Print templates

Print templates

1. General information

Printing to a print template is triggered by buttons placed in an edit form or on a view page.
Supported print template formats include files “xls”, “xlsx”, “doc”, “docx”, “html”, “txt”, “csv”, and “pdf”.
Print templates “xlsx” and “docx” support automatic conversion to “pdf”.

Print templates must be stored in the directory “NETGenium\Templates”.
Files can be copied into this directory directly on the server or via the NET Genium settings dialog on the Print templates tab.
From this directory, print templates can be selected directly in the properties of the button that triggers printing.

Only identifiers of database controls and script variables can be used in print templates.
Script variables can be populated before printing using a script.
At the position in the template where values are to be inserted, identifiers of database controls or variable names are used.
NET Genium opens the print template, searches for all identifier occurrences, and replaces them with the corresponding values.
A detailed description of variables used in print templates and control formatting options is given in the separate Variables guide.

Inserting values of database controls into a print template from the currently opened record in an edit form uses identifiers in the shortened format “#ng_control#”.

Printing records from a view table requires the use of identifiers in full form, in the following possible formats:

“#DG10#.#ng_control#”, “#DG11#.#ng_control#”, etc.
Intended and most suitable for datagrids, using notation based on the datagrid ID (JavaScript element name).
This approach is more stable when additional datagrids are added to a form and their order changes, which would cause identifier changes when using the second format.
Identifier lookup

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“#datagrid1#.#ng_control#”, “#datagrid2#.#ng_control#”, etc.
This full identifier format, including the visual control type name and its sequence number, reflects scenarios where multiple view tables with the same data source but different filtering conditions are placed in an edit form or on a view page.
Additional examples: ** “#calendar1#.#ng_control#”, “#calendar2#.#ng_control#”, etc. ** “#timetable1#.#ng_control#”, “#timetable2#.#ng_control#”, etc. ** “#planner1#.#ng_control#”, “#planner2#.#ng_control#”, etc.

NET Genium detects the use of full identifiers and automatically inserts values of individual records one below another.
If identifiers are placed next to each other on a single line, the print output is a table where each record occupies one row in the print template.
If identifiers are placed next to each other on two lines, the print output is a table where each record consists of two lines in the print template.

Printing from a view page that contains only a single view table does not require full identifiers; simplified identifiers are sufficient.
Printing a statistical view table with aggregated columns uses column identifiers “c0”, “c1”, “c2”, etc., according to their order in the table header, numbered from zero.

Print templates created in Microsoft Word must have identifiers placed in fields of type “MergeField”.
Values in print templates can be formatted using the syntax “#identifier@format#”.

Print templates in the “html” format can contain images (typically a logo) inserted using the “<img>” tag, in one of the following three ways:
- Image embedded directly in the template as a base64-encoded “data URI”, e.g. <img src="data:image/png;base64,…"> — the template is self-contained and the image is printed both when printing to “html” and when converting to “pdf”. This is the recommended approach.
- Reference to a NET Genium attachment — the image is uploaded to NET Genium as an attachment, and the relative attachment address in the form <img src="Download.aspx?…"> (without the server address) is inserted into the template. When converting to “pdf”, NET Genium embeds the image into the document automatically; when printing to “html”, the image is loaded by the browser of the logged-in user.
- Absolute URL of a publicly available image, e.g. <img src="https://www.example.com/logo.png">.
Relative references to files in the “NETGenium\Templates” directory, e.g. <img src="Templates/logo.png">, are not resolved when converting to “pdf”, and in NET Genium Online they do not work even when printing to “html”, because the “Templates” directory is not accessible via the browser in the cloud. Therefore, use only the three approaches listed above.

After successful generation of a print output, the external function “NETGenium.OnAfterPrint” is automatically executed, allowing modification of the output file name as well as its content or format.

If printing with an “xls” or “xlsx” print template produces multiple blank pages, it means the template content does not fit the page width and the overflowing columns are printed on separate pages.
Solution: in the print template, set the print scale to 100% and reduce the page margins so that the print fits the width of a single page. If needed, also reduce the font size and column widths.

A detailed description of variables used in print templates and control formatting options is given in the separate Variables guide.
A detailed description of programming print templates in “pdf” format is provided in the separate guide Programming Print Templates in PDF Format.