This section covers designing layouts in QuoteWerks.
Resizing Page Margins
The page margins for the print layout can be modified under the Report -> Options menu. It is important to note that the page margin settings do not affect any of the objects (such as data fields, labels, etc) that are on the print layout. If you find that objects are getting cutoff by the left margin when printing/previewing/emailing the layout, the solution is to move the objects to the right rather than adjust the page margin.
Page Orientation
The page orientation of your document is set in the Layout Designer on the File -> Printer Setup menu. You can select either portrait or landscape.
Page Numbering
The layout designer has the ability to calculate the total number of pages in a “Page x of y” format. This feature will include and work with rtf cover pages, spec sheets, and literature sheets providing an accurate count of total pages. If you want the page number and total number of pages to be displayed in your rtf documents, you will need to use your RTF editor (usually Microsoft Word) to insert the page number and total page number macros.
Print Layout Designer Status Bar
At the bottom of the print layout designer window there is a status bar that provides information about the object that is currently selected. On the right side of the status bar, information about the position and size of the object will be displayed. This information is useful when you are aligning and sizing objects. On the left side of the status bar will be information about the object that is selected. This information is called the “object details”. For example, if a label object is selected, then the object details panel will display “Label:” If a QuoteWerks field like the line item description field is selected, then the object details panel will display “Data Field : DocumentItems-Description (Text)”. This information tells us that the object is a “Data Field” as opposed to a label, line, picture, etc. It also tells us that the “Description” field is from the “DocumentItems” table. This is useful to know because there are some fields like CustomText01 that are in both the DocumentHeaders and DocumentItems tables. The “(Text)” information tells us that this field holds text data as opposed to currency data, or other numeric data.
General Layout-Designer Tips
The numerical fields in the layout have a summarization type property. This property can be changed by double clicking on the field. Most of the time, this property should be set to VALUE. If you notice that a field in the layout has a much larger value than it should, this property has probably been set to TOTAL. To correct the problem, change the summarization type property to VALUE.
When using the visual layout designer, whenever you are inserting an object, a placement rectangle with a “+” sign in the middle will appear in the print layout window. Use the mouse to move the placement rectangle to the location where you would like the object to appear, and then click once on the mouse. You can then move the object by clicking on it and dragging it to the new location. The object can be resized by clicking on it and dragging the object outline using one of its sizing handles, much like the resizing of a section.
Printing Purchase Orders (Not Available in Reports)
When printing a Purchase Order layout, and checking the “Create PO for each Vendor” option on the File -> Print/E-mail/Deliver window, please note that the totaling fields such as DocumentHeaders->Subtotal, DocumentHeaders->GrandTotal, etc. have been designed to return a zero value. This design is necessary because when QuoteWerks prints a PO for each vendor on the quote, the totaling fields would contain the totals for all the line items for all the vendors on the quote. The solution is to insert the DocumentHeaders->ExtendedCost field into the Report Footer 1 section on the Purchase Order print layout (if it is not already there). This will add up all of the extended cost values for all the line items to create your PO subtotal amount. Note, purchase orders are used by you to purchase products and services at the price that it costs you, so keep in mind that most of the numeric fields that you will want to insert into purchase order print layouts will be cost fields like DocumentItems->UnitCost, DocumentItems->ExtendedCost, etc. A common mistake is to insert a Price field which is the customer’s price for the product rather than your cost.
For more layout customization tips, see Further Layout Customization.