Open topic with left hand navigation

Creating a Layout File Using Word

You need to create a layout file before you can attach it to a custom print layout.

If you are creating a single style layout with cross document links, before you create a layout, ensure that Word is displaying the namespaces so you can see which schema the elements are from.

ClosedTo display namespaces

  1. In the new Word document with the schemas attached, open the XML Structure Task Pane and click XML Options.

    2. The XML Options dialog box appears.

  2. Clear the "Hide namespace alias in XML Structure task pane" checkbox.
  3. Click OK.

ClosedTo create a layout file using Word

  1. In the new Word document with the schemas attached, open the XML Structure Task Pane and select the "Show XML tags in the document" check box.
  2. Insert the XML Elements corresponding to the document fields that you want included in the report.

    3. The outermost element should be the <DocumentData> element.  All other elements should be inserted between the start and end tags of the <DocumentData> element. For more information, see "Inserting XML Elements in Word".

  3. Type some placeholder text within each simple field element and format it the way you want the actual field values to appear. Any text will do: even 'garbage' text. Your text should not contain spaces and should be formatted with a single uniform style. This text serves only as a placeholder; Proliance will replace it with the actual field value in the final report.

    4. ClosedExample

    Placeholder Text example.

    Note: Date fields and booleans are a special case. You must always format dates as ‘2004-02-18T00:00:00’ in the print layout. Proliance will replace them with the localized date format in the final generated report. Booleans should use the placeholder text "0".

  4. Save your layout file as XML.

    5. If you have an XML error when trying to save your XML Layout file, consider changing your placeholder text to match the datatype of the element (For example, dates should include the special placeholder text 2004-02-18T00:00:00 and boolean values should use the placeholder text "0"). For more information, see "Saving a Layout File".