Report Templates

Report template files (which are different to Plandroid save file templates) are used in the Report page to specify the base document to create a report from. The template specifies which information is extracted from your design to create the report document you require. A report can still be edited in the Report page so that it contains the exact text you wish to send to your current customer.

Creating Templates Within Plandroid

The simplest way to create your own report template is simply to edit the report text, and use the context menu item Save As Template. This will copy the current document to your templates directory, with the data fields you have specified (all data fields are empty in a template). Your new template can be used immediately.

Creating Templates Using an External Editor

To be used by Plandroid, a template file must be in Word format (with the extension .doc or .docx) or rich text format (with the extension .rtf). You can create your own template files in a word processor such as Word or WordPad and use the menu item Import -> Report Template to read the file in as a template, or simply dragging the file into the Templates list. Note that you can choose to embed unedited template files in your save files, or just link to them if you want to reduce the size of your save files (see the Options section for more details on save options).

Templates work by having special tags in them, which define fields that the application should fill with the appropriate data generated from your design. A tag has the format: <<tag name/>>, where the tag name is any insertable item as listed in the Report page Insert Items section. You may see these tags in a new report document before you have specified any information, as the application does not hide them until they have been filled. Tags are not case sensitive.

To set a field tag in your own template file, import the template and use the context menu item Insert Detail. You can choose from any of the many items that relate to your customer details or information about the parts in your design. It is also possible to type in a tag yourself where you want the data to appear, but the tag text you need to use is not always the same as the context menu text.

When you have made your edits, use the context menu item Save Template to replace the current template file, or Save as New Template to instead save the file as a new template.

Template Page Settings

If your template is in Word format it will contain its own page setup settings, and when you open or use that template, those settings will replace your current page settings if they are different.

The next section covers how to use Catalogs.