Field sources

Not yet checked on the product

This chapter was written from the product's source code and has not yet been checked by a person on a running Cogneris. If what you see on screen differs, the screen is right — please tell your Cogneris contact so the chapter can be corrected.

Field sources says, for every placeholder of a template, where its value comes from when a Workflow process renders the document, and what to do when that value is missing. These settings are called bindings.

How to get here	Templates → open a template → Field sources at the top of the template page. The breadcrumb reads Dashboard › Templates › template name › Field sources; the template's name takes you back to its versions.
Who can use it	Tenant-management profiles (customer administrator, customer technical administrator, Cogneris operators). Checked by the service.
Content status	From source; not observed (template-fe ed4ab73, template-be cc0f2b0, 2026-10-22)

Bindings are used only by the case-driven render — the Generate document phase of Workflow. A render through the public API or the Render playground receives its values directly and ignores them.

What the screen shows

The heading Field sources and: Where the value of each placeholder comes from in the published version. A key without a source is left blank in the generated document — or sends the process for review, depending on the rule.

While loading: Loading…. Then:

• Only the published version is compared. The rows are the keys of the template's published version plus every key that already has a binding. With no published version (or one with no placeholders) the screen shows This template does not have a published version with placeholders yet. and no table.
• … key(s) without a source: … — shown above the table when any key has no binding. Those rows are highlighted.
• Bindings for keys that no longer exist in the document (…) — saving removes them. — bindings whose key is not in the published version. They are not rows of the table (there is nothing left to bind), and the next Save removes them.
• Under a repeating block, its own sub-keys, read-only: covered by and the block's key.
• Under the table, one line per source group that has nothing to offer yet, with the service's explanation of how to configure it (see Source groups).

Bindings belong to the template, not to a version. When you publish a new version, every binding whose key the new version still contains keeps working; bindings for keys you removed become the "no longer exist" kind above.

Fields

One row per key, sorted alphabetically.

Field	What it does	Required	Format / values	Default	Validation messages
Placeholder	The key, as detected in the .docx.	—	Read-only	—	—
Source	Where the value comes from. Grouped list of every field your processes can supply; entries that may be empty in a case end with (not always filled in). — without a source — removes the binding.	No	One field from the source groups	— without a source — for a new key	See Save
If missing	What the render does when the source has no value in the case. Shown only once a source is chosen.	Yes, when bound	Send for review, Leave blank, Use default value — see What happens at render time	Send for review	—
Repeats	Whether the key prints one value or repeats a table row. Shown only once a source is chosen.	Yes, when bound	Once, Repeatable block — see Repeating blocks	Once	binding '…': a repeating block needs source 'document' (got '…')
Required	Marks the key as one the document cannot go without — see What happens at render time.	No	Checkbox	Off	—
Default value	What prints when the key has no value: for a key with no binding, and for Use default value. Hint: Printed when there is no value. Leave empty for none.	No	Free text, up to 500 characters	Empty	…: the default value is longer than 500 characters.

Required and Default value are stored on the published version's keys, so they appear only once a version is published (Publish a version to mark keys as required or give them a default value. otherwise). A new version you upload, or publish, keeps them for every key it still has. Save sends them after the sources; The sources were saved, but the required / default settings could not be. when only that part fails. With Use default value chosen and no default set, the screen warns “Use default value” prints nothing until a default is set: ….

A binding made outside this screen — through the API or the Word add-in — that does not match an entry of the list shows — without a source — in Source, but it is kept and saved unchanged unless you pick another source. The same goes for a binding's transform (a presentation format such as upper case, or a date or number format), which this screen does not show or edit: it is kept as it was.

Source groups

The Source list comes from the service, which keeps it for 5 minutes per tenant — a field added in Vision or Portal can take that long to appear. The fixed groups (Process, Cross-check), their fields and the explanations of empty groups are shown in your language; classifier and form groups carry the names your tenant gave them.

Group	Fields offered	Value at render time
One group per Vision document template (classifier) of your tenant, under the classifier's name	Every field defined in the classifier's schema. All are (not always filled in): a document is only in a case if it was uploaded, and a field only has a value if extraction read it.	The field's extracted value, from the case's documents that were classified with that classifier.
One group per Portal form, under the form's name	Every answer field of the form (fixed texts are left out), labelled with the field's label. A field marked required in the form is not flagged (not always filled in).	The answer of that name in the case's form data.
Process	Process identifier (identifier), Requester name (requester.name), Today's date (today, always present).	The process data the run sends.
Cross-check	Cross-check decision (decision), Number of divergences (summary.mismatch), Number of checks (summary.total).	The cross-check result the run sends.

A binding saved earlier as crosscheck.findingsCount — a field the list used to offer but that no run ever sent, so it always printed empty — is read as Number of divergences (summary.mismatch) and shows as that entry in Source.

When a group cannot be filled, it still appears, as a line under the table: for example, no classifiers yet (This tenant has no classifiers yet…), a classifier with no fields defined, no forms, a form with only fixed text, or the Vision or Portal service not answering.

The list offers each key namespaced by its group (for example a classifier Documento de Identidade — Beneficiário gives keys starting documentoIdentidadeBeneficiario.), so two classifiers with a field of the same name can be told apart. Picking a document field also records which classifier the value must come from.

What happens at render time

When the Generate document phase renders a template, the service takes the published version's keys and the template's bindings, and works out each key's value from the case:

1. Key with no binding — prints its Default value when it has one. Otherwise it prints empty and is listed as missing (no_binding); that stops the render only when the key is Required.

2. Key with a binding — the value is looked up in the binding's source:

   • form, process, cross-check: the named field.
   • document: the documents of the case that fill the binding's role. The role is matched most-trustworthy first — the checklist slot the document was uploaded into, then the classifier (Vision template) that processed it, then its classified document type. The first matching document that has a non-empty value wins.

3. The value is found — it is printed (with its transform, if the binding has one).

4. The value is not found — the If missing rule decides:

   Rule	Prints	Stops the render?
   Send for review (default)	Nothing	Yes. No PDF is produced; the service answers needs review with the missing keys, unless the phase has Print even with gaps on.
   Leave blank	An empty value	No.
   Use default value	The key's Default value	No — except when no default is set and the key is Required: then it stops the render like Send for review.

   Each missing key is reported with a reason: role_not_present (no document of the case fills the role), field_not_present (the document is there but the field was not read), document_failed (every matching document failed in an earlier phase), or unknown_source.

The missing list, with each key's reason and whether it blocked, is returned to the Workflow run — see Generate document.

Repeating blocks

Repeatable block turns a binding into a list: the service sends one row per document of the case that fills the binding's role, and the table row of the .docx that holds the block's sub-keys is printed once per document. Write the row once in Word, with sub-keys named after the block's key:

{{documentos.documentName}}   {{documentos.documentType}}   {{documentos.cpf}}

• The block is bound on the prefix (documentos above). It covers that key and every key that starts with it followed by a dot, which appear under it as covered by documentos.
• In each row, the sub-key is a field extracted from that document; documentName and documentType are the document's name and document type.
• Only document sources can repeat. Choosing Repeatable block on a form, process or cross-check field is refused on save.
• A block that matches no document disappears. This is how a conditional is written: "this clause only when there is a second holder" is a repeating block on that role. An empty block is recorded as missing (role_not_present) but never stops the render.
• A sub-key cannot also have a binding of its own: binding '…': already covered by the repeating block '…'.

The screen lists the keys found in the document, which for a block are the sub-keys (documentos.cpf), not the prefix. The prefix row appears only once a binding exists for it — for example one created with the Word add-in or the API.

Save

Save (Saving… while it runs) sends the complete set of bindings shown: anything not in it is removed. On success:

• … binding(s) saved. All keys are covered.
• … saved — … key(s) still without a source. — the save worked; the count is the published version's keys that still have no binding (sub-keys of a block are not counted).

If the service refuses the set, nothing is saved and the screen shows only Could not save the bindings. The service's reasons, which the screen does not show, are:

Service rule	Service message
Every binding has a key	every binding needs a key
One binding per key (ignoring case)	duplicate binding for key '…'
Source is document, form, process or cross-check	binding '…': unknown source '…'
Known If missing and Repeats values	binding '…': unknown onMissing '…' / binding '…': unknown cardinality '…'
A repeating block uses a document source	binding '…': a repeating block needs source 'document' (got '…')
A document binding names a role (checklist item, classifier or document type)	binding '…': a document binding needs a role (checklist item, template or document type)
Form, process and cross-check bindings name a field	binding '…': field is required for source '…'
A key is not both a block's sub-key and bound on its own	binding '…': already covered by the repeating block '…'

Every save is recorded in the tenant's audit trail.

Button	What happens	Who	Reversible?
Save	Replaces the template's bindings with the ones on the screen. Takes effect on the next render.	Tenant-management profiles	Yes: change and save again.

Common problems

Message	Cause	What to do
Could not load the bindings for this template.	The template does not exist, was deleted, or the service did not answer.	Check the address; reload.
This template does not have a published version with placeholders yet.	No version is published, or the published one has no placeholders.	Publish a version.
… key(s) without a source: …	Keys of the published version have no binding. They print empty.	Choose a Source, or leave them if empty is right.
Bindings for keys that no longer exist in the document (…) — saving removes them.	The published version no longer contains those keys.	Click Save.
Could not save the bindings.	The service refused the set (see Save).	Check repeating blocks are on document fields.
A Workflow run stops at Generate document with needs review	A Send for review binding found no value.	Fix the case data, or change the rule to Leave blank.
A document group says no classifiers or no fields	Nothing to bind yet.	Create the classifier and define its fields in Vision.

Related

• Templates — upload and publish the version these keys come from.
• Word add-in — bind placeholders while editing in Word.
• Generate document — the phase that uses bindings.
• Render playground — renders with typed values, not bindings.
• Vision administration overview — classifiers and their fields.

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Last reviewed 2026-10-22 · Version 1.0.0 · Owner: product-documentation