General Document Design

Datafile Software

General Document Design

On select of the Document Design Manager you are given a list of the documents available to be configured for Payroll.

If you want to update the existing document then confirm the pathname supplied. To amend/create another document you enter the appropriate pathname (F4-Select will allow selection of an existing definition)

Notes

A document definition is held in two files – a filename.DEF listed above contains the document parameter details, and a filename.INI contains the font settings, line and box drawing and image file(s) detail. The INI file is created automatically on first load of the document.

If you select the newly added document now then this creates a blank document, if you want to create the new document based on an existing layout then use the <F7-Option> key to copy the definition from one file to another.

Note you can only copy like-for-like documents – i.e. a payslip from one company to another.

On confirmation of the document pathname you are presented with the document template.

Converting a Document

Previous to release 5.6 documents were designed in a different manner. Whenever you open a document that was designed using the old designer you will be asked to convert to the new layout.

To convert to the new style select ‘Use New Designer’, if you want to continue with the old layouts then select ‘Use Old Designer’. To abandon select the ‘Close’ button. When you use the new designer for the first time a backup copy of the old layout is taken as filename.OLD which you can copy back if needed. If you do this you would need to delete the filename.INI discussed above.

When creating a document for the first time or opening an older style of document you will be prompted for the page setup details.

Paper Size – offers a drop-down list of paper sizes available. Select the paper size appropriate.

Print in Landscape– set whether the document is to be printed in landscape. Leave blank to print in portrait.

No of Columns Across / No of Lines Down – if converting an older document this defaults to values as previously defined on the document - typically you would leave these values as set for your document. For new documents this will default to 80 columns across and 66 lines down and you can amend as required.

These values can be amended up to 255 columns across and 132 lines down. The columns and line values form a ‘design grid’ on the document with the no of columns set controlling the number of grid start points across the page, the lines down controlling the grid points down the page (think graph paper).Text, Image and Lines do not have to start at a grid point but data items do – increasing the number of columns / grid points across the page gives you more flexibility with regards to data item positioning.

Take care on increasing this value on existing documents as items starting at a particular column/grid point may overlap if you increase the number of columns. With regards to the number of lines down, again take care increasing this value on existing documents as line items may overlap – in addition though increasing this value too far may cause the print of detail lines to overlap if the font of detail items selected for print is bigger than the line height.

Available for Payslips and Cheques. Often pre-defined stationery layouts for payslips and cheques may include more than one document per page. Set here the number of documents across and down the page.

If more than one document per page then the lines down/columns across relate to one document.When displaying the page in the designer the screen display shows one document and is sized in proportion to the number of documents per page.

Margins – next you can set, in millimetres, the left, right, and top and bottom margins.

When you print a document each printer has its own internal set margin and the grid (discussed above) is fitted within this. If printing a document on multiple printers, especially when using pre-printed stationery, you should set the margins on the document equal to or greater than the largest margin of the printer(s), to ensure identical print on all printers.The Install menu on the toolbar allows the option ‘View Printers’ which enables you to perform a test print which shows the print margins (as a border on the page).

Notes

The Install menu on the toolbar (desktop) is only available for the SYSTEM user-id and for Premier users set to use the ‘Installer’ desktop.

The Document Design Toolbar

Before discussing the specifics of designing a document, you should review the document design toolbar.

The toolbar has the options – File, Edit, Tools, Parameters and Format. Each of these (other than Parameters) offers a list of actions available.

The File menu has options to save the document layout, amend/view the page set-up, preview the design to the screen, perform a test print of the document, and exit out of the document design (you will be prompted to save if you haven’t already done so).

The Edit menu has options that are only available when an item on the document is selected. You can cut an object out of the design, copy an item (except data items), or delete an item. You can also insert a line above the selected item or delete a line with the selected item on.

The Tools menu has options to restructure a database, refresh the display, and controls for whether you show the data items (you may want to switch this off to position text behind it), whether you show the grid, and whether new text/line/image items are to be positioned at the start of the grid.

The Parameters option loads the first of the parameter screens available for this document.

Setting and Applying Font Defaults

Before you start to design your document you may wish to set default fonts for the document. You can amend the fonts for each item individually but initially you are likely to want to assign a default font for all items.

Converting an Existing Document

When you convert an older style document a font of Courier New is assigned to the existing data and text items. You can use the Font Default options to reset the font/size of these items as required.

In the earlier designer text was created on the document by positioning the cursor and typing the required text. In converting this into the text labels of this new designer the assumption is made that text separated by a single space is part of the same label, more than one space and two (or more) separate labels are created.

To set and apply default fonts select the Format option from the toolbar, choose Font Defaults – a dialog box will be displayed enabling you to select the font, style and size.

You can scroll up/down the list of fonts, use the mouse to select the required font (once selected the value will be updated at the top of the list).After selecting the font, select the style and then the size. You can also amend the colour of the text if required. Once you have selected the required details press OK.

After selecting the font you can control whether it applies to the text items or the data items.Tick the options required and click the APPLY button. Once you have set and applied the default fonts you can then adjust the font and size of individual items as required.

If you have need to reset all items to the set default fonts then choosing the Apply Fonts option available from the Format pull-down allows this.

To insert a new item position the mouse where you wish to insert the item and press the right-button on the mouse (hereafter described as right-click). A menu appears for you to select the type of item you wish to add.

You can select to insert a text prompt, a data item, some line drawing, box drawing, or insert a bmp image.

You can also elect to insert a line on the document at the current position or to delete a line.The ‘Paste Object’ option (greyed out in the picture on the right) is active if you have used the ‘Cut’ or ‘Copy’ option from the edit menu previously.

Text Prompt

If you select to insert a ‘Text Prompt’ a pop-up form allows you enter the text label to be displayed.

You type the text you require (up to 160 characters). If you click the APPLY button the text is updated onto the document design in the default font/size for the area of the document. If you wish to change the font select the FONT button and the font dialog is shown as discussed earlier (you are setting the font for this item alone).

To change the colour of the background to the text select the COLOUR button and a colour dialog will be displayed allowing you to select from a pre-defined colour set or allow you to create up to 16 custom colours of your choosing.

To define a custom colour click with the mouse on the colour panel display and then move the scroll panel on the right to control the luminescence. Once your happy with the colour select the ‘Add to Custom Colours’ button and the colour will be added to the custom colours on the left for selection.

The ‘SNAP’ button is used to position the text item at the centre of a row and at the start of a column – snapping the text to the grid. The ‘DELETE’ button removes the text and returns you to the document mask.

Once you are happy with the changes select the CLOSE option to update the text label and return to the document mask. If you wish to abandon click the X button in the corner of the Text Properties window.

This isn’t all the options available – if you select the ACTION pull-down menu, in addition to the button prompts (with a bit more description) are further options to reset the font and colour to default settings, save the font and colour to and set from the palette – this is useful if making the same changes to several items.

You also have the option to add a border around the text label, and to right align the text within the label.

Data Items

If you select to insert a new ‘Data Item’ then a pop-up form allows you to select the data item to be displayed.

To select an item you need to select the category of item and then the print item itself. Drop down lists are available for each – use the mouse to activate first the category list.

Select Category - Available categories depend on the payroll document type selected and are discussed in sections for the appropriate document later.Once the category is selected choosing the print item drop-down list shows the items available for selection in this category.

Print Item - Items with a V after them are already used within the document so you cannot select these again. Some categories allow you to choose direct from the database the items to print. For these items a ‘–‘ character as the print item represents a free item available for you to define. If you select this then the appropriate database is displayed for you to select a data item from.

Once you have selected the item then the options are available, as with text, to change the font, background colour or delete. ‘Snap to Grid’ is not available on data items as data items are automatically ‘snapped to the grid’.

Line Drawing

If you select to insert a new Line – either horizontal or vertical - then a short line is drawn on the page. This can then be extended by moving the mouse to the end of the line (until the cursor changes to an arrow) and then clicking with the mouse and dragging it for the length required.

Box Drawing

If you select to insert a Box then a small box is drawn on the page. This can be extended by moving the box to a corner (until the cursor changes to an arrow) and then clicking with the mouse and dragging it for the size required.

You can position items within a box by right-clicking and choose the new option required – if you click on/near the box border you are assumed to be amending the box though, so if want an item up against the border insert it elsewhere and move it to the position you want. If you wish to include lines within a box, perhaps for a column border, or an image then draw the box first and add the lines/image afterwards.

Image File

If you select to insert a new ‘Image’ then a pop-up form allows you to select the image to be displayed.

You are asked to enter the image filename (BMP or JPG files only). You can browse for the file by clicking the ‘?’ icon or pressing <F4-Select>. Images are held in folder ‘DocImage’ created automatically off the DFCOMP location (usually \DFWIN\DATA).

Although you can browse to other folders from here you can only select to apply images from the ‘DocImage’ folder – if necessary you can copy from another location and paste here via the file selection browser.

Once you select the image file its filename is returned to the document to be applied.

Set whether the image is to be sized on the document by the screen DPI (usually set) Note that the image is sized as set and cannot be resized within Datafile – you must use an external package to resize if you need to do this.

You can move an items position by selecting it with the mouse and dragging it to where it’s required. If the ‘Tools’ option ‘Snap to Grid’ is enabled then all items start in a specified grid point, if switch this off then all bar data items can be set anywhere within the grid cell.

You can delete an item by selecting it with the mouse and pressing the <DELETE> key.

If you right-click with the mouse on any item then a menu is available allowing you to change the properties.

Right-clicking against aText item allows you to access the properties in full and allows individual options to amend the font, set the background colour, add (or remove) a border, right-align the text, or snap to the grid.

You can also reset the font/colour to default values or save the font and colour to the palette for application to another item using the Set option.

Right-clicking against a Data item allows you to access the properties box in full and allow individual options to amend the font, amend the background colour, add (or remove) a border, or to right-align the data item.

As with text you can reset the font/colour to default values, save/set the font and colour from the palette or delete the item.

Right-clicking against a Line item allows you to access the properties in full, amend the line colour, snap the line to the grid and to delete the line.

Right-clicking against a Box item allows you to access the properties in full, amend the background (fill) colour of the box, set/clear round corners, snap the box to the grid and to delete the box.

Right-clicking against an Image item allows you to access the properties of the image or to delete it.

You have the option to add a bitmap behind the entire document to act as a watermark. (If converting an earlier document that had a bitmap background then this is set as the watermark for the current document.)

The Format pull-down menu allows the option to edit the watermark giving options to ‘add’, ‘change’ or ‘delete’. The ‘change’ and ‘delete’ options are suppressed if no watermark has been applied, the ‘add’ is suppressed if you have applied a watermark.

Selecting the add, or indeed the change option opens the file browser in the DocImage folder allowing you to select the BMP file. As with images you must select the bitmap from the DocImage folder. The watermark image is displayed automatically in the designer but you can switch this off by deselecting the ‘Show Watermark’ option available on the Format pull-down.

NB: Note if the page setup requires more than one document per page then the watermark option is not applicable.

You can preview the document to the screen or the printer from the File pull-down menu. Selecting the Print Preview option shows the document on screen. You can use the scroll bars to move up/down/across the document. <ESC> or clicking the X-close button returns you to the document design.

NB: If page set-up has more than one document per page then the test print and print preview will print one page of documents.

Selecting the Test Print option loads the printer dialog allowing you to send the document to the printer, spooler or a PDF file.

Article ID: 2045
Created On: Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Last Updated On: Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 4:47 PM