BFH Quote

Download

bfhquote.tgz

BFH Quote Template

A LaTeX template for quotations in the BFH corporate design. It is based on the bfhletter package of bfh-ci and KOMA-Script.

The quote positions are kept in a separate Lua data file. The package quotetable.sty reads that file, typesets the position table and calculates all line amounts, the subtotal, VAT and the total. You never edit the table itself, only the list of positions.

Requirements

LuaLaTeX (the table code is written in Lua; pdfLaTeX/XeLaTeX won’t work)
TeX Live or MiKTeX with: bfh-ci, koma-script, tabularray, siunitx, luacode, xcolor, babel, microtype
Optional: latexmk for one-command builds

Files

File	Purpose
`bfhquote.tex`	The quotation letter. Edit quote details, customer and texts here.
`BFH_upn.lco`	Sender data (name, function, phone, e-mail, address).
`positions-quote_01.lua`	Example data file: flat list of positions.
`positions-quote_02.lua`	Example data file: positions grouped by categories.
`quotetable.sty`	Package that builds the position table from the data file.
`.latexmkrc`	Build settings for `latexmk` (LuaLaTeX, output in `_build/`).

Quick start

Enter your sender data in BFH_upn.lco. You can rename the file, e.g. to your BFH short name (BFH_abc1.lco); then change \LoadLetterOption{BFH_upn} in bfhquote.tex accordingly.
In bfhquote.tex, fill in the blocks Quote configuration and Customer.
Create a data file for the positions (copy one of the examples) and select it:
```
\QuoteLoadItems{positions-quote_02.lua}
```

Build:

latexmk            # uses .latexmkrc, PDF ends up in _build/
# or
lualatex bfhquote

Quote positions (data file)

The data file is a plain Lua file that returns a list. Each position has these fields:

Field	Type	Meaning
`Description`	text	Position text; long texts wrap within the column.
`Quantity`	number	Quantity, e.g. `4` or `2.5`.
`Unit`	text	Unit, e.g. `"pcs."`, `"h"`, `"lot"`.
`UnitPrice`	number	Price per unit, e.g. `95.00`.
`Category`	text, optional	Key of a category (see below).

The line amount is Quantity × UnitPrice, rounded to 2 decimals.

Flat list

return {
  { Description = "Some text",  Quantity = 4,  Unit = "pcs.", UnitPrice = 95.00 },
  { Description = "Work to do", Quantity = 10, Unit = "h",    UnitPrice = 86.00 },
}

Positions are numbered 1, 2, 3, …

Grouped by categories

Define each category once with a short key and its heading (Title), then assign positions to it by key:

return {
  { Category = "M", Title = "Material & Parts" },
  { Category = "L", Title = "Labour" },

  { Category = "M", Description = "Board",    Quantity = 4,  Unit = "pcs.", UnitPrice = 95.00 },
  { Category = "L", Description = "Assembly", Quantity = 10, Unit = "h",    UnitPrice = 86.00 },
  { Category = "M", Description = "Case",     Quantity = 4,  Unit = "pcs.", UnitPrice = 354.00 },
  { Description = "Small Parts and Consumables", Quantity = 1, Unit = "lot", UnitPrice = 50.00 },
}

Result:

  Material & Parts
1  Board
2  Case
  Labour
1  Assembly
  Small Parts and Consumables

Rules:

Categories are numbered in the order of their definitions. Positions are numbered in file order within their category, wherever they stand in the file.
Positions without Category are top-level positions at their place in the file.
Category heading rows are tinted and bold.
Typo protection: a position with an undefined key (e.g. Category = "N") stops the build with quotetable: unknown category 'N'. The position is still printed, ungrouped. A key defined twice is also an error.
A category without positions is left out; a warning appears in the log.

Text and numbers

Special characters in texts (& % $ # _ { } ~ ^ \) are escaped automatically. Write "R&D", not "R\\&D".
Write Quantity and UnitPrice as numbers (95.00). A value that isn’t a number (e.g. "95.-") counts as 0.
Lua comments start with --. Every entry ends with a comma.

Customising the table

All settings go into the preamble of bfhquote.tex, after \usepackage{quotetable}.

Currency and VAT are set in the Quote configuration block (\QuoteCurrency, \QuoteVatRate in percent).

Colours. The defaults follow the BFH table colours; override any of them:

\colorlet{QuoteTableHead}{BFH-MediumBlue!35}  % header row
\colorlet{QuoteTableFill}{BFH-MediumBlue!7}   % position rows
\colorlet{QuoteGroupFill}{BFH-MediumBlue!20}  % category heading rows
\colorlet{QuoteTotalFill}{BFH-MediumBlue!15}  % total row

Column widths. The description column takes the remaining width:

\renewcommand\QuoteColPos{0.7cm}         % position, flat list
\renewcommand\QuoteColPosGrouped{1.0cm}  % position, grouped (1.10)
\renewcommand\QuoteColQty{1.0cm}
\renewcommand\QuoteColUnit{1.25cm}
\renewcommand\QuoteColPrice{1.9cm}
\renewcommand\QuoteColAmount{2.1cm}
\renewcommand\QuoteColSep{4pt}           % space between columns

Font of category headings: \renewcommand\QuoteGroupFont{\bfseries}

Additional tabularray options for one table go into the optional argument:

\QuoteTable[row{even} = {bg=white}]

Language of the table texts

The column headings, Subtotal, VAT, Total and the page-break texts follow the babel language of the document, just like \contentsname or \tablename. Set the language in the class options of bfhquote.tex:

\documentclass[ngerman]{scrartcl}        % or nswissgerman, french, italian, ...

Included translations:

Macro	English	German	Swiss German	French	Italian
`\QuotePosName`	Pos.	Pos.	Pos.	Pos.	Pos.
`\QuoteDescriptionName`	Description	Beschreibung	Beschreibung	Désignation	Descrizione
`\QuoteQuantityName`	Qty.	Menge	Menge	Qté	Qtà
`\QuoteUnitName`	Unit	Einheit	Einheit	Unité	Unità
`\QuoteUnitPriceName`	Unit price	Einzelpreis	Einzelpreis	Prix unitaire	Prezzo unitario
`\QuoteAmountName`	Amount	Betrag	Betrag	Montant	Importo
`\QuoteSubtotalName`	Subtotal	Zwischensumme	Zwischensumme	Sous-total	Subtotale
`\QuoteVatName`	VAT	MwSt.	MWST	TVA	IVA
`\QuoteTotalName`	Total	Gesamtbetrag	Total	Total	Totale
`\QuoteContinuedName`	(Continued)	(Fortsetzung)	(Fortsetzung)	(suite)	(continua)
`\QuoteContinuedNextName`	Continued on next page	Fortsetzung auf der nächsten Seite	…	Suite à la page suivante	Continua alla pagina successiva

Language names covered: english, british, UKenglish, american, USenglish, canadian, australian, newzealand; german, ngerman; austrian, naustrian (VAT: USt.); swissgerman, nswissgerman; french, francais, acadian, canadien; italian. Without babel, or for any other language, the English texts are used.

Change a text for one language the babel way, in the preamble:

\addto\captionsngerman{\renewcommand\QuoteDescriptionName{Leistung}}
\addto\captionsenglish{\renewcommand\QuoteQuantityName{Quantity}}

Without babel, use \renewcommand directly.

Add a language with \QuoteTableTranslation (after \usepackage{quotetable}):

\QuoteTableTranslation{spanish}{%
  \def\QuotePosName{Pos.}%
  \def\QuoteDescriptionName{Descripción}%
  \def\QuoteQuantityName{Cant.}%
  \def\QuoteUnitName{Unidad}%
  \def\QuoteUnitPriceName{Precio unitario}%
  \def\QuoteAmountName{Importe}%
  \def\QuoteSubtotalName{Subtotal}%
  \def\QuoteVatName{IVA}%
  \def\QuoteTotalName{Total}%
  \def\QuoteContinuedName{(continuación)}%
  \def\QuoteContinuedNextName{Continúa en la página siguiente}%
}

The other texts of the letter (Quotation details, Payment terms, …) are written directly in bfhquote.tex; translate them there.

Page breaks

The table may break across pages; the header row is repeated and the continuation is marked. Two places never break:

between a category heading and its first position
between the last position and the subtotal/VAT/total block

Build notes

.latexmkrc builds with LuaLaTeX into _build/. To get a copy of the PDF in _output/, enable one of the $success_cmd lines.
.latexmkrc also enables --shell-escape. The template itself doesn’t need it; remove the set_tex_cmds line if you don’t use packages like svg.
The data file is recorded as a dependency, so latexmk rebuilds the PDF when only the positions change.

Troubleshooting

Message	Cause / fix
`This package requires LuaLaTeX`	Compile with `lualatex` (or `latexmk`, which uses `.latexmkrc`).
`quotetable: could not load quote items from …`	File name in `\QuoteLoadItems` is wrong, or the Lua file has a syntax error (missing comma, unclosed quote, brace). The help text shows the Lua error with line number.
`quotetable: unknown category 'X'`	A position uses a key that has no `{ Category = "X", Title = "…" }` definition.
`quotetable: category 'X' is defined twice`	Remove the duplicate definition.
Amount shows `0.00`	`Quantity` or `UnitPrice` is missing, misspelled (field names are case-sensitive) or not a number.