Define Field Properties

When marking up a document, there are two aspects of the markup you must be aware of—how the answer will appear in the final document and how the answer will appear in the HotDocs interview used to create the final document. You can define these properties in two different places—directly in the field or in properties tables at the end of the document.

This topic includes the following sections:

• Creating Properties Tables for Storing Properties
• Specifying How Answers Are Merged in the Final Document
• Specifying How Questions Appear During the Interview

Creating Properties Tables for Storing Properties

When assigning multiple properties to a variable, rather than include the properties directly in the field, you can include them in a properties table. Using a properties table lets you specify multiple properties for each of your variables without cluttering the actual text of the document.

Properties tables are Word tables that are located at the end of the document, after a special [EndDocument] marker. While you can format the look of the table any way you choose (for example, by making text in the table bold or by shading cells), the actual content of the table must be organized a specific way:

• The first row of the table must identify the variable type. (In the example below, this is Text Variables.) Nothing else should be specified in this row.
• The second row of the table lists the most common properties you assign to all your variables (for example, prompts). This row must include the Name column, but all other columns are optional and can represent the properties you assign most frequently to your variables. If there are more properties for some variables than can be displayed reasonably in the table, you can include an Additional column, where you list the additional properties. (Separate the properties in this column using a semi-colon.)
• The third and all following rows list the individual variables with their associated property values.

Properties are separated by semi-colons. Properties are identified in name/value pair combinations. For example, if you want to create a number variable, you would define the following properties:

format=9,999.00;currency=$;decimal=2

When you use variable tables, you must specify the place in the document where the document text ends and the tables begin. You do this using the [EndDocument] field marker. It appears after the last section of document text but before the first variable table.

Here is an example of an [EndDocument] marker, followed by a variable table:

[EndDocument]

TEXT VARIABLES

When you assemble the HotDocs Model using HotDocs (or when you create a HotDocs template from the HotDocs Model), HotDocs looks for variable tables and uses the information in them to create and set properties for HotDocs variables. If no tables are found, HotDocs uses the properties defined in the markup fields of the document.

See Complex Markup Example with Tables (Last Will and Testament) for an example of a HotDocs Model that uses variable tables.

Specify How Answers Are Merged in the Final Document

You can assign properties to a variable that will affect how a user’s answer will appear in the final document. For example, you can assign a format for the answer (such as uppercase or spelled out), whether the answer should break across lines of text or not, and how the field should look if the user chooses not to answer it, just to name a few.

These properties can be defined in one of two places—in the variable field (described just below) or in a properties table (described earlier).

Properties are separated by semi-colons and are identified in name/value pair combinations. For example, the following would represent a text variable and how it should be formatted in the document:

[ClientName;te;format=upper;nonbreak=yes]

Specifically, this markup field will merge the client's name in uppercase, and it will be non-breaking (meaning the name won't break across lines in the document).

When a property is assigned at the field level, it will apply to that field only. If a property is defined in a table, it will be used for all variable references. Where a property is defined both in the field and in a table, the field-level property will take precedence.

The following table describes all of the available field properties with their associated names and values. Default property values are in parentheses. When a property is not specified in a variable field, the default value is assumed. You can include as many properties as necessary, as long as you separate each property with a semi-colon.

For the full value lists and explanations see Format Answers in the Document

Specify How Questions Appear During the Interview

If you assemble the document using HotDocs, the fields you create in the document will appear as questions in a HotDocs interview where you will enter your answers. As such, you can define how the questions will be formatted during this interview.

Again, properties are separated by semi-colons. They are identified in name/value pair combinations, like this:

format=9,999.00;currency=$;decimal=2

The following table describes properties common to all variable fields. Subsequent tables then discusses variable-specific properties:

Common Field Properties

Text Fields

Number Fields

True/False Fields

Multiple Choice Fields

Computation Fields

Dialogs

Language Fields

Insert Fields

See Simple Markup Example (Contract), Simple Markup Example (Agreement), and Complex Markup Example with Tables (Last Will and Testament) for examples of how to mark up a HotDocs Model.

You can have HotDocs define default prompts and titles for fields in the HotDocs Model. See Define Settings for a HotDocs Model for details.