Paperwork Designer - Working with Data
One of the most powerful features of the Easify Paperwork Designer is it's ability to combine data from the Easify database with the documents that you create.
The ability to merge data with text and pictures lets you create and edit the kind of documentation you will need in order to run your business such as Quotes, Invoices, Purchase Orders, Customer Statements, Price Labels, Job Cards, Delivery Notes and so on...
The Basics...
Working with data is a fairly technical exercise that requires a bit of explanation. So please bear with me while I cover some of the background you will need to be able to use data within your documents...
When you are working on a document in the PaperWork Designer, the data that is available for you to use in the document is presented to you in the Field Explorer.
All of the items (Mergefields as they are known) that you see in the Field Explorer can be dragged onto your document, and when the document is printed the Mergefields will be replaced by the data that they represent.
So for instance, if you drag the Order Number Mergefield onto your document, when you print that document the order number will be printed where the {Order Number} Mergefield is situated.
Document Types - How They Affect Mergefields in the Field Explorer
Now, to complicate matters slightly the Mergefields that you see in the Field Explorer will vary depending on what type of document you are working on...
There are four types of document you can create in the Paperwork Designer:
- Customers Documents
- Orders & Quotes Documents
- Products Documents
- Purchases Documents
Each of the above document types has a different set of data associated with it. For example, Products documents are concerned with data relating to specific products such as price labels, whereas Customers documents are concerned with data relating to specific customers i.e. customer address labels etc...
Customer Documents
Customer documents are centred around the data for a single customer such as Name, Address, Payment Terms etc...
When you are working on a customer document the Mergefields in the Field Explorer will reflect the kind of data that is relevant to customers.
Also within the list of available Mergefields for Customers documents is a node (or branch) of data related to Orders.
The Order Mergefields within the Field Explorer for Customer documents (say that 10 times quickly) are intended for advanced documents where you want to print a document based on a specific customer, but also include data related to all of the orders that are related to them. An example of this type of document would be Customer Statements where you want the document to print for a specific customer, and also include a list of their orders that may still require payment. In this case the Order mergefields would be placed into a details section on the document causing it to be repeated for every order that the customer has. Click here for more information about Working with Sections.
Orders & Quotes Documents
Orders & Quotes documents are centered around the data for a single order such as Order Number, Order Total, Date Ordered etc...
When you are working on an Orders & Quotes document the Mergefields in the Field Explorer will reflect the kind of data that is relevant to Orders & Quotes.
Also within the list of available Mergefields for Orders & Quotes documents are nodes (or branches) of data related to Products and the Customer that is associated with the Order or Quote.
The Product Mergefields within the Field Explorer for Orders & Quotes documents are intended for advanced documents where you want to print a document based on a specific order or quote, but also include data related to all of the products that are related to them. An example of this type of document would be an Invoice where you want the document to print for a specific order, and also include a list of the products on that order. In this case the Product mergefields would be placed into a details section on the document causing it to be repeated for every product that the order contains. Click here for more information about Working with Sections.
The Customer Mergefields within the Field Explorer for Orders & Quotes documents are intended for advanced documents where you want to print a document based on a specific order or quote, but also include data related to the Customer that is associated with it. An example of this type of document would be an Invoice where you want the document to print for a specific order, and also include customer information on it.
Payment Plan fieldsThese fields can be used if a payment plan is present: they represent the amounts of the current instalment e.g. First Payment amount, final payment amount etc...
The IsInvoice button is pressed in for any paperwork that is an invoice. This tells the system that the paperwork item can support payment plans and is treated as an invoice in the order details and purchase details window.
Products Documents
Products documents are centred around the data for a single product such as Stock Code, Sell Price, Description etc...
When you are working on a Products document the Mergefields in the Field Explorer will reflect the kind of data that is relevant to Products.
Typical Products documents would be price labels, warranty labels, shelf labels etc...
Purchases Documents
Purchases documents are centred around the data for a single purchase such as Purchase Number, Purchase Total, Date Ordered etc...
When you are working on a Purchases document the Mergefields in the Field Explorer will reflect the kind of data that is relevant to Purchases.
Also within the list of available Mergefields for Purchases documents are nodes (or branches) of data related to Products and the Supplier that is associated with the Purchases.
The Product Mergefields within the Field Explorer for Purchases documents are intended for advanced documents where you want to print a document based on a specific purchase, but also include data related to all of the products that are related to them. An example of this type of document would be a Purchase Order where you want the document to print for a specific purchase, and also include a list of the products on that purchase. In this case the Product mergefields would be placed into a details section on the document causing it to be repeated for every product that the purchase contains. Click here for more information about Working with Sections.
The Supplier Mergefields within the Field Explorer for Purchases documents are intended for advanced documents where you want to print a document based on a specific purchase, but also include data related to the Supplier that is associated with it. An example of this type of document would be a Purchase Order where you want the document to print for a specific order, and also include supplier information on it.
General MergeFields
The Field Explorer also contains a number of general fields that do not vary depending on document type and are always the same.
The general Mergefields are used for data that is equally applicable to all types of documents such as Page Number, Page Count, Print Date etc...
That concludes the basics of Working with Data, for more advanced coverage of this topic refer to the subsequent sections:
