Editing Invoice Layouts ????

[Joatmon]

Have you implemented reports of this kind or are these just good ideas that you would do if you easily could within the software. If you've not done any of them yet, how come?

So far, just ideas. We have, up until now, sent out separate flyers with our orders, but we are always looking to automate/integrate with Actinic

If they will present such a drastic change to fortune, surely well worth paying for an interface to be built? Or is this falling foul of the usual request requirements in that it would only be a fabulous addition if it was free?

I agree with you. I would happily pay for a plugin that did this.

So far I'm not aware of one - which probably means its pretty complicated!!

[Jan]

Have you implemented reports of this kind or are these just good ideas that you would do if you easily could within the software.

I've created quite a few reports of this kind, I think it is a good idea and it certainly makes the reports look better.

For my reports for www.labz.co.uk, I include login details that give you a discount and also for certain products I include a special discount code as well. The report is written so that the appropriate information appears on the report automatically.

I think that packing lists and invoices are a great opportunity to make a good and lasting impression and a good place to do some marketing. However I don't think that many people agree, they are happy so long as the invoice is accurate.

Regards,

[BodyBits]

Just a point of view...

I have somewhat to agree that the ability to edit our invoices is important.

I am sticking with actinic since many years, I have also purchased the excellent services of Jan and have enjoyed having nice invoices made with our logo etc...I also have used the teclan and codepath services to get where I needed to go as far as marketing is concerned..

But upgrading to the next version implies most of the time an extra cost in the plugins to be adapted to the newer versions, and this over the years is adding on costs from the original software, and on top of this, the plugins not being natives, we need to manipulate here and there to get back to what we need, and it is a bit of a headache to remember everytimes all the steps..

Now...in Actinic, we can create different sites, and the ability to make an invoice for a particular site different from another within the same Actinic version is impossible, and because of this, I had to run previous versions for certain sites, and newer versions for others..It would be much better if we could have one Invoice.rpt for each site, let alone the ability to customise them! Would that be so difficult ?

And about "priorities" of the wish list, I think we should stop thinking that way...I see many of the people I refered to Actinic switching now for other solutions just because they are fed up to wait for changes to happen while everything is readily available elswhere...I am frustrated too, but sticking with it as I don't want to scar what I have learned until now..but still had the interrogation..so if Actinic wants to stay one of the leading shopping cart software, they should not overlook anything they could solve, even if it is "low priority"...

Having said that, the forum is excellent and plenty of resources..so well done guys...

[Jan]

Now...in Actinic, we can create different sites, and the ability to make an invoice for a particular site different from another within the same Actinic version is impossible,

You can have an invoice created that will be show different details for each site actually and you can also have an invoices.rpt if you print from a mole end plugin instead of Actinic. That's not a comment on whether invoices should be more easily editable just a bit of useful info.

Regards,

[Duncan Rounding]

Jan's plugin will allow you to have separate invoices per site as well as do many other things for you. Also as Jan says, it is quite common to modify a report to contain conditional tests to print different things depending on the particular active site.

Ideally everyone would like to be able to configure their reports to their own requirements without any design services but reporting can be complex and would require a lot of effort - hard to justify against the relatively small charge to change an existing report(s).

[BodyBits]

You can have an invoice created that will be show different details for each site actually and you can also have an invoices.rpt if you print from a mole end plugin instead of Actinic. That's not a comment on whether invoices should be more easily editable just a bit of useful info.

Regards,

Hi Jan !

Thanks..but how do you do this "invoice created that will be show different details for each site" ?

I know that all the showing fields are changed according the business setup, and I have this even in French..but the "design" have to be changed by a knowledgeable person like you..and as I am developping towards many different sites for several reasons (too much products, different languages and SEO), everytime I want an invoice to reflect each site, I need your help. And of course, the cost will be going up..and again, how can you get different Invoice.rpt while the same file is used for all sites in the Actinic folder..this goes against the fact that we have "multi-site" capabilities..and I think this is something Actinic should address to avoid manipulations everytime we upgrade...

[Jan]

Hi Jan !
Thanks..but how do you do this "invoice created that will be show different details for each site" ?

As usual, with crystal reports which you don't seem to want to do from your comments. I did point out in my previous post that my comments were for information only and to correct your incorrect assertion that it was impossible to have different reports for each site in Actinic.

Regards,

[raj_arora]

May I add my t'pence worth...

An invoice is a touch-point with the customer. I work on the philosophy that any touch point should have the appropriate branding applied to it. So, not being able to customise the invoice report in Actinic is a high priority issue from a marketing perspective at least (even if not from a technical perspective). The default invoice in Actinic is not appropriate to the way I want my company to be percieved.

I currently export all my orders to Sage and print my invoices from there in the format I want them to appear. It would simplfy things for me if I could customise the report in Actinic to carry our branding.

So, I agree with the comments that we've waited too long for this facility, and I respectfully ask that it's priority be reviewed.