Tutorial: Create templates

Last update: March 5, 2025

Applies to:
Experience Manager 6.5 LTS

Topics:
Interactive Communication

CREATED FOR:

Admin
User
Developer

07-apply-rules-to-adaptive-form_small

This tutorial is a step in the Create your first Interactive Communication series. It is recommended that you follow the series in chronological sequence to understand, perform, and demonstrate the complete tutorial use case.

To create an Interactive Communication, you must have templates available on the AEM server for Print and Web Channels.

The templates for the Print channel are created in Adobe Forms Designer and uploaded to the AEM server. These templates are then available for use while creating an Interactive Communication.

The templates for the Web channel are created in AEM. Template authors and administrators can create, edit, and enable web templates. Once created and enabled, these templates are available for use while creating an Interactive Communication.

This tutorial walks you through the steps to create templates for Print and Web channels so that they are available for use while creating Interactive Communications. At the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

Create XDP templates for Print channel using Adobe Forms Designer
Upload the XDP templates to the AEM Forms Server
Create and enable templates for the Web channel

Create template for Print channel

Create and manage a template for the Print channel of Interactive Communication using the following tasks:

Create an XDP template by using Forms Designer

Based on the use case and anatomy, create the following subforms in the XDP template:

Bill Details: Includes a Document Fragment
Customer Details: Includes a Document Fragment
Bill Summary: Includes a Document Fragment
Summary: Includes a Document Fragment (Charges subform) and a chart (Charts subform)
Itemized Calls: Includes a table (layout fragment)
Pay Now: Includes an image
Value Added Services: Includes an image

create_print_template

These subforms are displayed as target areas in the Print template after uploading the XDP file to the Forms Server. All entities such as document fragments, charts, layout fragments, and images are added to target areas while creating the Interactive Communication.

To create an XDP template for the Print channel, do the following:

Open the Forms Designer, select File > New > Use a blank form, select Next, and then select Finish to open the form for template creation.

Ensure that the Object Library and Object options are selected from the Window menu.
Drag-and-drop the Subform component from the Object Library to the form.
Select the subform so you can see the options for the subform in the Object window in the right pane.
Select the Subform tab and select Flowed from the Content drop-down list. To adjust the length, drag the left endpoint of the subform.
In the Bindings tab:
1. Specify BillDetails in the Name field.
2. Select No data binding from the Data Binding drop-down list.
Similarly, select the root subform, select the Subform tab, and select Flowed from the Content drop-down list. In the Bindings tab:
1. Specify TelecaBill in the Name field.
2. Select No data binding from the Data Binding drop-down list.
Repeat steps 2 - 5 to create the following subforms:
- BillDetails
- CustomerDetails
- BillSummary
- Summary - Select the Subform tab and select Positioned from the Content drop-down list for this subform. Insert the following subforms in the Summary subform.
  - Charges
  - Charts
- ItemisedCalls
- PayNow
- ValueAddedServices
To save time, you can also copy and paste existing subforms to create additional subforms.

To shift the Charts subform to the right of the Charges subform, select the Charts subform from the left pane, select the Layout tab, and specify a value for the AnchorX field. The value must be greater than the value for the Width field for the Charges subform. Select the Charges subform and select the Layout tab so you can view the value of the Width field.
Drag-and-drop the Text object from the Object Library to the form and enter the Dial XXXX to subscribe text in the box.
Right-click the text object in the left pane, select Rename Object, and enter the name of the text object as Subscribe.
Select File > Save As to save the file on the local file system:
1. Navigate to the location where you can save the file and specify the name as create_first_ic_print_template.
2. Select .xdp from the Save as type drop-down list.
3. Select Save.

Upload an XDP template to the AEM Forms Server

Once you have created an XDP template using the Forms Designer, you must upload it to the AEM Forms Server so that the template is available for use while creating the Interactive Communication.

Select Forms > Forms & Documents.
Select Create > File Upload.

Navigate and select the create_first_ic_print_template template (XDP) and select Open to import the XDP template to the AEM Forms Server.

Create an XDP template for layout fragments

To create a layout fragment for the Print channel of the Interactive Communication, create an XDP using Forms Designer and upload it to the AEM Forms Server.

Open the Forms Designer, select File > New > Use a blank form, select Next, and then select Finish to open the form for template creation.

Ensure that the Object Library and Object options are selected from the Window menu.
Drag-and-drop the Table component from the Object Library to the form.
In the Insert Table dialog:
1. Specify the number of columns as 5.
2. Specify the number of body rows as 1.
3. Select the Include Header Row in Table checkbox.
4. Tab OK.
Select + in the left pane next to Table 1 and right-click Cell1 and select Rename Object to Date.

Similarly, rename Cell2, Cell3, Cell4, and Cell5 to Time, Number, Duration, and Charges respectively.
Click the Header text fields in the Designer View and rename them to Time, Number, Duration, and Charges.
Select Row 1 from the left pane and select Object > Binding > Repeat Row for Each Data Item.
Drag-and-drop the Text Field component from the Object Library to the Designer View.

Similarly, drag-and-drop the Text Field component to the Time, Number, Duration, and Charges rows.
Select File > Save As to save the file on the local file system:
1. Navigate to the location where you can save the file and specify the name as table_lf.
2. Select .xdp from the Save as type drop-down list.
3. Select Save.
Once you have created an XDP template for layout fragment using the Forms Designer, you must upload it to the AEM Forms Server so that the template is available for use while creating layout fragments.

Create a template for Web channel

Create and manage a template for the Web channel of Interactive Communication using the following tasks:

Create a folder for templates

To create a Web channel template, define a folder where you can save the created templates. Once you create a template inside that folder, enable the template to allow the forms users to create a Web channel of an Interactive Communication based on the template.

To create a folder for the editable templates, do the following:

Select Tools > Configuration Browser.
- See the Configuration Browser documentation for more information.
In the Configuration Browser page, select Create.
In the Create Configuration dialog, specify Create_First_IC_templates as the title for the folder, check Editable Templates, and select Create.

The Create_First_IC_templates folder is created and listed on the Configuration Browser page.

Create the template

Based on the use case and anatomy, create the following panels in the Web template:

Bill Details: Includes a Document Fragment
Customer Details: Includes a Document Fragment
Bill Summary: Includes a Document Fragment
Summary of Charges: Includes a Document Fragment and a chart (two-column layout)
Itemized Calls: Includes a table
Pay Now: Includes a Pay Now button and an image
Value Added Services: Includes an image and a Subscribe button.

create_web_template

All the entities such as document fragments, charts, tables, images, and buttons are added while creating the Interactive Communication.

To create a template for the Web channel in the Create_First_IC_templates folder, do the following steps:

Navigate to the appropriate template folder by selecting the Tools > Templates > Create_First_IC_templates folder.
Select Create.
On the Pick a Template Type configuration wizard, select Interactive Communication - Web Channel and select Next.
On the Template Details configuration wizard, specify Create_First_IC_Web_Template as the template title. Specify an optional description and select Create.

A confirmation message that the Create_First_IC_Web_Template is displayed.
Select Open to open the template in the template editor.
Select Initial Content from the drop-down list next to the Preview option.
Select Root Panel and then select + to view the list of components that you can add to the template.
To add a panel above the Root Panel, select Panel from the list.
Select the Content tab in the left pane. The new panel added in step 8 is displayed under the Root Panel in the content tree.
Select the panel and select (Configure).
In the Properties pane:
1. Specify billdetails in the Name field.
2. Specify Bill Details in the Title field.
3. Select 1 from the Number of Columns drop-down list.
4. To save the properties, select .
The name of the panel is updated to Bill Details in the content tree.
Repeat steps 7 - 11 to add panels with the following properties to the template:

Name
Title
Number of Columns
customerdetails
Customer Details
1
billsummary
Bill Summary
1
summarycharges
Summary of Charges
2
itemisedcalls
Itemized Calls
1
paynow
Pay Now
2
vas
Value Added Services
1

The following image depicts the content tree after adding all panels to the template:

Enable the template

Once you have created the Web template, you must enable it to use the template while creating the Interactive Communication.

To enable the Web template, do the following:

Select Tools > Templates.
Navigate to the Create_First_IC_Web_Template template, select it, and select Enable.
Select Enable again to confirm.

The template is enabled and its status is displayed as Enabled. You can use this template while creating Interactive Communication for the Web channel.

Enabling buttons in Interactive Communications

Based on the use case, you must include the Pay Now and Subscribe buttons (adaptive forms components) in Interactive Communication. To enable the use of these buttons in the Interactive Communication, do the following:

Select Structure from the drop-down list next to the Preview option.
Select the Document Container root panel using the content tree and select Policy to select the components that are allowed for use in the Interactive Communication.
In the Allowed Components tab of the Properties section, select Button from the Adaptive Form components.
To save the properties, select .

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