How do i pick a particular document template to merge?

uche40

I have a rather long Question as to how to how best to use the document merge or create function of awareim to achieve the following.

I have an object with client information, and I would like to be able to simply open a client and then pick a pre-defined Microsoft word template e.g” Thank you letter” and let the attributes of the client be merged with the template. Now I know that I can do this easily by just invoking a “create document” operation from the client form and pointing it to the” Thank you letter”. But the problem is that I have hundreds of different letters that I would like the user to be able to choose from, so that the user will have the option to pick which template that they want to generate for any particular client.

I figured that a process would be the way to achieve this but I am not quite sure what the rule in the process would look like. I am guessing something like first configuring a “letters” object to hold all 100 letters and use a process like PICK ONE OR MORE FROM letters….

The above is just my guess,

Additionally, I know the developers edition of awareim does have the ability for the users to add their own document templates, does this include MS word, and if so that may just be the solution to my question above. But since I have not used the developers edition yet( I will buy it very soon).

I was wondering how the user will be able to pick an instance of say a client object and then pick a MS word template to merge it with.

Any and all suggestion are welcome.

tford

uche40,

The Word doc templates will actually be stored in the "Document templates, report" area & not in a BO.

On a Client BO form, you can put the Doc list in the area labeled "Operations invoked from this form". Each entry in the Operations area will be of the "Create Document" type.

With 100+ forms, you might want to think of having different Client forms for different categories of forms. For example Thank You letters, Collection Letters, New Customer letters, etc.

Since the operations to create Word docs from the Doc templates are on a Client form, the client is already in context & attrributes from that client will be used to generate the Word doc.

Hope this helps.
Tom

uche40

Thanks a lot Tom for the input but,

The Word doc templates will actually be stored in the "Document templates, report" area & not in a BO.

I realize this but i was wondering if there was a way to store it in a BO too.

On a Client BO form, you can put the Doc list in the area labeled "Operations invoked from this form". Each entry in the Operations area will be of the "Create Document" type.

This would not be ideal as it would mean tons of operations on the form as the word templates number in the hundreds all with varying categories of forms.

With 100+ forms, you might want to think of having different Client forms for different categories of forms. For example Thank You letters, Collection Letters, New Customer letters, etc.

That was actually what i did already but that would mean again probably hundreds of forms and forms that become useless when their related word template is drastically updated or even removed. this would make for a very difficult to manage BSV. and a waste of valuable time.

Since the operations to create Word docs from the Doc templates are on a Client form, the client is already in context & attrributes from that client will be used to generate the Word doc.

I already know this and it works well, but then again, it will not be an ideal approach when the word templates are in the hundreds.

Basically, i think that this can be achieved by using the developer version that allows users to add and update their own word templates. I am guessing that it would simply be a matter of configuring a process that asks the user to pick a template to merge with the BO client attributes.
Or alternatively a rule that wraps around the "create document" action that will allow the user to "PICK FROM" the document templates.
Please awareim support can you chip in here too and let us know if the developer version would be able to do this or a possible rule that may help achieve this simple task.
More input from all is welcome.

uche40

Support or anyboby at all have any thoughts or input to my issue?

uche40

User-defined reports and document templates

http://www.awareim.com/features.html#UserDefinedDocuments

If allowed by the application developer the customers can add new reports and document templates, or even substitute those supplied by the developer. This allows accommodating specific logos, page design, etc. without any changes to the application configuration maintained by the developer.

I guess if the awareim website posts this , then it means that users can add new reports and document templates, or even substitute those supplied by the developer which would be me. But then my question still remains, how does the user then pick a particular document template that they wish to merge with a BO if say they have 100s of word document templates loaded?

aware_support2

You can specify more than one document template when adding an operation of type Create Document to an object form. When the user clicks the operation at run-time, the system will automatically show a list of all the templates you specified for the user to choose one.
With the Developer Edition you can allow users to add their own templates. This is described in section "User Defined Documents and Reports" of the User Guide. If a template requires a particular object available in the context, the user can specify a required object form when adding a template where the template should be available. If more than one template is available on the form, the system will show the list for the user to choose.

tford

uche40,

I did a bit more reading of the User Guide (mainly #2 in the section "When documents are generated") and discovered a feature that I did not realize existed.

Yes, you can have a BO called Letters which helps you manage this process.

Here is what you would do:
1- Create your letters in "Document templates, report" area

Let's says letters include Letter_01, Letter_02, Letter_03

2- Create BO Letters with attribute: TemplateName
3- In RegularUser BO, create attribute: DocGenerated with type: Document
4- Create a query of all clients: Client List
5- Create a query of all letters: Letter List
6- Create a process with following steps:
a- PICK FROM 'Client List'
b- PICK FROM 'Letter List'
c- LoggedInRegularUser.DocGenerated=Letters.TemplateName
d- DISPLAY DOCUMENT LoggedInRegularUser.DocGenerated

Thanks for asking this question. I learned something new today 😃

Of course the Developer's Version will allow a whole new level of user control over the entire process.

Tom

uche40

Thank you so much guys . I will go ahead and try out your suggestions and report back.
You guys are the best.

uche40

Hello support,

1. You can specify more than one document template when adding an operation of type Create Document to an object form. When the user clicks the operation at run-time, the system will automatically show a list of all the templates you specified for the user to choose one.

I have tried this and i do not see any where to select more than one document template when creating the operation from the form. I am currently using the Professional version though. is this option something that is in the developer version only?I did notice though that the Professional version does allow you to select multiple documents only if the creat document action is called from the menu ( Which does not put for example the client BO in context anymore).

uche40

Awareim support,

I have tried this and i do not see any where to select more than one document template when creating the operation from the form. I am currently using the Professional version though. is this option something that is in the developer version only?I did notice though that the Professional version does allow you to select multiple documents only if the creat document action is called from the menu ( Which does not put for example the client BO in context anymore).

Any thoughts on this?

aware_support

If you want the user to select a template to use for a particular form (so that the BO that owns the form is in context) you just need to add multiple operations to this form. Each operation should be of "Create Document" type and a particular document template should be selected for this operation.

Aware IM will display all these operations above the form. You can also put all these operations inside a combo box - to do this just specify "Inside" location when adding an operation to a form.

uche40

Hello support,

If you want the user to select a template to use for a particular form (so that the BO that owns the form is in context) you just need to add multiple operations to this form.

I guess that is where my problem lies. In the fact that i have hundreds of document template that apply to a single form. Placing each one as an operation on the form obviously will not be reasonable. Is there a way to put maybe just one operation or process on the form like say " Generate document" which then gives the user a list of available documents templates to pick from?

tford

uche40,

That option does not exist. If you look through the ACTION list and syntax, a DISPLAY DOCUMENT action always needs one document name.

Tom

aware_support

No, not at the moment. I suppose we could add functionality to the standard "Create Documents" menu to prompt user to select a business object to add to the context...

uche40

I suppose we could add functionality to the standard "Create Documents" menu to prompt user to select a business object to add to the context...

That would be good. Does 4.0 have this functionality?

uche40

Additionally, what is the point of the standard "create document" menu if it does not prompt for a BO or BO instance to put into the context? Is this something i can achieve with a rule?

aware_support

Standard "Create Documents" action is for those documents that do not require dynamic data sources - for example, if you can specify a query as a data source for the document. In this case the system will run a query and use its results as the data source for the document.

If you can do something like this in your case - i.e. provide a query that would find the BO, it could solve the problem.