Add a Sheet

Each of a form’s sheets can generate output when Lasernet processes that form. To set up a form to generate an additional output document, add a sheet to the form.

For example, suppose a form already has a sheet that generates a PDF invoice from XML data. You can add a second sheet that generates (from that same data) an XHTML invoice that can be included in an order-related email.

Or, you can create multiple sheets that generate notably different output from the same data (for example, differently branded documents that otherwise contain the same information). To do this, you can apply unique sheet criteria to each of a form’s sheet so that (depending on some aspect of the input data received when processing a job) Lasernet will process only one of that form’s sheets.

Note

When you add a new form to a Lasernet project, a blank sheet for handling incoming data is automatically created and named Sheet 1. You can rename the sheet in the Sheet Options dialog.

The sheet is initially empty, so you need to open a grab file by clicking Select Grab File(s) from the Form menu. The grab file contains the output from your administrative system that you wish to process through Lasernet.

Steps

To add a sheet to a form, follow these steps:

1. In the lower-left area of the Form Editor window, right-click on an existing sheet tab, then click Add. The Sheet Options window opens.

2. On the General page of the Sheet Options window, change the Name of the sheet.

3. If necessary, change the Output type of the sheet.

   Note

   The available selections for Output type are limited by the sheet’s Input type (which must match the form’s Input Format).

   After you create a form, you cannot change its Input format. So, when you create a sheet, you must choose a sheet Output type that is compatible with the selected input type.

4. To add sheet criteria: Use the tools on the Criteria page of the Sheet Options window. For more information, see Use Criteria and the Criteria part of the Sheet Options page.

5. Make any other necessary changes to the sheet’s options. For more information about sheet options, see Sheet Options.

6. Click OK.

Next Steps

Before you create your sheet design (for example, by adding text, input data, tables, and charts to the design), there are some prerequisite steps which depend on the Output Type of the sheet.  

If the Selected Output Type is EMF-Based PDF, TIFF, or EMF

The design of EMF-based output is based on a prespecified multipage-based structure. To learn about this structure, see Pages. Consequently, for this type of output you do not need to create a sheet structure. Instead, you can proceed straight to adding text, input data, and other elements to the form design.

If the Selected Output Type is Rich-Text-Based PDF, DOCX, or XHTML

The design of rich-text-based output has a single-page based structure. So, for this type of output you do not need to create a sheet structure; instead, you can proceed straight to adding text, input data, and other elements to the form design

All Other Output Types

For all other output types, you must specify the structure of the sheet before you design its content. See Create the Sheet Structure.