Setting template paths in Timestone Administrator
Version 4: tsAdministrator
In Version 4 template paths are set centrally with the Timestone Administrator. Furthermore paths can also be set with respect to any combination of the following
- season
- workspace
- account
Since different users will organise their template files in different fashions it is perhaps best to demonstrate by example some of the many methods of setting template paths within tsAdministrator.
The following links will jump to specific examples within this article. It is recommended, however, the user become familiar will all the entire article as the concepts discussed may prove to be useful.
- Entering template paths for a season. Examples 1 and 2
- Entering template paths for an account Examples 3 and 4
- Defining templates for a workspace. Examples 5 and 6
- Adding common templates that will always be available. Example 7
- Job specific templates. Example 8:
- Putting it all together - Combining multiple template paths. Examples 9 and 10
Organizing templates by season
You have templates for specific seasons such as 'Fall 2008 Sports', 'Spring 2009 Schools', 'YMCA2009' and so on. Templates for each season are saved in their own folder. You want the correct templates to be available for each job depending on which season it was created in.
Example1: Entering a direct path for each season
With this method you will enter a path for each season's templates.
On the template server computer
Create a folder of templates for each of your seasons. The folder names are not important. Paths for the above examples could be:
In tsAdministrator:
Select the Paths object then select the first season followed by the templates tab. Enter the full path to the templates folder for that season. Repeat for each season, each path.
The result
When a job is created or opened in one of the seasons it will use the templates path that was entered for that season.
Figure 1: Setting a template path for the spring 2009 school season
Example 2: Using the @seasoncode or @season placeholders
The previous example requires a direct path to be set for each season's templates. By using one of the placeholders it is possible to enter just one, generic path in tsAdministrator that will work for each season.
On the template server computer:
Create a folder of templates for each of your seasons. The folder names must be either the season code or season description as defined in tsAdministrator>seasons. In our example the codes for the above seasons are Fall08Sp, Sp09Sc and YMCA09 respectivelty. Using these codes the template paths would be:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object. Select "all" for the season (*) followed by the templates tab. Enter the path to the templates using the @seasoncode placeholder in place of the folder name. In the above examples the path would be:
Result
When a job is created or opened, the season code for the job will replace the "@" placeholder in the path statement and use this folder of templates for the job. Note the above can also be achieved by using the season description instead of code as the template folder name and the @ placeholder in the template path.
Figure 2: Setting a generic template path for all seasons with by using the season code.
Organizing templates for accounts
You are a lab and service several photographers which you have defined as accounts in tsAdministrator. For each account you have custom templates that are to be used for that photographer only.
Consider two such photographers - Mode Studio and Acme Photography. In tsAdministrator they have been defined with account codes Mode and Acme while the account description is ModeStudio and AcmePhoto respectively.
Example 3: Entering a direct path for each account
With this method you will enter a path for each account's templates.
On the template server computer
Create a folder of templates for each of your accounts. The folder names are not important. Paths to the templates could be for example:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object then select the Acme Photography account followed by the templates tab. Enter the full path to the template folder for Acme Photography. Repeat for Mode Studio.
Result
When a job is created or opened for the Acme Photography account it will use the template path defined for that account. Likewise for the Mode Studio account.
Figure 3: Setting the template path for the Acme Photography account
Example 4: Using the @accountcode or @account placeholders
The previous example requires a direct path to be set for each account's templates. By using either the @accountcode or @account placeholder it is possible to assign a single, generic, path that will work for each account.
On the template server computer:
Create template folders for each account. The folder names must be either the account code or account description as defined in tsAdministrator. In our example the account codes are Acme and Mode respectively.
Using these codes the template folders would be:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object. Select "all" accounts () followed by the tempates tab. Enter the path to the templates using the @ placeholder in place of the folder name. In the above examples the path would be :
Result
When a job is created or opened, the account code for the job will replace the @accountcode placeholder in the path statement and use this folder of templates for the job. Note the above can also be achieved by using the account description instead of code as the template folder name and the @account placeholder in the template path.
Figure 4: Entering a generic template path for all accounts using the account code
Organizing templates for a workspace
Defining templates for a particular workspace is not new to Version 4. In prior versions workspaces were created on a per computer basis. The advent of Version 4 and tsAdministrator means workspaces can be created centrally. Furthermore tsAdministrator can also be used to define a directory of templates to be used for a particular workspace.
Example 5: Defining templates for a workspace
Consider a photographer who has a folder of templates to be used for a 'Portrait' workspace. By using tsAdministrator to define the workspace and set the template path, he does not need to repeat these steps onn each of his workspations.
On the template server computer
The photographer has a folder called 'Portraits" which contains all the templates he wishes to be used for the 'Portrait' workspace. For example the path could be:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object then select the Portraits workspace. Select the templates tab. Enter the full path to the Portraits template folder as per above. Repeat for any other workspaces.
Result
When a job is created or opened in the Portraits workspace it will use the templates defined for that workspace in tsAdministrator.
Figure 5: Entering a template path to the templates for the Portraits workspace
Example 6: Using the @workspacecode or @workspace placeholders
The previous example requires a direct path to be set to the templates for each workspace. For photographers using many workspaces this is a tedious task. By using either the @workspacecode or @workspace placeholder it is possible to assign a single, generic, path that will work for each workspac
On the template server computer
Create template folders for each workspace. The folder names must be either the workspace code or workspace description as defined in tsAdministrator. A photographer shooting portraits, football teams and hospital babies may have defined workspaces for each of these job types and thus may organize templates as:
where portraits, templates and babies are the workspace codes for the three workspaces
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object. Select "all" workspacess (*) follwed by the templates tab. Enter the path to the templates using the @workspacecode placeholder in place of the folder name. In the above examples the path would be :
Result
When a job is created or opened, the workspace code for the job will replace the "@workspacecode" placeholder in the path statement and use this folder of templates for the job. Note the above can also be achieved by using the workspace description instead of code as the template folder name and the @workspace placeholder in the template path.
Figure 6: Entering a generic template path to the templates for all workspaces
Templates used for all jobs - common templates
There may be templates you wish to made available for all jobs irrespective of season, account or workspace
Example 7: Adding 'common' templates
Some templates need to be made available for all jobs. These templates usually correspond to products such as 5x7's or 8x10's offered to all (or most) jobs.
On the template server computer
Create a folder that will hold templates you wish to made availabe for all your jobs. An example would be:
In tsAdministrator:
Select the Paths object. Select "all" for season, workspace and account (). Select the templates tab and enter the above path
Result
No matter what season, workspace or account the job happens to be in, the 'common' templates will always be available together with templates set with any other paths.
Figure 7: Adding a folder of common templates to the template paths
Handling job specific templates
There may be occassions where templates are "job specific" irrespective of a job's season, workspace or account
The most common method of handling this situation prior to Version 4 was with the jobname#templates subfolder where jobname was the name of the tnj job flle in question. Provided the job file and the jobname#templates subfolder were in the same parent directory the templates inside the jobname#templates subfolder were always available when the particular job was ope
This concept is continued in Version 4 albeit with a slight modification to handle the fact there are no loose job files in Version 4. Instead job specific templates may still be saved in a jobname#templates subfolder and tsAdministrator used to set a path the subfolder's parent directory. When a job is opened, the software will search the path for the appropriately named jobname#templates subfolder
Example 8 : Setting a path to job specific templates
Although you may or may not organize your templates with respect to season, workspace or account, you have templates which are job specific and wish these templates to be available whenever a particular job is open
On the template server computer:
Create a parent directory of templates then for each job, for example:
Create a jobname#templates subfolder where jobname is the name of the job in question. For example consider three jobs - GreenvilleSP09, YMCA08 and Fusel080712. The job specific template subfolders for these jobs would be:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object then All () for the Season, Workspace and Account. Select the Templates tab and enter the path to the parent directory - T:\timestone\templates in our example.
Result
When the job GreenvilleSP09 is open the program will use templates in the GreenvilleSP09#templates subfolder. Likewise for the YMCA08 and Fusel080712 jobs.
Figure 8: Setting a path to a parent templates directory
Combining template paths
One of the advantageous of setting template paths within tsAdministrator is the ability to set paths for any combination of season, workspace and account. At the same time jobs specific templates as well as templates common to all jobs can be catered for.
Example 9 : Setting a path for a particular season while adding common and job specific templates
This example assumes the reader is familiar with the concepts discussed in examples two, seven and eight.
Consider the following scenario
A school photography company wishes to use a set of templates for the 2010 school season. At the same time each job will need some highly customized templates that are job specific. Some other templates are not job or season specific and need to be available for every job. The season code for the 2010 school season is '2010sc'
This situation can be handled in the following manner.
On the template server computer:
In tsAdministrator
Select the Paths object followed by 'All' () for the Season, Workspace and Account. Select the Templates tab.
Result
The path to the parent directory will mean the software will use any templates in the jobname#templates subfolder where jobname is the name of the currently open job. The second path, to the common templates, will make available the templates that are common to all jobs. Meanwhile the season code for the currently open job will replace the @ placeholder in the third path statement adding the templates in the 2010Sc subfolder.
Figure 9: Setting paths in tsAdministrator to make use of seasonal, common and job specific templates.
Example 10 : Seasonal templates per account with common and job specific templates
This example assumes the reader is familiar with the concepts discussed in examples two, seven, eight and nine.
Consider a variation of the example above:
A lab services several school photographers and offers a different set of templates each season. Each of the photographers have been defined as an account in tsAdministratior. The lab has defined a Spring 2009 season with the code SP09 and on thier template server has a folder of templates for this season.. However each of the lab's photographers have some templates that are to be used only for that photographer. To this end the lab has defined a folder of templates for each account. Finally there are some templates that are used for all jobs while the lab must also accomadate the fact some photographers will send jobs that require templates for that job only.
On the template server computer:
In tsAdministrator:
Select the Paths object followed by 'All' (*) for the Season, Workspace and Account. Select the Templates tab.
Result:
The path to the parent directory will mean the software will use any templates in the jobname#templates subfolder where jobname is the name of the currently open job.
The second path, to the common templates, will make available the templates that are common to all jobs.
Meanwhile the season code for the currently open job will replace the @seasoncode placeholder in the third path statement adding the templates in the SP09 subfolder.
And finally each photographer's specific templates will be used thanks to the final path statement which makes use of the @ placeholder.
Figure 10: Setting paths in tsAdministrator to make use of seasonal, account, common and job specific templates.
End of article