Summary
Rich Text Format documents are actually standard format word processing documents that can be edited with any word processor . The only difference is that you can add special fields. The system replaces any special fields within square brackets ( such as "[Job Address]" with the relevant value.
If you edit the layout using Databuild's word processor, these set fields can be selected from a drop-down, or printed by running Edit/Special Fields Report
Details
Reports generated in Databuild are displayed in Databuild's internal word processor. They can be viewed and edited (unless editing is prevented in User definable Report files) much like any common word processor such as Word, Wordpad or OpenOffice. The internal Databuild word processor has functions and features similar to these commercial packages.
When in RTF Layout edit mode (forced by initiating from a layout edit command button, or the reports/custom reports layouts/ rtf layouts menu item in the main system toolbar. The following additional fields appear
Report Type combo in the main toolbar
Special Field combo displays available fields for the current report type
Adds the current special field to the layout at the current cursor position
Edit/Fields Report . Lists all special fields for each report type
File/Make Default Layout. The current layout becomes default for the current report type.
All other functions are as per the Databuild Word Processor
In the following instances, this routine also acts as a document viewer:
Contact Custom Reports
Job Custom Reports
Job Documents
Job Control Documents
Front End Documents
Purchase Orders
Simply click a file to display it in the right panel. Documents can be Rich Text Format (.RTF), Word (.DOC) or text (.TXT). Individual documents can be edited and saved (with appropriate permissions), and all or selected documents can be printed
Editing RTF layouts is as simple as editing a document. Special Fields can be selected from a drop-down list (populated according to the Report Type), and are generally enclosed in square brackets "[..........]".
If you want to alter the default formatting of a special field, add ">" and a formatting string at the end of the special field name.
Layouts can include tables. Simply create a table with the required number of columns. Any rows with any data will be retained as headings, and the table populated and extended if necessary with data from the following sources:
Variations
Claims
Quotations "Main Text" values separated by pipes ("|") and linefeeds are inserted into the table
| AAAAA | BBBBB | CCCCC |
| DDDDD | EEEEE | FFFFFF |
converts into the table
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC
DDDDD EEEEE FFFFFF
Note that you do not include "Main Text" in the actual table.
The system splits the main text into two text
Text up until the first line that contains "|". This populates the Main Text special Field
Text after the start of the first line that contains "|". If this exists it populates the first layout table having 2 or more rows.
Purchase Orders and Front End create this table automatically
| Reference | Description | Quantity | Units | Unit price | Price |
.
.
'| 001 | Kitchen Sink | 1 | Each | 250 | 250 |
| | | | | "Total" | 7,510 |
Formatting within each cell is inherited from formatting of the same column in the first empty row. Therefore you can have different formatting in the first row (usually a heading) from the rest of the table which can inherit formatting (font,size,bolding, alignment etc).
If you want a specific cell in bold format, prefix the cell with "[BOLD]". This happens automatically for heading items in orders and detailed quotes.
example
| AAAAA | BBBBB | CCCCC |
| [BOLD]DDDDD
| GGGGG | HHHHH | IIIIII |
converts into the table
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC
DDDDD
GGGGG HHHHH IIIIII
Text Frames
If you want text or a picture to appear in the same position on a page (for instance on cheques), use Text Frames
How It Works
The system makes a copy of the layout layout document, then modifies this document:
For any Text frames, the main document area, header and footer, the following steps are repeated in order
| • | Any Job variables "[V:xxxx]" are replaced by their appropriate values where "xxxx" is the name of a variable |
| • | "[TAB]" forces a tab to the next position in the document |
| • | Special fields are replaced by their appropriate values and if necessary formatted |
| • | Formulae are calculated |
| • | The system stops for any manual input, triggered by "[Input:xxxxx]" where xxxxx is a message telling you what to input |
| • | Any pictures are inserted, triggered by "[Picture:xxxxx,yy]" where xxxxx is a picture file and yy is a zoom % |
| • | Any toolbar pictures are inserted, triggered by "[Toolbar:xxxxx]" where xxxxx is the name of a toolbar icon (e.g. "Save") |
| • | Any Tables 3x3 or larger are populated by table data (if any) passed by the program |
| • | Any hyperlinks are inserted, triggered by "{hyperlink:xxxxx}" where xxxxx is the name of a hyperlink (e.g. "www.databuild.com.au") |
| • | Any Standard Notes "{note:xxxx}" are replaced by their appropriate values where "xxxx" is the name of a standard note |
Then
| • | Any Text between pairs of "^B" characters is converted to BOLD e.g. "This text is ^BBold^B and this is not" becomes "This text is Bold and this is not" |
| • | "<FF>", [FF]" or "[new page]" forces a new page at that position |
The system then saves the document in the format, position and filename as specified in Custom Report Layouts
If multiple reports have been requested by selecting multiple jobs etc, these documents will be created in turn.
Finally, the new documents will be displayed, ready for printing. If you do not have the "Save Document" box checked, the files will be deleted on exit.
Note that inputs, pictures, hyperlinks, standard notes etc do not have to be in the layout document, they can be embedded in special fields, or have special fields embedded in them.
For instance,
"[Contact UDF5]" will generate a picture "c:\mypics\pic001.jpg" if UDF5 in contacts was "[Picture:c:\mypics\pic001.jpg]"
"[Picture:c:\mypics\pic[Code].jpg]" will generate the same picture if the contact's code is "001"