Template Report

Applies to: All programs

Overview

The template report provides the operator with a wealth of information regarding the templates available to a particular job. The report shows exactly which templates a job is 'seeing' in the currently open program and will alert the user to problems associated with these templates. As such it is a valuable tool to assist in managing a job's templates and troubleshooting issues.

Running the report

Upon opening a job the report is generated via the Help menu. (Help>Template report)

Figure 1: The template report for a particular job

The report displays:

• The template paths appropriate to the job
• The name and description (if set) for all templates in those paths
• The type of template
• The template key
• Any issues regarding particular templates
• A count of the total number of templates and folders the job is accessing

The report in different programs

The report only lists templates that are appropriate for the program currently open. For example running the report in NeoComposite will only list composite page templates, subject block templates and board templates (.cpt, .cst, .cbt) whereas running the report in NeoGroup only lists group templates (.tgt).

Since version 4.6 of NeoPackProfessional now supports composites and groups it is 'aware' of those programs' templates as well as its own templates. For this reason running the report in NeoPackProfessional yields the most information.

Managing templates

At a minimum the template report in NeoPackProfessional gives the operator a count of the number of templates the job is accessing. Since the time taken for a job to open (and other performance criteria when working with a job) is dependant on the number of templates the job must 'read', the report is useful in assessing whether a job is unnecessarily loading more templates than needed.

The total number of templates the job is reading can be found at the bottom of the Template Report window.

Figure 2: This job is loading 101 templates in two different folders.

Quick search

The report features a quick search window that performs a free text search throughout the report. Enter any characters in the search window to search the report for any text string containing those characters. The more characters entered the more precise the result set shall be

Template paths

The report displays all paths appropriate to the job. For an understanding of template paths please consult the document Setting template paths

Hint!. To hide all the templates so only the paths are visible, select the 'Show folders only' filter at the top of the report window.

Figure 3: Hiding the templates to show just the template paths

The template name and description

The main portion of the report lists the full template name including extension. If the template has been given a description it is displayed in parentheses.

or a given job, template names should be unique

Template type

A very useful feature of the report is the description of the type of template. The table below lists the different template types and their abbreviations as used in the report

Template key

Where set, the template key is displayed for each 'Portrait' type template. This key is that set in the template's File>Properties window of Design Mode (template designer). It is not the key set in the Products object of tsAdministrator

For a given job, template keys should be unique.

Issue

At time of writing, the Issue column reports two issues. It is foreseen this will expand in the future, reporting on other issues to do with templates.

1. Duplicate template keys - dup/key
2. Duplicate template names - dup/id

Figure 4: Examples of duplicate template names and keys

Hint! To display only templates with issues use the 'Show issues only' filter at the top of the report window. This is very useful when there are a large number of templates and it is not possible to see all issues without scrolling the list.

Figure 4: Examples of duplicate template names and keys

Opening a template through the report

It is possible to automatically open a template in the currently open program's template designer by simply double clicking the template. This is particularly useful when trobleshooting and fixing an issue as described above.

Although the template report in NeoPackProfessional lists (almost) all template types, its template designer can only open pack layouts and pack item templates. It is not possible, for example, to open a composite page layout from within NeoPack's template report.

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