Creating an Interview Template

You can create an interview templateA template that contains a series of interview questions designed to gather information about a person (or persons) or matter. Answers are saved in an answer source file, which can then be linked to a dialog in a template that requires the same information. Generally, interview templates can be used to create a list of possible answers so users have more options to choose from to gather common information (such as court, attorney, or client information), and then save the answers for use in assembling other documents.

If you are using an interview template to generate an answer source for a specific dialog, you may want to assign command-line options to the interview template file properties that lock answer files and save the answers to a specified answer file.

To create an interview template

  1. At the HotDocs library window, select the folder in which you want to create the interview template.
  2. Click New Template.
  3. Click the Type drop-down button and choose HotDocs Interview Template (.cmp).
  4. In the File name field type a file name for the new template. If you decide to store the template somewhere other than the default template folder (as seen in the Target folder field), you can also Browse to the new destination. HotDocs adds the correct extension to the file name based on the type of text template you selected. HotDocs displays the full path of the currently selected template location in the Target folder field.  
  5. Type a title for the interview template in the Title field (or accept the suggestion HotDocs makes). The title is what identifies the file in the library.
    1. Optionally, type a description in the Description field. Descriptions appear in the Properties tab of the library when a user has selected the template.
    2. To add an existing component file to the new template, you can select a component from the Shared component file drop-down list. If you do so, the component file  you choose is now shared between the new template and any other templates using that component file.

    3. To use the contents of an existing interview template or component file, in the Initial contents section, you can select Other File and then browse to the .cmp file you want.

  6. Click OK. The Component Manager window appears. If you haven't chosen a shared component file, the Component Manager will contain a single computation variableA type of component that performs calculations or executes other instructions within the template. Computation variable scripts are created using the HotDocs scripting language. named INTERVIEW.

Your interview templates are not required to use the Interview computation variable. If you want, you can delete this component and create a new one. After creating a new component you need to specify the name of the new interview component at the Interview tab of the Component File Properties window.)

The interview component you use must contain the script that asks the questions in the interview. If you use a shared component file and this component file does not contain an Interview component, you need to make one before HotDocs can assemble a document from the template.

  1. Select the interview component and click Edit Component.
  2. Create the variables you want answered, add them to dialogs, and then create a script that asks the dialogs you want users to see when they assemble this template.

    To edit an interview template, select it at the library and click Edit Template. Then, select the interview component and click Edit Component.

When converting interview templates from previous versions of HotDocs to HotDocs 2009-11 format, you may need to edit the Component File Properties for the component file and specify the name of the interview component you are using for the template.

You can use an existing interview template as the basis for a new interview template. To do this, select the existing template, click New Template, and enter a new file name for the template (but leave the information in the Other file field as is).