Professional Third-party Interface

With the Professional Third-party Interface a third-party software program can create a merge file which it then executes. MS Windows recognises that the merge file (.TPM) belongs to ADLForms and automatically opens ADLForms to process it. The merge file can contain any number if instances of the one form (eg. multiple entry notices for different tenants).

There are two stages to the merge process as follows:

Merge Stage #1

Once ADLForms opens the merge file you may be* presented with an options screen as follows:

Within the merge screen you have options to:

* Depending on the third-party program merging with ADLForms, some of these options may be locked and not changeable. If all of these options are locked  this screen will not appear at all and you will be presented with merge stage #2 immediately upon starting the merge process from within the third-party program.

** It doesn't matter what form you select to print to from within the third-party program. You may change your mind and select any form within any ADLForms package that you subscribe to. ADLForms uses generic field names for all fields on all forms. As long as the fields required on the form you selected in the third-party program are the same fields (or mostly the same) on the form you select in the ADLForms Third-party Merge Options screen, most or all of the information will still merge successfully (Some third-party software packages output all possible fields required for the appropriate department {Property Management or Sales}, regardless of the form being printed - trial and error will tell whether the third-party software you use follows this approach). The only information that may not merge is for those fields that are not common between both forms.

Changing the Forms Package to Use

Within the 'Forms Package' box select the forms package that contains the form you wish to merge to.

Changing the Form to Merge to

Within the 'Forms' table select the form you wish to merge to.

Choosing a Template to Use for the Selected Form

Within the 'Select a Template to Use' list box, select a template to use for this merge. It will default to the 'Default Template' you have selected within 'Setup Options' in the <Third-party Interface> tab.

Automatic Saving

ADLForms will automatically save forms when printed if you select this option (Default is 'No'). For this option to work correctly a 'File Name Format' must be set (See below).

Automatic Locking of Saved Files

This option, although not available in normal ADLForms operations, allows merged forms to be saved and locked so that they cannot be edited again. You may still open a locked form and print it, but you may not change it in any way. This feature ensures that forms are kept secure for future reference.

File Name Format

This option allows you to specify a file name format for automatically saved forms, either as forms or .pdf files (See pop-up format list below). This does not affect any forms that you may save manually during the merge process, which you can name manually.

If the third-party application does not output any of the Codes mentioned (ie. Owner, Property & Tenant), then the format options using that code will not appear in the list.

Merge Action

There are three actions that you can take to merge your data. They are:

Merge Stage #2

After selecting all the merge options as outlined above and clicking the 'Merge' button the first form in the merge file will be displayed to the screen. The screen will look similar to a normal form completion screen, except that you will be given the opportunity to scroll backwards and forwards between forms, processing them one at a time. If you make any mistakes you can go back to any form and re-process as required. Indicators will show the total number of forms to be merged, how many forms have been view, printed, saved and saved to PDF and whether the current form has been printed, saved or saved to PDF. The screen should look similar to the snapshot below.

Merge Process: