Document Template Classes

About Print Template Classes

You can use a method in a Print Template Class to manipulate the data that a Print Template has available for processing. Here's how it works:

• When a Print Template is processed, it gets its data from the TemplateContext

• The TemplateContext contains a HashMap for each record sent to the Print Template, indexed by an Object name (a string). The HashMap contains name/value pairs for each field in that record.

• To a Print Template, then, a data object is simply a HashMap that is present in the TemplateContext.

• That object is passed to a method in your Print Template class. By manipulating the HashMaps it contains, you change the data that the Print Template will be processing. You can even add new "objects", by adding additional HashMaps.

Coding a Method in a Print Template Class

In a Print Template, a data reference has the form $objectName.fieldname. To access, create, or modify data in your code, you will do one or more of the following operations:

• Retrieve an object's HashMap from the TemplateContext: TemplateContext.get("objectName");
• Add or update a data HashMap: TemplateContext.put("objectName", HashMap);
• Get a field from data HashMap: HashMap.get("fieldName");
• Add or update a field in a data HashMap: HashMap.put("fieldName",value);
  where value is typically a string or a nested HashMap.

Configuring a Print Template to use a Specified Class and Method

__TBD: select the class, and the method to use__

Methods that take following arguments are listed:

• com.platform.api.TemplateContext - The container that the print template gets its data from.
• String (objectName) - The name of the object the print template was invoked on.
• String (recordID) - The ID of the record on which it was invoked.

(Method return values are ignored. Such methods generally return void, but they don't have to.)

Accessing Lookup Target Records

Data from lookup-target records is stored as a nested map. For example, to get data for the template variable $Order.customer.name:

1. HashMap orderMap = TemplateContext.get("Order")
   gets the Order HashMap from the context.
2. HashMap customerMap = orderMap.get("customer")
   gets the lookup-target record for the customer field.
3. String name = customerMap.get("name")
   gets the customer's name.

Accessing Data in Related Records

A Print Template is always invoked on a specific record. Related-object records that look up to that record are contained in an ArrayList of HashMaps, indexed by object name. The code for obtaining and processing that kind of list looks like this:

public void chgData(TemplateContext context, String obj, String record)
{
    ArrayList<HashMap<String,Object>> listOfRecords =
        (ArrayList)context.get("SomeObject");
    if (listOfRecords == null) { listOfRecords = new ArrayList(); }
    for (HashMap<String,Object> currRecord : listOfRecords )
    {
	// Process the records in this for-each loop
    }		
}

To create an entirely new breed of related "records", create an ArrayList of the appropriate type and add it to the TemplateContext.

Examples

Changing Field Data

This example substitutes the name of the state for its abbreviation, when processing a Customer record:

public void chgData(TemplateContext context, String obj, String record)
{
    HashMap customerMap = (HashMap)context.get("Customer");
    String state = customerMap.get("state").toString();
    if ( "CA".equals(state) ) { 
        customerMap.put("state","California"); 
    }
}

Example: Adding a New Field

This example adds a new "Good Customer" field to the record.

public void addData(TemplateContext context, String obj, String record)
{
    HashMap customerMap = (HashMap)context.get("Customer");
    customerMap.put("rating", "Good Customer"); }
}

After that method has run, the Print Template can use the variable $Customer.rating, just as though that field was defined in the platform object.

Example: Adding a New Object

This code creates a new ProductSupplier "object" (as far as the Print Template is concerned), and adds it to the TenantContext (context).

public void addObj(TemplateContext context, String obj, String record)
{
    HashMap<String, Object> productSupplierMap = 
        new HashMap<String, Object>();
    productSupplierMap.put("supplierName", "Stuff R' Us");
    productSupplierMap.put("phone", "408-555-0987");
    context.put("ProductSupplier", productSupplierMap);
}

After that method has run, the Print Template can use the variable $ProductSupplier.phone, just as though the data had originated in the platform.