Choose Which Database Fields Appear During Assembly

By default, when you connect your database component to a database table, HotDocs automatically selects every displayable field in the table for display during assembly, even if some of the fields aren't directly linked to variables in the template. (HotDocs automatically omits fields which cannot easily be displayed, such as binary fields.) However, you can choose to display only certain fields.

Also, you can change the order of the database columns as well as the widths of the columns.

To display only selected fields

  1. Open the database component for editing. (See Edit a Database Component.) The Database Editor appears.
  2. Click the Field Map tab. The window changes to show the options for linking template variables to database fields.
  3. In the Display column, clear the check boxes next to the fields you don't want to appear during assembly. Notice the fields are removed from the list of fields in the Field display order list.
  4. Complete any of the following tasks:
To Do This
Change the order in which the columns are presented In the Field display order field, select a field name and drag it to a different location.
Make the column widths larger than the space taken by the field name Enter the number of units in the Width column. This number must be larger than the number of characters in the column name.
Make the column widths larger than the space taken by the field name Click Test. HotDocs displays the database table in the test assembly window.

If you are using a custom command, you control the order fields appear in the table using the command script—not by rearranging fields in the Field display order field. See Use a Custom Command to Retrieve Data from a Database for details.

In order for HotDocs to remember which records your users have selected during assembly, you must assign a key field. For information on doing this, see Remember Selected Records.

When specifying the column width, please note that one unit is about equal to the width of the character 5.