Order Headers

Applies to: Fulfill, NeoPack


Order Headers are optionally printed in Fulfill and (less commonly) in NeoPack at the change of an order. They assist with the identification, sorting and packing of orders. Many times, Order Headers printed in Fulfill are used as mailing labels.

Order Headers can display a wealth of information about the order such as the customer name and delivery address together with the contents of the order. Being a template, the photographer is free to design the Order Header as he or she pleases. Special @codes are available for Order Headers to the photographer in this.

Key points

  • Print once per order at the start of a new order in Fulfill or NeoPack
  • Have their own template of type .oht
  • Can display job, order,package and subject level data
  • Optionally display thumbnails of ordered images
  • List the packages in the order

Sample templates

Some sample Order Header templates have been available for download here
You may wish to download the templates ahead of reading this document and use them as a guide. You are free to modify and use these templates as you wish.

Creating Order Header templates

Order Headers have their own template type and are created and edited in the Template Designer of Fulfill or NeoPack. Since Order Headers are likely to be used across many if not all jobs it is recommended the templates are saved in a 'common' path accessible by all jobs.

The Fulfill template designer can be seen here . A new Order Header is being started while an exisiting template is open in the background.

Designing the Order Header

As with all Timestone templates, order header templates support fixed and variable text, graphics, barcodes and images. Since the power of Order Headers is their ability to display information particular to an order, the bulk of this document shall discuss @codes and techniques to achieve this aim.

Order level data

Order level data is unique to a particular order and has only only one possible value per order. The order key and date, customer name, delivery address and delivery option are some examples amongst many.

The Order information

  • @order:key
  • @order:number
  • @order:date
  • @order:cost

The customer and delivery Information

The 'customer' names, email and phone details refer to the person who placed the order. This is always present. The 'order' name is effectively a 'Ship to' person. Most times the 'Billing' name and 'Ship to' person are one and the same. Furthermore, not all orders require a delivery address. This should be considered when designing an Oder Header.

  • @customer:firstname
  • @customer:lastname
  • @customer:name
  • @customer:email
  • @customer:mobilephone
  • @customer:contactphone
  • @order:name
  • @order:firstname
  • @order:lastname
  • @order:address
  • @order:addressline
  • @order:addressline1
  • @order:addressline2
  • @order:city
  • @order:state
  • @order:postal @order:postcode @order:zip
  • @order:country
  • @order:countrycode

The delivery option

Since there is no ambiguity with respect to a delivery option (when present) the relevant @code does not need to be prefixed by @order: or @customer: It is simply:

@deliverycode

Package level data

Codes exist to retrieve information about the packages in the order. These are prefixed with @item: Since an order can contain multiple items (packages) the @codes need to be enclosed by square 'repeating' brackets as shown below. This results in one line per item (package) in the order.

The package Information

  • @item:packagecode
  • @item:packagename
  • @item:copies

Displaying subject Information with the package

It is possible to include subject data in the list of packages ordered.

  • @item:key
  • @item:name
  • @item:firstname
  • @item:lastname
  • @item:folder

Example

Mrs Jones orders online for her two children John (in folder Miss Saunders) and Martha (in folder Mr Burns) with subject keys of SDF3S23Q and 23DFRT5R respectively. She orders packages PK1 for both children and package PK2 for John and PK3 for Martha. To list the contents of the order, displaying each subject's name, key and packages ordered we use the following codes enclosed in square brackets.

[@item:name @item:key @Item:folder Package: @item:package code - Copies:@item:copies]

This will result in the follwing list

  • John Jones SDF3S23Q Miss Saunders Package: PK1 Copies:1
  • John Jones SDF3S23Q Miss Saunders Package: PK2 Copies 1
  • Martha Jones 23DFRT5R Mr Burns Package: PK1 Copies:1
  • Martha Jones 23DFRT5R Mr Burns Package: PK3 Copies:1

Subject level data

The examples above display subject data for each package ordered. This is not ideal if the desire is to simply display the subject data once. This can be achieved with the following @code inside a text box. Repeating square brackets are not needed.

@items:fieldname

Note the fieldname is prefixed with @items NOT @item. The fieldname is essentially any relevant field in the job. A couple of extra @codes are available

  • @items:shootkeys - The access key(s) used in the order (once per key)
  • @items:shootname - The 'shoot' name(s) in the order. This will vary depending on the type of key used.
  • @items:shootunique - The unique field where present

Images in Order Headers

It is possible to display a thumbnail of the images in the order.

Placing a single image hole on the template

A single image hole on the template will, by default, display the ordered image. If multiple items are in the order it will display the image ordered in the first item.


Figure 1: An order with two order items. The image displayed will be that ordered for the first item - Package PK1

Multiple image holes for orders with multiple order items

It is possible to place multiple image holes on the template with each hole calling the image from a different order item. This is achieved by numbering the Image No attribute of the image hole #1, #2, #3 ....#n


Figure 2: This image hole will call the image from the second order item courtesy of placing #2 into the Image No field of the image hole properties

Where an order has fewer order items than there are image holes on the template, the unused image holes will be blank.

End of article