Introducing the Designer Workspace

This chapter gives you a quick overview of the functionality and the menu structure of the TX Template Designer.

Main Menu and Button Bar

To create a new template, please use the New in the button bar. A new document is created in a new tab page. Additionally, the button bar contains buttons to Open, Save and to Print a template.

The main menu contains the complete functionality of the application. It can be used to insert and format all supported document elements like tables, text frames or the merge fields.

The Layout Editor

The layout editor contains the template itself. It is a WYSIWYG editor view of the resulting template. You can type text directly into the document or use the button bar to change the formatting or to insert a table or a text frame. The status bar shows information about the current input position inside the template.

The Database Explorer

This panel contains the currently opened databases. Using the Add... button, you can open new database connections.

The opened dialog box can be used to connect to a database on your machine. Select a data source, the name of the database, the user credentials and the database name and click on OK to add the database connection.

The left list view contains a list of all tables in the selected database. The right list view contains all available fields in the current table. Databases can be only opened to help you insert the proper fields. The database information itself will not be saved within the template. To insert a field, select the specific field and click on Insert or double-click the field in the list. The field will be inserted in the template at the current input position.

The Mail Merge Panel

This panel contains all fields that are contained the current template. You can use this view to navigate through the fields in the document or to select a specific field. Using the button Remove, you can delete the currently selected field. To insert a blank field, click the Insert button.

The Field Properties

The property grid contains the properties of the currently selected field. By selecting a field in the Mail Merge Panel or directly in the Layout Editor, the property grid switches to this field. You can edit the properties, such as field name or field text directly in this view.

The Merge Field Properties Dialog

This dialog is used to adjust all properties of an inserted field. The supported properties are explained here.