What are the differences between desktop and browser-based interviews?

When you use HotDocs Cloud Services to assemble a document, it displays a HotDocs interview in your Web browser. This interview is very similar in appearance and function to the interview displayed when using desktop versions of HotDocs. There are some fundamental differences between the two versions of HotDocs, however. These differences limit the features you can implement or change the way features function between the two versions.

Features Not Allowed in HotDocs Server or Cloud Services Templates

The following features are not compatible with HotDocs Server. Using any one of these features will prevent a template from being assembled using HotDocs Server or Cloud Services. (An error message is displayed when you try to test the template in a browser or publish it for use with HotDocs Server.) In some cases, there are simple ways of accomplishing the same task without using the feature, however.

Feature	Description
Clauses and clause libraries	Although clauses and clause libraries are not supported in HotDocs Server, you can use inserted templates to achieve similar results. For example, you can use the answer for a True/False variable to determine when to insert a template into the assembled document.
INSERT instructions used in Interview Templates	HotDocs Server cannot process INSERT instructions in Interview Templates.
LANGUAGE instructions used in expressions	LANGUAGE instructions are not allowed when used as part of an expression. However, you can merge the instruction directly in the template.
Personal Information variables	Personal Information variables require access to the Current User key of the Windows registry. Since HotDocs Server cannot access the user's registry, this feature is not allowed.
ANSWER FILE NAME variables	The ANSWER FILE NAME variable is used to merge the name of the answer file used in the assembled document. Because of the differences in the way server-based versions of HotDocs work with answer files, this is not allowed.
Database components	Database components created using HotDocs Developer cannot be used in HotDocs Server templates deployed to HotDocs Server or Cloud Services.
PLAY "MACRO" instructions	This instruction plays a word processor macro after the document is assembled and either sent to the word processor, printed, or saved. Playing a macro requires access to a word processor, and since HotDocs Server assembles documents outside of the word processor, it cannot play macros.
Application link dialog elements and EXECUTE instructions	These instructions are used to start other applications on the user's computer. However, they are not allowed in HotDocs Server templates.
Automatic Paragraph Numbering	In JavaScript and Silverlight interviews, you cannot use PN numbering (e.g., «PN1». What is your name?) to automatically number the prompts. You can still use PN numbering in the text of the template itself.
Bookmarks	Bookmarks that have been inserted into a document by Word or WordPerfect cannot be used with HotDocs server.

Features That Work Differently in HotDocs Server or Cloud Services Interviews

The following features are allowed in all templates, but they work differently in desktop and browser-based interviews. For example, the end result may be the same, but the different user interfaces require changes to the implementation of some features. There are also some features that are ignored when they are used in a browser-based interview. Unlike the features not supported in HotDocs Server templates, these features do not cause any errors.

Feature	Description
Answer sources	In desktop HotDocs, you can specify an answer source (a list of answers from which a user can select one) for a dialog. Users open the list when answering a question in a dialog and pick an existing answer, instead of entering one manually. However, when presenting interviews in a web browser, only "CURRENT ANSWER FILE" answer sources are supported; others are ignored (the Select button does not appear on the dialog).
Automatically selecting a Multiple Choice option when the variable is unanswered	In HotDocs Developer, at the Multiple Choice Variable Editor, you can click the Options tab and specify which option should be automatically selected if the variable is unanswered when displayed. Although these "default" options are ignored in browser-based interviews, you can still achieve the same results by using the DEFAULT instruction in your template.
Text patterns	Text patterns are supported in both desktop and browser-based interviews, but the way answers are formatted as they are entered during the interview is slightly different in each version.
Example formats	HotDocs fields embedded in variable prompts, dialog element text, resource text, etc., within browser interviews, do not yet support the full range of format examples supported by desktop HotDocs. If a format example is encountered that is not recognized, the variable's answer will be merged using a reasonable default format.
Rows to display	If you alter the amount of spreadsheet Rows to display in the interview, at the Dialog Editor, the change will not be carried over to the browser-based interview after publishing.
Web link dialog elements	You can use Web link dialog element to add a button to a dialog that links to a database. However, this works only in browser-based interviews. Web links that launch such databases do not appear in desktop interviews.
Image dialog elements	The following restrictions apply to images displayed in dialogs: .JPG and .PNG images are supported in all browser-based interviews. In addition, JavaScript interviews allow .GIF images. Browser interviews do not support .BMP images. Some rare PNG files (gray scale and 64-bit true color) may not be supported in Silverlight interviews.
Resources for variables and dialogs	Browser-based interviews only support Plain Text and URL resources. All other resource types (HTML Help, Windows Help, Folio Infobase, Custom Program) are ignored. (No resource is displayed for the dialog or variable.) In addition, browser-based interviews display all URL resources as hyperlinks that open up separate windows; the actual Web page does not appear in the resource pane. Interviews intended to be displayed on an Ipad should note that when the resource pane is activated the on-screen keyboard will be closed.
End of Interview dialog	HotDocs browser-based interviews do not include an End of Interview dialog. Selecting Hide End of Interview dialog at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab) has no effect on a browser-based interview.
Question and Answer summaries	Selecting Use variable names in summaries at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab) has no effect on a browser-based interview. (Browser-based interviews do not have an option for creating Question summaries, and Answer summaries always use variable prompts.)
"TypeHere" bookmarks	Since HotDocs Server and Cloud Services do not send assembled documents to the word processor, selecting Move to the "TypeHere" bookmark at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab) is not applicable.
Prevent users from using an answer file to assemble a document	Since answer file selection and processing is handled by your host application, the Do not use answer files option at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab) does not affect browser-based interviews.
Max WHILE iterations	HotDocs Server and Cloud Services do not honor the Maximum WHILE iterations value specified at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab). (You should be careful not to create an infinite WHILE loop in your templates.)
Max processing stack depth	HotDocs Server and Cloud Services do not honor the Maximum processing stack depth value specified at the Component File Properties dialog box (Assembly tab). (You should be careful to avoid infinitely recursing (processing) a computation.)
Accelerator keys in variable prompts	In desktop interviews, you can make a character in a variable prompt an accelerator key by typing an ampersand (&) character immediately before the letter you want as an accelerator. Browser-based interviews correctly remove the ampersand when the prompt is displayed in the interview, but does not make the following character an accelerator key.
ASCEND, DESCEND, and FILTER instructions	The ASCEND, DESCEND, and FILTER instructions, which are used for sorting and filtering repeated dialogs, are ignored in browser-based interviews. They can be used to sort answers in the assembled document, but not to display a sorted or filtered list of answers in the interview.
SUM( COMPUTATION_VAR ) expression	Using the SUM( COMPUTATION_VAR) expression to display information during the interview is not supported. You can use this expression as part of the text in the assembled document, but not in a dialog script or dialog element.
Dot Codes	The following dot codes are not supported in Silverlight interviews: «.tc»: Tab character dot codes are ignored. «.oh»: An optional hyphen is treated like a normal hyphen. «.pb» and «.pm»: Page break and paragraph mark dot codes are both treated like line breaks. «.w "URL"»/«.we»: New line characters, strike-through, and underline formatting is ignored within the text of a Web link.
Automatic Prompt Alignment	In Silverlight interviews, automatic prompt alignment works differently than it does in JavaScript or desktop interviews.
ASK NONE script in Interview computations	As well as not being asked in the interview, variables that have been included in the ASK NONE script in desktop HotDocs will be marked as having already been asked so any subsequent attempts to ASK them in the interview script will not work. This is not the case in browser interviews where ASK NONE will allow these variables to be asked again later in the interview script.
SPAN Instructions	When HotDocs assembles a template which contains a SPAN instruction, it checks the answer file to see if it contains an answer for that SPAN component. If there is an answer, the text within the SPAN instruction is replaced by the text in the answer file. This works whether you are assembling a document on the desktop or from a browser-based interview. The difference, however, is that desktop interviews provide an interface at the Document Preview tab where you can edit the text within a SPAN instruction. In browser-based interviews, there is no such user interface for editing SPAN text, which puts the usefulness of SPAN instructions into question in this case.