Configuring Helper Folders in XpressDox

In XpressDox any number of Helper Folders can be configured.

A typical example of a folder for which a shortcut is defined would be one in which included templates are used. In this way these standard templates (e.g. letterheads) can be kept separately to the templates that use them.

a. Alias. It would be possible to specify the full file path (absolute file paths are acceptable only when used on the Desktop; relative file paths are required when used on the Cloud because the Cloud does not know about your c drive). In a command such as IncludeTemplate, you wouldn’t want to specify the full absolute file path such as «IncludeTemplate(C:\Documents and Settings\Dev\My Documents\XpressDox\Standard\LetterHead)» or even the relative file path «IncludeTemplate(.\XpressDox\Standard\LetterHead)» every time.

The file paths for these commands can become very long, and prone to typing mistakes, and so the concept of the Alias was introduced.

In a case like this, the Helper Folder’s alias would be something like ‘standard’. A template in this folder would be referenced as in the following example: «IncludeTemplate(standard:LetterHead)»

Note that the template file name does not need an extension, the XpressDox extension ‘.xdtpx’ will be used by default.

  b. Description of the folder. A free format description can be entered for reference sake so that in the case where someone has configured a number of Helper Folders, they can be reminded of what each particular one is for.

c. Allow User Home configuration to override. When a template is from a folder, the list of helper folders configured for that template folder is joined to the list of helper folders in the user’s Home configuration.

If two helper folders from these two lists have the same alias, then by default the helper folder from the template configuration takes precedence over the same-named helper folder in the User Configuration, unless the ‘Allow User Home configuration …’ check box is checked, in which case the User Home configuration helper folder is allowed to take precedence.