Render Options & Templates Tab — Guide50

Render Options Tab

By default, Data Items are filled in using the property editor described in Data Items Tab — a generic form built from whatever fields the item happens to have. If you'd rather present a proper, purpose-built form instead, the Render Options tab lets you attach one.

The tab shows the list of Atlas Forms currently attached to this template, and a form picker to add more. Once a form is attached, items on this template can be filled in and reviewed through that form instead of the raw property grid — useful when the people filling in a template's data aren't comfortable editing raw fields, or when the form already enforces validation you want reused.

Render Options tab
    │
    ├── Attached forms list (may be empty)
    │
    └── [ + Add Form ]  →  opens the form picker
                                │
                                ▼
                    Select an existing Atlas Form
                                │
                                ▼
                    Form appears in the attached list
                    → now available when filling in Data Items

Note: Attaching a form changes how an item is filled in — it doesn't change what's actually stored. The underlying data saved with the item is still the same JSON described in Data Items Tab; the form is just a friendlier way to produce it.

Templates Tab — Item Sub-Tab

The Templates tab has one sub-tab today: Item. This holds a single saved pattern — a JSON shape that Data Items should start from. It has exactly one job: it's what the Add button on the Data Items tab checks first, before falling back to cloning the first existing item or starting blank.

Set this once with the fields and default values you expect most new items to have, and every future Add on this template gives you that starting point immediately instead of an empty item you have to build up field by field.

Editing the Item pattern later has no effect on items you've already added — it only changes what new items start out as, from that point on.

Tip: If you're about to add a batch of similar Data Items — say, ten near-identical invoice records — set up the Templates tab's Item pattern first with the shared fields already in place. Each Add afterward starts from that shape, so you only fill in what's different per item.

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