Introduction: Link Templates to a Database

Each time you use a text or form template to assemble a document, HotDocs prompts you for the information the template requires. Once you have answered the questions, HotDocs merges your answers and carries out your instructions to produce the finished, assembled document.

There are three ways to provide HotDocs with the information it needs during document assembly. You can use any (or a combination) of these methods:

1. Enter the information manually.
2. Retrieve the information from an answer file (or answer source, such as an Outlook Contacts list).
3. Retrieve the information from a database using a database component.

The last option, which requires you to create a database component, allows you to use answers from a database during document assembly. That way, information from a company data store or other database-driven program, such as some case managers, can also be used to assemble a HotDocs document.

Before you can retrieve answers from a database, you must first set up a connection to your database from within a HotDocs template. Then, once the connection is specified, you can link variables in your template to fields in a database table. Finally, you can specify several options that control the scope of the records from which the user chooses and how this data appears to them during the interview.

For a more technical explanation of how database components works, see Understand Database Connectivity.