Part III - Deeper into TDL

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1 Part III - Deeper into TDL In this Part III article author explained about core objects, basic elements and customizing the Reports using TDL. Techknow Grid Language Platform Level Sunil Gupta TDL WIndows Intermediate In Part II, we touched upon the flexibility of database architecture and a basic TDL program displaying Welcome to the World of TDL. In this Part, we will understand the core objects in TDL, basic elements of TDL Program and steps to go about designing or customizing the Reports. With this Part, we will be able to understand the simplicity of this programmer friendly language TDL. Core objects in Tally Tally is a programming language which follows Object oriented approach for both Database Management as well as User Interface Design. In short, everything in Tally is an Object that is subdivided into 2 broad categories, viz., Data Objects and Interface Objects. Data Objects are Objects which holds data pertaining to various objects like Company, Group, Ledger, Stock Group, Stock Item, Units, Voucher and many more. The core structure of all these objects is predefined and can be further extended by the TDL Programmer. As the name suggests, Interface Objects are Objects that are responsible for designing the user interface. While we invoke Tally.ERP 9 Application, following Interface Objects can be observed: Menu Company Info is the initial Interface Screen if no Company is loaded. On clicking on Menu Item Select Company, a Report querying for Directory path and Company Name to be selected is displayed. List of existing Company Names being displayed in the Field Company Name is a Table. On selecting a Company, the Buttons like Select Company, Shut Company, Date, Period, etc. are available at the right hand corner. Every Interface Object is associated with the corresponding Data Object using Object association mechanisms. 64

2 Basically in TDL, specific definitions are provided to design the user Interface. A Menu is created by adding items to it, while a Report is created using its components Form, Part, Line and Field. TDL operates through the concept of an action which is to be performed and Definition on which the action is performed. Report/Form structure elements Anything that is edited, displayed, printed, ed, exported in TDL is a Report. It can be either printing an invoice, displaying a Report or accepting inputs from the user. A Report is a basic TDL element consisting of various components like Form, Part, Line and Field. A Report can have multiple Form, Part, Line and Field definitions but at least one visible definition of each type must be available. The hierarchy of these definitions is as follows: Line uses a Field A Line can further use the list of required Fields. A Field is where the contents are displayed or entered A Field is the final element in the Report hierarchy which contains the input or output value to be displayed or stored respectively. Customising a Report Example 1: Let s take an example of customizing a new Report displaying the list of Ledgers with their Telephone Numbers and Date of Birth that has already been added to the ledger master in the Part I discussed earlier. Report uses a Form Report, which is the fundamental definition of TDL, is used to design each and every input/output screen displayed/printed/ ed in Tally. A Report in TDL can use one or more Form. Form uses a Part A Form, being the layout of the desired Report can be further divided into one or more parts vertically. ;; Altering the default Menu Gateway of Tally to add a new Item [#Menu: Gateway of Tally] Add : Item : Ledgers with DOB : Display : Ledger List with DOB [Report: Ledger List with DOB] Form : Ledger List with DOB Part uses a Part or a Line A Part can be further subdivided into various Parts either horizontally or vertically or it can finally zoom down to the required Lines. [Form: Ledger List with DOB] Use : DSP Template Parts : Form SubTitle, Ledger List with DOB ;; Using Default Part Form SubTitle for Inserting a Title Line 65

3 ;; Locally modifying the Title to suit our current Report Information Local : Field : Form SubTitle : Info : List of Ledgers with their Birth Dates [Part: Ledger List with DOB] Lines : LL with DOB Title, LL with DOB ;; The Line LL with DOB is instructed to repeat over all Ledgers Repeat : LL with DOB : Ledger ;; Associating the Object Ledger with Line LL with DOB such that every line will be associated with ;; subsequent ledger in the Collection Ledger Scroll : Vertical Common Border : Yes [Line: LL with DOB Title] Use : LL with DOB Border : Thin Top Bottom Local: Field : Default : Type : String Local: Field : Default : Align: Centre ;; Locally setting values to individual Fields within this Line Local: Field: LL Name: Set As: Name Local: Field: LL Tel : Set As: Contact No. Local: Field: LL Set As: ID Local: Field: LL State : Set As: State with Pin Local: Field: LL DOB : Set As: Birth Date ;; Name Field is a Template defined in Default TDL for Fields of Type String with predefined Width Set As : $Name ;; Default Method Name used to set Name [Field: LL Tel] Set As : $LedgerPhone ;; Default Method Ledger Phone used to set Phone [Field: LL ] Set As : $ ;; Default Method used to set Ledger [Field: LL State] Set As : $StateName $PinCode [Field: LL DOB] ;; Uni Date Field is a Template defined in Default TDL for Fields of Type Date with predefined Width Set As : $BirthDate [Line: LL with DOB] Fields : LL Name, LL Tel, LL , LL State Right Fields: LL DOB ;; All the Lines where Value for the UDF Birth Date is empty, Empty the lines Empty : $$IsEmpty:$BirthDate ;; Value of any User Defined Fields/Methods can be retrieved using $ Prefix. [Field: LL Name] The above TDL does the following:- Adds a new Item Ledgers with DOB in the Menu Gateway of Tally. On drilling into this Item, the Report Ledger List with DOB is displayed as shown below: In the above code, Object Ledger is associated at Line and while repeating every line, subsequent Ledger Object within the Collection Ledger is associated till the last Object. (See Fig. 1) Fig 1: Customised a new Report 66

4 Fig. 2 : Customised an existing Report Group Summary With just about a few lines of TDL Code, we have achieved a Report displaying all the required information from the Ledger Master. WYSIWYG i.e., What you see is what you get which means the same report which is displayed can also be printed, ed, exported to Excel file, etc. Customising an existing Report Let s examine the scenario of a Report already available in Tally by default and user would require some minor changes to it. Example 2: Let s take up an example of a default Group Summary where list of Parties are displayed with their respective Amounts (Opening Balances, Transactions and Closing Balances). Consider, displaying the Date of Birth field next to the Party Name. In order to customize an existing Report, following simple steps are recommended: Identify an existing Form, Part, Line or a Field in the Default TDL where any change is desired. Alter the same to add new Parts, Lines, Fields, etc. ;; Existing Field DSP AccName altered to add new Field for Date of Birth [#Field: DSP AccName] ;; Field defined in Default TDL used in displaying Group Summary Add Fields : Cust Grp Summ DOB Fig. 2 [Field: Cust Grp Summ DOB] Set As : $BirthDate:Ledger:$Name Color : DOB Color ;; Color DOB Color used here defined below [Color: DOB Color] with RGB Specification RGB : 50, 100, 70 ;; New Color Definition The above code when implemented results in following output: (see Fig. 2) Similarly, we can also alter various reports that are used only in Print Mode like for e.g., an Invoice. Example 3: Let s take another example of an Invoice Printing where if the current Date (Machine Date) is the customer s date of birth, then a greeting message is printed in the Invoice. ;; Defining System Formulae [System: Formula] ;; Formula IsBirthDay compares the Date and Month of Machine Date with that of Party Master IsBirthDay : $$DayOfDate:$$MachineDate = $$DayOfDate:@@PartyBDInLedger AND + $$MonthOfDate:$$MachineDate = $$MonthOfDate:@@PartyBDInLedger PartyBDInLedger : $BirthDate:Ledger:$PartyLedgerName ;; An existing Part EXPSMP Party is altered to print Party s Date of Birth [#Part: EXPSMP Party] Add : Lines : Inv DOB BirthDate [Line: Inv DOB BirthDate] Fields : Simple Field, Inv DOB BirthDate Local : Field: Simple Field : Info : Birth Date: 67

5 [Field: Inv DOB BirthDate] ;; Symbol is used to extract the value from a system formula Set As ;; An existing Form printing Simple Invoice is altered to add a new part printing Birthday greetings [#Form: Simple Printed Invoice] Add : Parts : After : EXPSMP Party : Inv DOB Greetings [Part: Inv DOB Greetings] Lines : Inv DOB Greetings [Line: Inv DOB Greetings] Fields : Inv DOB Greetings Space Top: 1 ;; This Line is made invisible if System Formula IsBirthDay returns False (Today is not his birthday) Invisible : [Field: Inv DOB Greetings] FullWidth: Yes Set As: WISH YOU MANY MORE HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY Style Align : Inv DOB Big : Centre ;; Style Definition to specify font attributes like Height, Bold, Italics, etc. [Style: Inv DOB Big] Font Height : 13 Bold : Times New Roman : Yes Italics : No From the above code, the Simple Printed Invoice contains An additional line to an existing part EXPSMP Party i.e., viz., Date of Birth. An additional Part in Form Simple Printed Invoice after Part EXPSMP Party to display greetings if current date is the birth day. The following Simple Printed Invoice displays the customized and additional Lines/Parts. Changes indicated in Red are the newly added ones. Conclusion The accompanying CD contains the latest free evaluation versions of Tally.ERP 9 (Series A, Release 1.8) and Tally.Developer 9 (Release 1.1). Do please test drive these. Happy programming! DIQ About Author Author is working as Associate Vice President at Tally. You can be contacted on his id sunil.gupta@tallysolutions.com Delay LTE and upgrade 3G to save cost: Aircom nstead of investing in new LTE technology, mobile telecom Ioperators can save two thirds of their costs in the near future by upgrading older 3G networks, telecoms consultancy Aircom said. Aircom said a $750 million (520 million pounds) investment was needed in the first 12 months for a British operator to start LTE roll-out, while upgrading a current network to new, so-called HSPA Plus technology can cost just $250 million as it is only new software. Also Read: Yota plans $100mn for LTE network roll out "It will take less time and less capex to solve the problem in the short term for any operator," Fabricio Martinez, head of the services business at Aircom, told Reuters. TeliaSonera opened the first LTE network late last year in Sweden and Norway, but many other mobile operators have only slowly started to invest in the new technology, which promises to ease data overload in many networks. With prices of new equipment falling fast, the same LTE gear is expected to be significantly cheaper in 12 or 24 months. "We are seeing operators delay their LTE plans now, and we expect this trend to continue," Martinez said. The delays are set to help current leaders of the mobile telecom equipment industry -- Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Huawei -- and hurt gear vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola, which have bet heavily on a boom in LTE networks. "The more operators delay, the more likely the incumbent vendors are to secure longer-term business through HSPA+ and then on to LTE," Martinez said. Aircom reviewed investment needs for large operators in the U.S., large Western European markets, the Middle East and in Asia. 68