Use of tables in RTF document generation

[Kris Aelterman]

In RTF document generation, the 'use case scenario template' yields cluttered-up tables: the first use case comes out fine, but from the second use case all info is crammed into the first cell of the table.

I have similar problems with table rows overlapping other rows when I try to create my own template.

Is this a bug in the RTF generation, or are there tips & tricks of how to use tables in RTF document generation?

[Shawn Stepper]

Tips and Tricks:
1. Lower your expectations
2. Be patient
3. Be prepared to start over from scratch many, many times

The RTF template tool is incredibly fragile. It's very easy to corrupt your templates, forcing you to start over. Trying to use tables makes it even more difficult.

Some people have reportedly been able to export their templates to RTF, then open them in Word 2007 (2003 will not work) to edit them, then import back into the template tool. This hasn't worked for me so far, but I haven't given up quite yet.

Good luck! (You'll need it)

[bvj]

This hasn't worked for me so far, but I haven't given up quite yet.

I tried in Word 2010 Beta and OpenOffice 3.1.1 but the results are not very good (strange child package behavior). Things seem to work best when the template is modified strictly within the EA RTF editor.  

The RTF mechanism could use a little more work. If the template Import/Export was solid, that would go a long way to improve report generation.

[Kris Aelterman]

Thanks for baselining my expectations
Still, I would expect that an unmodified template provided by EA (the 'use case scenario template' ) would work fine.

[Shawn Stepper]

I spent some time in the EA 8.0 Beta 2 RTF editor yesterday, and it seems to be much better than the one in EA 7.5. BUT the templates are not backwards compatible with 7.5 (at least not the one I created).

I'm looking forward to getting my whole team on EA 8!