Variable Coupons

[RSloan]

I am using FusionPro Server 7.2

 

We have a job with 10 unique coupons on one sheet. Some of these coupons use variable data, so I have to create them within variable text frames. The problem is, depending on certain field properties, each record can have a different selection of coupons.

 

I am wondering if there is a way to create a selection of formatted variable text boxes from which I could pull the appropriate coupons based on the properties of each record using a set of rules.

 

If anyone has encountered a similar scenario, I would appreciate any suggestions to solve the problem.

 

Thanks!

[DSweet]

RSloan,

 

Yes there is a "fairly simple" way of doing this. In FusionPro it was called a "Template", but they have renamed it as "Repeatable Template". What it is is a separate page of your original document template and it is defined the way that you want it to look. You can send variables to it and it returns a fully laid out graphic item (a card, a page , a coupon, etc...) and you place this item within a text box. If you had any coding background think of the overall FusionPro template as your "main program" and this repeatable template as a "sub-routine" that you can call as many times as you need from anywhere within your main program and depending on the parameters you send for each call this sub-routine can return a different value.

 

I had a project where I needed to do insurance cards for a company. These cards were to be placed on a carrier but they could be any variety of 7 different cards based on the addressee's information and insurance plan.

 

I created my main output page as a 8.5x11 full page with a text box for the insurance card. Then I created 7 new repeatable template pages (1 for each card used since they all had different layouts on the card), and then used a text rule to call the correct template page and pass the necessary variables to it. It was a bit complicated to begin with but after the first two cards the rest was pretty simple.

 

Hope this gives you a nudge in the right direction.

.

[RSloan]

Thanks DSweet! That is certainly helpful. I started reading up on templates in the user guide after I posted this question, so it is good to know I was looking in the right direction.

 

I am trying to create a simple text rule to call a sample template, but the example in the manual is not working for me. If there is any chance you could post a portion from your text rule, that would be very helpful.

[DSweet]

RSloan,

 

I can do you one better. If you can send me your e-mail I will send you the zip file of the project. It is a dead project now since the customer dropped us as of the end of last year and the data file I'll be sending you doesn't contain any actual patient data. I would post the zip file here for all to use but the file is nearly 10MB and that is way beyond the limit for this site.

[RSloan]

Awesome, I sent it to your message box!