What are asset templates?

Asset templates are a way of configuring automatic label generation for assets. They can use dynamic fields that takes information from assets or devices, as well as static text if desired.

Asset templates can be accessed in grid view in the Assets heading under the Templates tab.

New templates can be created here by entering a label or the template design. There are currently 4 types of template options at the time of writing this.

• Custom text
  • This is a static property which takes whatever text is entered and uses it in the label
• Fitting type
  • Uses the fitting type label of the device linked to the asset. Will error if there is no fitting type assigned to the device
• Fitting type auto increment
  • Looks up the fitting type of the device linked to the asset and increments a number based on the fitting type and the asset template. Having the same fitting type on a different asset template will start the count again at 0. Allows entering a digit which pads the number to that number of digits so for instance, a length of 2 will make an increment of 3 be written to the label as 03.
• Floor identifier
  • Looks up the floor of the device linked to the asset and uses its identifier in the label. Similarly as above, can take a number as an argument and will pad the identifier to that length if possible.

These template components can be moved around and deleted to change the order of the template string.

If you want to test the label generation process against an existing asset, you can do so from the right-click menu by selecting Test label generation. This will take the template and apply it against the asset and show the result. This will not apply the template permanently or increase the auto incrementing numbers at all. Any errors with generating the template on the label, such as fitting type not existing on the device, will be displayed here so you can adjust your template as required.

To assign a template to an existing asset, you can head to the Asset view and select your template from the Current label template column. This will NOT generate a label using the template. It will simply assign the template to the asset.

To have the system generate a label for the asset from the template, you must right-click and select Regenerate asset label. This will take the information from the asset and its assigned device and use it to generate a label for the asset based on the template provided.

Afterwards, it will generate a value in the Last generated cell. This displays the template that was last used to generate a label for the asset. This is useful in case the label doesn't look right and want to see how it was generated. Changing the current label template will not update this value or generate a new label until the regenerate option is clicked again from the right-click menu.

You can also create new asset templates from this same view in the Current label template cell. This will create it and assign it at the same time.

If you change fitting types or any other dynamic information that is used in an asset template, the label will not be updated to reflect this. You must go to the asset and regenerate the label from the right-click menu for the new values to be applied.