Creating OpenOffice templates

In order to make a relation between the template form field and the property group, you have to name them following a naming convention: replace ":" and "." by "_". Here you can see the matching between both fields:

PROPERTY GROUP NAME	TEMPLATE FIELD NAME
okp:tpl.name	okp_tpl_name
okp:tpl.bird_date	okp_tpl_bird_date
okp:tpl.language	okp_tpl_language

To create a template in OpenOffice.org go to View > Toolbars > Form Controls. The a new dialog will appear and you will be able to add form elements to the document. This dialog contains form stuff such as Labels, Text Boxes, Check Boxes, etc.

A field that will be replaced with the value of a variable passed can be specified using the standard FreeMarker expression notation by typing the variable name into the document as follows:

 Hi ${name}!

However, mixing processing instructions and normal text into the document may become confusing and clutter the layout. So JODReports provides an alternative way of inserting fields. You can insert a visual field in OpenOffice.org Writer from the menu Insert / Fields / Other... (or just press Ctrl+F2), then click on the Functions tab and select Input field. Change the field Reference to JOOScript and in the following field Content enter the variable name (e.g. "$name"). This field will typically be displayed by Writer as a grayed rectangle with the variable name, while moving the mouse over it will reveal the field reference.

This is the OpenOffice.org document in this sample: File:Tpl.odt.

Read about OpenOffice.org templates at JODReports.