Template editor (text)

The Template editor (text) function is found under System>Utilities>Administration utilities and provides an inbuilt way to edit RefTracker text files and text templates, with all the capabilities of a full design mode HTML editor.  Use this screen in the same way that you use the other Template editor screens.

Editing text templates

All of the text templates can include any HTML features, so the files are presented for editing in HTML design mode providing easy application of HTML functions using a range of buttons. The buttons all have tooltips explaining their function such as can be seen below with the “Foreground colour” button allowing colours to be applied to text. Click here for more information about using this HTML editor.

Should you prefer, you can use traditional HTML coding by clicking on “HTML” in the lower bar. The area below the lower bar will display HTML depth indicators and error messages. The system will attempt to automatically correct bad HTML programming. 

The text templates related to the 4.x parameters

Many of the text templates relate to the 4.x parameters so there are links to the 4) Text parameters screen in the (info) text of this screen and in the top right corner via the “Text parameters” link.  Editing these templates will change what displays where each of these templates are used.  The 4.x parameters also allow you to decide whether these pieces of text will display in RefTracker (stop them from displaying).

The following text files related to the 4.x parameters do not include any RefTracker programming.

– disclaimer.htm  –  The disclaimer text included at the bottom of every client email, if parameter 4.1 is set to Yes
– intro.htm  –  The disclaimer text included at the bottom of every client email, if parameter 4.1 is set to Yes
– privacy.htm  –  The “Privacy policy” text accessible from the bottom of every client interface page, if parameter 4.15 is set to Yes
– reft001.htm  –  The “About our service” text accessible from the client interface Home page, if parameter 4.3 is set to Yes
– reft009.htm  –  The “Hints and tips” text accessible from the client interface Home page, if parameter 4.5 is set to Yes
– reft408.htm  –  The “Service guidelines” text accessible form the staff Home page, if parameter 4.7 is set to Yes
– reft409.htm  –  The “Staff hints and tips” text accessible from the staff Home page, if parameter 4.9 is set to Yes
– reft540.htm  –  The “DeskStats hints and tips” text included in the DeskStats page, if parameter 4.21 is set to Yes
– whiteboard.htm  –  The whiteboard text included at the bottom client interface Home page, if parameter 4.11 is set to Yes

Other text templates

There are also some important page formatting templates that can be edited using the Text editor page – as follows.  You need to use the HTML editing option when editing these templates, so please do not hesitate to ask your RefTracker support representative to make the changes for you:

The question summary

In the Open questions screens and other search results showing open questions, you can determine what information is displayed about both the Question and the Client (see below for details about editing the client contact summary). 

Customising the Question description provides enormous flexibility for customers who want more information about each question to display in the Open questions screens.
Helpfully, the same customizable summary is used at the top of most of the question Answering screens.
Importantly, the standard question summary includes the latest client and staff update note/s, to give a fuller “at a glance” picture of what has most recently transpired in relation to this question.  Showing these action notes is especially important if an update from the client has changed the focus of the question. 
Another way that a change in the focus of a question can be presented is for the operator to add a note to the beginning of the Question text using the Change screen. 

How to amend what appears as your question summary.
There are four templates that control the information displayed about the Question in the Search results screens and at the top of the question answering screens. 
questionActive.htm
questionConcluded.htm
questionKB.htm
questionDetail.htm

They can be edited at System>Utilities>Administration utilities>Template editor (text).

The questionDetail template defines the information to be displayed when the [. . .] symbol after the Question summary is clicked.

You can edit it at System>Utilities>Administration utilities>Template editor (text).  Please use the HTML edit mode.  You can add and other fields that you wish to have display here, by copying an existing entry from the $rvb$ tag to the $rve$ tag, inserting it in the template, and changing the variable used to that of the field you want to add.  Ask your Altarama support representative for assistance should you need it.


The questionActive template defines the fields to be displayed as the question summary in the search results screen when displaying any open questions, and at the top of most of the question Answering screens. 
Importantly the standard display includes the latest update correspondence to or from the client, and to or from third parties.  If a question has been reopened, only the correspondence since the question has been reopened will show (so you can close the question and reopen it to get rid of actions displaying here that you no longer want to show – but only the latest correspondence shows so their should be no need to do this).

The standard summary provided by the QuestionActive template has four parts:

– A basic question summary including the Subject line, Question text, the ItemSummary and any question attachments

– A summary of any currently active reminder, or reminder and hold, together with an option to clear that reminder.

– The latest update to or from the client or third party, if there has been one since the question was opened or reopened (as provided by the {note_client_primary} variable).  This variable shows the last note from the ones provided for by the 80.35 parameter), and any associated response note if there has been any {note_client_secondary}.  This means that if the Update is a Query to client, and there has been a corresponding response through the client interface, both the query and its response will show.

– The latest Partial response (as provided by {note_internal}, with the actions that will be considered for this variable set by parameter 80.36), should a partial answer or Redirect to third party have been provided since the question was opened or reopened.

You can amend this template to include any other information that you want to display about your questions in the Open questions screen, for example you might want to add Request type or Matter number.  You can include any variables from any of the Question tables plus others (click here for details). Most commonly extra information you want to display would be inserted at the red arrow, but it could also be inserted above the ItemSummary.
Parameter 3.5 controls how many lines of Question text will display in this summary.
Parameter 3.9 controls how many lines of text for the latest Note/s, will display in this summary.
Parameters 80.35 and .36 determine which Notes will be included, but need an Altarama support person to change them if this is necessary.

An example of such a change is insertion of the Total time used to date, that many customers use to limit the amount of effort spent on any request. Here’s the code that was added to the Questionactive template to achieve that:

And here’s what this change looks like:


The questionConcluded template defines the fields to be displayed as the question summary in the search results screen when displaying closed questions.
The standard template includes the Subject line, Question text, Question attachments, ItemSummary, Answer text, Answer attachments, any associated Categories, and a summary of the status of the closed or in review question and details of its inclusion in the KB if applicable as provided by the {question_summarystatus} variable.

The questionKB template defines the fields to be displayed as the question summary in the search results screen when displaying closed questions that are in the KB.
The standard template includes the Subject line, Question text, Question attachments, ItemSummary, Answer text, Answer attachments, any links to associated requests or sub tasks, any associated Categories, and a summary of the status of the closed or in review question and details of its inclusion in the KB if applicable as provided by the {question_summarystatus} variable.  The example above shows the additional information provided for question in the KB – who added it to the KB, when it was added, and when it is due for review.

Importantly, you can use font statements in any of these templates to make information of importance to you, stand out in the Search results screens.
If you need help with editing these templates please ask you RefTracker support representative.

The client contact summary

– contactSummary: Controls the fields that will be used to summarise the client contact information as shown on initial display of screens like the Open questions screen (if allowed by parameter 3.1) and the Answer screen. Use this file to change the order of display, add punctuation, or add additional fields that are key to being able to service the client’s request (perhaps the client’s Organisation name or Department).   This is an example of the Client contact details summary provided by the distribution version of this template:

When editing this template ALWAYS use HTML edit mode, not the default Design mode.  You can add code that includes any of the variables in the Data Dictionary Client table. 

In addition to the variables in the client table, there are a number of calculated variables that you can use:

    client_fulladdress = combination of address fields {Client_Address1} {Client_Address2}{Client_City}{Client_State}{Client_ZipCode}

    client_fullname = combination of {Honorific} {Client_Name} {Client_Name2}

    client_primarycontact = contact field identified as primary based on current Response method e.g. client_email when Response method is Email

Fields that do not have associated images {image_. . . } are:

    Honorific, Region, Country and any user defined fields.

– contactDetails: Controls the fields that will display when the  [. . .] link after the Contact Summary display is clicked.   The more fields you include here, the less likely it is that your staff will have to go to the Details tab to find client contact information.  The same comments about fields and calculated variables and using HTML mode for editing apply to this template, as are described above for the Contact Summary file above.  Here is an example of the Detailed display provided by the standard layout of this template – the standard layout will show all the major client contact fields if data has been collected for them.  You should only have to edit this file if you are relying on data collected into custom client data fields.  At the end of the template you will find some examples of how to add other fields, that you can copy and paste to simplify the process.

– clientSearchResults:  Controls the fields that are returned by the search in the client interface FAQ and KB search pages (the reft290 page), and how the results for each question returned by the search are laid out on the page.  The standard layout looks like this:

When editing this template ALWAYS use HTML edit mode, not the default Design mode. 

The Question and Answer images are provided in the RefTracker include/images/local directory, so you can change them, or use images from any other internet accessible location.

You can add code that includes variables from any of the Data Dictionary tables, but you will primarily want to include fields from the Question table. 

In addition to the variables in the Question table, there are a number of calculated variables that you can use:

{question_request} identifies the type of request
{question_text} identifies the question that was asked
{question_answer} identifies the answer that was then provided
if there were any attachments as a part of this result, they’ll be displayed using the {answerAttachments} variable
{question_era} displays how long ago the question was originally added to the FAQ/KB in a manner designed to ensure you KB/FAQ entries never look out of date.  Possible values are: This month, Last month, 2 months ago – 11 months ago, 1 year ago, More than 1 year ago

Other templates you can edit here include:

– footerClient: Controls the layout of the footer used by the RefTracker client interface pages.
– footerMobile: Controls the layout of the footer used by the RefTracker client interface pages when  used on a mobile phone.
– footerStaff: Controls the layout of the footer used by the RefTracker staff pages.
– headerClient: Controls the layout of the header used by the RefTracker client interface pages.
– headerMobile: Controls the layout of the header used by the RefTracker client interface pages when used on a mobile phone.
– headerStaff: Controls the layout of the header used by the RefTracker staff pages.

A range of features are provided that allow the staff and client interface headers and footers to be customised to meet your specific needs.  They include:

  • Customisable headers and footers for the staff and client interface pages with variables for inclusion of RefTracker components in your custom header and footer designs.
  • Specific customisable header and footer that is automatically used when the client pages are presented on a mobile phone.
  • Separate headers and footers for each available language translation.
  • Flexible options for hiding and displaying the header and footer in the client interface.
  • The ability to define the header and footer to be used through URL parameters allowing one RefTracker system to use multiple headers and footers (different headers for different departments, for example).
  • A way to include a stylesheet between the <head></head> tags.

For more details about utilising all of these features to create custom header and footer files see the section called Header, footer and colour customisation for the client interface.

– Error files

There are also templates that allow you to control the text that appears when an untrapped error occurs in RefTracker.  These files use your Organisation’s contact details provided in the 1.x parameters

1.10  {Parm_ContactPhone}
1.11  {Parm_ContactEmail}
1.12  {Parm_ContactURL}

The files controlling untrapped errors have indicative names like:
clientProcessingProblem.htm
clientUnexpectedError.htm
system404Error.htm
systemCriticalError.htm
systemUnavailable.htm

– qqform

This template controls the layout of the RefTracker widget.  Click here for more information about using this file and the RefTracker widget.

– StaffWelcome

This template controls the text provided in the body of the refm990 email template used when staff are emailed to advise them of their new RefTracker signon.  You might want to change this email to include custom information about what staff need to know when they first start using RefTracker.

Exercise

When you have finished investigating the Text file editing functions provided, click on the link back to the Utilities menu and then click on Web page editor.

Default text as the image name for any new images