When designing a template, start by manually typing in Word what the finished document should look like, then work out what substitution codes need to be used and in which position.
If a series of substitution codes on one line (or cell) in the template wraps to the next line, don’t worry! On output, the substituted values will not wrap. (Unless the length of the substituted text exceeds the line length).
It is easy to experiment with the setting up of messages and then outputting them to a document to view the results. Remember, that a message is a type of report based on the data which exists in the system, so no data corruption is going to arise through experimentation.
Substituted text will inherit the formatting of the substitution codes - i.e., if the code is in bold text, the substituted text will be in bold text.
Substitution codes can be entered in UPPER case or lower case.
It’s easier to define a message template in Word with Codes turned on. This enables formatting codes such as carriage return/line feeds tabs etc. to be seen.
Messages can be created with more than one language code—i.e., the same message code is used, but with separate language codes. This means that (e.g.) an Itinerary Message could be set up in ENnglish, SPanish, ITalian, etc. The Itinerary messages available to send would show the message code and the correct language (provided the language code is assigned to the Agent) will be selected on message output.
When Itinerary messages (or any Messages using Itinerary or Note text) are created, there is no hard and fast rule as to where the text should be taken from. There are a number of places where this can be stored—as a Product Note category; a Product Supplier Note category; a Supplier Note or as Itinerary Text attached to a service. The critical issue is to make sure that the text repository is determined (in consultation with Tourplan Support if necessary) to ensure that the correct text is available for all services, and that re-entering of text in multiple locations is not required.
We suggest messaging templates are configured to include a 'section' per service type.