(Example) Create a Word Document and PDF File with Data from an App

This example shows how to configure the Microsoft Word activity to update mail merge fields in a Microsoft Word document with data from an eForm and NX entity. The Microsoft Word activity then creates a PDF file from the updated Word document.

Background and Setup

Result

This example shows how to add and configure the Microsoft Word activity in Sales Invoice app to update mail merge fields in a Microsoft Word document with data from an eForm and create a PDF file from the updated Word document.

When you add the Sales Invoice app from the App Store to the App Builder, and open the process, it looks like this:

Sales Invoice Process Model Preview
When you complete this example procedure, the finished process looks like this:

Sales Invoice Process Model Final
In this process, users enter data in the Sales Invoice Request eForm.

Microsoft Word Template
When you create the Microsoft Word file, it looks like this:

Microsoft Word Template
When the process completes, a PDF file is created by the Microsoft Word activity and stored in Google Drive. The PDF file looks like this:

Sales Invoive Finance Manager Approval eForm

Prerequisites

  • This example uses the Sales Invoice app from the AgilePoint NX App Store.

    For more information, refer to How to Get the App

  • Create an access token for Google Drive. In this example, the access token name is Word Template Location.

    For more information, refer to Access Token for Google Drive.

  • You must have Google account.
  • Upload your Microsoft Word file — Sales Invoice.docx in this example — to the Google Drive folder you want to use for your app.

Good to Know

  • The Sales Invoice app is a process-based app that creates an invoice for a sale.

    For the use case in this example, once the invoice information is entered in the eForm and approved, the form data is used to update mail merge fields in a formatted Microsoft Word document. The updated Word document is saved as a PDF file to Google Drive using a Microsoft Word activity.

Step 1: Create Mail Merge Fields in Microsoft Word

First, create and configure mail merge fields in the Microsoft Word file.

In this example, the mail merge fields are associated with specified fields from the Sales Invoice Request eForm.


Sales Invoice Request eForm

How to Start

  1. In Microsoft Word, create a new document.
  2. Save the documnet with the file name Sales Invoice.docx.

Procedure

  1. In Sales Invoice.docx, click Insert > Quick Parts > Field.
  2. On the Field screen, in the Categories list, select Mail Merge.
  3. In the Field names list, select MergeField.
  4. In the Field name, enter InvoiceNumber.

    Sales Invoice Word Template
  5. Click OK.

    The mail merge field InvoiceNumber shows.


    Sales Invoice Word Template
  6. Repeat steps 1-5 to create mail merge fields for each eForm field in this table.
    eForm Field Label Mail Merge Field Name Comments

    Submitted Date

    SubmittedDate

    Account Name

    AccountName

    Invoice Date

    InvoiceDate

    E-mail Id

    Email

    Phone

    PhoneNumber

    Point of Contact

    PointofContact

    Customer PO Date

    CustomerPODate

    Customer PO Number

    CustomerPONumber

    PO Amount

    CustomerPOAmount

    Payment Terms

    PaymentTerms

    Product

    Product

    On the eForm, this field is part of a repeating subform. For information about how to create repeating table rows in Microsoft Word, refer to Step 2: Create a Repeating Table in Microsoft Word Template File.

    Price

    Price

    On the eForm, this field is part of a repeating subform. For information about how to create repeating table rows in Microsoft Word, refer to Step 2: Create a Repeating Table in Microsoft Word Template File.

    Quantity

    Quantity

    On the eForm, this field is part of a repeating subform. For information about how to create repeating table rows in Microsoft Word, refer to Step 2: Create a Repeating Table in Microsoft Word Template File.

    Total Price

    TotalPrice

    On the eForm, this field is part of a repeating subform. For information about how to create repeating table rows in Microsoft Word, refer to Step 2: Create a Repeating Table in Microsoft Word Template File.

    Sub Total

    Subtotal

    Tax

    Tax

    Freight Charges

    FreightCharges

    Total Invoice Amount

    InvoiceAmount

    After you create the mail merge fields, Sales Invoice.docx looks like this:


    Sales Invoice Word Template
  7. Add content and formatting as necessary to Sales Invoice.docx. In this example, each mail merge field is associated with a text label.

    The fields for Product, Price, Quantity, and TotalPrice are placed in one table row because as part of a repeating subform, they are repeating fields. For information about how to create repeating table rows in Microsoft Word, refer to Step 2: Create a Repeating Table in Microsoft Word Template File


    Sales Invoice Word Template

Step 2: Create a Repeating Row in Microsoft Word

Next, create a repeating row in Microsoft Word to accept the data from the repeating subform in the eForm.

In this example, the repeating rows associated with these subform fields in Sales Invoice Request eForm:


Sales Invoice Request eForm

Good to Know

  • To create a repeating row in a Microsoft Word document, the first cell in the row must have a TableStart: mail merge field, and the last cell in the row must have a TableEnd: mail merge field. These mail merge fields are separate from the ones that are associated with eForm data. They tell Microsoft Word to create new rows for additional instances of repeating data.
    • The TableStart: and TableEnd: tags must have the same row ID. The example uses the ID Products.
    • The row ID can be any line of text with no spaces. For example, it could be Repeat or LineItem. This name is only a label for Microsoft Word. It is not associated with the eForm or any other data in the app.
    • Each repeating table row must have a unique ID, which is associated with a specific repeating subform. The Microsoft Word activity uses these tags to identify the mail merge fields that are associated with a specific repeating table row in Microsoft Word.

    Example:

    Product Price Total Price

    <<TableStart:Products>><<Product>>

    $<<Price>>

    $<<TotalPrice>> <<TableEnd:Products>>

Procedure

  1. To start a repeating table row, in Sales Invoice.docx, in the Product cell, insert your cursor before the Product mail merge field.

    Sales Invoice Word Template
  2. Click Insert > Quick Parts > Field.
  3. On the Field screen, in the Categories list, select Mail Merge.
  4. In the Field names list, select MergeField.
  5. In the Field name, enter TableStart:Products.

    The TableStart and TableEnd tags must specify the same row name. For example, TableStart:Products and TableEnd:Products where Products is a row name.


    Sales Invoice Word Template

    The TableStart:Products field shows.


    Sales Invoice Word Template
  6. To specify the end of the repeating row, in the Total Price cell, place your cursor after the TotalPrice mail merge field.

    Sales Invoice Word Template
  7. In Sales Invoice.docx, click Insert > Quick Parts > Field.
  8. On the Field screen, in the Categories list, select Mail Merge.
  9. In the Field names list, select MergeField.
  10. In the Field name, enter TableEnd:Products.

    Sales Invoice Word Template

    The TableEnd:Products tag shows.


    Sales Invoice Word Template

Step 3: Configure the Microsoft Word Activity

Next, add and configure the Microsoft Word activity.

How to Start

  1. Click Build Apps Build Apps icon.

    Build Apps icon
  2. On the Application Explorer screen, on the My Application pane, click Sales Invoice > Processes > Sales Invoice > Process Model > Sales Invoice.

    Sales Invoice app

Procedure

  1. In the Process Builder, in the Activity Library, open the Document Document icon tab.

    Sales Invoice Process Model Preview
  2. On the Document Document icon tab, drag the Microsoft Word Microsoft Word icon activity onto your process.

    Sales Invoice Process Model Preview
  3. On the General Configuration screen, in the Display Name field, enter Create PDF from Word file.

    Microsoft Word General Configuration screen
  4. Click Next.
  5. On the Source Repository screen, select Google Drive.

    Source Repository screen
  6. Click Next.
  7. On the Source Repository Configuration screen, in the Google Drive list, select Word Template Location access token.

    Source Repository Configuration screen
  8. In the File Path section, select Choose File Path > Sales Invoice.xlsx.

    As a prerequisite, Sales Invoice.docx must exist in Google Drive.


    Source Repository Configuration screen
  9. Click Next.
  10. On the Target Repository screen, select Google Drive.

    Target Repository screen
  11. On the Target Repository Configuration screen, in the Google Drive list, select Word Template Location.

    Target Repository Configuration screen
  12. In the File Path section, select Choose File Path, and select the parent folder where you want to create a subfolder.

    Target Repository Configuration screen
  13. Select Create New Folder.

    Target Repository Configuration screen
  14. In the Enter Folder Name field, drag SubmittedDate_u from Data Source (External).

    The SubmittedDate_u entity field is associated with form controls in the Sales Invoice app.


    Target Repository Configuration screen
  15. Click Next.
  16. On the Microsoft Word Configuration screen, in the Destination File Name, enter the file name Sales Invoice.

    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  17. Click Save As PDF.

    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  18. Click Click to Load Word Fields.

    The mail merge fields in Sales Invoice.docx show in this box.


    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  19. Drag these Mail Merge Fields from Click to Load Word Fields to Word Field.
    • InvoiceNumber
    • SubmittedDate
    • AccountName
    • InvoiceDate
    • Email
    • CustomerPODate
    • PhoneNumber
    • PointofContact
    • CustomerPONumber
    • CustomerPOAmount
    • PaymentTerms
    • Product
    • Price
    • Quantity
    • TotalPrice
    • Subtotal
    • Tax
    • FreightCharges
    • InvoiceAmount

    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  20. In the Process Value field, drag the form fields from DataSource (External) as shown in this table to map the form fields to the Word fields.

    These entity fields are associated with form controls in the Sales Invoice app.

    Entity Fields (Process Value) Mail Merge Fields (Word Field)

    InvoiceNumber__u

    InvoiceNumber

    SubmittedDate__u

    SubmittedDate

    AccountName__u

    AccountName

    InvoiceDate__u

    InvoiceDate

    EmailId__u

    Email

    CustomerPODate__u

    CustomerPODate

    Phone__u

    PhoneNumber

    PointofContact__u

    PointofContact

    CustomerPONumber__u

    CustomerPONumber

    POAmount__u

    CustomerPOAmount

    PaymentTerms__u

    PaymentTerms

    Product__u

    Product

    Price__u

    Price

    Quantity__u

    Quantity

    Total Price__u

    TotalPrice

    Subtotal__u

    Subtotal

    Tax__u

    Tax

    FreightCharges__u

    FreightCharges

    TotalInvoiceAmount__u

    InvoiceAmount


    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  21. (Optional) Click Sort Configuration to sort the data in ascending or descending order in the output document.

    This option sorts only the repeating table rows in Sales Invoice.docx.


    Microsoft Word Configuration screen
    1. On the Sort Configuration screen, drag the ProductName field from Repeatable Word Fields to Word field.

      This sorts the rows in the repeating table by the ProductName field. You can use only 1 field to sort the rows of a table. If Sales Invoice.docx had 2 or more tables with repeating rows, each table could have 1 sort field. NX uses the IDs for the TableStart and TableEnd mege fields to associate a field with a table row.


      Microsoft Word Configuration screen
    2. In the Sort by list, select Ascending to sort the data in ascending order in the output file.

      Microsoft Word Configuration screen
    3. Click OK.

      The Sort Configuration tab shows on the Microsoft Word Configuration screen.


      Microsoft Word Configuration screen
  22. Click Finish.

    The Process Builder shows with the Microsoft Word activity.


    Sales Invoice Process Model

Step 4: (Optional) Complete the Process

Next, save and validate your process model.

Procedure

  1. To validate a process, refer to Validate a Process.
  2. On the Save quick menu, click Save and Check In Save and Check In icon.

    Sales Invoice Process screen

Step 5: (Optional) Publish and Run the Application

Next, publish the application, and run it to create the Microsoft Word document and PDF file.

Procedure

  1. To publish the app, refer to Publish a process-based application.
  2. To run the app, refer to Start your process.
  3. Complete and submit the Sales Invoice Request form.

    Sales Invoice Request Form
  4. In the Work Center, complete the approaval tasks.

    When the Pending Disbursement Approval task is complete, the Microsoft Word activity creates the folder 2020-05-04 (named for the date at runtime) in GoogleDrive.


    Sales Invoive Finance Manager Approval eForm

    When you open the Sales Invoice.pdf file from the folder 2020-05-04, the PDF file shows the data from the Sales Invoice.docx.


    Sales Invoive Finance Manager Approval eForm

How to Get the App

This example is based on the Sales Invoice app from the AgilePoint NX App Store. Use this procedure to get the app.

Prerequisites

Good to Know

  • This procedure is optional. It is provided so you can test the example with an out-of-the-box app.
  • This is part of the Background and Setup procedures, but many users preferred this step to appear after the example, not before it.

Procedure

  1. Click App Store App Store icon.

    App Store
  2. In the CATEGORY section, click Sales.

    App Store screen
  3. Click the Sales Invoice app.

    Sales Invoice screen
  4. On the Sales Invoice screen, click Add.

    Sales Invoice screen
  5. On the Trust App screen, click Trust it.
  6. Click Return to site.