This blog post captures some of the process and code tips and tricks used to create a PDF template for FPN and other modules.

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On the first page of the creation, wizard pick HTML and pick the "Load Sample HTML" option (the MS Word option will be phased out, and has been kept for a while to support last years users).

The top large text area is the "Letter Contents", this is where the main template goes into, you can identify keywords and change them in here. It may be easier to copy the text out into a better HTML text editor then paste it back in when you are done. NOTE this letter contents section is not a FULL HTML page on its own, it is 3/4 of a page.

The 2nd large text area is the "Additional CSS", this is where formatting rules are applied, such as font, font size, spacing, colours etc.

You can upload your PDF letterhead temp[late and set the margins for the first page. Note you can set the Addressee details location to fit in a windowed envelope, this location is set irrespective of the rest of the page, to ensure it is exactly where it needs to be regardless of where other information may flow to see the information on the <address>  tag further below.

When you are done, save the record. On the next page, you can preview the merge letter. What it does is merge the current Merge Letter with the first record in the current event. So it will help to make sure that record has photos, notes and details that will test the template properly, you may need to work in a test event for this.

Listing the Merge Tokens

From the mail merge settings page, Administration→Settings→Merge Templates select any of the templates records.

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Currently there are three override fields on the FPN form which are listed below along with the tokens you need to use for these fields for them to appear in the letter:

• Override Owner Details 
• Override Property Number
• Override Location

{$item.overrideOwnerDetails}
{$item.overridePropertyNumber}
{$item.overrideLocation}

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*CQL is Crisisworks Query Language search tips for more information, for the specific search terms available for FPN, select the "SearchDictionary" link under the search box in the FPN datagrid.

Additionally to this, some counters have been created which can be accessed in the merge template.  You have the option of either using the in_cql function above or a new function called in_counter which references counters. The advantage of this is that one of the counters refers to items on the FRV Boundary.

You can call these counters by using a function in your template called in_counter and passing through the id of the counter. The available counters are:

INZONEFRV - whether the item is in the FRV zone.
INZONECFA - if you have a CFA Zone loaded into your system it will use this otherwise it will default to all items not within FRV.
FRVBOUNDARY - whether the item is on the FTRV Boundary

To use the counter function you can add it like this into your template:

{if in_counter($item, 'INZONEFRV')}
  Display some text here for items within the frv zone
{elseif in_counter($item, 'INZONECFA')} 
    Display some text here for items within the CFA Zone
{elseif in_counter($item, 'FRVBOUNDARY')} 
   Display some text here for items on the FRV Boundary.
{/if}

Reference

Margins used in following example

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