Letter Template Files
Each Standard Letter must be assigned a Letter Template File. The primary purpose of the Letter Template is to provide the location of all of the bookmarks where paragraphs will be inserted into the letter. For more information about Standard Letters, see Defining Standard Letters.
Letter templates can be in either of the following formats:
HTML documents (files with an .HTM or .HTML extension). These can be used with letters whose format is either "HTML Text" or "Plain Text."
Plain Text (files with a .txt extension). These are used mainly with email whose format is plain text.
A default, generic template of each type comes with Emplifi Agent. You may need to create additional templates if you require letters that have a particular layout. The template files can be uploaded to the Standard Letters directory using the File Maintenance Utility.
Creating an HTML Template
Creating HTML templates is somewhat complex. You will need to have a basic understanding of editing HTML files, and of using HTML tags. You can use any HTML editor to edit the template file. However, when it comes to putting in the bookmarks, you will need to be able to edit the underlying HTML tags directly.
The easiest way to start is by looking at the standard HTML template that comes with Emplifi Agent. This file is in the Standard Letters directory and is called "template.htm." This file supports basic letters, and is comprised of nothing more than a series of paragraphs, each with its own bookmark.
Bookmarks in an HTML template are contained in an HTML tag like the following:
<BK01 />
<BK02 />Bookmarks can technically have any name you prefer, but the suggested standard is to use the BK prefix followed by a two-digit number.
To create a custom HTML template
Use your preferred HTML editor to create a file with the layout you prefer.
Edit the file's raw HTML to insert bookmarks like the one shown above.
Save the file to the Standard Letters directory using the File Maintenance Utility.
Example of a basic HTML template:
<html>
<head>
<style>
blockquote, ol, p, pre, ul
{
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-top:0px;
}
blockquote
{
margin-left:.5in;
}
body
{
margin-bottom: .75in;
margin-left: 1in;
margin-right: 0.5in;
margin-top: 1.25in;
height: 11in;
width: 8.5in;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK01/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK02/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK03/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK04/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK05/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK06/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK07/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK08/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK09/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK10/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK11/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK12/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK13/></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=3><BK_BK14/></FONT></P>
</body>
</html>
Actual margins of the printed document are determined by adding the margins defined in the template file with the default margins defined for your browser. You will want to take this into consideration when defining margins in your template.
for Check and Coupon templates: When you create a template for use with printing checks and coupons, include a special bookmark as the placeholder for the check or coupon number in the following format: <DocumentNumber/>. Your Standard Letter definition does not need to include the check number in any of its paragraphs. When the check is printed, the check number is automatically placed in the location of the DocumentNumber bookmark.