Lab Samples and the DNR XML Export

The Lab page holds your water quality samples, your lab customers, and your public water system records. It is also where you produce the DNR XML file that covers a range of sample dates or lab sample numbers. The page title on screen is Water Tests.

This page shows you how to find a sample, and how to download the export.

Quick Start

1. Open the Lab page at console.drillerdb.com/lab.
2. Type a lab sample number, an owner name, or a customer name into the search box at the top, then click Search.
3. Click Edit on the row you want.
4. Click Reports & actions below the sample form. The button is greyed out while the form has changes you have not saved, so save first.
5. In the DNR export box, read the dates in Start date and End date, then click Download XML.

Before you start

Three things must all be true before the Lab page opens:

• You are signed in.
• Your role is admin, office, or Field Supervisor.
• Your company is on the lab allowlist.

The allowlist holds one company today: company 1, Sam's Well Drilling. No other company reaches the Lab page, whatever its plan. Your plan matters as well, because lab reports are a Professional feature, so a lab company on a lower plan loses the page too.

The export controls are narrower still. They render only for the admin role, and only on a sample that is already saved. An office or Field Supervisor user sees the sample editor and the print reports, but no export box.

Step-by-Step: Find a sample

1. Open the Lab page.
2. Type into the search box at the top of Water Quality Samples, then click Search. The search matches the lab sample number, the DNR sample number, the owner's first name, the owner's last name, the well address, and the customer name.
3. To narrow by source, click All, Internal, or External. Internal means a lab sample number that does not start with E. External means one that does.
4. The page lists 25 samples at a time. To widen the list, click the link under the table. It reads Load 25 more, or a smaller number when fewer than 25 are left. A line above it reads "Showing" and the number of samples on screen out of the total.
5. To go back to the full list, click the Clear link that appears beside the Search button. It drops the search term, keeps any source or date filter you set, and returns the list to 25 rows.
6. Click the row, or click Edit on it, to open the sample.

The table has six columns: Actions, Sample, Customer, Owner, Collected, and Status. A sample marked invalid also shows an Invalid badge beside its status. When nothing matches, the table says "No samples match your search."

Above the search box the page has a row of daily tools. Pick a date in the date box and click Bacti, Nitrate 1, Nitrate 2, or Arsenic to download that bench worksheet. The same row has Print invoice sheet, Outside billing, Bulk edit, and Calendar. New Sample, Manage Customers, and Manage PWS sit in the row below the All, Internal, and External buttons.

If you already know the number, go straight to the sample. The address console.drillerdb.com/lab?sample= followed by the lab sample number opens the editor for that sample. The record ID works there too.

What the date boxes start with

The DNR export box opens on Sample dates, with Start date and End date already filled in. The window is the last 24 months, ending today. On 7 September 2026 the boxes read 2024-09-07 and 2026-09-07.

The start day never rolls forward into the next month. On 29 February the start date becomes 28 February two years earlier, so the window keeps its full 24 months instead of starting a day late.

Both boxes are date pickers, so your browser decides how the date looks on screen.

Step-by-Step: Download the DNR XML export

1. Open a saved sample, as above, and click Reports & actions. The DNR export box sits in the Print Reports section, below the report buttons.
2. Under Range, pick Sample dates or Lab sample numbers.
   • With Sample dates, set Start date and End date.
   • With Lab sample numbers, type the first and last number in From sample and To sample. Use digits only. Only lab sample numbers made of digits are matched, so an outside-lab number that starts with E is never in this kind of range.
3. Under Program, pick Both programs, PW - Private wells, or WS - Public water systems.
4. Click Download XML. The message line reads "Downloaded DNR XML." when the file is ready. The file is named dnr.xml.

The file covers every sample inside the range you set, not only the sample you opened. Opening a sample is how you reach the button. It does not narrow the file.

Download hold/reason analysis downloads a file of held samples and the reason each one is held, for the same range and program. The message line reads "Downloaded hold/reason analysis." The box says what it does: "Analysis includes held samples and reasons. Downloading never releases held records."

When the download does not happen

"Export refused. Choose a valid, ordered date or numeric sample range and try again." This one message covers every range problem. Check each of these:

• A date box is empty or does not hold a real date. Pick the date again with the picker.
• Start date falls after End date. Swap the two dates.
• From sample or To sample is empty, holds anything but digits, or the first number is larger than the second. Use whole numbers, smallest first.

If the message comes back and the range looks right, write to support@drillerdb.com and quote the range and the program you used.

No Reports & actions button. The button appears only on a sample that is already saved. Save the sample, then look again. The button stays greyed out while the form has unsaved changes.

No DNR export box in Reports & actions. Your role is office or Field Supervisor rather than admin. The export box is for admins only.

The file holds fewer samples than you expected. The export selects on the collection date, so a sample with a missing or unreadable collection date is left out whatever its lab sample number. Open the samples you expected to see and check the collected date before you file. A held sample is also left out of the XML; Download hold/reason analysis shows which samples are held and why.

Related Topics

• Export Options - the other exports on the Reports surface
• User Roles & Permissions - what admin and office can each open
• Fill Out a Required Compliance Form - filing state and county forms from a project