Objectif Lune PlanetPress Connect - 1.4 Instruction Manual

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User Guide

Version:1.4.2

User Guide Version 1.4.2 Last Revision:2016-06-30

Objectif Lune, Inc. 2030 Pie-IX, Suite 500 Montréal, QC, Canada, H1V 2C8

+1 (514) 875-5863

www.objectiflune.com

All trademarks displayed are the property of their respective owners.

© Objectif Lune, Inc. 1994-2016. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced, transmitted or distributed outside of Objectif Lune Inc. by any means whatsoever without the express written permission of Objectif Lune Inc. Inc. Objectif Lune Inc. Inc. disclaims responsibility for any errors and omissions in this documentation and accepts no responsibility for damages arising from such inconsistencies or their further consequences of any kind. Objectif Lune Inc. Inc reserves the right to alter the information contained in this documentation without notice.

Table of Contents 4

Welcome to PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2 7

Icons used in this guide 8

Setup And Configuration 9

System and Hardware Considerations 9

Installation and Activation 16

Server Settings 37

DataMapper Module 41

Basics 41

Features 41

DataMapper User Interface 92

Defining Boolean Values 166

Defining String Values 166

Building String Values 167

Defining Integer Values 168

Building Integer Values 168

Defining Float Values 169

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Building Float Values 169

Defining Currency Values 169

Building Currency Values 170

Defining Date Values 170

Defining Object Values 171

The Designer 174

API 174

Basic Steps 218

Features 220

Designer User Interface 452

Mark Position Options 538

Additional Text 543

Additional Images 543

Additional Barcodes 544

Additional OMRMarks 544

Additional Text Settings 546

Additional Image Settings 547

Barcode Options 548

Standard Barcode Settings 548

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Codabar Settings 550

Code 128 Settings 552

Code 39 Settings 554

Additional Datamatrix Settings 556

Additional EAN 128 Settings 558

Additional EAN 13 Settings 559

Additional EAN 8 Settings 561

Additional Interleave 2 of 5 Settings 563

Additional PDF417 Settings 565

Additional QR Code Settings 567

Additional UPC A Settings 569

Additional UPC E Settings 571

Additional OMR Mark Settings 573

Keystore 578

PDF Signature 580

Legal Notices and Acknowledgements 602

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Welcome to PlanetPress Connect

Note

In our continuous effort to facilitate your PlanetPress Connect experience, our entire documentation is being overhauled. Since we are still in the process of restructuring all this information, expect to see our online help evolve frequently over the next few weeks. We apologize for any inconvenience, but know we are working hard to improve your experience as quickly as possible.

Since we are always looking for new ways to make your life easier, we welcome your questions and comments about our products and documentation. A feedback tool will soon be at the bottom of each page. In the meantime, shoot us an email at

doc@ca.objectiflune.com.

1.4.2

PlanetPress Connect is a series of four tools designed to optimize and automate customer communications management. They work together to improve the creation, distribution, interaction and maintenance of your communications.

The PlanetPress Connect Datamapper and Designer is designed to create output for print, email and the web within a single template and from any data type, including formatted print streams. Output presets applied outside the design phase make printing device independent.

The Designer has an easy-to-use interface that makes it possible for almost anyone to create multi-channel output. More advanced users may use native HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

PlanetPress Connect also includes a process automation server, called Workflow. It is capable of servicing response form web pages and email to provide interactive business communications.

PlanetPress Connect can create documents for tablets and mobile devices that run a free CaptureOnTheGo App. Users with a CaptureOnTheGo subscription can then download documents to their own devices, interact with them and send the captured data back to PlanetPress for conversion into additional documents or workflows.

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This online documentation covers PlanetPress Connect version 1.4.2.

Note

Complementary information that is not critical, but may help you better use PlanetPress Connect.

Tip

Information that is useful or suggests an easier method.

Technical

Information that may require specific knowledge to understand.

Warning

Information that is potentially critical to using PlanetPress Connect. Pay close attention.

Icons used in this guide

Icons are used throughout this guide to point your attention to certain information.

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Setup And Configuration

Note

Windows XP, Windows 2003 and older versions of Windows are not supported by

This chapter describes the PlanetPress Connect installation and the different considerations that are important in regards to the installation and use of PlanetPress Connect.

l "System and Hardware Considerations" below l "Installation and Activation" on page 16 l "Server Settings" on page 37

System and Hardware Considerations

There are a variety of considerations to be aware of. These are documented in the following pages:

l "System Requirements" below l "Environment considerations" on the facing page l "Database Considerations" on page 12 l "Network considerations" on page 12 l "Language and Encoding considerations" on page 13 l "Performance Considerations" on page 13

System Requirements

These are the system requirements for PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2

Operating System (64-bit only)

l Microsoft Windows 2008/2008 R2 Server l Microsoft Windows 2012/2012 R2 Server l Microsoft Windows Vista l Microsoft Windows 7 l Microsoft Windows 8.1 l Microsoft Windows 10

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PlanetPress Connect.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Note

For tips and tricks on performance, see "Performance Considerations" on page 13.

Warning

Copying (duplicating) a Virtual Machine with Connect installed and using both images simultaneously constitutes an infringement of our End-User License Agreement.

Note

While some VMWare (from VMWare, Inc.) and Microsoft virtual machine environments are supported, other virtual environments (such as Parallels, Xen and others) are not supported at this time.

l NTFS Filesystem (FAT32 is not supported) l CPU Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell (4 Core) l 8GB RAM (16GB Recommended) l Disk Space: At least 10GB (20GB recommended)

Environment considerations

Virtual Machine Support

PlanetPress Connect supports VMWare Workstation, VMWare Server, VMWare Player, VMWare ESX, Microsoft Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V/Azure infrastructure environments as software installed on the Guest operating system. PlanetPress Connect does not officially support VMotion under ESX at the moment.

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Terminal Server/Service

PlanetPress Connect does not support Terminal Server (or Terminal Service) environment as possible under Windows 2000, 2003 and 2008. This is to say, if Terminal Service is installed on the server where PlanetPress Connect is located, unexpected behaviours may occur and will not be supported by Objectif Lune Inc.. Furthermore, using PlanetPress Connect in a Terminal Service environment is an infringement of our End-User License Agreement.

Remote Desktop

Tests have demonstrated that PlanetPress Connect can be used through Remote Desktop. It is however possible that certain combination of OS could cause issues. If problems are encountered, please contact OLSupport and we will investigate.

PlanetPress Connect 1.3 and later have been certified under Remote Desktop.

64-bit Operating Systems

PlanetPress Connect is a 64-bit software and can only be installed on 64-bit operating systems.

Antivirus Considerations

l Antivirus software may slow down processing or cause issues if they are scanning in

temporary folders or those used by PlanetPress Connect. Please see KB-002: Antivirus Exclusions for more information.

l Antivirus software might interfere with installation scripts, notably a vbs script to install

fonts. McAfee, in particular, should be disabled temporarily during installation in order for MICR fonts to install and the installation to complete successfully.

Windows Search Indexing Service

Tests have concluded that the Windows Search service, used to provide indexing for Windows Search, can interfere with Connect when installing on a virtual machine. If the installation hangs during the last steps, it is necessary to completely disable this service during installation.

l Click on Start, Run.

Type in services.msc and click OK.

Locate the Windows Searchservice and double-click on it.

Change the Startup Type to Disable, and click Stop to stop the service.

Try the installation again.

Once completely, you may re-enable the service and start it.

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Database Considerations

This page describes the different considerations and pre-requisites for the database back-end used by PlanetPress Connect, whether using the MySQL instance provided by the installer, or pre-existing instance.

Using the MySQL Instance from the Installer

The MySQL Instance provided in the Installation Wizard is already pre-configured with options to provide the most stable back-end setup.

These are the specific options that have been changed in our version of "my.ini":

max_connections = 200 : PlanetPress Connect uses a lot of database connections. This number ensures that even in high volume environments, enough connections will be available.

max_allowed_packet = 500M : In some implementations, especially when using Capture OnTheGo, large packet sizes are required to allow transferring binary files. This substantial packet size maximum setting ensures that the data received by PlanetPress Connect will be able to be stored within the database.

character-set-server = utf8 , collation-server = utf8_unicode_ci , default-characterset=utf8 : These indicate database support for UTF-8/Unicode.

Using a pre-existing MySQL Instance

If MySQL server is already installed and you wish to use it, the following should be taken into consideration:

l The MySQL account must have access to all permissions using the GRANT Command,

including creating databases.

l The database configuration must include the options detailed in the "Using the MySQL

Instance from the Installer" above section.

l The SQL instance must be open to access from other computers. This means the bind-

address option should not be set to 127.0.0.1 or localhost.

Network considerations

The following should be taken into consideration in regards to network settings and communications

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If a local proxy is configured (in the Internet Explorer Optionsdialog, the option Bypass proxy server for local addresses must be checked, or some features depending on

local communication will not work.

Language and Encoding considerations

Please note the following considerations:

Language:

l PlanetPress Connect is currently offered in several languages. These languages

can be switch between via the Preferences dialog. The current languages include:

l English l French l German l Spanish l Italian l Portuguese l Chinese (Simplified) l Chinese (Traditional) l Japanese.

The default language is English. The PlanetPress Connect help system (this document) is currently only available in English.

Encoding:

l Issues can sometimes be encountered in menus and templates when running

PlanetPress Connect on a non-English operating system. These are due to encoding issues and will be addressed in a later release.

Performance Considerations

This page is a comprehensive guide to getting the most performance out of PlanetPress Connect as well as a rough guideline to indicate when it's best to upgrade.

Performance Analysis Details

In order to get the most out of PlanetPress Connect, it is important to determine how best to maximize performance. The following guidelines will be helpful in extracting the best

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performance from PlanetPress Connect before looking into hardware upgrades or extra PlanetPress Connect performance packs.

Job Sizes and Speed: In terms of pure output speed, it's important to first determine what job size is expected, and adjust Scheduling Preferences accordingly. The basic rules are:

l If processing a small number of very large records (when each individual record is

composed of a large number of pages), more instances with an equal amount of speed units is better. For hardware, RAM and Hard Drive speeds are most important, since the smallest divisible part (the record) cannot be split on multiple machines or even cores.

l If creating a very large number of small records (hundreds of thousands of 2-3 page

individual records, for instance), a smaller number of instances with a large number of speed packs would be better. As for hardware, then the number of cores becomes critical, whereas RAM and hard drive are secondary. Performance Packs, as well as the MySQL instance being separate, would be helpful if your most powerful machine starts struggling.

l Mix and match. For example, one instance prioritized for large jobs and the rest for

smaller, quicker jobs. Or the contrary. Or, whatever you want, really.

RAM Configuration: By default, each instance of the Merge Engine and Weaver Engine is set to use 640MB of RAM. This means that regardless of speed units, if not enough memory is available, output speed might not be as expected. Assuming that the machine itself is not running any other software, the rule of thumb is the following: The total number of used memory in the machine should be pretty much the maximum available (around 95%).

For each engine, it's necessary to modify the .ini file that controls its JAVA arguments. Edit as follows:

l For the Merge Engine: see C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL

Connect\MergeEngine\Mergeengine.ini

l For the Weaver Engine: see C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL

Connect\weaverengine\Weaverengine.ini

l The parameters are -Xms640m for the minimum RAM size, -Xmx640m for the

maximum RAM size. Explaining Java arguments is beyond the scope of this document. Please read references here, here and here for more details (fair warning: these can get pretty technical!).

Template and data mapping optimization: Some functionality offered by the Designer modules are very useful, and sometimes downright awesome, but can cause the generation of records and of contents items to slow down due to their nature. Here are some of them:

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Preprocessor and Postprocessor scripts: manipulating data using a script may cause delays before and after the data mapping action has actually taken place, especially file conversion and data enrichment from other sources.

Loading external and network resources: In Designer, using images, javascript or css resources located on a slow network or on a slow internet connection will obviously lead to a loss of speed. While we do our best for caching, a document with 100,000 records which queries a page that takes 1 second to return a different image each time will, naturally, slow output generation down by up to 27 hours.

External JavaScript Librairies: While loading a single javascript library from the web is generally very fast (and only done once for the record set), actually running a script on each generated page can take some time. Because yes, JavaScript will run for each record, and often take the same time for each record.

Inefficient Selectors: Using very precise ID selectors in script wizards can be much faster than using a text selector, especially on very large documents. (more details on this in another upcoming page).

Complex Scripts: Custom scripts with large, complex or non-optimized loops can lead to slowing down content creation. While it is sometimes difficult to troubleshoot, there are many resources online to help learn about JavaScript performance and coding mistakes. Here, here, and here are a few. Note that most resources on the web are about JavaScript in the browser, but the greatest majority of the tips do, indeed, apply to scripts in general, wherever they are used.

High-Performance Hardware

The following is suggested when processing speed is important. Before looking into a Performance Packs to enhance performance, ensure that the below requirements are met.

A physical, non-virtualized server. ESX and VMWare servers are great for reducing the numbers of physical machines in your IT space, but they must share the hardware between each other. While you can create a virtual machine that seems as powerful as a physical, it will still be sharing hardware with any other virtual machines, and this will adversely affect performance.

MySQL Database on a separate machine. MySQL's main possible bottleneck is file I/O, and as such a high-performance setup will require this server to be on a separate machine, ideally with a high-performance, low-latency hard drive. A Solid State Drive (SSD) would be recommended.

High-Quality 16+ GB Ram. This is especially true when working with many server instances ("speed units") running in parallel. The more parallel processing, the more RAM is recommended.

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Note

A PDF version of this guide is available for use in offline installations. Click here to

download it.

4 or 8 physical cores. We're not talking Hyper-Threading here, but physical cores. Hyper-Threading is great with small applications, but the overhead of "switching" between the virtual cores, and the fact that, well, they're virtual, means the performance is much lesser on high-power applications such as OL Connect. In short, a dual-core processor with Hyper-Threading enabled is not equivalent to a quad-core processor.

Installation and Activation

This section provides detailed information about the installation and activation of PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2.

PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2 is comprised of 2 different installers: one for the PlanetPress Connect software and one for PlanetPress Workflow 8.

Where to Obtain the Installers:

The installers for PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2 and PlanetPress Workflow 8 can be obtained on DVD or downloaded as follows:

l If you are a Customer, the installers can be downloaded from the Objectif Lune Web

Activations page: http://www.objectiflune.com/activations

l If you are a Reseller, the installers can be downloaded from the Objectif Lune Partner

Portal: http://extranet.objectiflune.com/

For information on licensing, please see Activating your license.

Installation Pre-Requisites

l Make sure your system meets the System requirements. l PlanetPress Version 1.4.2 can be installed under a regular user account with

Administrator privileges.

You must install on an NTFS file system.

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l PlanetPress requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 already be installed on the target

Note

From PlanetPress Connect Version 1.2 onwards, the new version (1.1.8)of the Update Client is included by default with all setups.

system.

l In order to use the automation feature in Version 1.4.2, you need to install PlanetPress

Workflow 8. This can be installed on the same machine as an existing PlanetPress® Suite 7.6 installation or on a new computer. For more information, please see Information

about PlanetPress Workflow 8.

l As with any JAVA application, the more RAM available, the faster the product will

execute.

Users of Connect 1.1

In order for users of PlanetPress Connect 1.1 to upgrade to any later version through the Update Manager it is necessary to install a later version (1.1.8 or later) of the Objectif Lune Update Client.

If you do not have such a version installed already, the next time you run your Update Client it will show that there is an update available of itself to Version 1.1.8 (or later).

Simply click on the download button in the dialog to install the new version of the Update Client. Note that it is no problem to run the update while the Client is open. It will automatically update itself.

Once you have done this, PlanetPress Connect 1.4.2 will become available for download.

Users of Connect 1.0

Users of this Connect version 1.0 cannot upgrade directly to Version 1.4.2. This is because Connect Version 1.0 is a 32 bit version of Connect. Users must first upgrade to Version 1.1 and from there upgrade to Version 1.4.2

If you are updating manually you must first upgrade to Version 1.1 before installing 1.4.2. If you attempt go directly from Version 1.0 to Version 1.4.2 the installation will fail.

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Also see "Users of Connect 1.1" on the previous page for extra information about updating from that version.

Installing PlanetPress Connect on Machines without Internet Access

In order to install PlanetPress Connect it is necessary for the GoDaddy Root Certificate Authority to be installed (G2 Certificate) on the host machine and for this to be verified online. When a machine hosting the installation does not have access to the Internet, the installation will fail because the verification cannot be performed. To solve this problem you must first ensure that all Windows updates have been installed on the host machine. You then need to complete the following steps:

1. Go to https://certs.godaddy.com/repository and download the following two certificates to copy to the offline machine:

l GoDaddy Class 2 Certification Authority Root Certificate - G2 - the file is gdroot-

g2.crt

l GoDaddy Secure Server Certificate (Intermediate Certificate) - G2 - the file is

gdig2.crt

2. Install the certificates: Right mouse click -> Install Certificate, and follow the steps through the subsequent wizard.

3. Now copy the PlanetPress Connect installer to the offline machine and start the installation as normal

Installation Wizard

Starting the PlanetPress Connect installer

The PlanetPress Connect installer may be supplied as an ISO image or on a DVD:

l If an ISO image, either burn the ISO onto a DVD or unzip the contents to a folder (keeping

the folder structure)

l If on a DVD, either insert the DVD and initiate the installation from there or copy the

contents to a folder (keeping the folder structure)

Navigate to the PlanetPress_Connect_Setup_x64.exe or and double-click on it. After a short while the Setup Wizard will appear as a guide through the installation steps.

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Note

PlanetPress Connect requires prior installation of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (please refer to

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21 for more details).

Selecting the required components

After clicking the Next button, the component selection page appears, where the different components of PlanetPress Connect can be selected for installation. Currently, the following are available:

PlanetPress Connect Designer: The Designer module. It may be used as a standalone with no other installed modules, but it will not have certain capabilities such as automation and commingling.

PlanetPress Connect Server: The Server back-end giving capabilities such as automation, commingling, picking. It saves all entities generated from the Automation module into a database for future use.

MySQL Product: The database used by the PlanetPress Connect Engine to save its items. This item is optional if an existing MySQL server, either on the same computer or a separate server, is to be used.

Installation Path: This is the location where modules are to be installed.

The installer can also calculate how much disk space is required for installing the selected components as well as how much space is available:

Disk space required: Displays the amount of space required on the disk by the selected components.

Disk space available on drive: Displays the amount of space available for installation on the drive currently in the Installation Path.

Recalculate disk space: Click to re-check available disk space. This is useful if space has been made available for the installation while the installer was open.

Source repository location: Displays the path where the installation files are located. This can be a local drive, installation media, or a network path.

Selection Confirmation

The next page confirms the installation selections made. Click Next to start the installation itself.

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End User License Agreement

Note

When updating from an earlier Connect version, the appropriate MySQL password must be entered or the update will fail.

If the password is subsequently forgotten, then the MySQL product must be uninstalled and its database deleted from disk before attempting to reinstall.

The next page displays the End User License Agreement, which needs to be read and accepted before clicking Next.

MySQL Configuration

The Default Database Configuration page only appears if the MySQL Product module was selected in the Product Selection screen. It defines the administrative password for the MySQL server as well as which port it uses for communication. Note that the installer will automatically configure the Server to use the supplied password and port.

MySQL user 'root' Password: Enter the password for the 'root', or administration account, for the MySQL server. The password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least one of each of the following:

l a lower case character (a, b, c ... ) l an upper case character (A, B, C ...) l a numeric digit (1, 2, 3 ...) l a punctuation character (@, $, ~ ...)

For example:"Th1sIs@K"

Confirm 'root' Password: Re-enter to confirm the password. Both passwords must match for installation to continue.

TCP/IP Port Number: The port on which MySQL will expect, and respond to, requests. A check is run to confirm whether the specified TCP\IP Port Number is available on the local machine. If it is already being used by another service (generally, an existing MySQL installation), the number is highlighted in red and a warning message is displayed at the top of the dialog.

Allow MySQL Server to accept non-local TCP connections: Click to enable external access to the MySQL server. This is required if MySQL Server will need to be accessed

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from any other machine. It is also required if MySQL is on a separate machine than

Note

The last option may represent a security risk if the machine is open to the internet. It is recommended to ensure your firewall blocks access to port 3306 from external requests!

PlanetPress Connect.

The Database Connection page appears if the MySQL Product module was not selected. It defines the necessary information required to connect to an existing database.

Database Configuration: Select the database type to use for the PlanetPress Connect Engine. Currently, only MySQL is supported.

Administrator Username: Enter the username for a user with administrative rights on the database. Administrative rights are required since tables need to be created in the database. If accessing a database on a different machine, the server must also be able to accept non-local TCPconnections, and the username must also be configured to accept remote connection. For example, the "root"MySQLuser entered as root@localhost is not allowed to connect from any other machine than the one where MySQLis installed.

Administrator Password: Enter the password for the above user. The appropriate MySQL password must be entered or the Connect installation will fail.

TCP/IP Port Number: Enter the port on which the database server expects connections. For MySQL, this is 3306 by default.

Database Host Name: Enter the existing database server's IP or host name.

Server Schema/Table: Enter the name of the MySQL database into which the tables will be created. The Connect standard name is "objectiflune".

Test Connection button: Click to verify that the information provide into previous fields is valid by connecting to the database.

PlanetPress Connect Server Configuration

The Server Configuration page is where the Server component is configured.

Run Server as: Defines the machine username and password that thePlanetPress Connect Server module's service uses. This account should be administrator on the

local machine. Note that the "Server Security Settings" on page 37 dialog can only be executed from the user specified here.

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l l

Username: The username the service uses to login. If the machine is on a domain, use the format domain\username.

Password: The password associated with the username.

Validate user button: Click to verify that the entered username and password combination is correct and that the service is able to login. This button must be clicked and the user validated before the Next button becomes available.

Click Next to start the actual installation process. This process can take several minutes.

Completing the installation

This screen describes a summary of the components that have been installed.

Configure Update Check checkbox: This option is enabled by default. It causes the Product Update Manager to run after the installation is complete. This allows

configuring PlanetPress Connect to regularly check for entitled updates. Note: this checkbox may not be available in the event that an issue was encountered during the installation.

Show Log... : If an issue was encountered during the installation, click this button to obtain details. This information can then be provided to Objectif Lune for troubleshooting.

l When ready, click the Finish button to close the installation wizard, and initialize the

Product Update Manager, if it was selected.

The Product Update Manager

If the Configure Update Check option has been selected, the following message will be displayed after clicking “Finish” in the setup:

Click “Yes” to install or open the Product Update Manager where the frequency with which the updates can be checked and a proxy server (if required) can be specified. Note: if the Product Update Manager was already installed by another Objectif Lune application, it will be updated to the latest version and will retain the settings previously specified.

Select the desired options and then click OK to query the server and obtain a list of any updates that are available for your software.

l Note that the Product Update Manager can also be called from the “Objectif Lune Update

Client” option in the Start menu.

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l It can be uninstalled via Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features.

Technical

Before activating the software, please wait 5 minutes for the database to initialize. If the software is activated and the services rebooted too quickly, the database can become corrupted and require a re-installation.

Product Activation

After installation, it is necessary to activate the software. See Activating your license for more information.

How to Run Connect Installer in Silent Mode

The trigger for the Connect Installer to run in silent mode is a text file with the fixed name install.properties, which is located either in the same folder as the PlanetPress_Connect_ Setup_x86_64.exe or in the unpacked folder of the installer.exe.

The file needs to be a properties file with the following line types:

l Comment Lines, starting with # (e.g. # The options to configure an external database) l Key=Value pairs (e.g. install.product.0 = Connect Designer)

For supported keys, please refer to the next paragraph.

Required and Optional Properties

Here is an example of an install.properties file.

# Verbose logging

logging.verbose = true

# Product selection

install.product.0 = Connect Designer

install.product.1 = Connect Server

# Server settings

server.runas.username = Localadmin

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server.runas.password = admin

# Database configuration

database.type = mysql

database.host = 192.168.116.10

database.port = 3308

database.username = root

database.password = admin

database.schema = my_ol

Verbose Logging (Optional)

By default, the Silent Installer will log in the same way as the GUI installer. That means logging of error and warnings, and certain information during database configuration. A more verbose logging can be switched on by using logging.verbose = true.

Product Selection (Optional)

By default, the Silent Installer will install all products which are visible to the user in the respective brand (except for the Server Extension, because only Server or Server Extension can be installed at the same time).

However, it is possible to define the products to be installed using their visible product names, and using a counter for the install.product property, e.g.

l install.product.0 = Connect Designer l install.product.1 = Connect Server

Other possible product names are Connect Print Manager, Connect Server Extension and MySQL Product.

Server / Extension configuration (required if Server / Extension is selected for install)

For both, Server and Server Extension, the user credentials who will be running the Server service need to be provided:

l server.runas.username l server.runas.password

Additionally for the Server Extension, some properties to define the Master Server are required:

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l server.master.host l server.master.port l server.master.authenticate = true_or_false l server.master.username l server.master.password

Database configuration

If the MySQL Product is part of the installation, the following properties should be defined:

l database.type = mysql (required) l database.password (required, needs to match the security rules) l database.port (optional, the default is 3306. The defined port needs to be available.)

Additional properties are required when the configuration of an external MySQL database is required (this is the case if a Server product but not MySQL product is installed):

l database.host l database.username

Optionally, the "schema" name can be defined (the default is objectiflune):

database.schema

Information about PlanetPress Workflow 8

If you wish to use PlanetPress Workflow (automation) in conjunction with PlanetPress Connect, you will need to install PlanetPress Workflow 8 onto the same machine. Workflow 8 is provided through a separate installer which is available on CD or for download as follows:

l If you are a Customer, the installer can be downloaded from the Objectif Lune Web

Activations page: http://www.objectiflune.com/activations

l If you are a Reseller, the installer can be downloaded from the Objectif Lune Partner

Portal: http://extranet.objectiflune.com/

PlanetPress Workflow 8 can be installed in parallel on the same machine as an existing PlanetPress® Suite 7.x installation. Note however:

l If both versions need to be hosted on the same machine, PlanetPress Workflow 8 should

always be installed after the legacy PlanetPress® Suite 7.x installation.

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l When uninstalling PlanetPress Workflow 8, you may be prompted to repair your legacy

PlanetPress® Suite 7.x installation.

l If PlanetPress Workflow 8 has been installed alongside PlanetPress® Suite 7, Capture

can no longer be used with Workflow 7. The plugins are now registered uniquely to Workflow 8 and the messenger for Workflow 7 is taken offline. It is only then possible to use Capture from PlanetPress Workflow 8.

l PlanetPress Workflow 8 and PlanetPress® Workflow 7 cannot run simultaneously, since

only one version of the Messenger service can run at a time. In fact, no 2 versions of PlanetPress Workflow can on the same machine simultaneously, whatever version is installed.

l It is possible to switch between different versions running by shutting down one version's

services and then starting the other. However, this is not recommended. There are no technical limitations that prevent processes from previous PlanetPress Workflow versions (as far back as Version 4) to run on PlanetPress Workflow 8, removing the need to run both versions.

For more information on the licensing of Workflow 8, please see Activating your license.

Activating a License

PlanetPress Connect and PlanetPress Workflow 8 includes separate 30 day trial periods during which it is not necessary to have a license for reviewing basic functionality. If a modification to the license if required, such as to allow an extension to the trial period, or for extra functionality or plugins (e.g., the PReS Plugin for Workflow 8), then a new activation code will need to be requested.

Obtaining the PlanetPress Connect Magic Number

To obtain an activation file the OL™ Magic Number must first be retrieved. The Magic Number is a machine-specific code that is generated based on the computer's hardware and software using a top-secret Objectif Lune family recipe. Each physical computer or virtual computer should have a different Magic Number, thus require a separate license file to be functional.

To get the PlanetPress Connect Magic Number, open the PlanetPress Connect Designer application:

Open the Start Menu

Click on All Programs, then Objectif Lune, then PlanetPress Connect

Open the PlanetPress Connect Designer [version] shortcut.

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l When the application opens, if it has never been activated or the activation has expired,

the Software Activation dialog appears:

License Information section:

Magic Number: Displays the PlanetPress Connect Magic Number.

Copy to Clipboard: Click to copy the Magic Number to the clipboard. It can then be pasted in the activation request email using the CTRL+V keyboard shortcut.

Licensed Products section:

Name: Displays the name of the application or module relevant to this activation.

Serial Number: Displays the activation serial number if the product has been activated in the past.

Expiration Date: Displays the date when the activation will expire (or the current date if the product is not activated)

Web Activations: Click to be taken to the online activation page (not yet functional).

End-User License Agreement (Appears only when loading a license file):

License: This box displays the EULA. Please note that this agreement is legally binding.

I agree: Select to accept the EULA. This option must be selected to install the license.

I don't agree: Select if you do not accept the EULA. You cannot install the license if this option is selected.

Load License File: Click to browse to the .olconnectlicense file, once it has been received.

Install License: Click to install the license and activate the software (only available when a license file is loaded).

Close: Click to cancel this dialog. If a license file has been loaded, it will not automatically be installed.

The Software Activation dialog can also be reached through a shortcut located in All Programs, then

Objectif Lune, then PlanetPress Connect and is named Software Activation. Since it does not

load the software, it is faster to access for the initial activation.

Requesting a license

After getting the Magic Number, a license request must be done for bothPlanetPress Connect and Workflow 8:

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Customersmust submit their Magic Number and serial number to Objectif Lune via the Web Activations page: http://www.objectiflune.com/activations. The OL Customer Care team will then send the PlanetPress Connect license file via email.

Resellerscan create an evaluation license via the the Objectif Lune Partner Portal by following the instructions there: http://extranet.objectiflune.com/

Note that if you do not have a serial number, one will be issued to you by the OL Activations team.

Accepting the license will activate it, after which the PlanetPress Connect services will need to be restarted. Note that in some case the service may not restart on its own. To resolve this issue, restart the computer, or start the service manually from the computer's Control Panel.

Activating PlanetPress Workflow 8

PlanetPress Workflow 8 uses the same licensing scheme as PlanetPress Connect. There are two ways of activating the license for Workflow 8 after saving it to a suitable location:

l If only PlanetPress Workflow 8 is installed, double-click on the license for the PlanetPress

Workflow 8 License Activation dialog to open. Applying the license here activates all of the Workflow 8 components.

If you have both PlanetPress Workflow 8 and PlanetPress Connect installed, it will not be possible to double-click on the license file as this will always open the PlanetPress Connect Activations Tool. Instead, open PlanetPress Workflow 8 manually and apply the license through the activations dialog within.

Activating PlanetPress Connect

To activate PlanetPress Connect, simply save the license file somewhere on your computer where you can easily find it, such as on your desktop. You can then load the license by doubleclicking on it, or through the start menu:

Open the Start Menu

Click on All Programs, then Objectif Lune, then PlanetPress Connect

Open the PlanetPress Connect Designer [version] shortcut. The “PlanetPress Connect Software Activation” tool displays information about the license and the End-User License

Agreement (EULA).

Click the Load License File button.

l Read the EULA and click I agree option to accept it.

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Click Install License to activate the license. The license will then be registered on the computer and you will be able to start using the software.

After installation message will appear warning that the Server services will need to be restarted. Just click OK to proceed.

Migrating to a new computer

Currently there are no special migration tools to move data from one PlanetPress Connect installation to another. Instructions for migration will be available for later versions of the software when those tools become available.

User accounts and security

Permissions for PlanetPress Connect Designer

PlanetPress Connect Designer does not require any special permissions to run besides a regular program. It does not require administrative rights and only needs permission to read/write in any folder where Templates or Data Mapping Configurations are located.

If generating Print output, PlanetPress Connect Designer requires permission on the printer or printer queue to send files.

Permissions for PlanetPress Connect Server

The PlanetPress Connect Server module, used by the Automation module, requires some special permissions to run. These permissions are set during installation, in the Engine Configuration section of the Installation Wizard, but it can also be configured later by modifying permissions for the service. To do this:

l In Windows, open the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then Services (this may

depend on your operating system).

l Locate the service called Serverengine_UUID , where UUID is a series of characters that

depend on the machine where the software is installed.

Right-click on the service and select Properties.

In the Connection tab, define the account name and password that the service should use. This can be a local account on the computer or an account on a Windows Domain. The account must have administrative access on the machine. It should also correspond to the user account set up in PlanetPress Worfklow.

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The Importance of User Credentials on Installation and Running

OL Connect and required credentials depends heavily on the Connect component and respective tasks and what sort of user credentials are needed.

First of all, it is important to distinguish between installation and run-time

Installation

The Connect installer puts all required files, folders, registry entries and much more to their correct places and locations. As many of these locations are protected against malicious accesses, that very user under whose context the Connect installation is started and running, needs very extensive rights on the respective computer. This user must belong to the Local Administrators group on that machine. Here are some required capabilities, this user:

l Must be able to write into the "Programs" folder. l Must be allowed to check for existing certificates and must also be allowed to install new

ones into the global certificate store on that machine.

l Must be able to write into HKLM and any subtree of it in the registry. l Must be able to INSTALL, START and RUN services and also to MODIFY service

settings.

l Must be known in the network the machine belongs to and must also need to be able to

use shared network resources like shared drives and/or printers etc.

This list may not be complete, but it gives the extent of the requirements. Generally, the local administrator of the machine will have all these credentials, but there may exist network restrictions and policies, which will block one or more of these capabilities. In such cases, the respective network administrator should provide a valid user account for the installation.

User Account

The user account shall be used to later RUN one of the Connect Server flavors (Server or Server Extension). This dedicated user account has to be entered on the respective installer dialog page and must be allowed to START, STOP and RUN services on this machine. This is different from the credentials of the installation user account, which additionally requires the right to INSTALL services. Please be aware of this fact!

Additionally, the Server user must be able to access any network resources that are required for OL Connect to function properly. This includes e.g. additional drives, printers, scanners, other

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computers and, where appropriate, internet resources, URLs, mail servers, FTP servers, database servers and everything else planned to be used for the intended operation of Connect. The Server user is the run-time user.

Connect Components

Usually, a standard end user will only be facing Connect Designer and maybe the License Activation Tool. Designer this does not require administrator rights. Either everything required to create documents or also to run some tasks will be already available (installed by the installer) or be accessible in a way, where no specific credentials are required. However some tasks like starting an email campaign will possibly require a respective account at a mail server. But this has generally nothing to do with the credentials of the Designer user.

Activation Tool

To run the Software Activation Tool, administrator rights are required because this tool needs to write the license file in one of the protected folders of Windows. The tool will however allow to restart it with respective credentials if required.

MySQL

MySQL database service is installed by the install user (thus again the requirement of installing, starting, running and modifying services). Once running it will just work.

Merge and Weaver Engines

These components do run under the Designer (if only Designer is installed) or the Server / Extension service(s) and inherit the rights of their parent application.

Server (Extension) Configuration Tool

This component needs to access the settings of the Server. As these are stored and read by the Server, it should be clear that the user used to run the Configuration tool should be the same as the Server Service user as explained above.

Upgrading from PlanetPress Suite 7.6

This document is intended for people who already received their upgrade to PlanetPress Connect. They should already have their new serial number(s) in hand and the PlanetPress Connect installers.

With the release of PlanetPress Connect, Objectif Lune’s innovative new technology, existing users of PlanetPress Suite version 7 and 6 have the possibility to migrate to an introductory version of PlanetPress Connect called “PlanetPress Connect Print-Only”.

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This migration benefits existing users in many ways and has limited impact on their current processes and how they use PlanetPress Suite version 7 and 6.

This document provides information on the migration process and the requirements and considerations for existing PlanetPress Suite users to upgrade to the latest generation of our products.

PlanetPress Connect Print-Only is available for existing users of PlanetPress version 7 or 6 with a valid OL Care agreement. If you are using a previous version or are not covered by OL Care, please contact your reseller or your Objectif Lune Account Manager for more information.

What does PlanetPress Connect Contain?

PlanetPress Connect is comprised of the following modules:

l PlanetPress Workflow 8. This is the natural evolution of PlanetPress® Workflow 7

(Watch, Office or Production).PlanetPress Workflow 8 is very similar to PlanetPress® Workflow 7 version but contains new features and has the ability to run PlanetPress Connect, PlanetPress Suite, PrintShop Mail and PReS Documents.

Imaging for PlanetPress Connect is available as an option. It contains:

l PlanetPress Fax l PlanetPress Image l PlanetPress Search

PlanetPress Capture is still supported in PlanetPress Workflow 8 but only with documents created with the PlanetPress Design 7.

l PlanetPress Connect Designer. This is the design tool based on completely new

technology. It is not backwards compatible and therefore cannot open PlanetPress Design 7 documents. If you need to continue editing those documents you can keep

doing so in PlanetPress Design 7.

l PlanetPress Connect Server. This is the core of the Connect technology. This new

module automates the merging of data with your new templates and generates the output. It is required for PlanetPress Workflow 8 to handle templates created with the PlanetPress Connect Designer. It can be installed on the same or a different machine as PlanetPress Workflow 8.

IMPORTANT: PlanetPress Connect does not contain the PlanetPress Design 7.

GOOD NEWS: PlanetPress Connect does not need any printer licenses to print from

PlanetPress Connect or PlanetPress Suite. It can also print PrintShop Mail 7 and PReS 6 documents if these programs are licensed.

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You can keep everything you have

The first thing to know is that you can keep your current PlanetPress Workflow 7 configuration and your PlanetPress Design documents. When upgrading to PlanetPress Connect, they will remain functional.

Please note that PlanetPress Workflow 7 and PlanetPress Workflow 8 cannot run at the same time. See Information about PlanetPress Workflow 8 for information about these limitations. The only exception is the PlanetPress Suite Design tool that you can continue to use as it is not part of PlanetPress Connect.

For customers upgrading to the free “Print only” version, if you wish you to continue your OL Care engagement, the next year will be priced at the same price as your current price.

For customer upgrading to the full version of PlanetPress Connect, with or without new options, the next year of OL Care will be priced at the value of the new software you upgraded to.

Before going into any further details, please read the following section carefully.

PlanetPress Connect installation considerations

PlanetPress Suite could run by default on a computer with a minimum of 1GB of RAM available. The PlanetPress Connect Server with PlanetPress Workflow 8, by default, requires 8 GB of RAM but if you intend on using the new PlanetPress Connect Designer on the same computer, you should consider having at least 12 GB of RAM available. See System

requirements.

Distributed installation or not

You can decide to install PlanetPress Connect modules all on the same computer or have each module on a different computer. Reasons for this could be:

l There is insufficient memory in the computer currently running PlanetPress Workflow 8 to

also run PlanetPress Connect Server.

l You want to use a more powerful computer with more RAM and more cores to run the

Server to achieve maximum performance.

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What do I gain by upgrading to PlanetPress Connect?

PlanetPress Watch users

When upgrading to PlanetPress Connect, you receive key features of PlanetPress Office such as the following:

l Ability to input data from PDF l Ability to print your PlanetPress Suite documents on any Windows printer (no need for

printer licenses)

l Ability to create standard PDF output from your PlanetPress Suite documents l Even if you don’t recreate your existing PlanetPress Suite documents, you can easily

change your workflow to convert your output to PDF, then output them in PCL to any device supporting it.

NOTE: If you were a PlanetPress Production user, you retain all functionalities within

PlanetPress Workflow 8. These are automatically imported during the activation (see below).

Re-purpose your existing documents

IMPORTANT: PlanetPress Suite users covered by a valid OL Care contract receive a “Print

only” version of PlanetPress Connect which can produce printed output. If you also own PlanetPress Imaging, which can produce PDF, Tiff and other archive formats, you will also receive a new version.

The full version of PlanetPress Connect can open your company to the digital world by enabling you to send HTML responsive emails as well as creating dynamic responses and interactive web pages. All that for a minimal fee. For more information on the full version of PlanetPress Connect, contact your reseller or your Objectif Lune Account Manager.

Upgrade to the full multi-channel version and expand onto the Web

If you choose to take the optional “multi-channel” upgrade, you can start right away to reuse the content of your existing documents and map it onto responsive documents that can be sent by email in full HTML glory and/or make them available as native HTML web pages using the latest CSS/JavaScript features.

IMPORTANT: If you owned them, you must also upgrade your Imaging modules to use the new PReS version.

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Create new documents and integrate them into your workflow at your own pace

You can start benefiting from the innovative technology of the new PlanetPress Connect Designer right away by designing new documents, or re-doing existing ones at your own pace. With PlanetPress Connect Print-Only, you can now:

l Use the new Data Mapper to easily map any input data into a clean data model that any

designer person can use

l Easily create documents with tables that spread over multiple print pages, respecting

widow and orphan rules, displaying sub-totals and totals properly

l Have text that wrap around images

Upgrade steps

1. To upgrade to PlanetPress Connect, the first step is to stop your PlanetPress Workflow services. You can do so from the PlanetPress Workflow configuration tool or from the Windows Service Management console.

2. Then, using the PlanetPress Connect setup, install the Designer and/or Server on the appropriate computers. Then, using the PlanetPress Workflow 8 setup, install PlanetPress Workflow and/or PlanetPress Image on the appropriate computers. (See the installation and activation document for more details)

3. If you installed PlanetPress Workflow 8 on the same computer where you had PlanetPress Suite Workflow 6 or 7, you can use the Upgrade Wizard to import your:

l PlanetPress Workflow:

l Processes configuration l PlanetPress Suite compiled documents l Service configuration l Access manager configuration l Custom plug-ins

l PlanetPress Fax settings l PlanetPress Image settings l PlanetPress Search profiles l Printer activation codes l PlanetPress Capture database l PlanetPress Capture pen licenses l Custom scripts l Content of your virtual drive l PlanetPress Messenger configuration

If you installed PlanetPress Workflow 8 on a different computer, contact support for

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help importing all those settings, if you wish to import them.

4. To launch the Upgrade wizard, open the PlanetPress Workflow 8 configuration tool and, from the Tools menu, launch the Upgrade Wizard.

IMPORTANT: Before you start this process, make sure you have a backup of your current installation/computer.

5. Then select your upgrade type:

6. Then select the product from which you wish to upgrade:

7. If you selected to do a Custom upgrade, select the required options:

8. Then finally review the log in the final dialog for details on how it went:

9. After that you will need to get the activation file for your product.

To obtain your activation, download the PlanetPress Connect installer from the Web

Activation Manager, follow the instructions for the installation using the serial number

provided to you. You can activate your license through the Web Activation Manager.

10. From now on, if you need to modify your PlanetPress Design documents, simply open PlanetPress Design 6 or 7, edit your document and send the updated version to PlanetPress Workflow 8. In order to do that:

l If you have the PlanetPress Design on the same computer as the PlanetPress

Workflow 8, you need to save the documents to PTK by using the “Send to” menu, then "PlanetPress Workflow”, and there use the “Save to file” button. Then, from the PlanetPress Workflow 8 configuration tool, in the “Import” menu, select “Import a PlanetPress Document” and select the previously saved file.

l If you have the PlanetPress Design on a computer and the PlanetPress Workflow 8

on another, you can simply use the “Send to” menu in the Designer and select the

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PlanetPress Workflow 8 to which you want to send the PlanetPress Design

Warning

It is highly recommended to keep security enabled and change the password on any server that accessible from the web. If these precautions are not taken, data saved in the server may be accessible from the outside!

document.

Server Settings

This chapter describes the different considerations that are important in regards to the use of PlanetPress Connect Server.

l "Server Security Settings" below l "Server Extension Settings" below

Server Security Settings

This dialog controls the security settings for external applications connecting to the PlanetPress Connect Server, such as PlanetPress Workflow or scripts communicating through the REST API.

Enable server security: Enable to add authentication to the REST server. When disabled, a username and password is not required to make REST request, and tasks in PlanetPress Workflow does not require them in the Proxy tab.

Administrator's username: Enter the username for the server security. The default username is ol-admin.

Administrator's password: Enter a password for the server security. The default password is secret.

Confirm password: Re-enter the password for the server security.

Default session length (min): Enter a session time (in minutes) that the authentication stays valid for the requested process. This can reduce the number of requests to the server since an authentication request is not necessary during the session.

Server Extension Settings

This dialog controls the different settings for the PlanetPress Connect Server Extension.

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The Preferences dialog is separated into individual pages, where each page controls certain aspects of the software.

The following Preferences pages are available:

l "Cleanup Service preferences" on page 460 l "Server Extension Scheduling Preferences" on page 40 (these are different in the Server

Extension preferences)

l Merge Engine Scheduling l Weaver Engine Scheduling

l "Server Security Settings" on the previous page

Server Clustering

Server Clustering, available in PlanetPress Connect, enhances the processing capabilities of PlanetPress Connect Server by load-balancing jobs between the main Server module (master) and one or more Server Extension installations.

Setting up Server Clustering requires two or more installations of PlanetPress Connect on separate machines. The Master server is setup by installing the PlanetPress Connect Server module during the Installation Wizard, while the Slave Server is setup by installing the PlanetPress Connect Server Extension module instead.

Quick Howto

1. Install the Master server (PlanetPress Connect Server module), making sure to select the MySQL module.

2. Set the appropriate bindings in MySQL's my.ini file on the Master server.

3. Grant access to the MySQL root user for the appropriate IP range on the Master server.

4. Restart the MySQL Service on the Master server.

5. Install Slave servers (PlanetPress Connect Server Extension module).

6. Install the license on the Master server (a Performance Pack license is required).

7. Set the preferences for the engines (see Scheduling Preferences) on both the Master and Slaves

8. Install the license on the Slave servers

9. Restart the Master server then, once restarted, restart the Slave servers.

What if MySQL is not on the Master server?

It is possible to setup clustering with a MySQL instance that is on a Slave server instead of on the master. In this case, the Slave server must be installed with the Server Extension and

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MySQL modules, the MySQL instance configured (steps 2-4 above) then the master and other slaves can be installed. The remainder of the instructions remain the same.

It is also possible to setup clustering with MySQL being installed completely separately from PlanetPress Connect, such as using an existing MySQL instance. In this case, the instructions for the bind address must be followed, but the user does not have to be root. A user for MySQL must, however, be created and have full access (GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES) to a database called "objectiflune" that can be created before Connect is installed.

Binding and Root access on the Master server

l The MySQL server's binding must be set to accept connections from the slave servers. To

do this, open C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL Connect\MySQL Product\MySQL\my.ini in a text editor and change the line bind-address= 127.0.0.1 to bind-

address=0.0.0.0.

Once the changes have been made and saved you need to restart the MySQL services.

l Access must be granted to the root user on the IPs from which the Slave server will

connect:

l Open a Command Prompt in the following folder: C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL

Connect\MySQL Product\MySQL\bin (tip: navigate to the folder, SHIFT+Right-click and select "Open a command prompt here!).

l Type in the following command to connect to the database, where <password> is

your MySQL password (by default it is admin):

mysql --user=root --password=<password> objectiflune

l You should see the prompt become mysql>. Here, type the command to allow the

"root" user to be accessed from a specific IP subnet range. For example, to accept communication on 192.168.*.*, use: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON

objectiflune TO 'root'@'192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0' IDENTIFIED BY 'password' , where password is the one provided during installation. (ref:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-security-excerpt/5.5/en/adding-users.html)

IP Subnets understanding is beyond the scope of this documentation. If you want to learn more, please see the Subnetwork article on Wikipedia.

Clustering Preferences and Setup

When server extensions are installed and connected to a Master, the following options and settings change in availability or behavior:

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l In the Scheduling Preferences of the Slave, both "Maximum Records" are ignored.

Scheduling is handled by the Master.

l The "Expected Remote Merge Engine" and "Expected Remote Weaver Engine" in Merge

Engine Scheduling and Weaver Engine Scheduling respectively, on the Master, should

each equal the total number of engines in all the slaves combined.

For example, the Expected Remote Merge Engine on the Master should equal the total of "Local Engines Launched" for each slave.

If the number of expected remote engines is lower than the actual number, performance will not be optimal.

If the number of expected remote engines is higher than the actual number, jobs may fail and not complete.

l Cleanup Service requires special configuration on Clustering setups:

l Cleanup service should not run simultaneously on all machines (staggered

cleanup). Doing so may cause jobs not to be processed since all servers are busy.

l Only the machine where the MySQL Server product is installed should attempt to

cleanup database items. Essentially server that do not have MySQL should only run Orphan File Cleanup.

Server Extension Scheduling Preferences

The Server Extension Scheduling Preferences define the connection settings for the server extension (slave) and the main Server module (master).

Location of the master server: Enter the location and port of the main Server module in the hostname:port format. For example, 192.168.100.123:9340 or connect-master:9340.

Username: Enter the username expected by the OLConnect Server.

Password: Enter the password expected by the OLConnect Server for the above username.

Note that Maximum records in a small job and Minimum records in a large job:are note used in Server Extensions. All server scheduling is handled by the Master.

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DataMapper Module

The DataMapper Module is a tool that helps in the preparation of data for a unified data model. You can then use that Data Model in the Designer module.

The tool does this through the use of a data mapping workflow consisting of multiple steps which extract data from each Source Record of a Data Source and places this data in a Data Model. This Data Model contains all the necessary information for the creation of a template in the Designer module. (see Data Model for more information)

Basics

Here is the procedure for a Data Mapping configuration that includes the steps required for a data extraction from a data source:

Create a new Data Mapping configuration. First, you create a new Data Mapping configuration manually from a file or by automatically using a wizard. In this first step, you select a Data Source. See Creating a

new Data Mapping configuration.

Configure settings for the data source. In this step, you configure how the Data Sample is read by the DataMapper so it can delimit each record in the file (using Delimiters). See Data Source.

Configure the data extraction workflow. Here you configure the workflow steps that will be required to extract the data from the Data source to the Data Model. This way, data will be converted and prepared to be used by the Designer module. To learn more, see Data Extraction.

Save the Data Mapping configuration. Now it's time to save a copy of a data mapping configuration under the name of your choice. To learn more, see Saving A Data Mapping configuration.

Features

The DataMapper Module is a tool that extract data and prepares it for use in the Designer module. The tool does this through the use of a Data Mapping Workflow consisting of multiple Steps which process and extract data from each Source Record of a Data Source and stores it in a Record Set.

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Data Mapping Configuration

A Data Mapping Configuration file can refer to either the current active configuration in the DataMapper, or a file on disk containing the information necessary for data mapping. It contains the extraction workflow (steps), Delimiter and Boundary Settings, and any imported Data Samples.

Data Mapping Workflow

The data mapping workflow is a series of Steps inside of a data mapping configuration that extract the appropriate data from the Source Record and places it into the Record (see Data

Model).

The data mapping workflow always starts with the Preprocessor step and ends with the Postprocessor step and can contain as many of the different steps available in the DataMapper.

Data Model

A Data Model is the format into which Records are saved.It is also a file format that can be exchanged between different parts of the PlanetPress Connect solution.

Data Source (Settings)

A data source is simply the source of the data. It can be a file (CSV, PDF, TXT, XML) or a particular database. The data might be located on the same computer as the program, or on another computer somewhere on a network.

The first step to do before creating a Data Mapping configuration is to set up Input Data (setting the delimiters) and Boundaries (setting the trigger) in the Settings pane.

Data Mapping Configuration

Creating A New Data Mapping Configuration

You can create a new Data Mapping configuration from a data file by using a wizard or manually.

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From a File

You can create a new data mapping configuration manually under the From a file section. As opposed to using a wizard, you must configure all settings in the Settings pane of the DataMapper interface. Please refer to Configuring Settings For The Data Source for more

information.

A CSV File

To create a Data Mapping from a CSV file, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the From a file section, select CSV.

Click the Browse button and open the CSV file you want to work with.

Click Finish.

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.

Click the Data mapping Configuration drop-down and select Files and then CSV File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the CSV file you want to work with.

Click Finish.

A MS-Access File

To create a Data Mapping from a Microsoft Access database file, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the From a file section, select MS Access.

Click the Browse button and open the database file you want to work with.

Enter the password if needed and click Next.

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From the File menu

Note

PCL and PostScript (PS) files are automatically converted to PDF files before showing that PDF in the Data Viewer. This happens once when opening the file, but in automation happens for every file. Depending on the processing power available, this may influence the processing speed.

Click the File menu and select New.

Click the Data mapping Configuration drop-down and select Files and then Microsoft Access.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the database file you want to work with.

Enter the password if needed and click Next.

A PDF File

To create a PDF/VT file data mapping configuration, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the From a file section, select PDF/VT.

Click the Browse button and open the PDF/VT file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.

Click the Data mapping Configuration drop-down and select Files and then PDF/PS/PCL/AFP File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the PDF/VT file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

A Text File

To create a TXT file data mapping configuration, use the following steps:

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From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the From a file section, select Text.

Click the Browse button and open the text file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New

Click the Data mapping Configuration drop-down and select Files and then Text File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the text file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

A XML File

To create a XML File data mapping configuration, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the From a file section, select XML.

Click the Browse button and open the XML file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the Data Mapping configuration.

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.

Click the Data mapping Configuration drop-down and select Files and then XML File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the XML file you want to work with.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the Data Mapping configuration.

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Using a Wizard

Note

These settings are generally detected automatically.

The Data Mapping Wizard simplifies extracting records. When using a Data Mapping Wizard, all the fields are automatically extracted inside the record. The Data Mapping Wizard also preconfigure the settings and boundaries of the data source using common values.

For A CSV File

To create a Data Mapping from a CSV file using the wizard, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the Using a wizard section, select CSV.

Click the Browse button and open the CSV file you want to work with.

Take a look at the Preview box content to ensure that the file is the right one and the encoding correctly reads the data.

Click Next.

From the Select a CSV Configuration dialog, choose the proper settings:

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Separator: Defines what character separates each fields in the file.

Comment Delimiter: Defines what character starts a comment line.

Text Delimiter: Defines what character surrounds text fields in the file, preventing the Field Delimiter from being interpreted within those text delimiters.

Ignore unparseable lines: Ignores any line that does not correspond to the settings above.

First row contains field names: Uses the first line of the CSV as headers, which automatically names all extracted fields.

Verify that the data is read properly and click Finish.

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From the File menu

Note

These settings are generally detected automatically.

Click the File menu and select New.Click the Data mapping Data mapping Wizards drop-down and select From CSV File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the CSV file you want to work with.

Take a look at the Preview box content to ensure that the file is the right one and the encoding correctly reads the data.

Click Next.

From the Select a CSV Configuration dialog, choose the proper settings:

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Separator: Defines what character separates each fields in the file.

Comment Delimiter: Defines what character starts a comment line.

Text Delimiter: Defines what character surrounds text fields in the file, preventing the Field Delimiter from being interpreted within those text delimiters.

Ignore unparseable lines: Ignores any line that does not correspond to the settings above.

First row contains field names: Uses the first line of the CSV as headers, which automatically names all extracted fields.

Verify that the data is read properly and click Finish.

For a Database File

To create a Data Mapping from a Database file using the wizard, use the following steps:

From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the Using a wizard section, select Database.

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4. Use the drop-down to select the Database type.

Click Next.

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.Click the Data mapping Data mapping Wizards drop-down and select From databases.

Click Next.

3. Use the drop-down to select the Database type.

Click Next.

Now set the following properties according to the selected database:

MySQL

Server: Enter the server address for the MySQL database.

Port: Enter the port to communicate with the MySQL server. The default port is 3306.

Database name: Enter the exact name of the database from where the data should be extracted.

User name: Enter a user name that has access to the MySQL server and specified database. The user only requires Readaccess to the database.

Password: Enter the password that matches the user name above.

Table name: The selected database is a set of related tables composed of rows and columns corresponding respectively to source records and fields. Select a table from which you want to extract data.

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

Microsoft Access

Click the Browse button and open the database file you want to work with.

Password: Enter a password if one is required.

Click Next.

Table name: The selected database is a set of related tables composed of rows and columns corresponding respectively to source records and fields. Select a table from which you want to extract data.

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

SQL Server

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Note

Server: Enter the server address for the SQL Server database.

Port: Enter the port to communicate with the SQL Server server. The default port is 3306.

Database name: Enter the exact name of the database from where the data should be extracted.

User name: Enter a user name that has access to the SQL Server server and specified database. The user only requires Readaccess to the database.

Password: Enter the password that matches the user name above.

Table name: The selected database is a set of related tables composed of rows and columns corresponding respectively to source records and fields. Select a table from which you want to extract data.

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

ODBC DataSource

ODBC Source: Use the drop-down to select an ODBC System Data Source. This must be a data source that has been configured in the 64-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator, as PlanetPress Connect is a 64-bit application and thus cannot access 32-bit data sources.

This ODBC source is MSSQL: Check this option if the ODBC source is MSSQL (SQL

JDBC

Server). The options below appear under MSSQL-ODBCadvanced configuration:

Windows authentication: Select to use the Windows User name and Password that are used by the Connect Service.

SQL Server authentication: Select to use the User name and Password set below to connect to the SQL Server:

User name: Enter the SQL Server user name.

Password: Enter the password for the above user name.

Click Next.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

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Since JDBC can connect to multiple types of databases, a specific database driver and path to this driver's JAR file must be specified.

Oracle

JDBC Driver: Use the drop-down to select which JDBC Driver to use for the database connection. JAR file path: Enter a path to the JAR file that contains the appropriate driver for the database below.

Server: Enter the server address for the database server. Database name: Enter the exact name of the database from where the data should be

extracted. User name: Enter a user name that has access to the server and specified database. The

user only requires Readaccess to the database.

Password: Enter the password that matches the user name above. Advanced mode: Check to enable the Connection String field to manually enter the

database connection string. Connection string: Type or copy in your connection string. Click Next Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

Server: Enter the server address for the Oracle database.

Port: Enter the port to communicate with the Oracle server. The default port is 3306.

Database name: Enter the exact name of the database from where the data should be extracted.

User name: Enter a user name that has access to the Oracle server and specified database. The user only requires Readaccess to the database.

Password: Enter the password that matches the user name above.

Table name: The selected database is a set of related tables composed of rows and columns corresponding respectively to source records and fields. Select a table from which you want to extract data.

Encoding: Choose the correct encoding to read the file.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration.

For a PDF File

To create a PDF/VT file data mapping configuration using the wizard, use the following steps:

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From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the Using a wizard section, select PDF/VT.

Click the Browse button and open the PDF/VT file you want to work with. Click Next.

In the Metadata page, select the following options:

Metadata record levels: Use the drop-down to select what level in the metadata defines a Source Record.

Field List: This list displays all fields in all levels of the PDF/VT metadata.

Checkmark: Check any field to add it to the extraction.

Record Level: Displays the level on which the field is located.

Property name: Displays the field names to extract.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.

Click the Data mapping Data mapping Wizards drop-down and select From PDF/VT or AFP.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the PDF/VT file you want to work with. Click Next.

In the Metadata page, select the following options:

Metadata record levels: Use the drop-down to select what level in the metadata defines a Source Record.

Field List: This list displays all fields in all levels of the PDF/VT metadata.

Checkmark: Check any field to add it to the extraction.

Record Level: Displays the level on which the field is located.

Property name: Displays the field names to extract.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the actual Data Mapping configuration).

From a XMLFile

To create a XML file data mapping configuration, use the following steps:

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From the Welcome screen

Open the PlanetPress Connect Welcome page by clicking the icon at the top right or select the Help menu and then Welcome.

Click Create a New Configuration.

From the Using a wizard section, select XML.

Click the Browse button and open the XML file you want to work with. Click Next.

In the Select split level and trigger type page, select the following options:

XML Elements: A list of node elements that have children nodes. Select the level in the data that will define the Source Record (for example Invoice, Customer ID, Item...etc as opposed to Last name, Due date...etc).

Trigger: According to the node element path selected in the XML Elements field, select On element to create a record in the Data mapping for each occurrence of the element. Or you can select On change to create a record each time the element is different.

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the Data Mapping configuration.

From the File menu

Click the File menu and select New.Click the Data mapping Data mapping Wizards drop-down and select From XML File.

Click Next.

Click the Browse button and open the XML file you want to work with. Click Next.

In the Select split level and trigger type page, select the following options:

Click Finish to close the dialog and open the Data Mapping configuration.

To Generate Counter

The Generate Counter wizard creates a record set where each record contains a "counter" field contains the current counter value for each record, starting and stopping at set values and

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incremented by a set value also. It is useful for numbered tickets or any other template requiring sequential numbers.

Starting Value: The starting number for the counter. Defaults to 1.

Increment Value: The value by which to increment the counter for each record. For example, an increment value of 3 and starting value of 1 would give the counter values of 1, 4, 7, 10, [...]

Number of records: The total number of counter records to generate. This is not the end value but rather the total number of actual records to generate.

Padding character: Which character to add if the counter's value is smaller than the width.

Width: The number of digits the counter will have. If the width is larger than the current counter value, the padding character will be used on the left of the counter value, until the width is equal to the set value. For example for a counter value of "15", a width of "4" and padding character of "0", the value will become "0015".

Prefix: String to add before the counter, for example, adding # to get #00001. The prefix length is not counted in the width.

Suffix: String to add after the counter. The suffix length is not counted in the width.

Opening a Data Mapping Configuration

There are two ways you can open a data mapping configuration:

In the Menus, click on File, Open, ensure that the file type is either DataMapper files or Connect files. Browse to the configuration file to open, select it and click Open.

In the Menus, click onFile, Open Recent, and select one of the recently opened configuration files.

Saving a Data Mapping Configuration

To save a data mapping configuration:

In the Menus, click on File, then Save, or click the Save button in theToolbars.

2. If the data mapping configuration has never been saved, browse to the location where the data mapping configuration should be saved and type a name, then click Save.

To save a copy of a data mapping configuration under a different name:

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In the Menus, click on File, then Save As.

2. Browse to the location where the data mapping configuration should be saved and type a name, then click Save.

Data Mapping Workflow

A data mapping workflow is a series of steps used to process and extract the appropriate data from the Source Record and store it into the Record (see Data Model). With the data model, it is what makes a data mapping configuration (See Data Mapping Configuration).

A data mapping workflow always starts with the Preprocessor step and ends with the Postprocessor step. It can contain as many steps as needed for extracting the required data.

When working with a data mapping workflow, you need to consider the following:

Promotional versus transactional data: Depending on the type of data, whether it is promotional or transactional, you will use a different extraction workflow. See About

Promotional and Transactional Data for more information.

Steps: To extract data from the data sample, you use different steps that make up the extraction process. See Steps for more information.

About Promotional and Transactional Data

Promotional Data is traditionally defined as the unique fields found in each record. For instance, a postal address, a date, or customer number could all be elements of promotional data found in each record.

Transactional data is usually defined as promotional data plus a varying number of fields that represent the elements of a transaction. While the structure is identical for each record, the number of repeated elements varies from one record to the next. For instance, lines of items on an invoice or monthly usage of electricity would be part of the transactional data.

Data Extraction

The following example explains in details how to perform a data extraction for each different data source file types and the Steps that you can use to reach that goal. Delimiters and Boundaries must be properly configured beforehand (see Configuring Settings for more information).

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The Preprocessor and the Postprocessor

Data processors allow the application to perform actions on the data file itself before it is handed over to the Data Mapping workflow (preprocessors) and after the Data Mapping workflow has completed (postprocessors).

To configure settings for the Preprocessor step, see Preprocessor Step Properties.

To configure settings for the Postprocessor step, see Postprocessor Step Properties.

The Extraction

The Extract step is the heart of the DataMapper software. It takes information from the Data Sample and places it in the Extracted Record within the Record Set.

To configure settings for the Extract step, see Extract Step Properties.

For more information about Promotional and Transactional data, please refer to About

Promotional and Transactional Data.

From a CSV file or a Database

Extracting Promotional Data

1. From the Viewer pane, select the fields that contain the customer and invoice information.

For more information about how to select data in a CSVfile, please refer to Data

Selection/From a CSV File.

2. Drag & drop the selected fields into the Data Model pane.

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Note

Alternatively, you can simply right click on the selected fields and select Add Extraction.

Extracting Transactional Data

The Transactional Data (line items information) appears on multiple lines. You must create a loop on these lines to extract the items information. The line items are extracted in a detail table.

1. Select the fields that contain the first line item information.

Right click on this data selection and select Add Repeat .

Right click again on this data selection and select Add Extraction. A new extraction step will be placed between the Repeat and theGoto steps.

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Note

You can also use the toolbar buttons instead of contextual menus, See Toolbars for more details.

From a XML file

Extracting Promotional Data

The Promotional Data (customer and the invoice information) is repeated for each item normally located at the top of the Source Record, before the ITEM information. It generally includes the name, the address, reference numbers, invoice information...etc.

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1. Select the children leaf nodes of the CUSTOMER() node.

Note

Alternatively, you can simply drag & drop the selected fields into the Data Model pane.

Right click on the selected nodes and select Add Extraction.

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3. Select the children leaf nodes of the INVOICE() node.

Right click on the selected nodes and select Add Extraction.

Extracting Transactional Data

The Transactional Data (line items information) appears on multiple lines. In the example below, this information appears under the parent node ITEM(). Each ITEM() node give information about one item. Create a loop on the ITEM() nodes to extract the items information.

1. Select the ITEM() node.

Right click on the selected node and select Add Repeat.

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Note

By default, the For Each option is selected in the Repeat type option as shown in theStep Properties pane. It means that the loop will include each ITEM() node. In the

Collection field, you will find the corresponding ITEM() node path.

3. Select the children leaf nodes of the ITEM() node.

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Note

You can also use the toolbar buttons instead of contextual menus, See Toolbars for more

details.

Note

Alternatively, you can simply drag & drop the selected fields into the Data Model pane.

Right click on the selected nodes and select Add Extraction.

From a Text or a PDF file

Extracting Promotional Data

The Promotional Data (customer and the invoice information) is repeated for each item and normally located at the top of the Source Record. It generally includes the name, the address, reference numbers, invoice information...etc.

1. From the Viewer pane, select the customer and invoice information. Note that you can select multiple lines.

Right click on the selection data and select Add Extraction .

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Extracting Transactional Data

The Transactional Data (line items information) appears on multiple lines and pages. A loop has to be created on these lines to extract the items information. The line items are extracted in a detail table as below:

1. Select a simple data in the first line item. For example the product number.

Right click on the selection and select Add Goto. That moves the cursor at the beginning of the first line item.

3. Add a loop to extract each item until the end of the line items. To stop the loop at the right place, you can use a text located at the end each record. For example, it can be a text string like SUBTOTALS, TOTAL, AMOUNT, ...etc. Now you can use that text as a condition to stop the loop at the end of the line items list. In that case:

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1. Select the text (SUBTOTALSfor example) in the Viewer.

Right click on the selection and select Add Repeat.

The Repeat step loops on all lines until the selected text is found. Since a record can extend on more than one page, lines that are not item lines must be excluded form the extraction. You can use any exclusive information like a "." or "," in prices or totals for example.

4. Select the "." or the "," in the total or in the price of the first line item.

Right click on the selected dot and select Add Conditional. In the Viewer pane, you will see a green check mark besides each included line or X for other lines.

6. From the Viewer pane, select the first field on the left for the first line item.

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Note

The Add Extract Field step allows to add a field to an existing extract step while the Add

Right click on the selection and select Add Extraction.

8. Select the second field.

Right click on the selection and select Add Extract Field.

10. Do the same for the rest of the fields along that same line item.

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Extract Step creates a new step in the Steps pane. For optimization purposes, it is better to

use Add Extract Field than to have a succession of Add Extract steps.

Note

You can also use the toolbar buttons instead of contextual menus, See Toolbars for more details.

Totals Information

After the loop step, the cursor position is at the end of line items. If the record contains sums or totals at the end of the line items list:

1. Select the amounts.

Click the Repeat step in the Steps panel.

Right click on the selection and select Add a Step/Add Extraction.

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Also Note That...

Note

If no Extract step is currently selected in the Steps pane, a new Extraction step is created. If an Extract step is selected, new Extract Fields will be added to this existing step.

l Dragging a data selection or fields into a specific level of the Data Model (record or

detail tables) will add the fields to that level.

When dragging data into a detail table, the Extract step must be located within the appropriate Repeat step, otherwise the extract will not function properly.

l If a Data Model is loaded into the Data Model pane and if a field of the same name

already exists in that level, dragging a named field into it (CSV, XML, Database) will

extract the data to that field. Otherwise a new one with will be created.

l Dragging a single field onto a Data Model field will extract it to that field regardless

of its name.

Action steps could be added to the process described above in order to set the value for a Source Record property or execute a JavaScript code. For more information about the Action step, see The Action Step.

Note

To add an Extract step, you can also use JavaScript (select JavaScript from the Mode drop-down in the Step Properties pane). Please refer toJavaScript _in_DataMapper.htmfor more

information.

Data Selection

The following topics contain information about how to create and manipulate a data selection, and also how to create steps from it.

Selecting Data

From a Text File

The Text data viewer displays the text-based contents of the Data Sample that is currently active within the data mapping configuration in a grid-like fashion, with each character in the file being in a separate grid position.

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To select data, click on a starting character within the grid, keeping the mouse button down, dragging to the end character and releasing the button. This creates a data selection that can contain multiple lines.

From a PDF File

The PDF data viewer displays the PDF file contents of the Data Sample that is currently active within the data mapping configuration as pages.

To select data, click on a starting point, keeping the mouse button down, dragging to the end location and releasing the button. This creates a data selection that can contain multiple lines.

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From a CSV or a Database File

The CSV/Database data viewer displays the field-based contents of the Data Sample that is currently active within the data mapping configuration in a grid-like fashion, with each field being in a separate grid position.

To select data, click on a starting point, keeping the mouse button down, dragging to the end location and releasing the button. This creates a data selection that can contain multiple lines.

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From a XML File

The XML data viewer displays the XML-based contents of the Data Sample that is currently active within the data mapping configuration in a tree view, with XML fields displayed at each level of the Sample Record.

To select data, click on a starting point, keeping the mouse button down, dragging to the end location and releasing the button. This creates a data selection that can contain multiple lines.

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Adding an Extraction Step from a Data Selection

To add a new step from the Data Viewer:

1. Create your data selection (refer to Creating a Data Selection for more information).

2. Right-clicking on the data selection and select the appropriate step.

See Type of Steps for more information on available steps.

Manipulating a Data Selection

From a Text File

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Once created, data selections can be modified and moved in order to change or extend the data included in the selection. You can also modify a data selection that is attached to a field extraction in an Extract step by double-clicking on the data selection in the Data Viewer and then modifying the data selection.

Moving a Data Selection

To move a data selection, click and hold anywhere on the data selection, move it to its new desired location and release the mouses.

Resizing a Data Selection

To resize a data selection, click and hold on one of the resize handles on the borders or corners, move them to the new size and release the mouse.

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From a PDF File

The PDF data viewer displays the PDF file contents of the Data Sample that is currently active within the data mapping configuration as pages.

Once created, data selections can be modified and moved in order to change or extend the data included in the extraction. Moving a new data selection can be done directly if the data selection is new. Data selections that are attached to a field extraction in an Extract step can also be modified by double-clicking on the data selection in the Data Viewer and then modifying the data selection.

Moving a Data Selection

To move a data selection, click and hold anywhere on the data selection, move it to its new desired location and release the mouse.

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Resizing a Data Selection

To resize a data selection, click and hold on one of the resize handles on the borders or corners, move them to the new size and release the mouse.

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From a CSV or a Database File

Once created, data selections can be modified. Modifying a new data selection can be done directly if the data selection is new.

Modifying a Data Selection

To modify a data selection, press and hold the CTRLkey click, and click on a field to add it or remove it from the selection (the blue color indicates that the field is part of the current selection).

From a XML File

Once created, data selections can be modified. Modifying a new data selection can be done directly if the data selection is new.

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Modifying a Data Selection

Note

For more details about operations that can be performed on steps, please refer to The

Steps Pane Interface.

Steps

Steps are executed sequentially, from top to bottom. Inside conditions, some steps may be skipped altogether when they are on a particular branch, whereas in loops several steps may be repeated a number of times. The Preprocessor and Postprocessor steps are special in that the former can be used to modify the incoming data prior to executing the rest of the workflow while the latter can be used to further process the Data Set after the entire workflow has been executed.

You will find below a list of different steps that can be added to a Data Mapping Workflow.

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Preprocessor and Postprocessor

Preprocessors

Data preprocessors allow the application to perform actions on the data file itself before it is handed over to the Data Mapping workflow

Some preprocessors might for instance, using a JavaScript expression, convert all characters of a text file from lowercase to uppercase prior to running Data Mapping workflow :

Any number of preprocessing tasks can be added to a workflow and run in sequence before the data is sent to the Data Mapping workflow. Click the button to add a Preprocessor to the list.

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Postprocessors

Data postprocessors allow the application to extract data that was stored in the data model once the workflow is complete. For example, the post processor can export all data or only addresses, to a CSV file which can then be given directly to a postal addresses verification application.

Some postprocessors might for instance, using a JavaScript expression, create a CSV file from the Record set:

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Any number of postprocessing tasks can be added to a workflow and be executed after the Data Mapping workflow is complete. Click the button to add a Postprocessor to the list.

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Extract

Note

To add an Extract step, you can also use JavaScript (select JavaScript from the Mode drop-down in the Step Properties pane). Please refer toJavaScript _in_DataMapper.htmfor more

information.

The Extract step is the heart of the DataMapper software. It takes information from the Data Sample and places it in the Extracted Record within the Record Set.

Please refer to Data Extraction for an animated example.

For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

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Goto

The cursor position determines how data is extracted from the Source Record. The cursor in a Source Record is always at a specific position.

In a Source Record, the cursor position starts off at the top-left corner of the Sample Data. When the Goto step is used, that cursor position is moved to the location (either relative or absolute) set by the Goto step. In the case of a Goto step within a Repeat step, the cursor position will gradually be moved with each loop of the repeat step, for example when extracting transactional data.

Since data extracted by the Extract step is always relative to the current cursor position, this becomes useful when extracting data at the end of the loop. For instance, when a "Totals" line appears at the end of line items in an invoice, the Extract step can find the appropriate position of the "Totals" simply by looking at a certain distance (or offset) from the last line item and always find the "Totals" at the same place.

For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

Condition

A Condition step splits the extraction workflow into two separate branches, one that is executed when the condition is True, the other when it is False. In the Viewer on the left side of the window, an icon is displayed indicating the result of the evaluation: when true and when false.

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A Condition step is used when the data extraction must be made based on specific criteria. In the example shown in the following figure, the transactional data must be extracted according to two main criteria. First, the line item must include an amount of money and secondly, the lines that include a Description field on two lines have to be extracted as a single record.

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Since the extraction is for transactional data, a Repeat step is first added.

2. A first condition is added to determine whether the line should be considered for the extraction.

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3. The extraction is performed if the condition is true.

4. Under the true branch of the first condition, a second condition is added for Description fields on two lines.

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5. The extraction performed under the true branch of the second condition.

6. The extraction performed under the false branch of the second condition.

For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

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Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

Repeat

The Repeat step is a loop that may run 0 or more times, depending on the condition specified. It is generally used for the extraction of transactional data. A Repeat steps do not automatically move the pointer in the file. In order to avoid infinite loops, a Goto step must be present within the loop itself.

The following picture shows a usage example of a Repeat step. As you can see, the Repeat step is a loop that includes both Goto and Extract steps. The extraction result for transactional data is placed in a Detail table.

For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

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Note

By default, if an Extract step is added within a Repeat step, its extraction is made in a detail

table.

Note

If an XML node that has children is selected, and the pointer is currently at this node, creating a repeat step will loop on that node.

Extract Field

The Add Extract Field function adds the selected data to a selected Extract step in the Steps pane. If multiple lines, nodes or fields are selected, multiple extract fields are added simultaneously (see also About Records and Fields for more information).

For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

Action

The Action step can set the value for a Source Record property or execute a JavaScript code. The Action Step can run multiple specific actions one after the other in order.

The following picture shows a usage example of an Action step...

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For more information on how to add a step, please refer to Toolbar, Menus or Shortcut Keys under the Interface section.

Properties

You can also further customize the step properties. Please refer to The Step Properties

Interface for more information.

Data Model

A Data Model is the format into which Records are saved.It is also a file format that can be exchanged between different parts of the PlanetPress Connect solution.

Data Model Principle

The idea behind the Data Model is that the structure of a Record can be separated from the actual data. It can be shared between multiple templates, data mapping configurations, job presets and output presets. These files are deemed compatible if their data model is identical

or if one data model is an exact subset of another.

Data Models can be used directly in the Designer module, even if no data is attached to it, to create the template.

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They can be imported to, and exported from, the Data Model Pane in the Designer and DataMapper Modules.

For more information about the operations you can perform on the Data Model, please refer to

The Data Model Interface.

About Records and Fields

A Record is a collection of fields and contains all the data about one particular person, company, or item in a database that is required for creating a single document for a single recipient (see Record for more information).

A Field is part of a record and contains a single piece of data for the subject of the record. If the record is an employee, a field would be Firstname, Lastname, or City or State.

Data Model File Structure

The Data Model file is a XML file that contains the structure of the data model, including each field's name, data type, and any number of detail tables and nested tables.

Example for promotional data, including a simple name and address:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <datamodel schemaVersion="1.0.0.3" name="Generic Address Block" version="1" xmlns="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/Data ModelConfig http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig/1_0_0_

3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <field type="string" name="Name" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Organization" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Address1" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Address2" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Address3" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="City" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="StateOrProvince" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Country" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="ZipOrPostalCode" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Extra1" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Extra2" required="true"/> </datamodel>

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Example with transactional details, a simple invoice format

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <datamodel schemaVersion="1.0.0.3" name="Transactional Invoice" version="1" xmlns="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/Data ModelConfig http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig/1_0_0_

3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <field type="string" name="ID" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Gender" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="LastName" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="FirstName" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Address1" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Address2" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="City" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="State" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Country" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="ZipCode" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Title" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Company" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Phone2" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Email" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Language" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Number" required="true"/> <field type="datetime" name="Date" required="true"/> <field type="datetime" name="DueDate" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Rep" required="true"/> <field type="currency" name="SubTotal" required="true"/> <field type="currency" name="TaxTotal" required="true"/> <field type="currency" name="Total" required="true"/> <table name="detail"> <field type="string" name="Number2" required="true"/> <field type="string" name="Description" required="true"/> <field type="currency" name="UnitPrice" required="true"/> <field type="integer" name="Ordered" required="true"/> <field type="integer" name="Shipped" required="true"/> <field type="integer" name="BackOrder" required="true"/> <field type="currency" name="Total2" required="true"/> </table> </datamodel>

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Example of Nested Tables (one table into another)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<datamodel schemaVersion="1.0.0.3" name="Nested Table Example" version="1" xmlns="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/Data ModelConfig http://www.objectiflune.com/connectschemas/DataModelConfig/1_0_0_

3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <field type="string" name="RecordField" required="true"/> <table name="details"> <field type="string" name="DetailsTableField" required="true"/> <table name="nestedtable"> <field type="string" name="NestedTableField" required="true"/> </table> </table> </datamodel>

Example of Default Values that can be added to any field with the defaultValue attribute:

Data Source (Settings)

The first step to do before creating a Data Mapping configuration is to set up Input Data (setting the delimiters) and Boundaries (setting the trigger) in the Settings pane.

Input Data (Delimiters)

Delimiters defines the separation within the source file. For example, in a CSV file the delimiters are between each row whereas in a PDF file, delimiters separate pages.

Please refer to The Settings Pane Interface for more information about each fields and buttons.

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Boundaries

Boundaries are the division between source records. They can be set using different types of rules such as text, pages or even custom JavaScript rules.

Boundaries differ from Delimiters. When defining boundaries , multiple delimiters can be included between boundaries - many pages per invoice, many CSV row per transaction, etc.

To set a boundary, a specific trigger must be found. The trigger is something that is either static ("Page 1 of" on text or PDF files) or something that changes on each source record (a customer ID at a specific location, a username, etc).

Please refer to The Settings Pane Interface for more information about each fields and buttons.

Data Samples

The Data Samples are the data sources that have been imported into the data mapping configuration.

Please refer to The Settings Pane Interface for more information about each fields and buttons.

External JS Libraries

You can use the External JS libraries to add more JavaScript functionality to your data mapping configuration. Any functions included in the JS library will be available in Preprocessor scripts, as well as Action tasks, Post Functions and JavaScript -based extraction steps.

For example let's take the following JavaScript file, for example:

function myAddFunction(p1, p2) { return p1 + p2; };

If this is saved as myFunction.js and imported, then the following would work anywhere in the configuration:

var result = myAddFunction(25, 12); // returns 37!

The External JS Libraries box displays all the libraries that have been imported into the data mapping configuration.

Please refer to The Settings Pane Interface for more information about each fields and buttons.

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DataMapper User Interface

Interface Sections and Panels

A. Menus

B. Toolbars C. Steps Pane D. Step Properties Pane

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E. Data Model Pane

F. Data Viewer G. Messages Pane H. Settings Pane

Menus

The following menu items are shown in the DataMapper Module's menu:

File Menu

New... : Opens the Creating a New Data Mapping Configuration dialog.

Open: Opens a standard File Open dialog. This dialog can be used to open Templates and data mapping configurations.

Open Recent: List the most recently opened Templates and configurations. Clicking on a template will open it in the Designer module, clicking on a data mapping configuration will open it in the DataMapper module.

Close: Close the currently open data mapping configuration or Template. If the file needs to be saved, the appropriate Save dialog will open.

Close All: Close any open data mapping configuration or Template. If any of the files need to be saved, the Save Resources dialog opens.

Save: Saves the current data mapping configuration or Template to its current location on disk. If the file is a data mapping configuration and has never been saved, the Save As dialog appears instead.

Save As...: Saves the current data mapping configuration or Template to a new location on disk. In the case of Templates, it is saved to a location that can be different than the local repository.

Save All: Saves all open files. If any of the open files have never been saved, the Save As dialog opens for each new unsaved file.

Revert: Appears only in the Designer module. Reverts all changes to the state in which the file was opened or created.

Add Data: Adds data either to the current data mapping configuration or to the open template. In data mapping configuration

From File...: Opens the dialog to add a new data file to the currently loaded data mapping configuration. Not available if the currently loaded data mapping configuration connects to a database source.

From Database...: Opens the Edit Database Configuration dialog. Not available if the currently loaded data mapping configuration is file-based.

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Send to Workflow: Opens theSend to Workflow dialog to send files to a local PlanetPress Workflow software installation.

Exit:Closes the software. If any of the files need to be saved, the Save Resources dialog opens.

Edit Menu

Undo: Undoes the previous action.

Redo: Redoes the last action that was undone.

Cut Step: Removes the currently selected step and places it in the clipboard. If the step is a Repeat or a Condition, all steps under it are also placed in the clipboard. If there is already a step in the clipboard, it will be overwritten.

Copy Step: Places a copy of the currently selected step in the clipboard. The same details as the Cut step applies.

Paste Step: Takes the step or steps in the clipboard and places them in the Steps after the currently selected step.

Delete Step: Deletes the currently selected step. If the step is a Repeat or Condition, all steps under it are also deleted.

Cut: Click to remove the currently selected step, or steps, and place them in the clipboard.

Copy: Click to place a copy of the currently selected step, or steps, in the clipboard.

Paste: Click to place any step, or steps, from the clipboard before the currently selected step in the Steps Pane.

Data Menu

Hide/Show datamap: Click to show or hide the icons to the left of the Data Viewer that displays how the steps affect the line.

Hide/Show extracted data: Click to show or hide the extraction selections indicating that data is extracted. This simplifies making data selections in the same areas and is useful to display the original data.

Validate All Records: Runs the Steps on all records and verifies that no errors are present in any of the records. Errors are displayed in the Messages Pane.

Steps

Ignore Step: Click to set the step to be ignored (aka disabled). Disabled steps do not run when in DataMapper and do not execute when the data mapping configuration is executed in Workflow. However, they can still be modified normally.

Add Extract Step: Adds an Extract Step with one or more extract fields. If more than one line or field is selected in the Data Viewer, each line or field will have an extract field.

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Add Goto Step: Adds a Goto step that moves the selection pointer to the beginning of the data selection. For instance if an XML node is selected, the pointer moves to where that node is located.

Add Condition Step: Adds a condition based on the current data selection. The "True" branch gets run when the text is found on the page. Other conditions are available in the step properties once it has been added.

Add Repeat Step: Adds a loop that is based on the current data selection, and depending on the type of data. XML data will loop on the currently selected node, CSV loops for all rows in the record. In Text and PDF data, if the data selection is on the same line as the cursor position, the loop will be for each line until the end of the record. If the data selection is on a lower line, the loop will be for each line until the text in the data selection is found at the specified position on the line (e.g. until "TOTAL" is found).

Add Extract Field: Adds the data selection to the selected Extract step, if an extract step is currently selected. If multiple lines, nodes or fields are selected, multiple extract fields are added simultaneously.

Add Action Step: Adds a step to run one or more specific actions such as running a JavaScript expression or setting the value of a Source Record Property.

View Menu

Zoom In: Click to zoom in the Steps Pane.

Zoom Out: Click to zoom out the Steps Pane.

Window Menu

Show View

Messages: Shows the Messages Pane.

Steps: Shows the Steps Pane.

Settings: Shows the Settings Pane.

Record: Shows the Record Pane.

Detail tables : Each detail table and nested table is listed here. Click on one to show it in the Data Model Pane.

Step Properties: Shows the Step Properties Pane.

Reset Perspective: Resets all toolbars and panes to the initial configuration of the module.

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Help Menu

l Software Activation: Displays the Software Activation dialog. See Activating your

license.

Help Topics: Click to open this documentation.

Contact Support: Click to open the Objectif Lune Contact Page in the default system Web browser.

l About PlanetPress Connect Designer: Displays the software's About dialog.

Welcome Screen: Click to re-open the Welcome Screen.

Panes

The following topics explain in detail the different panes of the DataMapper Interface.

Data Model Pane

The Data Model Pane displays the Extracted Record, all its fields as well as any detail tables present in the Extracted Record. The information shown is the extracted information for the current record within the Record Set. It is also used as a navigation tool between records and all tables.

Data is displayed as a tree view, with the root level being the Record table, levels below it being detail tables, and any level below being called Nested Tables.

Adding Data

Beyond the methods for adding data described in the Steps Pane and the Data Viewer, there is a specific way to add an Extract step directly into the Data Model pane, which is drag & drop: Dragging a data selection (text and PDF) or a field (CSV, XML and Database) into the Data

Model pane will automatically add the appropriate extraction method into a specific location.

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There are some specific tricks and limitations, however:

If no Extract step is currently selected in the Steps Pane, a new Extract step is created. If an Extract step is selected, new Extract Fields are added to this existing step.

l Dragging a data selection or fields into a specific level of the Data Model (Record or detail

tables) will add the fields to that level.

l When dragging data into a detail table, the Extract Step must be located within the

appropriate Repeat Step, otherwise the extract will not function properly.

l If a Data Model is loaded into the Data Model Pane, when dragging named fields (CSV,

XML, Database), if a field of the same name exists in that level, the extract field extract the data to that field, otherwise it creates a new one.

l Dragging a single field onto a Data Model field will extract to that field regardless of name.

Modifying the Data Model

It is possible to modify the fields within the Data Model pane, effectively generating data models, even if no data is present in the pane. To do this, use the contextual menu within the pane itself. The following options appear depending on the selected line when right-clicking:

Add a field: Click to add a new field at the current level (record or table). Enter the field name in the dialog and click OK to add it.

Add a table: Click to add a new table at the current level (record or existing table). Enter the table name in the dialog and click OK to add it.

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Rename: Click to rename the selected table or field. Enter the new name and click OK to rename. Only available for empty Data Model Fields (see below) tables that only contain them.

Delete: Click to delete the selected table or field. Only available for empty Data Model Fields or tables that only contain them.

Set Type: Use the list to select which the field type (see Data Types). Only available for empty Data Model Fields or tables that only contain them.

Default Value: Click to set the default value for empty Data Model Fields. This value is used if no extraction is present, or if an extraction attached to this field returns no value.

Field Display

Fields in the Data Model pane are displayed in specific ways to simplify comprehension of the display data:

Value: The current value of the extracted field, based on the current Source Record.

The column on the left displays the name of the field. The column on the right displays the extracted data if it exists.

The column on the right displays the current valueof the extracted field based on the current Source Record, when anExtract Step has an extraction for this field.

The icon to the left of the name indicates the Data Type of the field (see Data Types).

A field name with an asterisk to the right indicates that this field is part of an imported Data Model file (called a Data Model Field).

A field with a grey background indicates this Data Model Field does not have any attached extracted data.

A field with a white background indicates that the field has attached extracted data but the step extracting the data is not currently selected.

A field with a blue background indicates that the field has attached extracted data and the step extracting the data is currently selected.

Record Navigation

Records can be navigated directly from the Data Model Pane. The default Record level navigates between records both in the Data Model pane and the Data Viewer, while each table has a similar navigation that influence that table and each under it.

Expand/Contract: Click to hide or show any fields or tables under the current table level.

Table Name: Displays the name of the table as well as the number of records at that level (in [brackets]). At the Record level this is the number of Source records (affected by the

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Boundary settings, Preprocessor and the Record Limit setting). In other levels it represents the number of entries in a table.

Number of Records: The number of available records in the Data Sample. Affected by the Boundary settings, Preprocessor and the Record Limit setting.

First Record: Jumps to the first record in the Data Sample. Disabled if the first record is already shown.

Previous Record: Moves to the previous record in the Data Sample. Disabled if the first record is already shown.

Current Record: Displays the current record or table entry. Type in a record number and press the Enter key to display that record. The number has to be within the number of available records in the Data Sample.

Next Record: Moves to the next record in the Data Sample. Disabled if the last record is already shown.

Last Record: Jumps to the last record in the Data Sample. Disabled if the last record is already shown. If a Record Limit is set in the Settings Pane, the last record will be within that limit.

Importing/Exporting Data Models

Within the Data Model pane, data model files can be exported using the current structure, or imported in order to simplify the extraction process.

Importing and Exporting Data Models is done from within the Data model Pane, using the top-

right icons and .

Rules for importing:

l Imported Data Model fields always overwrite existing field properties when the field name

is the same. Non-existent fields are created automatically with the appropriate field settings. The import is case-insensitive, so fields with a different case will be ignored.

l All data model fields are tagged with the Asterisk (*). If overwriting an existing data model,

existing data model fields that are not in the imported data model file will have their asterisks removed.

Detail Tables

Detail tables contain transactional data that is created when an Extract step is added within a Repeat step.

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In the most basic of transactional systems, a single detail table is used. However, it is possible to create multiple detail tables, as well as nested tables. When detail and nested tables are present in the record, they are displayed as separate levels in the Data Model (see The Data

Model Interface for more information).

Multiple detail tables

Multiple detail tables are useful when more than one type of transactional data is necessary, for instance if two different type of fields are used for different types of data. One example of this would be invoice data containing purchases (items with a set price, quantity, item number) as well as services (service with a price, frequency, contract end date, etc).

Creating more than one detail table is simple. Click the Extract steps and change the name of tables from record.details to something else. In the following example, we will create two tables called record.purchases and record.services.

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Objectif Lune PlanetPress Connect - 1.4 Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

Icons used in this guide

Setup And Configuration

System and Hardware Considerations

Installation and Activation

Server Settings

DataMapper Module

Basics

Features

DataMapper User Interface