Template has click to - §Save Current State - but no load function

[scanner...@gmail.com]

The §Save Current State button is used for saving the contents of the invoice template to data.txt.  

However, there is no corresponding load button.

I can understand if you have restricted the load/save features to avoid cannibalizing your invoicebus online service. However, it would be very useful to be able to load distinct client profiles that have been saved. e.g. bbc.txt, airbus.txt.  The alternative workaround is to have a separate folder for each client and separate template.html and data.txt for that client . This is a cumbersome process especially when the user wants to edit or update a template!

Could I ask you to please consider implementing a SIMPLE Load feature. Load data.txt by default, but allow the user to click a button and load a different baseline .txt file if they so choose.

Many thanks, David

[Stefan Chachovski]

Hey David,

Nice observation about the self-cannibalizing thing :) However, Invoicebus has a different scope - emailing and tracking invoices, receiving online payments, chasing delinquent customers, .... 

The reason we don't include save/load features in the templates is because we don't want to turn them into invoicing program(s). The HTML, CSS, and JS technologies are powerful indeed, but we don't think they would be the best fit for local data manipulation.

The idea is to keep the templates as simple as possible and provide the users with a quick, yet sophisticated replacement of Word and Excel.

Best,

Stefan

[scanner...@gmail.com]

I'm going to call you on that... Word and Excel has a load feature! We are doing exactly that... migrating from Word invoices to (hopefully) invoicebus templates. We need a load command to pull the data from a selected file into the template ;o)

Moreover, since the template has the ability to be an invoice or a quote, we need to be able to LOAD THE QUOTE and convert it to an invoice! 

Sorry, won't let you get out of this one!

[Stefan Chachovski]

I'm going to call you on that... Word and Excel has a load feature! We are doing exactly that... migrating from Word invoices to (hopefully) invoicebus templates. 

I'm sure they have. In fact, few years ago when we first started creating invoice templates - we were using Word and Excel. And to be honest, it was a nightmare.

We need a load command to pull the data from a selected file into the template ;o)

I think something like this can be used - http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/. However, as I said, we don't have plans for this whatsoever (of course, if you feel enthusiastic, you can play around with our JS source code and try to craft something). 

Moreover, since the template has the ability to be an invoice or a quote, we need to be able to LOAD THE QUOTE and convert it to an invoice! 

Invoicebus handles this exactly the way you need. Did you have a chance to give it a whirl?

Best,

Stefan

[scanner...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the quick replies today Stefan. I'll think carefully about how to proceed with the templates.

[Dimitar Stojanov]

Hey David,

Just to let you know we've implemented the load data feature for the invoice templates.

There is an 'Open' button in the top menu now. Just be careful, due to browsers security and privacy restrictions, the data file you load must be in the same directory where the template.html file resides (that's the root directory of the template).

I hope this 'load' feature will ease you invoice management with our templates.

Best,

Dimitar

[amalu...@gmail.com]

Being able to load saved data is a fantastic feature, but it has a bug. I believe the load feature incorrectly builds the path path to the local file. To reproduce the bug: 

1. Save settings to a local disk file named my-saved-data.txt. 

2. Click the open button and choose my-saved-data.txt. 

3. You will see this error in your dev console: GET http://cdn.invoicebus.com/generator/my-saved-data.txt 404 (Not Found).

[Dimitar Stojanov]

Hi there,

Can you tell me more info about your browser and operating system versions?

Note, to load the data the invoice template must be downloaded on your computer, you can't use template hosted on server and load data from your computer. Also, the data file (my-saved-data.txt) must be located in the template root folder. The root folder is where template.html is located.

Best,

Dimitar

[Dimitar Stojanov]

Hi Stan,

The bug with loading the file is fixed, so now you don't need the local generator script in order to work. You can continue using our online script because that script is continually updated and improved.

Actually, now you can load a file located in some other folder with a little workaround.

If you notice in the browser address bar, at the end you can see the parameter ?data=my-custom-data.txt

so you can change that to: ?data=file:///path/to/file/my-custom-data.txt

where /path/to/file/ is the full path to you custom data file. Don't forget the file:// prefix because some browsers can't load the file without it.

Anyway, you don't have to enter the path like this if you open the data files from the template root folder as I mentioned previously.

All the best,

Dimitar