Create a Template

To start the process of adding a new template in your Case IQ application, you must create a new template file. All templates must be a Word document saved in the “.docx” file format. Templates can contain two types of text:

1. Static text that will be the same every time a document is generated using the template. In the example template below, the static text is highlighted in purple. 
2. Placeholder text, called “tags”, that Case IQ will recognize and replace with contextual information when the template is used to generate a document. The tags are highlighted in pink in the example below.

Case Closing Summary

CaseNumber: {caseNumber}
To: Management
From: {owner}
Confidential: {confidential}
Date: {#system}{CurrentDate}{/system}
Created: {createdDate}
Status: {lastWorkflowStateId}
Type: {caseType}
Last Update: {lastUpdatedDate}, {lastUpdateBy}

Closure Details:

Closure Reason: {closeReason}
Closure Date: {dateClosed}

By including both types of text in your Word file, generated documents are standardized but always contain relevant case information, such as the date, record number, or action. The next section in this tab, "Field Name Tags", covers tags in more detail so you can add them to your template file. Make sure the file still has the “.docx” file extension when you save your template, as shown in the screenshot below.

Field Name Tags

Case IQ identifies application fields using tags, which contain 2 components: (1) the field name and (2) the record type loop. The diagram below labels the components in a full field name tag. Curly brackets, “{}”, define the beginning and end of each component in the tag.

1. Field name tag: the system name for the field in the application.
   1. The system records field names in camel case, where (1) the first word is lower case, (2) all subsequent words begin with a capital letter, and (3) there are no spaces between the words. 
   2. However, including the field name in all lowercase letters is not an issue.
   3. Tags for fields that are commonly used in templates are listed in the "Common Field Name Tags" tab of this article. You can check the Static Field Glossary to find the field name tag for any standard application field. For additional fields, see Find Field Name Tags for detailed steps to identify the correct tags. 
2. Recordtype loop: two phrases that tell the system the child recordtype of the case, such as to-dos, parties, and notes, in which the field is located.
   1. A record type loop is comprised of a “loop opening”, containing a “#” symbol before the record type name, and a “loop closing”, with a slash before the record type name.
   2. The loop text of any standard record type is simply the record name in lower case, e.g. for email records, the loop opening and closing will be {#email} and {/email} respectively. 
   3. You do not need to add the record type for case fields, only for child record types.
   4. See more details on adding child record fields in the next tab, "Format the Template".

The system uses each tag component to help it find specific fields in the application, so the components must follow the specific formatting rules summarized in the table below:

Format a Template

Font formatting you apply in a template file will be retained in the generated document. The example below shows how you can format your template file to produce easy-to-read generated documents. Font formatting can also be used to help test new templates, as you can highlight or change the colour of field name tags and then quickly scan the generated document for accuracy.

Add a Child Record Field in a Template

Child records include parties, notes, to-dos, and any custom forms in the “Activity” tab of a case. When including fields from a child record in the template, you must use loop openings and closings, e.g. {#party} and {/party}. You can use loops to control how fields are laid out in the generated document and you can insert multiple field name tags from that record between the loop opening and closing. However, you cannot add tags from one record type in another record type’s loop, except case fields. 

The loop text of any standard record type is simply the record name in lower case, i.e.:

• Party = {#party} and {/party}
• To-do = {#todo} and {/todo}
• Note = {#note} and {/note}

Custom forms for your application generally follow the same rules. For example, if your application has a custom form called “Allegation”, you need to enter “{#allegation}” and “{/allegation}” in your template file around any Allegation record field names. If a custom form name contains more than one word, separate the words with an underscore. For example, to refer to fields on a form called “Executive Interview”, you would use “{#executive_interview}” and “{/executive_interview}” in the template.

When a template includes fields from a child record, the data of all child records associated with the case will be included in the merged document. For example, if you have more than one party for a case, the field values of all the case’s parties will be displayed in the generated document.

Use Loops to Organize Template Content

To improve the layout of a document, you can place the loop openings and closings to clearly arrange merged values. If you generate the document as a Word file, you can remove any unwanted information after downloading it. This section shows how you can structure information in documents for cases with multiple child records, such as lists and tables, using loop openings and closings. These methods are illustrated by showing a sample generated document for a case with multiple parties. The sample case used to generate the document for these examples had three parties, named Jane Doe, Richard Miles, and John Smith.

Add a Table of Fields

You can arrange fields into tables in multiple ways depending on the location in which you place the loop openings and closings. By including the loop opening and closing in the row of the table, all fields will be contained in the same table, which is demonstrated in the first example below. However, each record will have its own table, as shown in the second example, if you place the loop opening and closing above and below the table respectively.

Template File	Generated Document
The Parties of the case are:	The Parties of the case are:
The Parties of the case are:	The Parties of the case are:

Delete

Add a Primary Party Field

If a party has been flagged as the “Primary” for a case, then this party’s values can be populated independently of all other parties for that case. Use “{#primaryParty}” as the loop opening and “{/primaryParty}” to close the loop. For example, if you want to address a letter to the case’s primary party, start the template file with the following text:

“Dear {#primaryParty}{firstName} {lastName}{/primaryParty},”

You can use the “primaryParty” loop around any of the party form’s fields to populate the primary party’s information. However, if you add tags for parties in general, i.e. {#party} and {/party}, all parties of the case will be populated in the generated document, including the primary party data.

Add Linked Case Details

You can include information about other cases that have been linked to a case (see the Link Related Cases article for details on linking cases). Use "{#caseLinks}" and "{/caseLinks}" to open and close the loop respectively , e.g. {#caseLinks}{type}{/caseLinks}. You can populate the following information on case links in your documents with the tags listed in the table below. Up to 100 case link records will be included in generated documents.

Add a Current Date Value

You may need to include the date and time that a file was generated in Case IQ for certain document types, for example a Notice Letter or Report issue date and time. Use the “system” loop, with the loop opening {#system} and closing {/system}, to populate date values into the document, shown in the example below. See the "Common Field Name Tags" tab of this article for other date and time formats, e.g. the date short form (YYYY-MM-DD). 

Upload a Template

When you have finished creating your template file, you can implement your new template in Case IQ by uploading the file in the application’s Settings. Navigate to the Settings sidebar tab, click the Data tab, and select “Templates” in the page menu. 

See the following steps to upload template files. This file was uploaded in the video clip example below the steps, which you can use to follow along: ExampleTemplate.docx

1. On the Templates page, click the Add Template button. 
2. Complete the New Template form by entering the following information:
   1. Template Name: enter a descriptive name for your new template. The name will be displayed in the “Template Name” dropdown when users are selecting a template to use.
   2. Locale: if your application supports multiple languages, choose the appropriate language of the template. 
   3. File Type: choose the file format in which the document should be generated.
   4. Add File: upload your template Word file. To choose a file from the file browser, click the Upload a File from your Computer button. You may also drag and drop a file from your desktop. To do this, click and hold a file on your desktop and let go of your mouse cursor over the dotted box on the New Template form.
3. Click the Save button to upload your template file.

When you click Save, the system will validate that the tags in the template file are useable and there are no unclosed loops. If there are any errors, the application will display a warning reading: "Please ensure the correct usage of { and } characters". Correct any errors in the template file by closely reviewing the tags that you have entered.

• An unclosed loop means that there is an opening loop “{#...}” without a closing loop “{/…}” in the text after a field name tag.
• Tags cannot contain spaces within the curly brackets.
• All tags and loop openings and closings must be enclosed by curly brackets, i.e. “{}”, rather than parentheses, “()”, or square brackets, “[]”. 

Once you have corrected any errors, follow the instructions in the "Update a Template" tab to reupload the file.

Validate a Template

Users can generate documents with your template for any case as soon as it has been uploaded. You can validate the template you just added by generating a document for a case in your application. The video clip below these steps validates the example template added in the "Upload a Template" tab of this article. If you upload this example template, you can follow along with these steps to validate a template: ExampleTemplate.docx

1. On an existing case's page, click the Files tab, then click the Add File button. You can also click the "+" button on the case's page, then select "File".
2. Fill in the New File form: 
   1. Kind: select “Generated Template”.
   2. Locale: choose the same language as the template file.
   3. File Type: choose the file format in which the document should be generated.
   4. Template Name: select the template that you uploaded earlier.
   5. Summary: you can choose to enter a description of the generated document. 
3. Click the Save button. If a field name is tagged in the template file but is empty for the case, the tag will be populated as a blank space in the document.
4. The generated document will be created as a file record, which you can find under the Files tab of the case. View the document by clicking the file in the grid and downloading the attachment to your computer. If you generated the document as a PDF, you can preview the file instead.

Update a Template

If you need to correct errors or update information in a template that has already been uploaded in Case IQ, you can upload another file to the existing template’s record in Case IQ. By using this method, all versions of the template will be logged in the template record history and the system will automatically use the most recent version when a document is generated using the template. Review the following steps to upload an updated template file:

1. Make any necessary changes to your template in the Word file and save the updated file on your desktop.
2. On the Templates page, click the existing template record row in the Templates grid.
3. Click the Edit button. 
4. Attach your edited template Word file in the “Add File” box.
5. Click Save on the Template’s page. The system will add a version number and the new version of the template will be available to all users when generating a document.

Delete a Template

If you need to permanently remove a template, you can delete it from the Templates page or from a Template's page directly. 

If you only need to delete a single template, navigate to the Template's page. Click the Options () button, then select the "Delete" option.

You can also delete multiple template options from the Templates grid. Select the checkbox for each row you would like to delete, then click the Delete button above the grid.

Common Field Name Tags

The following tables contain some field name tags often used in templates. Check the Static Field Glossary for any other standard system fields in the application.

Case Fields

Party Fields

Open loops with {#party} and close with {/party} to populate all the case’s parties. If you only want to populate primary party information in the document, use {#primaryParty} and {/primaryParty} instead.

To-Do Fields

Open loops with {#todo} and close with {/todo} to populate all the case’s to-dos.

Current Date Values

Choose the date and/or time format you want to include in your template. If you want to use your application's date and time format settings, you can use the Current Date & Time (Short), Current Date (Short), and Current Time tags. The format for all other current date tags is hardcoded. To update your application's date and time format, change the "dateFormat", "dateTimeFormat", and "timeFormat" settings on the Options page (see Update Application Options for more on using the Options page).