HotDocs Author WorkflowCreate a template Add placeholders Group variables in dialogs Create regions and rules Customize an interview Upload a template

Placing a Dialog in an Interview (ASK Instruction)

When you "place" a dialog in your template's interview, you are using the ASK instruction to tell HotDocs to place a particular dialog or variable at a specific location in the interview. You can use this instruction in the template body, or in a computation.

For best results, carefully read the list of caveats associated with using the ASK instruction to place a dialog in an interview.

Using the HotDocs Field Editor to Place a Dialog in an Interview

You can control when HotDocs presents a dialog or a variable in your template's interview by using the Place a Dialog in the Interview operation in the HotDocs Field Editor.

To place a dialog in an interview using the Field Editor

  1. Open a template.
  2. Position the cursor where you want to add a dialog for your interview.
  3. In the HotDocs Field Editor, in the Action list, click More.
  4. Under Other Operations, click Place a dialog in the interview.
  5. Either click the Dialog or variable name drop-down arrow and select an existing dialog or variable, type the name of an existing dialog or variable, or create a new dialog.
  6. (Optional) If you want to edit the selected component, click the Edit button.
  7. Click Add Field. When you do this, you are actually placing an ASK instruction in your template that tells HotDocs to place the dialog or variable at this location in the interview.

When HotDocs encounters this ASK instruction during assembly, it adds the indicated dialog to the interview. If this does not happen, review the list of caveats to see if you can resolve the issue.

Using a Computation to Place a Dialog in an Interview

When you insert an ASK instruction directly in a template, the instruction can ask only one dialog at a time. If you want to ask several dialogs in a specific order, you can group ASK instructions together by creating one computation that asks all the dialogs, and then inserting just the computation into the template.

To place a dialog in an interview using a computation

  1. Open a computation for editing.
  2. In the Tools pane of the script editor, select the Models tab.
  3. Expand the General Instructions list.
  4. Drag the ASK instruction model into the main script tab.
  5. In the Components tab, select a dialog and drag it over to the red placeholder in the ASK model. When you drop the dialog it replaces the red placeholder. For example, dropping a dialog called dialog1 makes ASK VAR,DIALOG become ASK dialog1 in the script tab.
  6. Click Save.

When HotDocs encounters this computation during assembly, it adds the selected dialog to the interview.

You can make ASK instructions conditional by surrounding them with an IF instruction.

See Also