Document Template

A document template is used to generate documents in ContactsLaw.

Templates consist of a body (e.g. an ordinary Microsoft Word document) containing content markers, as well as a definition which specifies how content (e.g. data from contacts, matters or other documents) is inserted or manipulated to produce the output.

Templates are designed to be subscriber-independent, making it possible for them to be shared (exported/imported) between different ContactsLaw subscribers without reference to any subscriber-specific resources such as workgroups, document types, roles or fields (which are certain to differ between installations).

To that end, templates have a separate configuration which maps between the abstract resources in the template definition and the specific resources available where the template is used. A given template may have several configurations, either for different workgroups (e.g. utilising specialised roles or fields) or for different purposes (e.g. interactive vs automated). A template cannot be used to generate documents until it has been configured.

Properties

Templates have the following properties:

• Description - The name of the template, as it appears in the list of templates and for import/export purposes.
• Body Format - The file format of the body of the template, which is indicative of the application used to edit it (e.g. Microsoft Word).
• Output Format - The file format of the documents generated from the template, if different to the body format. Specifically, ContactsLaw uses Markdown (.md) templates to generate Email Message (.eml) documents.
• Category - Freeform text used to group together logically similar templates.
• Active Indicator - Determines whether the template can be selected during document creation. Mark templates as inactive when they are no longer being actively used.
• Fragment Indicator - Marks the template as a fragment, which can be inserted into other templates. Fragments are used to define reusable content, such as headers or footers, payment information, etc. Only Markdown (.md) templates can be used as fragments.
• History - Describes the changes that have been made to the definition of the template over time, with the ability to revert to an earlier version.
• Publisher Information - Specifies the version, author and copyright information if the template is exported.

Template Body

When creating a new template, the editor initially starts with an empty body in Markdown (.md) format. ContactsLaw includes a built-in editor for Markdown documents, which can be accessed via the Body tab. Markdown supports a limited set of formatting, including paragraph and font styles, hyperlinks, colours, lists and tables. For more complex formatting, consider using a different file format for the template.

Alternatively, you can set the body of the template using the following ribbon commands:

• New - Creates a new, empty body for the template in a particular file format.
• Upload - Uploads an existing document to use as the body of the template.

Once set, you can use the following commands to manipulate the body of the template:

• Open - Opens the body for editing in its associated application (e.g. Microsoft Word).
• Check Out - Checks the body out for editing.
• Check In - Checks in changes to the body made in an external editor.
• Discard Checkout - Discards any changes made to the body since it was checked out.

Content Markers

The body of a template is the same as any other document, except that it contains markers that instruct ContactsLaw where to insert, remove or repeat content during document generation. The specification for each content marker is defined under the Content tab, but can in some cases be edited simultaneously with the markers themselves (depending on the file format used).

Content markers are usually delimited by curly braces, e.g. {InsertionMarker} or {BEGIN RepeatedBlock}. They must be named, but multiple markers can use the same name if the content specification is also the same. Names must consist of letters, numbers and the underscore (_) character only (no spaces).

The different types of content markers are listed below:

Type	Usual Delimiter	Purpose
Insertion point	{Example}	Marks a position in the document where content will be inserted. This can be any combination of text and expressions, including Markdown formatting.
Start of block	{BEGIN Example}	Marks the start of a block. Content inside the block (including other markers) can be toggled or repeated according to some condition. If the actual start of the block cannot be represented using text (e.g. the start of a row in a table, a list item, etc) then the specification can describe how to shift its position.
End of block	{END}	Marks the end of a block. Start and end markers must be matched, however it is possible to nest blocks inside each other. The same provisions for shifting the position of the marker apply here.

The list of content markers is refreshed after uploading, when checking in changes, or manually via the Refresh command.

Purposes

Templates can be configured so that ContactsLaw will use them for a specific purpose:

• Email
• Fax
• Letter
• Invoice - Generated when an invoice is finalised.
• Receipt - Can be generated on-demand from a transaction of the appropriate type.
• Report - Can be generated on-demand from any built-in report.