Creating Tagline Overlays for XTemplates

In the Expere environment, forms often require taglines that contain all or part of the form infor­mation entered in the Form Properties dialog. This information is placed in forms through the System Text object. Depending on the end-user environment, they may also require barcode fields, page numbering, customer or owner logos, etc.

By placing the objects you want to include in the tagline on overlays and applying float properties to the objects, you can create generic tagline overlays that can be applied to any form and any page in a given form, regardless of margin settings or page orientation:

While form property information is form specific, the system text objects that retrieve the infor­mation are actually generic. The form properties are stored in the XTemplate file. The XPaths to the string values that can be retrieved with system text objects will be the same for all forms. When you apply the overlay to the form, the system text objects you placed in your tagline will retrieve the value that is in the XTemplate file for that form. The following XPath would retrieve the form title from whatever form the overlay was attached to:

string(/wkm:Metadata/wkm:DC/dc:title/text())

The following form uses the same overlay as the form above. The XPaths are the same, but the information is diff­erent:

Most other objects that you would include (e.g., company logos, barcode fields, page numbers) in a tagline are not form specific and can be applied across the board. Once you create a tagline overlay, you can add it to any form that needs the tagline.

To create a tagline overlay for XTemplates

1. Create a new overlay for your XTemplate form.

2. Add the objects you want in your tagline.

3. Place the objects where you want them on the overlay.

4. Set the anchoring properties of the objects to make them float with the margins.

5. Either save the overlay as an external file or export the file so that it can be applied to any form.

Important:

When you create a generic tagline overlay, make sure your system text boxes are large enough to accommodate the expected information. If the system text boxes are not large enough, the information will be truncated. Be sure to check your system text boxes whenever you add a tagline overlay to a form page to make sure that all the information appears and adjust them if necessary. If your overlays are referenced externally, be sure to check any changes on forms with the widest margins you expect to use to ensure that you avoid overlap.

Note:

If you create forms for different customers who have their own individual logos, you can use placeable bitmap fields to handle the images generically. However, your form-filler application must be programmed to insert the images.