CPAO: Editing the Metadata.xml File

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So far everything has been edited in the Content.xml file (located in the \Cal directory after renaming/unzipping the CATX file - see the section on Opening and Saving Template Files) . That is the main file for doing the formatting of a particular template.

 

The Metadata.xml is good for doing a couple main things:

  1. Naming the template. What is stored here is what will show in the Calendar Printing Assistant UI.
  2. Changing the paper size of the template. If you want a 3x5 index card layout, you can set that here so that the template will always load in 3x5 layout. If you need a legal paper size - same thing can be done here.

 

There are other things that can be formatted here as well - but these are the two main things that I have changed in this file for customization.

 

Okay - so here is the text in this file for this same Monthly template:

 

<Metadata xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/2005/xcal" Version="1.0.0">

<Name>#[@TemplateName_Month_StandardMonth01]</Name>

<TimeUnit>Month</TimeUnit>

<PageSizeSelectionIndex>#[@TemplatePageFormat_Normal]</PageSizeSelectionIndex>

<PageHeight>#[@TemplatePageHeight_Normal]</PageHeight>

<PageWidth>#[@TemplatePageWidth_Normal]</PageWidth>

<PageOrientationSelectionIndex>Portrait</PageOrientationSelectionIndex>

<PageRow>1</PageRow>

<PageColumn>1</PageColumn>

<Thumbnail>DefaultPreview.gif</Thumbnail>

<Tasks>true</Tasks>

<Appointments>true</Appointments>

<SideBySide>false</SideBySide>

<PageCount>1</PageCount>                

<TemplateId>135</TemplateId>

<CompanyId>1</CompanyId>

</Metadata>

 

This is everything. The colored areas are where you can change the name and the page size.

You can use straight textto give a unique name for the template.

On the page sizes you can use text to define the paper size, the height, and the width.

 

I am going to edit this template that I have created in this template editing "how-to" to have a new name and to make it legal sized instead of letter sized:

 

<Metadata xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/2005/xcal" Version="1.0.0">

<Name>Standard Month Legal</Name>

<TimeUnit>Month</TimeUnit>

<PageSizeSelectionIndex>Legal</PageSizeSelectionIndex>

<PageHeight>14in</PageHeight>

<PageWidth>8.5in</PageWidth>

<PageOrientationSelectionIndex>Portrait</PageOrientationSelectionIndex>

<PageRow>1</PageRow>

<PageColumn>1</PageColumn>

<Thumbnail>DefaultPreview.gif</Thumbnail>

<Tasks>true</Tasks>

<Appointments>true</Appointments>

<SideBySide>false</SideBySide>

<PageCount>1</PageCount>                

<TemplateId>135</TemplateId>

<CompanyId>1</CompanyId>

</Metadata>

 

So you can see these changes here and they are pretty self-explanatory. I packaged up the template files and created a new CATX file called "Month_StandardMonthLegal.catx" and placed it in the Templates directory, then restarted Calendar Printing Assistant so that the new template will be picked up.

After the restart - here is what is seen in the UI:

 

 

This is in the Month Templates area in the right pane.

 

So I clicked this new entry to load the template, and here is the template view based on this CPAO Editing series:

 

 

With the legal size paper - there is the advantage of getting more appointments to print on each day - and so this has been adopted by a couple customers who have users with busy schedules, etc.

 

I will place the entire code for this template in my next post.