Line items

Nearly every Cloudby document, sales and purchase alike, is built from line items through the same editor. Learn it once here and you know it everywhere: quotations, orders, invoices, delivery orders, purchase orders, credit and debit notes all share this one grid and the one calculation behind it.

Anatomy of a line

Reading a line across:

• Product – pulled from the catalogue (the product catalogue when selling, the vendor catalogue when buying), which pre-fills the price, tax and description.
• Description – what prints on the document; it can be auto-copied from the product or typed freely.
• Quantity and unit – how many, in which unit of measure.
• Price – the unit price, defaulted from the catalogue and overridable.
• Discount – a reduction, entered as a percentage or an absolute amount.
• Tax – the tax group applied to the line.
• Amount – the computed line total.

How it behaves

One calculation, everywhere

This is the point of learning it once. Each line is quantity times price to give a subtotal, less the discount, with tax charged on the discounted figure; the document totals are the sums of the lines, where total equals subtotal minus discount plus tax. A quotation, a purchase invoice and a credit note all do this identically, so a subtotal means the same thing wherever you meet it.

Beyond a plain product

A line is not always a simple stock item. It can be a service or fee (billed but not stocked), a loose item whose exact stock is chosen at the point of sale, or a bundle that draws several components at once. The editor handles all of them through the same row, so a mixed document of goods, services and fees still totals cleanly.

Tax and discount per line

Tax and discount are set per line, not just per document, so one invoice can carry taxed and zero-rated lines, or a discount on some items and not others. A line can be priced tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive, and the editor shows the resulting figures either way.

Built for the keyboard

The line editor is made to be driven entirely from the keyboard, so you can build a whole table without reaching for the mouse. Every cell is keyboard-operable whatever its input, a text box, a multi-line editor, a dropdown, a radio choice, all respond to the keyboard. Tab moves you forward through the cells and Shift + Tab back, so you flow across a row and on to the next, filling the entire grid by touch.

Row and column operations

Beyond typing values, you manage the grid itself:

• Reorder rows – set the order lines appear in.
• Delete a row – remove a line outright.
• Duplicate a row – where the document allows it, repeat a similar line without re-keying.
• Editable or read-only columns – some columns can be toggled between editable and locked, an occasional, per-document option.
• Show or hide columns – controls at the foot of the table simplify the grid down to just the columns you need.

Worked example

An invoice has two lines: ten Widget A at 50.00 with a 10% discount, giving 450.00, and one install service at 180.00. The subtotal is 630.00, tax applies to the taxable line, and the total falls out automatically, exactly as it would on the quotation this invoice grew from.

Edge cases and good practice

• Percentage versus amount discount. Use a percentage for a rate and an absolute amount for a negotiated figure; the line shows the effect either way.
• Mind tax-inclusive pricing so a quoted price and the printed tax line agree.
• Use the right line kind – a fee for charges, a loose item for pick-at-sale, rather than forcing everything into a stock line.

Related

• Reference: Product Catalogue (where sales lines come from)
• Reference: Vendor Catalog (where purchase lines come from)
• Reference: Tax Groups (line tax)