This article is relevant if you need to get more out of NetSuite Advanced PDF / HTML template technology.

Background

NetSuite’s Advanced PDF technology is a welcome addition to the platform. Indeed, NetSuite appears to be making a push to retire its older HTML and PDF templates in favor of the new approach.  The technology is a great improvement over the older techniques. I have written a number of articles about the technology having had hands-on experience seeking to get more than simple tasks done.   See these articles:

• Interrogating NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML Templates
• Framework for Generating Custom NetSuite PDF Files
• How To: Leverage NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML Generation Tools

It’s become clear to me that so much more can and needs to be done to exploit the potential in this promising technology. Here are my general concerns when using the framework as provided out-of-the-box:

1. Data Scope: The data you can build templates against is limited by what NetSuite offers in the context of the record you are working on. What do you do if you need more…?
2. Syntax Limitations: NetSuite leveraged the Freemarker Template Framework and Big Faceless Organization (BFO) report technology in a limited capacity — see my article here on important considerations. What do you do when a documented feature doesn’t work?
3. Debug / Data Inspection: It’s demanding to know what the underlying data looks like when building your templates. While the NetSuite Schema Browser is your best friend, it’s not complete. Why can’t we simply see the data that is being passed?
4. Scripting: Ultimately, to get around the limitations, you are forced to use SuiteScript. While my team and I love to program, the reality is scripting is beyond the reach of many NetSuite customers; The ever recurring and similar data output requirements inherent in this environment suggest that a better application is in order.

Advanced PDF / HTML Communication Application

For a recent client in the information technology hardware business, we built an extensive asset manager application to extend NetSuite’s Serial Number Inventory Detail record structure. The asset manager supports the ongoing maintenance and care of inventory that has been sold to distributors and end customers. The asset manager tracks license keys, support entitlements, and maintenance history.
I share this because it sets up the challenge to produce meaningful business communications with NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML built-in tools (see image). The client wanted to send an information rich ship confirmation email. Immediately, we recognized we needed powerful ways to quickly craft and communicate the richness of information contained in our custom designed asset manager application. For the reasons suggested above, it wasn’t not going to cut it to have to produce SuiteScript for every communication output.

Consequently, we solved the problem through a new Advanced PDF / HTML Communication Application. Sure, we still must generate the template; but we needed a new way more quickly describe the problem and enhance our template development efforts to be more productive.

Solve NetSuite Data Scope: Reach any Searchable Data

The first NetSuite challenge is one of the most important. (click on image above). We needed to once-and-for-all get beyond the Saved Search limitation to join data only one table away. By being able to describe a hierarchy of table relationships via multiple saved searches, we could present a very deep expression of data in question for our template to work on. Study image to see relationships between saved searches.

Solve Syntax Limitations:

The key to understanding NetSuite’s template environment is that Freemarker tools are not your only option. If you take matters into your own hands, you can use a different templating technology. See article here on how we leveraged Trimpath, an alternative to Freemarker. In addition, NetSuite has now implemented the Handlebars.js template technology in the SuiteCommerce Advanced area of the platform. We too can use that technology in this application. Once you are in a template technology implemented purely in JavaScript, you can inspect all your data through rich built-in capacities.

Solve Debug / Data Inspection:

We needed a quick and friendly way to act on data sets against the template while in development. Why not be able to get a preview of the output side-by-side with the template code so refinements would not require the frequent uploading or cut-and-paste operations so tediously required in traditional Advanced PDF / HTML development? See image.

Solve for Scripting:

By creating an application, we are able to create a Communication Profile record which effectively describes the targeted communication. The communication may be an Email so we can define the Subject and leverage variables where needed. Finally, we don’t need script except to produce a hookpoint (e.g., workflow) where the application will trigger the needed communication.

With these tools in hands, we can now quickly describe our data requirements, see our data, and more quickly build our template.

Advanced PDF / HTML Tool is Available for Any NetSuite Account

The application illustrates my team’s capacity to innovate on the NetSuite platform. We are happy to provide this tool to any NetSuite Administrator without charge as it is not formally packaged as product (yes, it is a SuiteBundle for distribution). Because of its advanced mechanism to reach data through linked saved search definitions, any prospective NetSuite Administrator will need a bit of hand-holding to learn how to work with the tool.

If you have a challenging application for NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML tools, let’s solve it together with this application. You will then be empowered to leverage it in other use cases in your organization. Reach out to me and let’s start a conversation.

Related Articles

We are committed to this space.  See other articles that are most relevant for NetSuite users working to get more out of the Advanced PDF/HTML tools:

1. How To: Leverage NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML Generation Tools
2. Interrogating NetSuite’s Advanced PDF / HTML Templates
3. Solved: Custom NetSuite Item Fulfillment Ship Notifications
4. Framework for Generating Custom NetSuite PDF Files

Marty Zigman

Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.

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