You can display data from a Slate-hosted application or form response in the Reader with a custom PDF.

They can also be used to display the data from an application form widget like the address, reference, or school widget.

Custom PDFs can be included in the Applicant Download or Admin PDF Download or when exporting documents using a Configurable Joins Document Export Query.

Uploading a custom PDF to Slate

1. In a program like Word, design and save your file as a PDF. This PDF might include a letterhead, labels for fields you plan to include, and enough space to display the data.

2. Go to Database → Files.

3. Select Upload File.

   • Path: Enter a path and name for the PDF.

     • PDFs that will display in the Reader should be saved within the /apply/ directory.

     • For example: /apply/dashboard.pdf

     • If a file with the same path and file name already exists, the uploaded file will replace the existing file.

   • File: Upload the PDF.

4. Select the uploaded file - /apply/dashboard.pdf.

5. Select PDF Editor.

   • Preview: Select a test applicant that has data in the desired fields that is to be mapped. These data points will show in the Selector menu when choosing a merge field.

   • Show/Hide: Toggle between showing or hiding the merge fields on the PDF.

   • Swap Background: Change the background (PDF) without losing the merge fields that have already been added.

   • Field options:

     • Field Types: Drag and drop Text, Multiline, or Checkboxes from the right hand palette to add merge fields to the PDF.

     • Selector: Use the Selector setting to choose appropriate merge fields. If entering a record in the Preview setting above, this menu will display data from that record.

     • Field Name: Use Field Name to configure custom merge fields.

Adding data to a custom PDF

• To ensure that your fields are level on the custom PDF, use the snap grid for placing field data boxes.

• When mapping fields to the PDF, create fields for each school, course, activity, or relationship that you may potentially collect from a given applicant. For example, if an applicant can enter up to five courses from the application widget, fields must be created for each of those five courses on the Custom PDF.

• In some cases, a Reader Portal or Data Container may also be used for this purpose to dynamically display multiples of items, where you would not necessarily know how many there are per applicant.

Viewing custom PDFs in the Reader

Viewing a Slate-hosted application scoped page or application form widget

1. Go to Database → Workflows.

2. Create with the Stream Type = Record Data

3. Type = Application/Dashboard

4. Template = the name of your custom .pdf file previously uploaded

   

Displaying mapped system field data

Custom PDFs can display information from the Slate-Hosted Application and from Form Responses depending on how the data was collected.

If the information is mapped to system fields, which would be the recommended process for all questions in the Slate-Hosted application, start by searching for the field from the dropdown tool within the Custom PDF.

You can also search for the field name in Database → Merge Fields. If the the merge field and its corresponding value appear, you can add that field directly to the Custom PDF.

If the data does not appear, but is a mapped system field, follow steps to add the field to the Custom PDF using a Merge query.

Merge query for custom PDFs

• For custom PDFs, merge queries must start on the Configurable Joins Application base.

• Merge queries are only needed when the data has been mapped to system fields.

Displaying form response data with export keys

In the following use case for Reference PDF and Form Response PDF, to display the data on the Custom PDF, you would not use a merge query as you are not retrieving data from a mapped system field. This scenario is using fields with export keys on the form only.

Reference PDF

For reference page custom PDFs, use the following syntax to create the fields on the custom pdf that return data appropriate to each individual reference submission rather than reference 1, reference 2: reference_{reference-scoped field ID}. *This syntax is presuming that the form fields are not mapped to system fields and only contain export keys. If the form response data you are trying to display on the custom PDF is mapped to system fields, refer to the process above for displaying mapped system field data instead and use the merge query.

Examples:

• reference_first

• reference_last

• reference_email

• reference_strength_of_recommendation, where strength_of_recommendation is a custom reference-scoped field ID

Form response PDF

For form response custom PDFs, use the following syntax to create fields on the custom pdf: form_{export key}.  *This syntax is presuming that the form fields are not mapped to system fields and only contain export keys. If the form response data you are trying to display on the custom PDF is mapped to system fields, refer to the process above for displaying mapped system field data instead and use the merge query.

Examples:

• form_user

• form_timestamp

• form_review_rating: where review_rating is a form export key