| 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. |
| 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. |