Creation of your dataset in JSON format

Datasets in JSON format are used to populate the templates. These are the data that will replace the {} tags in your template. The datasets are generated from Axelor models, but it is also possible to add your own tags to the JSON.

The creation of these datasets is done from the menu Template > Template settings.

It is necessary to create a setting for each business object used (Company, Address, City, etc).

This is where we ask our template to replace the tags with JSON variables. This data is entered in the template setting.

To create your template setting, click on the + button (at the top left on the grid view).

Template setting list

Here is the user interface for creating your template setting:

Setting Template

  • Name: Name of the template setting.

  • Model: This is the object in Axelor that we wish to target to retrieve its attributes, which will be used in our template print model.

  • Is default?: Allows defining our template setting as a reference.

The template setting lines represent the structure of our JSON. The list of template setting lines should ideally contain only the fields which are really used in the template. There are several ways to fill this list.

Option 1. Manually

Setting Line creation button

To add a line manually, click on '+ New'. A pop-up opens:

Adding setting line

  • Name in template: Attribute name in JSON.

  • Field: Simple or pointed database field, this is the value linked to the attribute. To fill in this field, you must respect the groovy syntax.

  • Template setting to use: In the case of relational fields, you must define a setting for the corresponding object and enter it there.

  • Selection to use: In the case of selection type fields, you must enter the name of the selection associated with the field in the domain definition.

Option 2. Fill lines

By clicking on Fill lines, all the fields are automatically added by taking the attributes of the MetaModel selected before. You must then delete those which are not used.

Fill Line Button
We discourage the use of this option because it loads all the fields instead of only the necessary ones. This can have significant impacts on performance and disk space usage. We recommend using the Automatic configuration option.

Option 3. Automatic configuration

This option allows the automatic generation of template setting configuration based on the provided document.

Let’s see how we can automatically configure the template setting for the sample template below:

template sample

  1. Open your template setting. Fill the Name and the Model.

  2. Click on Automatic configuration.

    Automatic configuration button

  3. In the popup view, upload the template file.

  4. Click on OK. And voilà, the setting is generated!

    Generated configuration

Option 4. Query line template

Query line templates allow retrieving custom data from objects that are not directly related.

Example

Use case: Fetch objects displayed by an action-view inside a panel-dashlet.

Models structure

  • BudgetDistribution (invoiceLine: InvoiceLine)

  • InvoiceLine (invoice: Invoice)

  • Invoice (id: Long)

XML configuration

<panel-dashlet name="budgetDistributionPanel" action="action.invoice.view.list.budget.distributions"/>

<action-view name="action.invoice.view.list.budget.distributions" model="com.axelor.apps.account.db.BudgetDistribution" title="Budget distributions">
    <view type="form" name="budget-distribution-form"/>
    <view type="grid" name="budget-distribution-grid"/>
    <domain>self.invoiceLine.invoice = :invoiceId</domain>
    <context name="invoiceId" expr="eval: id"/>
</action-view>

In this scenario, to display the list of BudgetDistribution entries in the Invoice form, you need to configure the query line to traverse the indirect relationship chain accordingly.

The query line configuration

Query line config

In the displayed form, you can select the action action.invoice.view.list.budget.distributions, then click on Parse action button to fill all the field automatically.

  • Name in template: The attribute name to use in the generated JSON. If the configuration is generated from an action-view, this field is automatically computed from its name, but it should be adjusted to match the structure expected in the document.

  • Query filter: The domain expression used to filter the target objects based on specific criteria.

  • Template setting to use: Refers to the unrelated object to retrieve. The generated JSON will include only the fields defined in the selected template setting.

  • Parameters: If the query filter uses dynamic parameters, they should be defined in this section.

_BudgetDistribution

We expect only the amount to be included in the generated JSON. Let’s configure the setting in consequence.

Distribution

Generated payload during print

The generated JSON contains the list of BudgetDistributions, only the amount is included.

Generated payload

Advanced tools

See Translation.

More coming soon…​