the column, we are now 0.25 inches too wide for our log and we need to reduce one of the columns.

Click on the “Material Description” column (1), select the “Width and Lines” tab (2), and subtract 0.25 inches from the column width (the total should read 3.75 in, step 3) and click OK to save the log.

The Final Result

Select the File-Print menu, or click on “Print Log” on the toolbar to generate the preview. Now you should see the corrected log, as shown below. Note that the water is now printed in the remarks column, the remark has a better font size, and the samples no longer overlap.

To print the log, select File-Print from within your PDF viewer.

Adding a Second Log to the Project

We continue where we left off in the Creating a Boring Log tutorial and add a second log to the project.

Opening the Project

Before you begin, start BorinGS by double clicking (or single clicking, depending on your operating system settings) on the BorinGS icon. If the software has been registered, the main entry screen will be displayed. When starting the trial version, a “nag screen” must be dismissed first.

Open the previously saved file by clicking “File-Open” from the menu, or clicking the “Open” button on the toolbar. Navigate to the data file (we called it “tutorial.bgs”) and click “Open.”

Field Data

We will be adding data from the field log shown. It is from the same project, so including it in the same data file as B-1 makes sense.

Adding a Second Log

Our project file currently has only one log in it (B-1). Adding a second log is easy - right click your log in the log list and you can create a new log above or below the current log, or you can choose to copy any or all of the log. As this log has the same project information, we want to copy the log. After selecting “Copy Log” we will be prompted with what parts of the log we wish to copy. Select “Copy Project Info” and the new log will be displayed (titled “New Log”).

Select the New Log to view it.

Entering General Information and Headers

The process of entering the General Information and Headers is essentially the same as we used in Boring B-1. Enter the data, either using the quickfill method or directly typing the information into the data fields. When finished, the entry screen should look like below.

Entering Soil Layers

As this is a shallow hand-auger boring, the log is fairly simple to enter. There are two layers, the first at 0 feet and the second at 0.5 feet. The final layer to enter is at 5 feet, and is the Bottom of Boring. When finished, the layer entry area should look like this.

Entering Samples and Remarks

There is a single bulk sample from this log, sample ID “1”, from 0 to 5 feet (a total length of 60 inches). The water content was 6%, as shown in the sample entry below.

Printing Both Logs

Prior to printing, make sure that our “corrected” template has been selected by clicking “fieldlog2.tpl” (see the Fixing Groundwater Placement section in Creating a Basic Boring Log for details on creating the fieldlog2.tpl file).

You can print Boring B-2 the same way you printed B-1 (by selecting File-Print), or you can print both logs at once. To print all the logs in a given file, select File-Print All Logs. The generated PDF file will contain the key, log B-1, and log B-2. From the PDF viewer you can either save the PDF file or print it to your attached printer.

Adding a Well Log to the Project

In this tutorial, we will continue where we left off in the “Basic Log” tutorial and add a third log to the project, this time a well log.

Opening the Project

To continue, start BorinGS by double clicking (or single clicking, depending on your operating system settings) on the BorinGS icon. If the software has been registered, the main entry screen will be displayed. When starting the trial version, a “nag screen” must be dismissed first.

Field Data

We will be adding data from the field log shown.

Adding a Third Log

Our project file currently has two logs in it. Adding the third is just like adding the second - right click B-2 in the log list and select “Copy Log.” Select “Copy Project Info” when prompted and the new log will be displayed (titled “New Log”).

Enter General Information and Headers

After entering the log name and header information, our screen should look like the following.

Entering Basic Log Data

We will enter the headers, layers, and sample information as we did in the first two tutorials. Note that during layer entry, we have to add a bracketed layer from 8 to 11 feet. To do this, select the “Thin Layer (bracketed)” layer type to activate the “Bottom” text field. Enter “8” for the top, and “11” for the bottom, and fill in the soil type (CL) and description (“Grey, moist CLAY (CL)”) as shown.

Continue entering the layers and sample information. At the end of entering the data, the screen should look as below.

Entering Well Log Data

The well completion data we will be entering was written in the “Remarks” column of the field log.

Begin by clicking the “Well Completion” tab on the main screen.
We will begin by entering data below the “Pipe 1” pulldown box (this allows for multiple wells in a single boring, however we will only be entering data for Pipe 1).
Make sure that the “Installed” box is checked.
From the field log, we know that there is an end cap, the total depth of the casing is 27 feet, the stickup height of the pipe is 2 feet, and that there is a 3 foot high well protector installed around the pipe.
In addition, we know that the slotted interval is from 12 to 22 feet, so enter that in the “Slotted Sections” grid.
There are three backfill layers - a layer of “Bentonite Plug” from 0 to 10 feet, #30 Sand from 10-22 feet, and Bentonite Plug from 22 feet to the bottom of the hole at 29 feet. Enter the first layer by typing “0” in the “Top”, “10” in the “Bottom,” and selecting “Bentonite Plug” from the popup menu.
Enter the second layer by typing “10” in the Top, “22” in the Bottom, and then note that there is no “#30 Sand” in the material list. We could choose to use a different material type (the name will not be displayed on the log, so you may wish to use a basic SP pattern), but we will define our own “#30 Sand” material type later. For now, leave the material type blank or as “(no material)”.
Finish entering the third soil layer.

Adding a Material Type

To add the #30 Sand material type, click Tools-Edit Materials on the main toolbar to display the Material Manager.

Click “New Material” to begin entering a new material type.
Under both “Name” and “Description,” type “#30 Sand.”
If you want the material to be displayed on the key, check the “On Key” box (we will leave this unchecked).
Leave the “In USCS Column” unchecked.
Click the first “Hatch” row and select “dots”, set the “Position” to full, and click in the Color column to display the color picker (we chose black).
Click OK to save the material and close the manager.

Finishing Data Entry

Now that the #30 Sand is defined, we can finish entering the well completion backfill data. Click the blank field and select #30 Sand at the top. The well data should now look as shown.

Adding the Well Log Column

Our field log template does not have a well log column, so to print the well log data we will need to add one. We will copy the fieldlog2.tpl template to a new fieldlog_well.tpl template and then customize it.

Right click on the fieldlog2.tpl template and select “Copy Template.”
Enter “fieldlog_well.tpl” and click “Save.”
Make sure the new “fieldlog_well.tpl” template is selected.
Right click the template and select “Edit Columns.”

In the “Available Columns” list, select the Well Log column and either double click it, or click the “–>” button to add it to the “Displayed Columns” list. Select it in the Displayed Columns and drag it to above the Remoarks column, or click “Move Up” until it is in that location.

Note that the total column width is now too wide for the page (7.65 inches vs. 7.2 inches). We need to remove 0.45 inches, so we will remove 0.2 inches from the Remarks column (making it 1.5 inches) and 0.25 inches from the Material Description column (making it 3.5 inches). Recall that the column widths are in the “Width and Lines” tab (the Material Description is shown).

When you are finished, click “OK” to save the template.

Previewing the Well Log

Click on the “Print Log” icon on the toolbar to view the output, as shown. At first glance it appears okay, however the well (and protector) is sticking up into the “Well Log” column title. The log would look much better if it were shifted down.

However, if we shift it down enough, the bottom will be pushed onto a second page, and we want to print this on a single page. So we will need to change the following:

Shift the log down 5 feet.
Increase the amount of log printed on the first page to 35 feet (5 feet will be above the ground surface, 30 feet will be below, for a total of 35).

Shifting the Log Down

To shift the log down 5 feet (leaving room at the top of the well column), enter “5” in the Log Offset entry field near the upper right corner of the screen, as shown.

Changing the Amount of Log Printed Per Page

Right click the “fieldlog_well.tpl” template and select “Edit Page Settings.” Under the “Page 1 Layout” tab, change the Amount of Log value to 35 as shown. Click OK to save the template.

Final Result

Once again, click on the “Print Log” icon on the toolbar to view the output. Now the stickup and well protector are shown, and the log fits entirely on one page. The bottom of the page is still 30 feet below ground, but the top depth is -5 feet.

Printing Fence Logs

Now that we are finished with the three borings for our project, it would be helpful to print a fence diagram to help visualize subsurface conditions at the site.

Open the Project

Start BorinGS by double clicking (or single clicking, depending on your operating system settings) on the BorinGS icon. Open the previously saved file by clicking “File-Open” from the menu, or clicking the “Open” button on the toolbar. Navigate to the data file (we called it “tutorial.bgs”) and click “Open.” (Note that you can also click Help-Load Sample Data to load the same file without entering the information, however all of the fence data in this section will already be entered.)

After opening the project file, either click on “File-Print Fence Log”to display the fence log entry screen.

Entering Log and Fence Coordinates

The first thing you should see when you open the Fence Log dialog is that no coordinates have been saved for the logs or fence endpoints.

From a survey, we know that the coordinates for our three logs are as follows:

B-1: N/S 1055.3, E/W 8231.8
B-2: N/S 1085.2, E/W 8221.3
B-3: N/S 1048.7, E/W 8280.9

Based on these coordinates and the site layout, we have decided that the fence should have endoints of:

Left: N/S 1100, E/W 8200
Right: N/S 1000, E/W 8300

Enter the above data in the appropriate fields. We want all the logs to appear on both the plan and fence, so make sure the checkboxes are checked.

Adjusting Fence Scales

Click the Axis Options tab.
We know the elevation of all three logs is slightly higher than 30 feet, so we need the top value on the y-axis to be greater than that. Enter “40” in the “Top” field, as well as in the “First Label” field. If we don’t change the “First Label” no tickmarks will be printed above 0.
We also know that the maximum depth of the three logs is 29 feet, so we can adjust the vertical (y-axis) scale to maximize the usable area. Enter “180” in the “Scale” field, and change the “Tick Every” value to “15.”
Leave the horizontal scale at the defaults.

Editing the Fence Title Block

Click on the “Title Block” tab, and you will see the title entry fields. Default values are stored in the template, so common values (such as company names) do not require entering for every project if modified in the template. As we are using a default template, we will need to add some information.

We will enter the company name and address in the uppermost box (1), the project name in the third box down (2), and enter the project and figure numbers (3 and 4) in the appropriate boxes.

Note that the titles can use special markup tags, similar to html. For example, if you want a word to be bold, surround it with the tags “” and “” (the one with the slash is the closing tag). So to print the word “Company” bolded, you would enter “Company”. You can also change the font size by using a number, such as “<12>” and “</12>”. See the Markup Tags section for more information.

Print the Logs

After finishing the changes, click “Print” to generate the logs.

Customizing Materials and Samplers

Editing Material Types

BorinGS comes with most “standard” material types predefined. To modify these material types (and hatch patterns), or to add new ones, you can use the Materials Manager. To open the Materials Manager, click Tools-Edit Materials.

Click “New Material” to begin entering a new material type, or select the desired material type to edit (“#30 Sand” has been selected in the screen capture).

1. Name - The name displayed when entering soil layers and well backfill types.

2. Description - This description will be printed on the key next to the name, if “On Key” is checked.

3. On Key - If checked, the material name and description will be printed on the key next to it’s graphical patterns.

4. In USCS Column - If the material name is NOT to be printed in the USCS column (for instance, if the name is very long), uncheck this box.

5. Hatch - Each material type can be represented by any combination of hatch patterns. Each pattern can be printed in a different color across the full column, only the left half, or only the right half. Use the pulldown box in the Hatch column to select from the available hatch patterns. Similarly, use the pulldown in the Position column to define where the hatch will print (full, left, right). Clicking in the color column displays a color picker for that hatch pattern. To add a new hatch to the existing material, click “New Pattern.” To delete a hatch, right click the row and delete it.

Editing Sampler Types

BorinGS comes with many sampler types predefined. To modify these sampler types (and hatch patterns), or to add new ones, you can use the Sampler Manager. To open the Sampler Manager, click Tools-Edit Samplers.

Click “New Sampler” to begin entering a new sampler type, or select the desired sampler to edit (“5’ CME core barrel” has been selected in the screen capture).

1. Name - The name displayed when entering the sampler type.

2. Description - This description will be printed on the key next to the name.

3. Hatch - Each sampler can be represented by any combination of hatch patterns. Each pattern can be printed in a different color across the full column, only the left half, or only the right half. Use the pulldown box in the Hatch column to select from the available patterns. Similarly, define where the pattern prints (full, left, right) using the pulldown menu in the Position column. Clicking the color column displays a color picker to define that hatch’s color. To add a new hatch to the existing sampler definition, click “New Pattern.” To delete a hatch, right click the row and select “Delete.”

Editing Hatch Patterns

Materials and samplers are depicted by various combinations of basic hatch patterns. To edit the hatches available for materials and samplers, click Tools-Edit Hatch Definitions from the main menu to display the pattern editor. The hatch definition editor has two tabs: Patterns and Line Weights.

Patterns

An individual hatch definition can be viewed, and to some extent modified, by selecting it on the list at the left of the screen. Note that at the moment hatch editing is limited to editing the scale factor, whether the hatch is filled, the default width, rotation, and overall line weights.

Scale Factor

Adjusts the scaling of the hatch. A larger scale factor “zooms in” on the hatch, while a smaller scale factor “zooms out.” For patterns with shapes, such as “gravel_filled,” a larger scale factor will make the gravel particles bigger. For line-based patterns, such as “downright_thin,” a larger scale factor will result in more space between the lines.

Filled

For hatches with shapes (such as gravel), selecting this will fill the shapes. Leaving it unchecked results in hollow shapes. This will have no effect on line-based patterns.

Default Width

Defines the line width used in the hatch. These values are specified in detail on the Line Weights tab. You can also enter a value specifically. Note that values must have units attached, such as “0.012 in”.

Rotate

The rotation of the hatch, in degrees.

Line Weights

The line weights are used in pattern definitions to define line thicknesses, and are defined with a nickname (e.g., “thin”) and a thickness, which should include the units (e.g., “0.0075 in”).

The pattern definitions can use these nicknames to define their line widths. For example, the pattern “downleft_thin” uses a default line width of “thin,” as do many other definitions. To change the line width in all the hatches you could edit it in each definition, but to save time you could just change the definition of “thin” here.
To edit an existing weight, edit the name and/or thickness directly in the cell. To add a new weight, click in a blank cell and enter the name and thickness.

IMPORTANT: To restore a line weight to it’s default value, leave the name of the weight as is, but delete the thickness. The next time the hatch editor is opened, the default thickness will be in place.

Customizing Templates

Customizing Columns

You can use the column editor to customize the look of your logs, from which columns are printed (and in which order) to what labels should be used. In addition, you can also edit the laboratory data columns (see the Editing Laboratory Columns section for more detailed information). To open the column editor, right click on a template and select “Edit Columns.”

Available and Displayed Columns

All available columns are displayed in the upper part of the window. The “Displayed Columns” are those which the current template is printing on the log. To add a column to the output, select it in the “Available Columns” and click the “–>” button to add it to the “Displayed Columns.” To remove a column, select it in the “Displayed Columns” and click the “<–” button. You can also double click a column to add or remove it.

To adjust the order in which columns are printed (from left to right), highlight a column and click either the “Move Up” or “Move Down” button.
Note that when you select a column, many of the other sections of the screen update their data to reflect the selected column’s properties. When a specific column is highlighted, you can adjust things like its width and labels.

At the bottom of the screen, you can adjust the location at which the left column begins, or you can choose to center all of the columns. There is also a calculation of the total column width and the available column width. If the total width is greater than the available width, you should make one or more columns narrower (see the “Width and Lines” section).

Titles

The titles tab is used to edit both the printed and screen titles of the selected column.

The title is what is printed at the top of the column, for example “Material Description.” The description is what is printed on the key as the description of the column, for example “Description of material encountered. May include consistency, moisture, color, and other descriptive text.”

Note that the English and Metric titles and descriptions are entered separately. The appropriate title/description will be used based on the output units of the log.

Width and Lines

Basic Appearance

The column width is the most commonly customized item, and it is important to understand how this value affects the overall look of the log.

The total width of the log area is defined in the Page Defaults. Each column has a width defined on this screen, and if the total width of the columns is less than the log width, there will be a gap along the right edge between the last column and the frame of the log. But if the total width of the columns is greater than the log width, the columns will run past the frame and possibly off the page.

For this reason, the total column width is calculated for you after changing a column’s width. This way, if you are adding or deleting columns, you can adjust the other column widths to keep the total width the same.

You can also change basic parameters such as if a line is drawn across the top and bottom of the column, if material and sample boundaries are to be drawn across the column, if you want gridlines (horizontal, at every tick mark), if you want to shrink the text to fit within the column (sometimes useful for the material type column), and if you want to auto-continue layers across pages.

Left/Right Side of Column

Use these sections to further customize the appearance of the column. Interior columns typically have both the left and right sides drawn, however the Depth and Elevation columns usually only have one side drawn (with tick marks).

You can also choose which side you want the ticks drawn - for example, on the left side of the column you can either print tick marks to the right (inside the column) or to the left (outside the column).

Line Widths

You can adjust the line width of either side, or the top, of each column separately. If you would like to make them all the same, click the “Use for All” button.

Groundwater

When groundwater levels are entered, groundwater symbols are plotted on the log. By default, the groundwater symbols are plotted in the Material Description column, however they may be printed in any column(s) desired. To add the groundwater symbol, make sure that “Show Groundwater” is checked for the appropriate column. If you want to also display the associated text with the symbol, check the “Show Groundwater Text” box as well.

Select which side of the column on which the groundwater is displayed using the appropriate radio button. If the groundwater symbol is on the left side, the groundwater text will be printed to the right of the symbol. If the symbol is printed on the right side of the column, the text will appear to the left of the symbol.

The “arrow size” is used to adjust the display size of the groundwater symbol (basically an arrowhead). The “arrow offset” is used to adjust how far from the side of the column the symbol is displayed.

Blow Counts

Normally, the tab on the right side is labeled “Unused.” When the blow counts column is selected, however, the tab is used to customize the blow counts options. In this manner, you can choose whether to plot the blow count values, a blow count chart, or both on the log.

Well Log

Normally, the tab on the right side is labeled “Unused.” When the well log column is selected, the tab is used to customize a few basic well log options.

Customizing Laboratory/Custom Columns

To edit laboratory/custom columns (including the text that goes along with them), you need to edit the columns (see Customizing Columns for more general column information). To begin, right click your template and select Edit Columns.

Click on a “Custom Column X” (where X is a number) column to edit one of the custom columns. These are connected to the laboratory data that can be inputted in the Samples, Laboratory Data, and Remarks section.

The “Screen Title” is used on the data entry screen. In the example, this is a Water Content data column and the screen will display “WC” during data entry.

Customizing Page Settings

The page settings dialog is used to customize various page-specific items unique to each template. It is grouped into several sections.

General

The “General” tab is used for the four items that get printed on every page:

Sheet Number
Figure
Footer
Logo

The sheet number, figure, and footer are all defined similarly: enter an x- and y-coordinate (including units, e.g. “1 in”), a rotation angle, the text alignment, and the font information. Additionally, the Sheet Number and Figure require a label to be defined. The default values are “Sheet” (so the text will be printed “Sheet 1 of 2”) and “Figure” (the text will print “Figure A-2”).

The footer is automatically generated, and consists of the filename followed by the template used to print.

The logo needs x- and y-coordinates of the center of the image, and the desired printed width. BorinGS will automatically scale the image up or down to fit that width. To select a file, click the “…” button.

Key, Page 1, and Page 2+ Layouts

The log can be thought of as 3 main page types as far as the page layout is concerned:

Key
The first log page (Page 1)
Remaining log pages (Page 2+)

The settings on these three tabs are the same.

Paper Size

All of the coordinates input in the page settings dialog are based on the “Design Paper Size.” For “Letter,” the width is 8.5 inches and the height is 11 inches. Landscape pages are denoted with a capital “R” at the end of the size (“LetterR” is landscape “Letter”).

After designing the page based on the design size, you can choose to print the page using a different size, letting the software scale the appropriate sections. If you design the pages based on “Letter,” you can then easily print to “Ledger” by changing the “Output Paper Size” to “Ledger.” Each page type can be set differently (size and rotation).

Column Settings

The “Column Top” defines the distance from the top of the Log Section (see below) to the top of the data area of the column. Any column titles will be printed in the space between the top of the log section and the column top. In the image above, this space is set to 1.25 inches.

The “Column Length” defines how long the column will be on the page. For the key, the column length should be set to a tiny amount (as shown above). Page 1 has a default value of 6 inches, and Page 2+ has a default of 7 inches.

Title Block, Headers, and Log

These are the three main sections available on each page, although not all pages require each. The title block contains the project information, along with the borehole name. The headers contain information about the log itself, including date(s) drilled, drilling method, etc. Finally, the log section contains the log itself.

Each section is set up the same way, entering the upper left coordinates (x1, y1) and the lower right coordinates (x2, y2). Note that “0,0” is the upper left of the page itself, and it is up to you to add the desired margins.

You can also set the line width and default font size for each section separately.

Key Options

Various text printed on the key can be adjusted on the “Key Options” tab. The default values are typically appropriate, but to change items such as the general notes, enter the desired changes in the spreadsheet shown.

Customizing Fence Settings

Customizing Fence Settings can be done in two places. The first is while printing fence logs. The second is by editing the template, which changes the default values.

Coordinates

Coordinates Grid

The coordinates grid shows the coordiantes of all the logs in the current project, as well as if each log should be printed on the plan and the fence.

Fence Endpoints

Shows the N/S (North/South) and E/W (East/West) coordinates of each fence endpoint. The order of the endpoints matters. If you were standing with your feet on the line, the uppermost endpoint would be by your left foot and the lower endpoint would be by your right. Reversing the order of the endpoints will result in the logs appearing in the opposite order on the fence log.

Fence Units

Select the units in which all coordinates are given (and which the logs are input).

Coordinates/Endpoints are ignored

Checking this box will ignore any fence endpoint data. The x-axis will be unlabeled, and the logs will be evenly spaced across the fence log.

Top Elevations are ignored

Checking this box will ignore top elevations. The y-axis becomes depth rather than elevation, and all logs will start at the same y-value.

Allow Color Printing

Uncheck this box if you are printing to a black and white printer and the color output does not convert well to grayscale.

Printed Data

Control what data gets printed next to each log on the fence diagram using the Printed Data tab. You can print up to 3 columns of data (like blow counts, material type, etc) next to each side of the graphic log. You can also adjust how far above the graphic log the titles to the columns and the log title print. If you want the titles to print at the top of the fence diagram area, check the “Top of Fence” box.

Page Layout

Overall Page Coordinates - These coordinates control where the outermost limits of the page are drawn. These values should include any margins desired, and should have units attached (e.g., “1 in”).
Fence Diagram Coordinates - Controls where the actual fence diagram is plotted on the page. Note that this is the plotted area, and room must be left outside these coordinates for the axis titles and labels.
Materal Graphics Key - Controls if and where the material graphics key is printed on the page. If desired, you can only print the materials used on the fence diagram to make things more legible. If this option is not checked, all defined materials will be displayed.
Site Plan - Controls if and where the site plan is printed on the page.
Title Block - Controls if and where the title block is printed on the page. Note that there is no upper left y-value to input - this is automatically calculated based on the values inputted on the Title Block tab.

Axis Options

The Axis Options tab controls only the details of the axes on the fence diagram portion of the page. In the center of the dialog is a white rectangle depicting the fence diagram area. To the left and bottom are options about the axes.

Top/Left

Set the top value to your desired elevation. Note that if there is a higher log than the top elevation, it will print over the top of the diagram. The “left” value is based on distance along the cross-section.

First Label

The first printed label does not have to be at the top/left of the diagram. For example, you could have a top value of 37, but start the labels at 35 feet.

Tick Every

Defines how often a tick mark and label is printed along the axis.

Scale

The scale, in 1:1 units. For example, 1:480 is 1“:480”, or 1":40’.

Scale Bar

Print a graphical scale bar next to the axis title.

(max)

BorinGS calculates the maximum value along each axis based on the other input values. This is useful when trying to get the best fit for your data.

Fit

If you want BorinGS to calculate its best estimate of the axis scaling, click this button for each axis.

You can also optionally display horizontal and vertical gridlines, and whether the logs print in front of or behind the gridlines.

Title Block

The data on this tab gets printed in the title block section (location defined on the Page Layout tab).

Each section can be turned on and off with the checkboxes. The drawn height of each section is defined in the Row Height column, and unprinted sections will not be drawn (so these row heights can be left nonzero).

Note that Markup Tags can be used in the title block to change the text styling.

Paper Size

Define the design and output paper sizes on this tab. All coordinates entered on other tabs will be based on the design paper size. If the output paper size is different from the design size, the coordinates will all be scaled so that things print correctly on the new sheet. For example, you can design your layout based on a landscape letter size (LetterR), but then print to tabloid landscape (TabloidR). Things will scale appropriately, but the text sizes will stay the same.