Docassemble Template Builder

This is a Microsoft Word Add-in (2013+) that helps with building templates for docassemble guided interviews.

Testing it is easy! To test this interview in Microsoft Word Online:

1. Open Word Online (for example, from inside OneDrive or SharePoint).
2. Download this Manifest file
3. Install the add-in by going to Insert | Office Add-ins, then Manage My Add-ins | Upload an add-in
4. Click the Docassemble icon to open the Add-in's sidebar.
5. Put in the address of your Docassemble server, running a version > 0.2.64

If you want to contribute to the add-in

Contact Jonathan or Quinten to get permission to commit your changes.

To download and generate for the first time:

git clone https://github.com/GBLS/docassemble-template-builder-addin
cd docassemble-template-builder-addin/
npm i
npm run build

This will compile the JavaScript and put it into the build/static/js folder. It will also create build/index.html, which is a straight copy of public/index.html.

To deploy the app on GitHub Pages (requires permission), do:

npm run deploy

After a minute or so, the new version of the site will be available at https://gbls.github.io/docassemble-template-builder-addin/index.html. Check the "GitHub Pages" section of the Settings page for any warning about a failure to build. This can happen randomly; if it does, just make some change to one of the files and deploy again.

The key TypeScript/React/Javascript file is src/index.tsx. The key HTML file is public/index.html. The key CSS file is build/static/css/app.css.

The office_addin_manifest.xml file can be imported into Office as an add-in. This file is also available as a URL.

Using a local server

To start a local server, just type

npm run start

in the project directory.

The add-in needs to operate over HTTPS. If you want to run npm run start in order to use a local web server to host the application, you need to create certificates. To create these certificates, follow these steps:

mkdir certs
cd certs
openssl req -new -key server.key -days 3650 -out server.csr

The last command will ask you for some information. Put in some information like the following. The important line is the "Common Name," which should match whatever the server name will be (probably localhost, but this can vary by platform).

Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:US
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:MA
Locality Name (eg, city) []:Boston
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Greater Boston Legal Services
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:localhost
Email Address []:qsteenhuis@gbls.org

Next generate the signed certificate:

openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

Double-click on the generated server.crt. Click "Install Certificate", choose "Local Machine" and then choose "Place all certificates in the following store:". Browse for the "Trusted Root Certification Authority" store.

This will install the certificate for both IE and Edge, but not for Chrome or Firefox. This is enough to get the add-in to work in Microsoft Word.

In the Configuration of your docassemble server, you will need to set:

office addin url: https://localhost:8080

(By default, the only server that docassemble will communicate with is https://gbls.github.io.)

A manifest file that is configured to work with https://localhost:8080 can be found at build/office_addin_manifest_local.xml.

Sometimes you may need to clear the local Office cache to uninstall the add-in. To do so, remove the contents of this folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\ (change 16 to 15 if you are running Office 2013)

Testing with Office Online is the simplest. If you want to test with Word Desktop, you will need:

1. Create a network shared folder
2. Place the local manifest file in the folder
3. Change Word security settings to look in the shared folder for the manifest

See instructions here.