This function works in almost exactly the same way as The DateAsNumber Function, except that it will also accommodate any time portion in the value passed to it.

The DayBetween function returns the number of days between the two dates. For example: I was born on «FormatDate(DateOfBirth,‘d MMMM yyyy’)» which means I am «floor(DaysBetween(Today(),DateOfBirth) div 365.25)» years old.

Missing or superfluous End commands When a template is run, XpressDox will check for missing and floating End commands as well as floating Else commands. Wherever possible, the error message warning about one of these situations will give some context within the document where the relevant command is, so that...

Controlling the layout of your interview in your XpressDox template   XpressDox gives quite a lot of power to template authors in controlling the layout of the interview for a template.     Controlling the layout using multiple commands: For example, the layout commands for an email address might look...

There is a requirement in some templates for the interview user to be able to check a checkbox  and have a set of check boxes all checked –  a so-called “Check All” feature. A similar requirement applies to a set of radio button lists, which must all have a value...

How will I know when to use this command? Particularly with long templates with lots of conditional logic, you can get one or both of the following situations: either the interview responsiveness is very sluggish, and/or you get an “Out of Memory” exception being thrown by the system.   What...

Please note that this has not been implemented on the web as yet. There are situations where many data elements need to be captured in a specific context on the interview, but the interview looks clumsy when they are all displayed together. The «DropDownPanel()» command enables the template author to group...

This command is used to enable the “Save Local” feature in the browser interview.

This is a consolidated list of all the commands regarding the Interview, along with a short description of each. Click on the command name for a link to a more detailed article.   Interview capture: Button Place a button on the interview and set some custom behavior using the OnExitSet...

This command is relevant in the case where the template is to be published to your own Integration Server. It can be used to enable or disable the Preview functionality during the interview process.

EndsWith tests the end of a string: «If(EndsWith(Surname,'-Smith')» «Surname» is a double-barrelled name. «SetV('FirstPart',substring(Surname,1,string-length(Surname) - 6))»«Comment(SetV(‘FirstPart’,string-before(‘-Smith’)) is equivalent)» «End()» «Name_of_Client»«If(not(EndsWith(ToLower(Name_of_Client),'s')))»'s«Else()»'«End()»

Sometimes it is necessary to compare the value of a data element to one or more fairly lengthy strings.  This can be tedious for the template author and also open to typing errors.  The Eq function is useful in this situation as the comparison can include wild card characters.  It is...

The EscapeForXML and GetValidXMLElementName functions are used in the context where the XpressDox template is needed to generate XML.  (By the way, this demonstrates the power of XpressDox in being able to produce not just Word documents, but also text and, in this case, transform XML from one format into another). «EscapeForXml(Text)»...

Using a simple text file as a data source, XpressDox provides the template author with the ability to set data elements to default values which the template user can then accept, or modify for each template run.

Templates with many data elements might result in data capture interviews being constructed by XpressDox which are intimidating to the template user. The Tab command assists the template author in laying out the data capture interview.

Although XpressDox will automatically construct a data capture interview for a template when that template is run, template authors will want to make use of the layout commands to control the layout of the interview.

Some data are only needed during the merging of a template, and are not needed to be saved in the data set file. This would normally be the case where data are included from a data source, and any subsequent use of that data would require the data to be...

Display items in a grid repeat in your XpressDox template, but exclude certain of them from the initial grid capture This command is used in conjunction with CaptureInGrid when there are too many elements inside the repeat for all of them to be displayed as a grid, but it is...

Particularly in the situation where data are included in the data set from a data source, text file or perhaps Standard Data Elements, it may be that the template author does not want the user to be able to view those data values in the interview. Such data elements can...

The style (i.e. bold, italic and/or underline) and color of a Caption or Heading can be set to enhance the usability of the XpressDox data capture interview.

Execute is used when a sequence of functions need to be executed one after the other. It is typically of assistance in the HotDocs® converter. Here is an (admittedly artificial, but useful for illustration) example: «OnExitSet(Name,Number,Value,(),Execute(SetV('X',12),IncrementV('X'),GetV('X')),,EvenWhenNotEmpty)» After the focus leaves the Name field, the Number data element will have its...

This is the command that is fundamental to ensuring that XpressDox arithmetic features apply regardless of the format of numbers specified in the Windows Control Panel or chosen by the user. A full explanation of this and related commands will be found in the Cookbook article Arithmetic in XpressDox.

It is unkind to a user to expect them to fill in the full names of a person and then to type in the initials of that person. The ExtractInitials function relieves the user of this burden.

This function can be used to test the existence of a file.   An example would be something like: «SetV('fileName',concat(Directory,'\ExtraTemplate.xdtpx'))» «If(FileExists(GetV('fileName')))» «MergeTemplate(GetV('fileName'))» «End(if exists)»   This will construct the name of a file in the XpressDox variable named ‘fileName’, and, if the file exists, issue the MergeTemplate command for it....

Note that with effect from Version 6.4.1 of XpressDox, the functionality of this command is exactly the same as for the UpdateFields command. When a template contains a Word Table of Contents (TOC), that TOC can sometimes become invalid when conditional assembly in the template causes some of the constituents...