Create/Edit/View

This is the create/edit/view screen for document templates. See also Concepts|Printing and Administration|Templates for background information.

The fields are as follows:
Name - the name of the template. The name can be anything (ie in the example above, we could change the name to 'ABCDE' and the system would still work) but it is sensible to use meaningful names. You can have multiple templates with the same name, but again, it is sensible not to.

Description - a description of the template. This should be used if necessary to clarify the purpose of the template.

Active - uncheck this to deactivate the template.

Type - this is used to define the usage of the template - for example when printing an invoice for a customer, the system looks for templates of type 'Customer Invoice'. The Type also defines what information fields are made available to the Content generator (see below). Most of the Types are self explanatory. Use 'Report' for a report (eg a list of customers or sales, etc), and 'Sub Report' for the report's repeated components (ie the line items). See also this  summary.

User Level - this allows you to define who can run which reports. Each user has a level (0-9). A user with level N can only run reports of level N and below.

Report Type - select the report type from the pull-down list. Those available are set using Administration|Lookups|Report Type. The Report Type can be used to select a group of reports on the Reporting|Reports screen.

Preferred Print Mode - this determines when documents are printed or offered for printing. The option is used when the document is generated as a result of invoicing an item which has an attached document. It can be set to:
  None - the print mode is not specified
  Immediate - print immediately using the printer/interactive option
  Check Out - (the default) delay print until at Check Out time
  Manual - documents must be manually selected for printing

At Check Out time, the system checks if any documents have been accumulated. If there are any that have not been printed, then a window is displayed showing the accumulated documents each with a print checkbox - those that have already been printed, and those with Mode=Manual will have the box unchecked - those whose mode is 'Check Out' will have their box checked.

Paper Size - used to indicate to the printer what size paper is required. It can be set to None, A4, A5, Custom, and Letter. Normally can be left at 'None' unless the printer(s) that you are using allow the selection of different sized paper.

Content - the 'content' is the name of the file containing the JRXML report or Open Office or Microsoft Word template used to generate the document.  See also Introduction|Reporting and JXPath Extension Functions.
If you are editing the template, click the Upload button to upload the required file. If you are viewing the template, then you can click the content file name to download the template content.
Note that for templates that are Type=Subreport, the Report that uses the subreport finds the subreport via its Content name, not its Template name.  Hence if you edit a subreport template and upload content with a different file name, you will have to modify the report to use this new subreport content name.

Orientation - set to Portrait or Landscape as required

Copies - set to the required number of copies

Paper Height, Width and Units - these can normally be left at their defaults unless you have specified 'Paper Size' as Custom.

Note that for OpenOffice and Microsoft Word templates, the Paper Size, Orientation, Paper Height, Paper Width, and Paper Units settings of the Document Template are ignored. These settings must be specified within the OpenOffice or Word template. That is, they are only used for templates that use Jasper Reports (jrxml) content.

Email Subject, Body - these are used only when the system is generating emails to send out reminders and statements. Hence they can be left empty for all templates other than those used for reminders and statements. For these templates, it is mandatory to provide email body text. The email subject can be left blank, and if so will be set to the Name of the template. Note also that although you can use macros to generate the body text as you create/edit the template, you cannot use macros to generate the email text at run time. That is, although the reminder attached to the email can say 'Fido's next vaccination is due', you cannot get the email text to say 'Attached see reminder for Fido'.

Note also that the reminder and statement emails will have a From address that will be set as follows (where RB is the contact purpose and is Reminder for reminders and Billing for statements):

  • the RB email contact associated with the customer's Practice Location; or
  • the Practice's RB email contact, if the  customer doesn't have a Practice Location, or the Practice Location doesn't have an RB email contact; or
  • the Practice's preferred email contact, if there is no RB email contact

SMS - this is used for customers that have elected to receive SMS messages for patient reminders. Note that macros are not supported, to avoid exceeding the 160 character limit.

File Name Format - used to specify the file name format of generated documents. If unspecified, the document name is derived from the template file it was generated from. So a PDF generated from the template 'Invoice A5.jrxml' would be assigned the name 'Invoice A5.pdf'. Available formats are determined by Administration|Lookups|File Name Format

Printers tab
The Printers Tab is used to display and maintain the printers that can be used with this template.  You don't have to use this facility, but if you don't then your users will have to choose the required printer each time they print something.
Before using this you need to set up the printers available to the Practice Locations(s) - see Administration|Organisation|Practice Location.
The fields are as follows:
Practice Location - the Practice Location. Note that you can also insert the Practice here. This useful for the case where you want to set a global default printer, and override it for one (or more) locations.  For example if the standard label printer is LABEL-R, but for the upstairs office you wish to use LABEL-U, then it may be more convenient to set LABEL-R for the practice, and LABEL-U for the Main-Upstairs location, than to set the label printer for each practice location. Of course, if you only have two practice locations, then it makes no difference which way you do it, but if you have a more complex setup then it may be better to use the 'set for practice, and override for one location' approach.
Printer Name - choose one from the pull-down list
Paper Tray - if applicable, select the required tray - you will want to use this if you are running plain paper in one tray and letterhead in the other
Interactive - check this box if you want the print dialog box to be displayed (so you can use preview or email rather than print, or change the printer if necessary or load the required paper or ...) before the printing occurs. If the box is not checked, then printing proceeds immediately.

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