Mix and match templates with documents - docusignapi

Question

I have the following requirement:
Five of my documents are generated from our system dynamically. The sixth document is an appendix. It's just a static pdf file. That appendix is 55 pages long.
So far I've been creating the envelope with the five documents, then I pull the appendix from a shared folder on our server, then I send it to docusign. The appendix takes about half of the upload time.
It would be more efficient if I had a template on Docusign that only includes the appendix, then I call it and add my five documents. My concerns are:
Is mixing and matching templates with stand alone documents supported?
The number of recipients and the signing tags change dynamically depending on our business rules. A template requires predefined roles and tags on the template. Is there a way to inject more recipients and tags to an Envelope that uses a template?

Answer 1

Using a "Composite Template" structure in your Create Envelope API request will allow you to create an Envelope using a combination of document(s) from DocuSign template(s) and document(s) specified at runtime via the API request, and gives you fairly dynamic control over recipients as well. For more information about using Composite Templates in a Create Envelope API request, search the API guide (either REST or SOAP) for "Composite".
When you use Composite Templates in your Create Envelope request, each individual Composite Template object in your request has to provide information required for a complete envelope (i.e., at least 1 recipient and 1 document...or a Server Template that defines the documents and/or recipients). Then DocuSign essentially combines all of the recipient and document info from all of your Composite Template objects in the request to form the Envelope. In the case of the example JSON request below, the resulting envelope contains:
3 recipients (populated dynamically via the API request: 1-Abby, 2-Bob, 3-Charlie)
3 documents (the first specified via the API request, the second specified via the API request, the third specified via a DocuSign template)
POST https://demo.docusign.net/restapi/v2/accounts/YOUR_ACCOUNT_NUMBER/envelopes
X-DocuSign-Authentication: {"Username":"YOUR_USER_NAME","Password":"YOUR_PASSWORD","IntegratorKey":"YOUR_INTEGRATOR_KEY"}
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=MY_BOUNDARY
Accept: application/json
--MY_BOUNDARY
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Disposition: form-data
{
"status" : "sent",
"emailSubject" : "Test Envelope",
"compositeTemplates": [
{
"inlineTemplates": [
{
"sequence" : 1,
"recipients": {
"signers" : [{
"email": "abbysEmailAddr#outlook.com",
"name": "Abby Abbott",
"recipientId": "1"
}, {
"email": "bobsEmailAddr#outlook.com",
"name": "Bob Burns",
"recipientId": "2",
"routingOrder":"2"
},
{
"email": "charliesEmailAddr#outlook.com",
"name": "Charlie Carlson",
"recipientId": "3",
"routingOrder":"3"
}]
}
}],
"document": {
"documentId": 1,
"name": "Customer Agreement",
"fileExtension": "pdf"
}
},
{
"inlineTemplates": [
{
"sequence" : 2,
"recipients": {
"signers" : [{
"email": "abbysEmailAddr#outlook.com",
"name": "Abby Abbott",
"recipientId": "1"
}]
}
}],
"document": {
"documentId": 2,
"name": "Test File",
"fileExtension": "pdf"
}
},
{
"serverTemplates": [
{
"sequence" : 1,
"templateId": "YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID"
}],
"inlineTemplates": [
{
"sequence" : 2,
"recipients": {
"signers" : [{
"email": "abbysEmailAddr#outlook.com",
"name": "Abby Abbott",
"recipientId": "1",
"roleName": "Customer",
"routingOrder":"1"
}
]
}
}]
}
]}
--MY_BOUNDARY
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: file; filename="CustomerAgreement.pdf"; documentid="1"
**pdf bytes removed for brevity**
--MY_BOUNDARY
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: file; filename="TestFile.pdf"; documentid="2"
**pdf bytes removed for brevity**
--MY_BOUNDARY--
Using Composite Templates is kind of tricky (and not well documented), so it may require some trial and error to get things to work exactly as you require -- but hopefully this example sheds some light on how Composite Templates can be used to create an envelope from a combination of DocuSign templates and documents specified dynamically via the API request.