Template Editor: The Label Field

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When working with NextGen's template editor, the complexity of the work that you can create can be started at a very basic level by using some of the built-in editing fields, very few triggers, and no database custom programming. In order to get started with the template editor, it's important to know the purposes of some of the action fields that you can create. Let's go over how to use and when to use the NextGen field toolbars:

Label

Starting from left to right, the very first button we have is the Label button. A Label button is the simplest feature in the template editor to use. Basically, it gives a label to any element within the template.

In the example below, I've created a field for the patient's name. The label is what I've marked in the red circle. And as you can see, the purpose of this label is to let the user know that the field to the right will hold the patient's nam

When creating a label within the template editor, click and drag the edit button onto the template design area where you want the label to be placed. Then, you're given a pop up to define all the aspects of the label you're going to create.

The first box is the name that you want to give the label. In most cases, you can leave the default name that NextGen automatically assigns to a label. To the right of the name field is where you can apply a Mask to the label. The caption area box is what is going to be displayed on the label. In the example above, I have typed Patient's Name, and that is what's printed out on the template design area.

From this pop-up you can also determine the X and Y- positioning, the size, and the styles that you want to apply to the label. You can use a border, client edge, and modal edge.

Examples of each style:

Border:
Client Edge:
Modal Edge:

When the Tab Stop check box is enabled, it will allow the user's cursor to stop on this label as the user hits the tab key. The Hidden check box allows you to create a label that will not be visible when the template is opened on the EMR side. I use this feature a lot when I need to add comments to a template where I have done custom development, so I can go back and quickly know what work has been done. The Auto Size checkbox is used to automatically size the label to best fit the text inside the caption box.