My wishes: Clone views, better PDF support, Export

[shalmaxb]

Hello, after having used ESPOcrm for a few weeks now, I can say I am really grateful for having the possibility to have a system, that is highly customizable and very, very util.I work in fields, where there is never enough money for expensive solutions and I want to thank for the generosity of the ESPO team and all the contributors here in the forum.
What I would like to see as enhancements:

1. Simple possibility to clone views, so that I e.g. can have different list views
2. The offered PDF solution is a pain. Too much trial and error, even following the poor instructions. The simplest layouts are sometimes difficult to achieve, some possibilities not at all. Often the edited code is messed up after saving and you will have to repeat many times the same editing. From using the invoice app Invoice Ninja I know, that there are better solutions.
3. Possibility to connect more than one field in relationships. i know there are possibilities by coding, but it would be great to have this built in.
4. Export for configuration of views and the customization of the label manager
5. Only read access to views (list and detail) without having to login.

Thank you for your attention.

[yuri]

Hi,

Thanks for a feedback.

> From using the invoice app Invoice Ninja I know, that there are better solutions.

I can see from videos that they use a JSON to define PDF template. So a user needs to modify JSON to customize a PDF template. Is it the only option they have?

Could you also tell in which cases edited code is messed up after saving.

[shalmaxb]

Hi,
generally Invoice Ninja already offer a few templates to build up on. This makes the process and understanding easy. You may see the design process in the demo: https://app.invoiceninja.com/settings/invoice_design
There is a section on top, wehre you can choose the necessary fields, headlines etc. In the bottom section you see the result in realtime, really helpful.
If you need more customization, you can configure a json file. I am not a programmer, but this has been easy for me. The result is impressive.

As for the messed up code, I did not document it, but will try to reproduce. I remember, that the PDF editor put in unwanted HTML tags, like <p> and linebreaks. The wysiwyg editing therefore does not work as it should. It is good, to know HTML.

Please do not consider my feedback as complaining, ESPOcrm is a really great product, that put more than once a big smile on my face during work. And I do not much of a classic CRM with it.

[esforim]

PS. That link require login to view.

[shalmaxb]

use this link instead and from there got to the respective page: https://app.invoiceninja.com/invoice_now

[yuri]

Its unlikely that we abandon the current HTML to PDF approach in favor of something different like JSON editing in the nearest future. There're too much work has been done.

> PDF editor put in unwanted HTML tags

It a browser's contenteditable puts these tags.

[esforim]

It can take long to get your PDF working, currently I use a HTML editor to make change (especially when dealing with table).

I wonder if we will ever get to a "export field to form PDF" feature. Where field is export and import to the form PDF, that would allow you unrestricted layout design. The weakness might be pagebreak and link text though.

[shalmaxb]

I do the following:
1. Print to PDF from Browser, using the Chrome Plugin "Print Edit WE" to eliminate undesired webpage elements. Result is a "raw" PDF.
2. Open this PDF with Affinity Publisher, which has fully editable possibilities like a desktop publishing file.

To achieve layout on e.g. labels I use InDesign.

[telecastg]

Another workaround TCPDF limitations is to create a plain vanilla template with all your css specifications and then use the browser's print to PDF engine instead of TCPDF , see this post if you'd like to see how. https://forum.espocrm.com/forum/deve...7812#post57812