Overview

The Dynamics Version (previously Transformation Version) defines a certain feature set that is available for a template.

Versioning is introduced to make sure that features supported in templates remain backward-compatible and continue to support existing templates, guaranteeing a consistent output, both online and offline.

What is versioned?

• Dynamic templates made via the Template designer will get a version number. 
• The VSTO add-in has a version number 

How and where is the version set?

The template dynamics version is set automatically when creating a dynamic template via the Template Designer. The template will get a version number based on the transformation version set on the Templafy tenant on the account settings page.

The dynamics version supported by the add-ins can be seen in the add-in release notes.

VSTO add-in version compatibility

What to be aware of

The dynamics version supported by the add-ins must be equal to, or higher than, the version of the template.

If a user tries to create a document offline that has a higher dynamics version than the add-in, the user will get a message informing them that the template is based on a version that is not supported by the add-ins and asking them to contact the local administrator, who can update the add-ins. 

Dynamics features

Background

When initially introducing the Transformation Pipeline, now Dynamics (The new way of making templates with configuration inside the templates), we had a certain feature set. This feature set included configurations to insert text into content controls, insert images into shapes, content controls and into headers, insert custom document properties and so on. This feature set was Transformation Version 1.0. When we later added insertion of text elements and page setup transformation, we created a new Transformation Version, which had the version number 1.1. And this will continue. Whenever we change the feature set, we add a new Transformation Version.

When a feature has been introduced in a certain Transformation Version, it is as a general rule available in later Transformation Version as well. All features from Transformation Version 1.0 is available in Transformation 1.1 for example. But it is possible that some features can also become deprecated from one Transformation Version to the next.

When we have a version that clearly defines a feature set, we're able to use that to express what feature set is required to be able to create a document from a certain template. Our web app always supports the latest Transformation Version, but when someone wants to create a document from a template in offline mode, we need to know if the VSTO Add-ins support the features required to create the document. If a template uses features from Transformation Version 1.1 (E.g. text element insertion), then when a document is created from that template, the VSTO Add-ins needs to support the feature set in Transformation Version 1.1 to be able to create it of course. That's why we have a Transformation Version in every template. It communicates which feature set is required to create documents from that template.

The VSTO Add-ins also have a Transformation Version. This version expresses the maximum Transformation Version that the VSTO Add-ins support, and changes with new releases of the VSTO Add-ins. A newer version of the VSTO Add-ins supports a higher Transformation Version, while older VSTO Add-ins support a lower Transformation Version.

To sum up

There is a Dynamics Version in two places:

• In a template (Template Dynamics Version)
• In the VSTO Add-ins (VSTO Add-ins supported Dynamics Version)

Whenever a user tries to create a document from a template in offline mode, the VSTO Add-ins look at the Dynamics Version in the template and compare it with the Dynamics Version supported by the VSTO Add-ins. If the template version is higher than the version supported by the add-ins, then it means that the template uses a feature set not supported by the VSTO Add-ins. This means, of course, that the add-ins cannot create the document, and the user is notified about this.