Printing Due Slips with Print Templates

If your site has enabled the Print Templates feature, you can use customized templates for printing and (in Sierra 5.0 and later) emailing due slips.

With the appropriate editing software (for example, Jaspersoft Studio), you can specify the data that appears on due slips. You can also control font selection and layout, and you can incorporate graphic images into receipt templates. Customized due slips can be printed or sent to patrons via email. For more information about customizing due slips, see Creating Customized Print Templates.

As part of the setup, you must specify a preferred template family for each login that will use print templates. The system then selects the appropriate template from the preferred template family each time a due slip is printed or emailed from Sierra Circulation. For more information, see Creating a List of Preferred Template Families.

How Sierra Chooses a Receipt Template

When Sierra uses print templates to print or email a due slip, it selects the appropriate template from the login's preferred template family to send each patron's receipt. For information about defining a preferred template family, see Print Template Family Settings for Circulation Notices and Receipts.)

To select the appropriate template for each transaction, Sierra:

1. Determines which language to use. The system compares the Language attribute of each template to the LANG PREF field in the patron record. If the patron record does not contain a LANG PREF field, the system ignores the Language attribute.
2. Determines which delivery method to use. If your library allows patrons to select a delivery method for due slips or e-commerce receipts, and the patron selects email delivery, the system uses the template with a Delivery Method attribute of "email". Otherwise, the system uses the template with a Delivery Method attribute of "print".
3. Determines which template best matches the patron's language and delivery method:
   1. If the system finds a template for which both the language and delivery method match the patron's preferences, the system uses that template.
   2. If a complete match does not exist, the system searches for a partial match:
      • If the system finds templates in which either the language or the delivery method (but not both) matches the patron's preferences, the system uses the template in which the language matches the patron's preference.
      • If the system does not find a template in which the language matches the patron's preference but does find a template in which the delivery method matches, the system uses that template.
   3. If neither a complete nor partial match exists, the system uses the general template.
   4. If none of the above exist (there is no complete match, partial match, or general template), the system uses the first template listed under this template family name.