User Guide For Printing Templates

The templating system for Paimnt printers is built to be as customisable as possible. As such, it can also become complicated as you try to do more advanced things. This page is here to give you all the building blocks you need to make a simple print template to your liking.

Variables#

Variables are the most fundamental factor of a print template. Depending on where you create your template you will have different variables available for use. For example if you are creating a template for a docket you will have the saleDate and saleTime variables available.

Variables can be used in a template by either wrapping the template name in {{nameHere}} or {{{nameHere}}}. Let’s make a simple template with the saleDate and saleTime variables

The date is {{saleDate}} and the time is {{{saleTime}}}

Nested variables#

Sometimes a variable is nested inside another variable. This helps us organise variables so they are easier to distinguish from one another. Nested variables can be navigated to by using a period. Let’s make a template with nested variables. First let’s define what those variables would theoretically be.

"sale": {
  "customerName": "Oscar",
  "saleAmount": "$12.70"
},
"saleDate": "12/02/2024",
"saleTime": "12:55:00 PM",

Date: {{saleDate}}
Time: {{saleTime}}

Customer: {{sale.customerName}}
Total: {{sale.saleAmount}}

Arrays#

An array is a way of representing multiple variables under a single variable. Think of it like a nested variable but instead of a single nested set of variables is can have multiple. Nested variables are accessed in a different way to the others. They use the following format:

{{#array}}
Use array here
{{/array}}

Notice that there is an opening clause ({{#array}}) and a closing one ({{/array}}). This means that anything between these two clauses is able to access the array content.

This is a concept easier to explain in practice to let’s make a print with arrays!

"sale": {
  "customerName": "Oscar",
  "saleAmount": "$12.70",
  "items": [
    {
      "name": "Chips",
      "quantity": 2,
    },
    {
      "name": "Garlic Bread",
      "quantity": 1,
    }
  ]
},
"saleDate": "12/02/2024",
"saleTime": "12:55:00 PM",

Date: {{saleDate}}
Time: {{saleTime}}

Customer: {{sale.customerName}}

{{#sale.items}}
{{quantity}}    {{name}}
{{/sale.items}}

Total: {{sale.saleAmount}}

Formatting#

For formatting a print we have special variables that can be used to instruct a printer to format text a certain way. Now that you have the concept of variables down pat we can jump straight into an example!

"emphasizeon": "print code",
"emphasizeoff": "print code",

This text is normal.
{{emphasizeon}}This text is bold!
{{emphasizeoff}}This text is back to normal.

Functions#

For even more advanced functionality we have functions. These are ways of communicating directly with the Paimnt code to process calculated results. This can be used for many things, from full width lines to images. We can even pass a parameter into a function to tell Paimnt how to render properly.

You can call to functions similarly to how you access arrays:

{{#function}}
parameter here
{{/function}}

Let’s look at how this can be used.

"image": "function with image name as parameter",
"hr": "function with no parameter"

{{#hr}}{{/hr}}
{{#image}}
logo
{{/image}}
{{#hr}}{{/hr}}

Output

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Default variables and functions#

Now that you know how to use variables and functions, I will give you the default ones.

Next steps#

Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of the printing templates user guide!

You now have the basic concepts that you need to create printing templates for your business.

To further your knowledge you can visit the Technical Guide. This is a much more advanced guide and is tailored for technologically seasoned users.