Hello
I'm struggeling putting together my invoice template as I feel the templating system with fixed variables is very limited. All the math basically is predetermined by the variables, and all the possible values (with currency, without currency) are predetermined, too. I would like to have more options.
My situation:
I would like to make an invoice and show the customer which item had a markup (or rebate) per item. But, in order not to crowd the invoice, I only want to show the rebate where there really is a rebate / markup. So my invoice's data row looks like this:
ItemDate ItemName ItemInfoQuantityOrHours ItemCategoryNotes ItemInfoPriceOrRate ItemAmount
But I would really like something like this:
ItemDate ItemName ItemInfoQuantityOrHours (unit) ItemInfoPriceOrRate ItemMarkupPercent (unit) ItemAmount
Problem 1: Units.
Now my problem is, I need to use "ItemCategoryNotes" to add a unit to the invoice. I use units of hours, pieces, and I need minutes. And if the invoice just says 4.5, 11.87, the customer has no clue. Are these hours, minutes or pieces? It would be nice if I could define a unit along with the amount I enter.
Problem 2: Original price, marked-up price
There's a variable field for almost anything, sooo many fields, it's hard to keep the overview. But, it's still not enough because I have yet different needs. I would really like to use "ItemInfoPriceOrRate" to display either the original price (without markup / rebate) or the rate. Currently I can't because "ItemInfoPriceOrRate" always shows the marked-up price. And if I split those in two, meaning I use "ItemVendorUnitPrice", I would need to use "ItemHourRate" on the same spot on the invoice, because it's either or. But, if the value is empty, a 0.00 gets shown, and I end up with two numbers on top of each other. So currently it's impossible to solve this problem.
Problem 3: Markup / rebate percentage
I would like to show the client what the original price is, and how much percent rebate I give on an individual item. Currently, I can do this in the data row, but it only shows a number. -10.00. The customer has no clue that it's percent. I would like to show the absolute value in this form: "Rebate 10%" and it's only showing where a rebate really is not 0.00. Everywhere else it's just blank, no text is shown.
Solution to my problems:
A solution would be to have variables that could be manipulated and combined in mathematical formulas. One could insert a date variable, and then, when the date is selected, I could tell the system what to do with the date, how to format it, and what should be prepended or appended. For example, there would be the date variable, and I said I would like to format it DD.MM.YYYY (currently I see no option to get it displayed this way, it's always DD.MM.YY).
I could also combine values in a mathematical formula and then format the output. For example, one variable would be:
(ItemVendorUnitPrice + ItemMarkupTotal) + "h"
This could be easy JavaScript notation. With this I could do all kinds of mathematical operations, and I could prepend and append strings and format the output as I wanted. I could even say:
If (ItemVendorUnitPrice)
echo (ItemVendorUnitPrice + ItemMarkupTotal) + " " + CurrencyString;
else if (ItemHourRate)
echo ItemHourRate + " " + Currency
I don't know if this would be the best way, but with this I could really determine what should be shown, how things should be calculated, what measures to display, what to append, what to prepend, to let something blank if no value is in a field or the value is 0. This kind of control would really be great! Currently, there's no way to achieve anything like this and either I leave some values out, or I don't display the values I would like to display, or the invoice really looks messy (which is unprofessional).
Also, unify the editors (data row, data column)
I really don't understand the necessity for this. Basically, both offer more or less the same functionality, but need to be set up in a different way. Data columns can have nice alternating colors per line, data rows can't. But you're more flexible with the placement of items and you can put two values below each other in the same row in data rows, which is nice too.
I think the data row concept is more powerful, and alternating colors could be introduced there, too. And please add the option for an dynamic line height. If the text of my work item is longer than the width, it should just wrap and push all subsequent lines further down. I don't want to get half sentences in my invoices, this just doesn't look professional. As if I didn't know where to enable wrap text. (Maybe there is an option and I haven't found it and it's true, I just didn't know where to enable it.)
Actually it would only need the Data Row editor, enable alternating row colors. Every text box would either be a static text, or a JavaScript that could be programmed to one's liking. And you could do anything you ever wanted.
You could still have all the variables you have, but they would only insert the correct JavaScript formula into the dynamic text box field. People could fiddle around with it easily. You know how intelligent people are, if they have the code, they can easily adapt the code and play around, and in effect have much better individual results as with the current system.
