Introduction to the Form Template Register

You can print many documents from Standard ERP, including Invoices, Orders, Quotations and Customer Labels.

Each separate document that you can print consists of two elements, the "Form" and the "Form Template". The Form element extracts the relevant information from the database and places it in printable fields, while the Form Template is the graphic layout design of the printed output i.e. it controls where on the page each printable field will be placed (and it can contain other design elements such as lines and frames as well).

The Form Template element in each document can be unique, allowing each document to have its own design. Usually, Invoices, Orders and Quotations will have similar (but not identical) designs, while Customer Labels will have a different design.

A file containing samples of each Form Template is supplied with Standard ERP. The name of this file will vary depending on your location: in UK versions of Standard ERP, the file will be named "UKForms.txt". If you want to use these samples as the basis for your own designs, import this file as described on the Importing Set-up Data page.

To design a new Form Template or to edit an existing one, use the Form Template register in the System module. The Form Template window contains a graphical editor that you can use to design each Form Template. You can only use this editor using Windows or Mac OS X.

To open the editor, ensure you are in the System module and click the [Registers] button in the Navigation Centre and double-click 'Form Templates' in the resulting list. The 'Form Templates: Browse' window opens, showing the Form Templates that are already in the system:

Double-click on a Form Template in the list to open and edit it, or select 'New' or 'Duplicate' from the Create menu to create a new Form Template.

The 'Form Template: Inspect' window is where you can create a new Form Template or edit an existing one. At the top of the window there are six buttons: [Text], [Line], [Frame], [Field], [Picture] and [Page Sum]. Use these buttons to add objects or design elements to the Form Template (for more details, please refer to the Adding and Editing Objects page). In the editing area, each object in the Form Template is shown either as a framed box, or as text. As in most drawing programs, you can move an object by clicking and dragging, and you can re-size it by dragging its corners. To move several objects at once, draw a box around them using the mouse or trackpad and then use the arrow keys on the keyboard. If you need an object to be behind another object, select it and then select 'Send To Back' from the Operations menu.

As the Form Template window is entirely occupied by the graphical editor, it does not contain any fields that you can use to set the specifications of a Form Template. These fields are in a separate window, the 'Properties' window, which you can open by selecting 'Properties' from the Operations menu. When you create a new Form Template, you must open the 'Properties' window to assign it a Code and Name before you can save it for the first time.

When you have designed the Form Template and assigned it a Code and Name in the 'Properties' window, click the [Save] button in the Button Bar to save it in the normal way.

After saving a new Form Template, you should connect it to a form. As described at the top of this page, each document that you can print consists of two elements, the "Form" and the "Form Template". Connecting the Form Template to the form will ensure that the form will be printed using the correct layout. Please refer to the Printing Forms page for details.

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Please refer to the following pages for more information about designing Form Templates:

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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates

This page describes adding objects or design elements of various kinds to a Form Template.

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There are six types of object or design element that you can add to a Form Template: Text, Line, Frame, Field, Picture and Page Sum. Each type of object has its own button at the top of the Form Template window:

To add an object of any type to a Form Template, click the appropriate button at the top of the window and then draw a box with the mouse or trackpad in the Form Template where you want the object to appear. When you release the mouse button, a dialogue box will be opened, where you can place the object more precisely using coordinates, specify a font style and so on. To edit an existing object, double-click it to open the same dialogue box where you can change the specifications of the object. If the dialogue box does not open when expected, the probable reason is that you have already opened a similar dialogue box from another Form Template object, perhaps from a different Form Template.

If you need to see a grid to help with placing objects on the page, select the Grid option towards the top right of the window. You can also change the magnification using the drop-down menu to the right of the Grid option. If you are using Windows, you will need to save the Form Template after changing the Grid option selection or the magnification.

Please refer to the following pages for details about each object type:

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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates - Text Objects

This page describes adding text objects to a Form Template.

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A text object allows a word or phrase to be printed as fixed text on a form Examples might include the title of the form (e.g. "Invoice", "Order", "Quotation", etc.) or text that identifies a piece of information or a column.

To add a new text object to the Form Template, click the [Text] button at the top of the Form Template window:

Then use the mouse or trackpad to draw a box where you want the text to appear. When you release the mouse button, the following dialogue box will appear:

Text
The text that is to be printed on the Form Template. This can be up to 80 characters long, but it is limited to one line. To create a text area with more than one line, use the appropriate number of separate one-line text objects.

Left, Top, Right, Bottom
Use these fields to specify the size and position of the text box that is to contain the text. When you add a new text object to a Form Template, the measurements of the box that you have just drawn will appear here.

Style
Paste Special    Styles setting, System module
Use this field to assign a font and font style to the text. If you do not enter a Style, the first record in the Styles setting will be used.

Exclude from page
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options.

Clipping
These options control how the text will be printed if the text box is not wide enough to contain the text string. If Clipping is On, the text string will be truncated (i.e. only the text that fits inside the text box will be printed). If Clipping is Off, the text will not be truncated so part of it will be printed outside the text box.

Justification
Use these options to specify where the text will appear inside the text box.
Click [OK] to close. The text object will be added to the Form Template. You can move it by dragging and dropping.

To edit a text object once it has been created, double-click it to open the 'Text' dialogue box.

Please refer to the following pages for details about the different types of object that you can add to Form Templates:

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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates - Lines and Frames

This page describes adding lines and frames to a Form Template.

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You can add lines and frames to a Form Template as design elements or to make the form easier to read. To do so, click the [Line] or [Frame] buttons at the top of the Form Template window:

Then use the mouse or trackpad to draw the line or frame on the Form Template. When you release the mouse button, the following dialogue box will appear:

Left, Top, Right, Bottom
Use these fields to position the line or frame precisely on the Form Template.

Line Width
Specify the width in pixels of the line or frame. If you are adding a line, you can also use 'Paste Special' to choose a Style: the font size in the Style will determine the width of the line.

Format
This field is only available if you are adding a frame. If you set the Format to 1, the frame will be printed repeatedly down the page.

Exclude from page
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options.
Click [OK] to close. The line or frame will be added to the Form Template. You can move it by dragging and dropping.

To edit a line or frame once it has been created, double-click it to open the 'Line' or 'Frame' dialogue box.

Please refer to the following pages for details about the different types of object that you can add to Form Templates:

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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates - Fields

This page describes adding fields to a Form Template.

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A field is an area on the Form Template where a piece of information from your Standard ERP database or a calculated value is to be printed.

To add a field to a Form Template, click the [Field] button at the top of the Form Template window:

Then use the mouse or trackpad to mark the position of the field. When you release the mouse button, a dialogue box will open:

Fieldname
Paste Special    Fields for the Form Type
Enter the Field Name using 'Paste Special'. If you have assigned a Form Type to the Form Template as described here, 'Paste Special' will only list the fields that can be used with that Form Type. Otherwise it will list every field. Fields belonging to other Form Types will not be printed in the final documents. Please refer to the descriptions of the individual forms for full lists of the fields you can use with each Form Type.

Field Argument
You can use the Field Argument with certain fields to control how they will be printed. For example, in some fields you can use the Field Argument to specify the number of decimal places that will be printed. The Field Argument can only be used with a few fields: please refer to the descriptions of the individual forms for details.

Left, Top, Right, Bottom
Use these fields to specify the size and position of the field on the page. When you add a new field to a Form Template, the measurements of the box that you have just drawn will appear here.

Style
Paste Special    Styles setting, System module
Use this field to assign a font and font style to the field. If you do not enter a Style here, the first record in the Styles setting will be used.

Line Height
Some fields will cause more than one line of text to be printed in a document (e.g. fields that print the text in Letters and Mails, address fields, and the fields listing the Items in Quotations, Orders and Invoices). In these fields, you should use the Line Height field to specify the vertical spacing between lines (in pixels). Usually the number of pixels that you specify here should be the same as the font size. If you leave this field empty, the lines of text will be printed on top of each other.

Format
Paste Special    Choice of possible entries
There are two types of field that you can add to a Form Template: Header fields and Matrix fields (often also known as row fields). Use this field to specify whether the field you are adding is a Header field or a Matrix field.
Header fields
A Header field will be printed once in each document (for example, the fields that print the Invoice Number, Invoice Date and Customer information in an Invoice are Header fields).

A few Header fields will print information on several lines. Examples are the fields that print the text in Letters and Mails, address fields. You should specify a Line Height in these fields.

Matrix fields
A Matrix field can be printed many times in a single document. Examples are the fields that print the Items in Quotations, Orders and Invoices.

A matrix field will print a single piece of information from each row in the record being printed. For example, the "Item Code" field will print each Item Number in an Invoice. The Item Numbers will be printed as a list i.e. in a column. For this reason, you should always specify Line Heights in Matrix fields, to set the spacing between the lines in the column. Usually, you should use the same Line Height and Style in each Matrix field, so that the information in each column is aligned correctly.

If information in a particular column is not properly aligned, the probable causes are that you did not specify a Line Height, or you did not set the Format to "Matrix".

In some records (Opportunities, Project Budgets, Quotations, Sales Orders, Sales Invoices and Stock Movement Invoices), the matrix can contain rows of different types (for example, the rows containing the Items, "Header" rows, "Subtotal" rows, rows connecting Invoices to Prepayments, and so on). When the record is printed, the rows of various types can be printed with different Styles and Line Heights. To set the Styles and Line Heights for the different row types, use the 'Row Styles' function on the Operations menu. You should still set Line Heights and Styles in the fields themselves.
Exclude from page
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options.

Clipping
These options control how the text in a field will be printed if the field is too small to contain the text string. If Clipping is On, the text will be truncated (i.e. only the text that fits inside the field will be printed). If Clipping is Off, the text will not be truncated so part of it will be printed outside the field.

In Header fields, an alternative to clipping is to use the Word Wrap options below.

Justification
Use these options to specify where the text will appear inside the field.

Word Wrap
Use these options to control how the contents of a field will be printed if the field is not wide enough. You should only use these options with Header fields.
Off
The contents will be truncated to fit the width of the field.

On
The contents will be printed on several lines, with the width of the field being preserved. You must make the field deep enough to accommodate the possibility that more than one line will be printed. You should only use Word Wrap in Header fields.
Click [OK] to save. The field will be added to the Form Template. You can move it by dragging and dropping.

In the Form Template window, fields are shown as boxes containing the field name. The boxes are for identification only: they will not be printed in documents. You can use the [Frame] button to add a printing frame if necessary. As shown in the illustration above, you can also use the [Text] button to add a text object close to the field to label the information shown in the field. Usually this would only be needed if the Form Template is to be printed on plain paper, not on pre-printed stationery. In the Form Template window, text objects can be distinguished from fields as they are unboxed.

Address Formatting

You can set a standard format to be used by the fields that print addresses (for example, the fields to print invoice and delivery addresses and your company's address). To do this, use the Form Settings setting in the System module. For example, you can specify whether the company name will be included in an address, whether blank lines will be included, whether different parts of an address should be printed on different lines or on the same line and if so what the separator should be. Please refer to the description of the Form Settings setting here for more details.

Please refer to the following pages for details about the different types of object that you can add to Form Templates:

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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates - Pictures

This page describes adding pictures and images to a Form Template.

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To add a picture to a Form Template, click the [Picture] button at the top of the Form Template window:

Then use the mouse or trackpad to draw a frame where the picture is to appear. When you release the mouse button, a dialogue box will appear:

Left, Top, Right, Bottom
Use these fields to specify the size and position of the picture on the page. When you add a new picture to a Form Template, the measurements of the frame that you have just drawn will appear here.

Picture Name
Paste Special    Files on your hard disk
Enter the file name of the picture as it is on your hard disk. You can use 'Paste Special' to ensure that the file name is spelt correctly and that the case is correct (important for Linux). However, doing so will bring in the absolute path name of the picture. It is recommended that you store picture files in the same directory or folder as your Standard ERP database and application and that you remove the path name to leave the file name only (i.e. that you use a relative path name). If you use the absolute path name, it will become incorrect if you move your Standard ERP folder and as a result the picture will no longer be printed.

In multi-user systems, pictures should be stored on the server. If you are working from a client machine when you design a Form Template and you want to see the pictures in the Form Template window, then the pictures should be on your client machine as well. If you store your pictures in the same directory or folder as the Standard ERP application on both the server and your client and you use relative path names as recommended in the previous paragraph, then those path names will point to the picture files both when printing and when editing Form Templates.

The following file formats are supported: 8-Bit BMP, 24-Bit BMP, JPG and PNG. Additionally, PDF is supported for Mac OS X clients. If you will use the Form Template to create pdf files, the picture format must be 24-Bit BMP, JPG or PNG. This applies when the pdf file will be generated by Standard ERP. Please refer to the lower part of the Styles page for details about pdf generation.

All picture file names should have the correct extensions.

If the Form Template is one that will be faxed through a fax server, bear in mind that any pictures will be omitted.

Format
The pictures that you can include in a Form Template fall into two categories: pictures that will be printed once in a document (e.g. your company logo); and pictures of Items to be printed in documents such as Quotations, Orders and Invoices (i.e. a different Item picture can be printed in each row). For the first category, enter the file name of the picture in the Picture Name field above and enter 0 as the Format. For the second category, leave the Picture Name field empty and enter 1 as the Format.

Line Height, Padding
These fields are only used when the Format above is 1. Please refer to the Printing Item Pictures on Forms page for full details.

Adjust to Frame
This option controls how the picture will be printed if it is larger than the frame that you define using the Left, Top, Right and Bottom fields. If you select this option, the picture will be scaled so that they fit in the frame. This may result in the picture being distorted if its proportions are different to those of the frame. If you do not select this option, part of a large picture will be printed outside the frame.

Exclude from page
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options.
Click [OK] to save. The field will be added to the Form Template. You can move it by dragging and dropping. If the picture is not visible in the Form Template window, the possible reasons are that the picture file is not in a supported format or it is not located on the machine that you are using.

To edit a picture after you have added it to a Form Template, double-click it to open the 'Picture' dialogue box.

Please refer to the following pages for details about the different types of object that you can add to Form Templates:

See also:
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Adding and Editing Objects in Form Templates - Page Sums

This page describes adding page sums to a Form Template.

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A page sum will print a running total for a particular Matrix or row field on each page.

To add a page sum to a Form Template, click the [Page Sum] button at the top of the Form Template window:

Then use the mouse or trackpad to mark the position of the page sum. When you release the mouse button, a dialogue box will open:

Fieldname
Paste Special    Fields for the Form Type
Use 'Paste Special' to choose the field for which a running total is to be printed. This must be a numeric matrix field (for example, the "Row Sum" field in Quotations, Orders and Invoices). You should add the field to the Form Template before adding the page sum, otherwise the page sum won't be printed.

Field Argument
If the field is one where you can specify a Field Argument (e.g. to specify the number of decimal places that will be printed), you can specify the same Field Argument for that field's page sum. If you do specify a Field Argument for a page sum, it will also be used in the field itself, overruling any Field Argument that you may have specified there.

Left, Top, Right, Bottom
Use these fields to specify the size and position of the page sum on the page. When you add a new row sum to a Form Template, the measurements of the box that you have just drawn will appear here.

Style
Paste Special    Styles setting, System module
Use this field to assign a font and font style to the page sum. If you do not enter a Style here, the first record in the Styles setting will be used.

Line Height
There will usually be no need to specify a Line Height in page sums.

Format
The Format should usually be 0 in page sums (if you set the Format to 1, the figures that make up the page sum will be printed individually.

Exclude from page
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options. Usually, you would exclude a page sum from Single pages and, depending on the Sum Of options below, from Last pages.

Justification
Use these options to specify where the text will be printed inside the field.

Clipping
These options control how the text in a page sum will be printed if the field is not wide enough to contain it. If Clipping is On, the text will be truncated (i.e. only the text that fits inside the field will be printed). If Clipping is Off, the text will not be truncated so part of it will be printed outside the field.

An alternative to clipping is to use the Word Wrap options below.

Word Wrap
Use these options to control how the contents of a field will be printed if the field is not wide enough.
Off
The contents will be truncated to fit the width of the field.

On
The contents will be printed on several lines, with the width of the field being preserved. You must make the field deep enough to accommodate the possibility that more than one line will be printed. You should only use Word Wrap in Header fields.
Sum Of
Use these options to specify how the running total will be calculated.
Current Page
The running total will be the total for the current page.

Previous Page
The running total will be the total for the previous page.

All Previous Pages
The running total will be the total for all previous pages.

Current and Previous
The running total will be the total for the current and all previous pages.
Click [OK] to save. The row sum will be added to the Form Template. You can move it by dragging and dropping.

Please refer to the following pages for details about the different types of object that you can add to Form Templates:
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Operations Menu - Form Templates

The Operations menus for Form Templates are shown above. On the left is the Operations menu for the 'Form Templates: Browse' window, and on the right is the Operations menu for the 'Form Template: New' and 'Form Template: Inspect' windows.

If you are using Windows or Mac OS X, you can open the Operations menu by clicking the button with the 'cog' icon (shown highlighted in the illustration above). If you are using iOS or Android, you can access the Operations menu functions through the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

Before using the function on the Operations menu in the 'Form Templates: Browse' window, you should highlight a record in the browse window. The function will then be applied to that record. If you highlight more than one Form Template, the function will only be applied to the first one. If you are using iOS or Android, you can highlight a single record in the browse window by searching for it.

Please follow these links for details about each function on the Operations menu:

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Operations Menu - Form Templates - Remove Page Setup

Please refer to the Page Setup page for details about this function.

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Operations Menu - Form Template - Properties

This page describes the 'Properties' function on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window.

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As the Form Template window is entirely occupied by the graphical editor, it does not contain any fields that you can use to set or change the specifications of a Form Template. These fields are in a separate window, the 'Form Template Properties' window. To open this window, select 'Properties' from the Operations menu. In particular, when you create a new Form Template, you must open the 'Form Template Properties' window to assign it a Code and Name before you can save it for the first time.

Code
Enter the unique code of the Form Template: this is the means by which the Form Template will be identified elsewhere in Standard ERP. If you create a new Form Template by duplicating an existing one, you must enter a new Code here before you can save it.

Printer Dialog
Select this option if you would like a printer dialogue to be shown each time the Form Template is printed.

Among other things and depending on your operating system, the printer dialogue will allow you to specify the number of copies that is to be printed, to choose the printer that will print the document and to choose whether the document will be printed as a pdf file.

For example, if you are designing a Form Template that will be used when you print Invoices, select this option if you would like the printer dialogue to be shown whenever you print an Invoice by clicking the Printer icon or using the [Forms] button in the Navigation Centre.

Comment
Enter text describing the Form Template here.

The Comment will be shown in the 'Paste Special' list that you will use when assigning Form Templates to forms, so it should be descriptive enough to make the selection of the correct Form Template easy for all users.

Form Type
Paste Special    Choices of possible entries
Using 'Paste Special', enter one of the available Form Types into this field. The purpose of the Form Type is to help you choose fields when adding them to the Form Template. When you add a field to the Form Template, you will open the 'Field' dialogue box and then open the 'Paste Special' list from the Fieldname field. This will be a list of the fields that you can use with the specified Form Type. If you do not assign a Form Type to a Form Template, every field will be included in this 'Paste Special' list, making it more difficult to choose the ones that you need.

PDF Code page
Paste Special    Choices of possible entries
If you will use the Form Template to create pdf files, specify here the code page that is to be used, if different to the default. For example, you may usually use the CP1252 code page, but you may need to use KOI8-R Cyrillic in a particular Form Template.

This applies when the pdf file will be generated by Standard ERP. Please refer to the lower part of the Styles page for details about pdf generation.

The default code page will depend on the language of the Standard ERP interface you are using, as follows:

LanguageDefault Code Page
Estonian, Latvian, LithuanianCP1257
Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Slovenian, SerbianCP1250
Russian, Ukrainian, ByelorussianKOI8-R
OthersCP1252

In a multi-language installation of Standard ERP, it is recommended that you specify a PDF Code Page in every Form Template that you will use to create pdf files. Otherwise, Persons who use the Estonian and Russian interfaces, for example, will create pdf files from the same Form Template using different code pages.

PDF Landscape
If you will use the Form Template to create pdf files, select this option if you would like those pdf files to be created in landscape format.

This applies when the pdf file will be generated by Standard ERP, in which case a landscape format specified using the 'Page Setup' function on the File menu would not be applied. Please refer to the lower part of the Styles page for details about pdf generation.

Matrix Rows On
Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about these options.
Press the [OK] button to assign the changes to the Form Template. Note that the changes won't be saved permanently until you save the Form Template itself.

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Operations Menu - Form Template - PC Printer

This page describes the 'PC Printer' function on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window.

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If you will print a Form Template using a dot matrix printer, use the 'PC Printer' function on the Operations menu dialogue box to define the page size for that Form Template.

A dot matrix printer needs certain settings for printing on continuous stationery. If you are printing a document to pre-printed forms, you may need to define the number of rows in the page, the number of visible rows and the left margin for the forms used. In the Codepage field, enter the code page that is used by the printer. If characters are printed incorrectly in a document, the probable reason is that the Codepage field is empty or contains the wrong code page.

Press the [OK] button to assign the changes to the Form Template. Note that the changes won't be saved permanently until you save the Form Template itself.

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Operations Menu - Form Template - Copies

This page describes the 'Copies' function on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window.

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The 'Copies' function allows you to specify how many copies should be printed each time a Form Template is used, the headings that can be printed on each copy and the printer tray from which each copy is to be printed.

Copies
Specify here how many copies should be printed whenever the Form Template is used to print a document.

If you will use the Form Template to print records that have an OK check box, only one copy (marked with the Text 1 text) will be printed from a record that has not been marked as OK.

There are some records (e.g. Invoices, Receipts and Payments) that have a flag that is set when they are printed. Again, only one copy will be printed if you are reprinting one of these records.

Text 1, Text 2, etc
Enter in these fields the text that should be printed on each copy. In the example illustrated above, we have specified that two copies of each document will be printed: one marked "Office" and one "Customer".

These headings will be printed in the "Copy Type" field, so if you need these headings to be printed on a document, be sure to include that field in your Form Template design.

Tray
Specify here the printer tray from which each copy is to be printed.
Press the [OK] button to assign the changes to the Form Template. Note that the changes won't be saved permanently until you save the Form Template itself.

An alternative and more recommended method for printing copies is as follows:

  1. Duplicate the Form Template so that you have one Form Template for each copy.

  2. If necessary, add a Text object to each duplicate containing the text to be printed on each copy (e.g. "Office" and "Customer").

  3. From the 'Form Templates: Browse' window, highlight each of the duplicate Form Templates in turn and select 'Page Setup' from the File menu. Set the printer and tray as appropriate. Please refer to the 'Page Setup' page for more details about page setups.

    Each user that is likely to print the document should log in and carry out this step before printing the document for the first time.

  4. Follow the steps on the 'Printing Forms' page to open the 'Form Definition' window for the form in question. List the duplicate Form Templates in the matrix, remembering to specify a Seq. for each one. An illustrated example can be found on the 'Page Setup' page.
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Operations Menu - Form Template - Send to Back

This page describes the 'Send to Back' function on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window.

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If you want certain objects in a Form Template to appear behind other objects, click on them and select this function.
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Operations Menu - Form Template - View All, First Only, Middle Only, Last Only, Single Page Only

Please refer to the Single- and Multi-Page Forms page for details about the 'View All', 'First Only', 'Middle Only', 'Last Only' and 'Single Page Only' functions on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window. .

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Operations Menu - Form Template - Row Styles

This page describes the 'Row Styles' function on the Operations menu in the Form Template record window.

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In some records (Opportunities, Project Budgets, Quotations, Sales Orders, Sales Invoices and Stock Movement Invoices), the matrix can contain rows of different types. Examples are the rows containing the Items, "Header" rows, "Subtotal" rows, rows connecting Invoices to Prepayments, and rows in Credit Notes connecting them to Invoices.

When you design the Form Templates that will be used to print these records, you can specify that the rows of various types will be printed with different Styles and Line Heights. For example, you may want "Subtotal" rows to be printed in a larger font and with a larger line spacing.

To set the Styles and Line Heights for the different row types, select the 'Row Styles' function from the Operations menu. If you use this feature, you should still set Line Heights and Styles in the fields themselves.

In the first column, use 'Paste Special' to choose a Style for a particular row type, and in the second column specify a Line Height.

You don't need to specify a Style and Line Height for every row type: leave both fields empty to use the Styles and Line Heights that are specified in the fields.

If you only want to change the Line Height for a particular row type, do not leave the Style empty. Instead, specify the same Style that is in the fields. Leaving the Style empty will mean that the changed Line Height won't be used.

Usually a "normal" row will be printed using the Item Line Style and Line Height. If a row does not have an Item Number or a Sum, it will be printed using the Description Line Style and Line Height.

Row Styles are only used when printing Opportunities, Project Budgets, Quotations, Sales Orders, Sales Invoices and Stock Movement Invoices. Entering Row Styles in the Form Templates that will be used to print other records and documents will have no effect.

Press the [OK] button to assign the changes to the Form Template. Note that the changes won't be saved permanently until you save the Form Template itself.

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The Form Template register in Standard ERP:

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Single- and Multi-Page Forms

This page describes designing Form Templates to cater for the printing of multi-page documents.

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When you design a Form Template, you should consider what is to happen when the printing of a document requires more than one page. Two options are available:

  1. The "simple" option, where the same page design is used for each page.

  2. The "multi-page" option allows the use of up to four page designs, as follows:
    First
    The first page of a multi-page document.

    Middle
    The pages between the first and last pages in a multi-page document.

    Last
    The last page of a multi-page document.

    Single
    The sole page of a single-page document.
When you add an object of any kind (i.e. text, line, frame, field, picture or page sum) to a Form Template design, you can use the Exclude From Page check boxes to specify the pages on which the object is to be printed. If you do not tick any of these boxes, the object will be printed on every page. This will be the case when using the "simple" option. If you want the object to be printed on certain pages only, tick one or more of the boxes. For example, if the object is to be printed on all pages except the first, tick the First box. If it is only to be printed on the first page, tick every box except the First box (i.e. it will be excluded from all pages except the first). The text object in the illustration below will be printed on the first page only:

To help with the design process, you can choose to display the objects from a particular page only. To do this, select 'First Only', 'Middle Only', 'Last Only' or 'Single Page Only' as appropriate from the Operations menu. For example, select 'First Only' to view the objects that are to be printed on the first page (i.e. those whose First box has not been ticked). Select 'View All' to see all objects, irrespective of the page on which they are to be printed.

The number of pages printed will vary from record to record, depending on the number of rows that the record has. An Invoice with one Item will be printed on a single page (i.e. using those objects whose Single box is not ticked). An Invoice with 100 Items (i.e. 100 rows) will be printed over several pages. You should specify the maximum number of rows that can be printed on each page by selecting 'Properties' from the Operations menu. This opens the 'Form Template Properties' window, which has four fields under the overall heading of Matrix Rows On:

In the case of the "simple" option, you should enter the same number to each of these four fields. Otherwise, enter different numbers as appropriate. For example, in an Invoice Form Template, First and Single are set to 5, Middle to 6 and Last to 7. Invoices will be printed as follows, depending on the number of rows:

Invoice rowsPagesType of Page
Up to 51Single
5-122First and Last
13-193First, Middle and Last
19-254First, 2 x Middle, Last

If you do not want any matrix rows to be printed on a particular page type, enter "-1" in the relevant field. Entering "0" will signify that you want every matrix row to be printed.

If you specify that you want matrix rows to be printed on a particular page type, ensure that you have added some matrix fields to that page type. For example, if you have specified that ten matrix rows will be printed on the first page, ensure you have added some matrix fields that you have not excluded from the first page to print those rows. If you do not add any fields to the first page, the print engine will still try to print the ten rows on the first page and will start the next page with row 11. The effect will be that the first ten rows will not be printed.

Printing Cash Receipts (Till Slips)

If you need to print Cash Receipts from POS Invoices, the design of the Form Template will depend to some extent on the printer that you are using. Some suggestions are:

Page Sums

If you need running totals to be printed on each page, add page sums to the Form Template. For example, when printing a multi-page Invoice, you can use page sums in the following ways:
Please refer here for details about page sums.

Page Numbers

If you need a page number to be printed on each page, add the "Page Number" field to the Form Template design.

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The Form Template register in Standard ERP:

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Conditional Printing of Elements (Print Conditions)

This page describes using Print Conditions to determine whether information will be printed in forms.

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When you add any element (e.g. a text element, line, frame, field or picture) to a Form Template, you can specify that it will only be printed if a particular condition is met. The condition will be that a specified field in the record being printed contains or does not contain a particular value. To do this, first create a record in the Print Conditions setting in the System module in which you have defined the condition, and then assign the Print Condition to the Form Template element.

The Print Condition record contains the following fields:

dt>Code
Enter a unique Code for the Print Condition. The Code can consist of up to ten characters, and you can use both numbers and letters.

dt>Comment

Enter a descriptive name for the Print Condition. This will be shown in the 'Print Conditions: Browse' window and the 'Paste Special' list and so should be clear enough to make the selection of the correct Print Condition easy for all users.

dt>Position

A Print Condition is a test that a particular field in the record being printed contains or does not contain a specified value. As well as defining the test itself (which you will do using the Field, Operator and Parameter fields below), you should specify the Position of the test field, as follows:

dt>Header
The test field is a header field (i.e. it is not a field in a matrix).

You can use a "Header" Print Condition in any element in a Form Template.

dt>Current Row

The test field is a field in a matrix, and it will only be tested in the row currently being printed.

You can only use a "Current Row" Print Condition in a Field in which the Format is "Matrix" i.e. in a row field.

dt>Any Row

The test field is a field in a matrix, and it will be tested in every row in the record currently being printed.

You can use an "Any Row" Print Condition in any element in a Form Template.

Some fields can exist both in the header of a record and in the matrix. For example, the Invoice, Order and Quotation records have Location and Tag/Object fields in the header and in the matrix. The Receipt and Payment records have Payment Mode fields in the header and in the matrix. Usually, if the field in a row is empty, the value in the header field will be used. For example, if the Location field in a row in an Invoice is empty, the row will use the Location specified in the header (the Item specified in the row will be taken from the Location specified in the header). However, Print Conditions do not have the fall-back to the header field. If the test field is Location and the Position is "Current Row" or "Any Row", only the Location field in the matrix will be tested.

It is possible to choose an illogical Position in a Print Condition. For example, in a Print Condition that will be used when printing Invoices, it is possible to specify that the test field is Item Code and the Position is "Header". This is illogical because Item Code only exists as a row field in Invoices. Such a Print Condition will be failed and the element depending on it will not be printed. Instead, an entry will be added to the log file (server log in server-client systems) as follows:
PRINTCOND Field not found register:position:field

For example:
PRINTCOND Field not found IVVc:h:ArtCode
where "h" signifies that the Position in the illogical Print Condition is "Header" and "r" signifies that the Position is "Current Row" or "Any Row".

dt>Change Date

The Change Date will be updated automatically when you change any of the fields in the Print Condition record.

dt>Field, Operator, Parameter

A Print Condition is a test that a particular field in the record being printed contains or does not contain a specified value. Use these fields to define the test (i.e. to specify the condition). You can use 'Paste Special' to specify the Field and the Operator.

For example, if you need a particular element to be printed on an Invoice if the TOTAL in the Invoice is greater than 100.00, enter Total Gross as the Field, > as the Operator and 100.00 as the Parameter (you should also choose "Header" as the Position because the TOTAL in an Invoice is a field in the header not the matrix). If you need the element to be printed if the Subtotal in the Invoice is less than 100.00, enter Total Net as the Field, < as the Operator and 100.00 as the Parameter (and again "Header" as the Position).

Use == as the Operator if the Field is to equal or match the Parameter, and <> if the Field is not to equal or match the Parameter. There is no need to specify a Parameter if the Operator is blank or not blank.

The following table connects the options that you can specify as the Field in a Print Condition record ("Option" column) with the fields in the records being printed that will be tested ("Field that is tested" column):

OptionPositionRecord being printedField that is tested
Comment/DescriptionHeaderAgreementComment ('Del. Terms' card)
ContractComment ('Del. Terms' card)
PaymentComment
RowAll with matrix with Description fieldDescription
PaymentText
ReceiptComment (flip H)
RecipeSpecification
Total NetHeaderAll with Subtotal fieldSubtotal
Hotel ReservationAgreed Price
Returned Goods to SupplierTOTAL
Total GrossHeaderAll with TOTAL field except Returned Goods to SupplierTOTAL
AssetPurch. Value
Credit AgreementTotal Sum
PaymentWithdrawn
ReceiptDeposited
Rental ReservationPeriodic Price ('Periodic Charges' card)
Reservation QuotationTotal for Agent
Service OrderOur Sales Price
Row SumRowAll with matrix with Sum fieldSum
Purchase InvoiceAmount
LocationHeaderAll with Location fieldLocation
Stock MovementFrom Location
Reservation QuotationRoom Location
RowAll with matrix with Location fieldLocation
Item CodeRowAll with matrix with Item fieldItem
Item GroupRowAll with matrix with Item fieldItem Group to which the Item belongs
Tag/ObjectHeaderAll with Tag/Object or Tags/Objects fieldTag/Object or Tags/Objects
RowAll with matrix with Tag/Object or Tags/Objects fieldTag/Object or Tags/Objects
DiscountHeaderRental Reservations% ('Periodic Charges' card)
RowAll with matrix with % field%
LanguageHeaderAll with Language fieldLanguage
ReasonHeaderInvoiceCredit Reason
Returned Goods to SupplierReason
RowBar TabVoid Reason
CountryHeaderDeliveryCountry ('Del. Address' card)
InvoiceCountry ('Inv. Address' card)
OrderCountry ('Inv. Address' card)
Tag NumberHeaderPOS InvoiceTag Number (used with Planet Tax in UAE)
Payment TermHeaderAll with Payment Terms fieldPayment Terms
Payment ModeHeaderAll with Payment Mode fieldPayment Mode
RowBar TabPayment Mode (this field is only in rows representing payments)
InvoicePayment Mode (this field is only in rows representing Cash and Credit Card Payments)
PaymentP. Mode (flip C)
POS InvoicePayment Mode (this field is only in rows representing payments)
ReceiptP. Mode (flip C)

As the table above suggests, you can only use Print Conditions in forms that print individual records, not in forms that print lists of records (e.g. statements).
After entering your Print Condition records, you should specify when they will be used. To do this, add or modify an element in a Form Template and use the Print Condition field:

An example use of Print Conditions might be to have figures printed in red if they are negative. To do this, add the field twice to the Form Template. In one of the fields, specify a Print Condition to say that the field should be printed if the value is greater than or equal to zero together with a Style that will print the figure in black. In the other field, the Print Condition should say that the field should be printed if the value is less than zero and the Style should print the figure in red. The two fields can have the same coordinates because it's not possible for both conditions to be passed so only one of them will be printed in an individual document:

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The Form Template register in Standard ERP:

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Printing Text in Different Languages

This page describes printing text in various Languages on a form

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When you print a form, the text printed by each field in the form will be in a particular Language. Usually this will be the Language specified in the record being printed, the Language in the current user's Person record or the Language in the Company Info setting. For example, when printing an Invoice in which the Language is Swedish, the "Delivery Mode Text", "Delivery Term Text" and "Payment Terms" fields will print the Swedish translations of the Delivery Mode, Delivery Term and Payment Term respectively, assuming you have entered Swedish translations in the relevant records.

Some fields allow you to specify a Language when you add them to your Form Template designs. These fields will print text in that Language, which may not be the Language in the record being printed. By adding these fields more than once with different Languages to a particular Form Template, you can have a particular text string printed in different Languages on the same document. For example, in a store with an international clientele, you may wish to have Item Names printed in different Languages on each Invoice.

You can use this feature with the following fields in particular forms, as follows:

When you specify an Item Number in a row in an Invoice or POS Invoice, a name for the Item will be brought in to the Description field. Usually, this will be the Description from the Item record but if there is a translation for the Language of the Invoice or POS Invoice on the 'Texts' card of the Item record, this translation will be brought in instead. The Language of the Invoice or POS Invoice will be set when you specify the Customer although in the case of the Invoice you can also specify a Language yourself. In a Bar Tab, the name of the Item will always be the Description from the Item record.

When designing the Form Templates that will be used when printing Invoices, POS Invoices and Bar Tabs, you will add a "Description 1" field to print the name of each Item. If you do not specify a language for the "Description 1" field, it will print the Item Descriptions as entered in each row in an Invoice or POS Invoice (i.e. the correct translations for the Language of the Invoice or POS Invoice that are already visible on screen as mentioned in the previous paragraph). If you changed the Item Description in a particular row, the "Description 1" field will print the changed Description. When printing a Bar Tab, the "Description 1" field will print the correct translations for the Language of the Bar Tab, fetching them at the time of printing (i.e. what is printed may not match what was shown on screen).

If you do specify a Language for the "Description 1" field, it will print the following for each Item:

  1. The relevant translation from the 'Texts' card in the Item record.

  2. The relevant translation from the 'Texts' card in the Item Group to which the Item belongs (if the 'Texts' card in the Item record does not have a row with the relevant Language).

  3. Nothing (if the 'Texts' card in the Item Group record does not have a row with the relevant Language).
This hierarchy is designed primarily for point of sale environments in which many thousands of Items are sold. The process of entering translations for each Item will be time-consuming, hence the fallback to translations in the Item Groups.

An example is shown in the illustration below:

The Form Template register in Standard ERP:
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Printing Forms

Each document that you can print consists of two elements, the "Form" and the "Form Template". The Form element extracts the relevant information from the database and places it in printable fields, while the Form Template is the graphic layout design of the printed output i.e. it controls where on the page each printable field will be placed (and it can contain other design elements such as lines and frames as well).

Once you have designed a Form Template, you should you should connect it to a form. This will ensure that the form will be printed using the correct layout. This will usually only be necessary if you have given your Form Template a new Form Template Code using the 'Properties' Operations menu function.

A file containing samples of each Form Template is supplied with Standard ERP. The name of this file will vary depending on your location: in UK versions of Standard ERP, the file will be named "UKForms.txt". If you want to use these samples as the basis for your own designs, import this file as described on the Importing Set-up Data page. The file will include the sample Form Templates, and it will also connect those Form Templates to the relevant forms.

If you edit the sample Form Templates so that they meet your requirements, you don't need to re-connect them to forms. However if you create new Form Templates (perhaps by duplicating the samples), or you choose not to import the sample Form Templates and to create your own from scratch, you will then need to connect the new Form Templates to the relevant forms.

To connect a Form Template to a form, follow these steps:

  1. Use the [Switch Module] button in the Navigation Centre to select the module in which the form is to be found. For example, to connect a Form Template to the Invoice form, change to the Sales Ledger.

  2. Click the [Forms] button in the Navigation Centre. The 'Forms' list window will be opened, showing a list of available forms. Highlight the form that you need to connect to a Form Template ('Invoices' in the example).

  3. Select 'Define Form' from the Operations menu.

  4. The 'Form Definition' window opens. In the Form Template field in the first row, use 'Paste Special' to choose the Form Template that you need.

  5. Click [Save] to save the form definition. This will connect the Form Template to the form. In the example, whenever you print an Invoice, it will use the Form Template that you specified in the 'Form Definition' window.
You can also use the 'Define Form' function (steps 3 and 4 above) to specify that different Form Templates will be used depending on the Language of the Customer or Supplier, the Access Group of the user or the number sequence in which the record number falls. You can also specify that more than one Form Template is to be printed (for example, you might require that a Delivery Note is printed with each Invoice). Please refer here for more details about the 'Form Definition' window with examples.

The 'Define Form' function is available for every form that you can print from Standard ERP, giving you a high level of flexibility in the production of printed output.

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Page Setup

Note: if you are using Windows, you may need to log in to your computer as a user with administrative privileges to be able to change the Page Setups for documents.

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There are two ways to set the Page Setup for a particular document. Setting a Page Setup includes specifying the paper size, specifying the printer that will be used to print the document and specifying the tray in that printer that will be used. The two methods are:

  1. Open the list of forms from the Navigation Centre, highlight a form and select 'Page Setup' from the File menu.

  2. Open the Form Template register, highlight a Form Template and select 'Page Setup' from the File menu. This method cannot be used on Mac OS X machines.
If you use both methods, the second one will determine the page setup that will be used.

Note that when a particular user sets the page setup for a document, that page setup will not be universal. It will only be used when that user prints the document. Each user that will print a particular document should therefore set their own page setup for that document using one of the two methods above after having logged in. As well as being user-specific, a page setup is also platform-specific. So, if a user is likely to print a particular document on more than one platform (for example, from Windows and Mac OS X machines), that user should set separate page setups for each platform (from a machine of each type).

The advantage using the first method to set a page setup is that it will not be necessary to give a particular user access to the System module to enable them to set page setups. The second method will be advantageous when you assign more than one Form Template to a particular form: the different Form Templates can be printed using different page setups. One situation where this can be useful is when you need different copies of a particular document to be printed from different printer trays or even different printers. For example, you may need office and customer copies of each Invoice to be printed from different trays. One way to achieve this is to duplicate the Form Template and then list both Form Templates in the relevant 'Form Definition' window, remembering to specify a Seq. for each one:

Using the second method above, you can assign a separate page setup that includes printer tray information to each Form Template.

If you are using Mac OS X, after selecting 'Page Setup' from the File menu, press the [OK] and then [Print] buttons to save the page setup. If you do not press [Print], the page setup will not be saved.

Removing a page setup will depend on the method that you originally used to assign the page setup. If you used the first method, open the list of forms from the Navigation Centre, highlight a form and select 'Remove Page Setup' from the File menu:

If you used the second method, open the Form Template register, highlight a Form Template and select 'Remove Page Setup' from the Operations menu:

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The Form Template register in Standard ERP:

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Standard Fields

There are a number of standard fields that you can include in the Form Templates that will be used by almost every form. These fields are:

Field in Form TemplatePrints
These fields print information from the Company Info setting:
Chief AccountantChief Accountant
Copy TypeWhen you design a Form Template, you can use the 'Copies' function on the Operations menu to specify that more than one copy will be printed, and that each copy will be marked with specified text (e.g. "Office Copy", "Customer Copy", etc). This field will print the specified text
DateThe date when the Form was printed
Document for Training PurposesPrints the phrase "Document for training purposes Only". This field will only be printed from sample databases
Invalid InvoicePrints the phrase "Document not valid as an invoice" (prints blank in Sales Cash Notes, Sales Credit Notes, Sales Interest Invoices, Sales Internal Invoices, Sales Invoices, Sales Proforma Invoices and Project Invoices)
Manager / CEOCEO
Own AddressCompany Name and Address. This information will be printed on separate lines, so you should specify a Line Height for this field. Use the Form Settings setting to set the format of this field (e.g. to specify whether blank lines will be printed, whether parts of the address will be printed on the same line, etc.)
Own Address 2 Address. This information will be printed on separate lines, so you should specify a Line Height for this field. Use the Form Settings setting to set the format of this field (e.g. to specify whether blank lines will be printed, whether parts of the address will be printed on the same line, etc.)
Own ANA CodeANA Code
Own Bank 1Bank 1
Own Bank 2Bank 2
Own Bank CodeBank Code. This information will only be printed if there is a record in the Banks setting in the Purchase Ledger for the Bank Code specified in the Company Info setting
Own Bank Customer IDBank Customer ID
Own Business NameBusiness Name
Own Commercial Registration NumberCommercial Reg.No.
Own Country CodeISO Code from the record in the Countries setting for the Country or, if blank, the Country
Own EmailEmail
Own Fax NumberFax
Own GLNGLN (this field is only visible if the VAT Law in the Company Info setting is set to "Norwegian")
Own Home CommunityHome Community
Own Line of BusinessLine of Business
Own NameCompany Name
Own Registration NumberReg. No.
Own Share CapitalShare Capital
Own Sort CodeSort Code
Own Telephone NumberTelephone. If you enter "N" as the Field Argument, the Telephone Number will be printed without spaces or other non-numeric characters.
Own VAT Reg. NumberVAT Reg. No.
Own WWW AddressWWW Address
Page NumberPage number
PeriodThe period from the Form's specification window
Product NameThe name of the product you are using (i.e. Standard ERP)
Short Underline_______________
TimeThe time when the Form was printed
These fields print information from the record in the Banks setting in the Purchase Ledger for the Bank Code specified in the Company Info setting:
Own Bank Account (IBAN) Account (IBAN)
Own Bank AddressAddress. This information will be printed on separate lines, so you should specify a Line Height for this field
Own Bank Address 1First line of the Address
Own Bank Address 2Second line of the Address
Own Bank Address 3Third line of the Address
Own Bank Address 4Fourth line of the Address
Own Bank Address 5Fifth line of the Address
Own Bank BIC (SWIFT) BIC (SWIFT)
Own Bank Corr. Acc. Expense Account
Own Bank ClearingClearing
Own Bank NameName
Own Bank SortingSort Key
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