Template elements in the Palette view

This section briefly describes the elements you can use when building a template.
Table 1. Template elements
Element Description Can contain other elements Can contain content values and expressions

Paragraph icon Paragraph

Use to group a section of elements. Adds a carriage return around its child elements in the output.

Yes

No

Container icon Container

Use to group a section of elements. Cannot be styled and does not affect the formatting of the output.

When used inside other elements, the child elements available to use within the container might be limited. For example:
  • Inside rows, containers can host cells only
  • Inside lists, containers can host list-detail elements only

Yes

No

Iteration icon Iteration

Put a section of content into an Iteration element to allow the section to be duplicated in other locations in your template. Only available in version 2 templates.

Yes

No

Text icon Text

The content renders with the same, specified formatting.

No

Yes

Styled text icon Styled text

A block of text that can have unique formatting on individual words. Use bold, italic, underline, strikeout, or color formatting on a selection of words within the element. The text is static.

No

Yes

Image icon Image

Displays a .gif, .png, .jpg, emf, or wmf image in the output. The report designer can specify the image path in the template or the report generator can specify the path at run time.

No

Yes

Template comment icon Template comment

Creates comments that are only visible in the template and not in the output. Only available in version 2 templates.

No

Yes

JavaScript code icon JavaScript code

Creates block of code within the template. Only available in version 2 templates.

No

Yes

Table icon Table

Creates a table in the output. A table can contain rows or container elements.

Yes

No

Row icon Row

Creates a row in the current table.

Yes

No

Cell icon Cell

Creates a cell in the current row of the current table.

Yes

No

List icon List

Creates a bulleted or numeric list in the output.

Yes

No

List item icon List detail

Creates a list item in the current list in the output.

Yes

No

Data Source configuration icon Data source configuration

See Adding a data source configuration element.

No

No

Include file icon Include file

Includes the specified file in the output as an INCLUDETEXT field.

  • Included file can have a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf extension.
  • For Microsoft Word output, you must update all fields with the macro to see the included file.
  • For Legacy PDF, HTML, and XSL-FO output, the included file is a hyperlink to the document.

No

Yes

Footnote icon Footnote

Creates a footnote in the current output page. The text of the footnote is the content of the footnote element. Supported for Microsoft Word output only.

No

Yes

Region icon Region

Regions are static elements that allow you to alter the output flow by redirecting the content of other elements or groups of elements. If an element has the target region property specified with the name of a region element, its content renders in the specified region instead of in its position in the document.

No

No

Bookmark icon Bookmark

Defines a bookmark in the document. The name of the generated bookmark is the content for the bookmark. When generating the documents, Rational® Publishing Engine generates a unique name for each bookmark. The name is based on the name provided at design time and a unique identifier generated at run time.

No

Yes

Comment icon Comment

Adds a comment to the output. The form and shape of the output comment is specific to the output format.

Supported for Microsoft Word and PDF.

No

Yes

Document property icon Document property

Only available in version 2 templates.

No

Yes

Page Break icon Page Break

Adds a page break to the output.

No

No

Section Break icon Section Break

Adds a section break to the output.

No

No

Document Break icon Document Break

Adds a document break to the output.

No

No

Table of Contents icon Table of Contents

Adds a table of contents to the output.

No

No

Table of Figures icon Table of Figures

Adds a table of figures to the output. You must add Figure Captions to the document template for this table to have the captions listed above the table.

Supported for Microsoft Word output only.

You must update all fields in the Microsoft Word document in order to see and be able to update the value of the field.

No

No

Table of Tables icon Table of Tables

Adds a table of tables to the output. You must add Table Captions in your document template to generate a table of tables in the output.

Supported for Microsoft Word output only.

You must update all fields in the Microsoft Word document to see and be able to update the value of the field.

No

No

Field icon Field

Adds a generic Microsoft Word field element. You can type any valid Microsoft Word code in the field code property.

Supported for Microsoft Word output only.

You must update all fields in the Microsoft Word document to see and be able to update the value of the field.

No

No

Page Number icon Page Number

Adds a page number in the output. Supported in Microsoft Word and PDF output only.

No

No

Total Pages Number icon Total Pages Number

Adds the total number of pages in the output. Supported for Microsoft Word and PDF output only.

No

No

Table Caption icon Table Caption

Adds a table caption. While you cannot specify dynamic content into a table caption, any subsequent text element is concatenated to it.

Supported for Microsoft Word and PDF outputs.

You must update all fields in the Microsoft Word document to see and be able to update the value of the field.

No

Yes

Figure Caption icon Figure Caption

Adds a figure caption. While you cannot specify dynamic content in a figure caption, any subsequent text element is concatenated to it.

Supported for Microsoft Word and PDF outputs.

You must update all fields in the Microsoft Word document to see and be able to update the value of the field.

No

Yes


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