Objectif Lune PrintShop Mail Connect - 1.4 Owner's Guide
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
Table of Contents 4
Welcome to PrintShop Mail Connect 1.4.2 7
Icons used in this guide 8
Setup And Configuration 9
System and Hardware Considerations 9
Installation and Activation 15
The Designer 27
API 27
Basic Steps 68
Features 69
Designer User Interface 255
Mark Position Options 335
Additional Text 340
Additional Images 340
Additional Barcodes 341
Additional OMRMarks 341
Additional Text Settings 343
Page 4
Additional Image Settings 344
Barcode Options 345
Standard Barcode Settings 345
Codabar Settings 347
Code 128 Settings 349
Code 39 Settings 351
Additional Datamatrix Settings 353
Additional EAN 128 Settings 355
Additional EAN 13 Settings 356
Additional EAN 8 Settings 358
Additional Interleave 2 of 5 Settings 360
Additional PDF417 Settings 362
Additional QR Code Settings 364
Additional UPC A Settings 366
Additional UPC E Settings 368
Additional OMR Mark Settings 370
Keystore 375
PDF Signature 377
Print Manager 398
Page 5
Print Manager Introduction Video 398
Print Manager usage 398
Print Manager Interface 398
Copyright Information 409
Legal Notices and Acknowledgements 410
Page 6
Welcome to PrintShop Mail Connect
Note
In our continuous effort to facilitate your PrintShop Mail 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
PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail 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.
PrintShop Mail 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.
PrintShop Mail 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
PrintShop Mail for conversion into additional documents or workflows.
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This online documentation covers PrintShop Mail Connect version 1.4.2.
Note
Complementary information that is not critical, but may help you better use PrintShop Mail
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 PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect installation and the different considerations
that are important in regards to the installation and use of PrintShop Mail Connect.
l "System and Hardware Considerations" below
l "Installation and Activation" on page 15
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 13
l "Language and Encoding considerations" on page 13
l "Performance Considerations" on page 13
System Requirements
These are the system requirements for PrintShop Mail 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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PrintShop Mail 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
PrintShop Mail 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. PrintShop Mail Connect does not officially
support VMotion under ESX at the moment.
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Terminal Server/Service
PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect is located, unexpected behaviours may
occur and will not be supported by Objectif Lune Inc.. Furthermore, using PrintShop Mail
Connect in a Terminal Service environment is an infringement of our End-User License
Agreement.
Remote Desktop
Tests have demonstrated that PrintShop Mail 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 OLSupport and we will investigate.
PrintShop Mail Connect 1.3 and later have been certified under Remote Desktop.
64-bit Operating Systems
PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail 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.
l
Type in services.msc and click OK.
l
Locate the Windows Searchservice and double-click on it.
l
Change the Startup Type to Disable, and click Stop to stop the service.
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l
Try the installation again.
l
Once completely, you may re-enable the service and start it.
Database Considerations
This page describes the different considerations and pre-requisites for the database back-end
used by PrintShop Mail 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":
l
max_connections = 200 : PrintShop Mail Connect uses a lot of database connections.
This number ensures that even in high volume environments, enough connections will be
available.
l
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 PrintShop Mail
Connect will be able to be stored within the database.
l
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.
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Network considerations
The following should be taken into consideration in regards to network settings and
communications
l
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:
l
Language:
l PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect help system (this document) is currently only available
in English.
l
Encoding:
l Issues can sometimes be encountered in menus and templates when running
PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail
Connect as well as a rough guideline to indicate when it's best to upgrade.
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Performance Analysis Details
In order to get the most out of PrintShop Mail Connect, it is important to determine how best to
maximize performance. The following guidelines will be helpful in extracting the best
performance from PrintShop Mail Connect before looking into hardware upgrades or extra
PrintShop Mail Connect performance packs.
l
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!).
l
Template and data mapping optimization: Some functionality offered by the
DataMapper and 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:
l
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.
l
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.
l
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).
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l
Note
A PDF version of this guide is available for use in offline installations. Click here to
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.
l
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.
l
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.
l
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.
l
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 PrintShop
Mail Connect 1.4.2.
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download it.
Where to Obtain the Installers:
Note
From PrintShop Mail Connect Version 1.2 onwards, the new version (1.1.8)of the Update
Client is included by default with all setups.
The installers for PrintShop Mail Connect 1.4.2 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 PrintShop Mail Version 1.4.2 can be installed under a regular user account with
Administrator privileges.
l
You must install on an NTFS file system.
l PrintShop Mail requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 already be installed on the target
system.
l As with any JAVA application, the more RAM available, the faster the product will
execute.
Installing PrintShop Mail Connect on Machines without Internet Access
In order to install PrintShop Mail 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
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ensure that all Windows updates have been installed on the host machine. You then need to
Note
PrintShop Mail 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).
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 PrintShop Mail Connect installer to the offline machine and start the
installation as normal
Installation Wizard
Starting the PrintShop Mail Connect installer
The PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail_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.
Selecting the required components
After clicking the Next button, the component selection page appears, where the different
components of PrintShop Mail Connect can be selected for installation. Currently, the following
are available:
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l
PrintShop Mail 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.
l
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:
l
Disk space required: Displays the amount of space required on the disk by the selected
components.
l
Disk space available on drive: Displays the amount of space available for installation on
the drive currently in the Installation Path.
l
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.
l
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.
End User License Agreement
The next page displays the End User License Agreement, which needs to be read and
accepted before clicking Next.
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.
l
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 PrintShop Mail 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.
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l
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.
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.
l It can be uninstalled via Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features.
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 PrintShop Mail_Connect_
Setup_x86_64.exe or in the unpacked folder of the installer.exe.
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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
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.
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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:
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):
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l database.host
l database.username
Optionally, the "schema" name can be defined (the default is objectiflune):
database.schema
Activating a License
PrintShop Mail Connect includes 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, then a new activation code will
need to be requested.
Obtaining the PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect Magic Number, open the PrintShop Mail Connect
Designer application:
l
Open the Start Menu
l
Click on All Programs, then Objectif Lune, then PrintShop Mail Connect
l
Open the PrintShop Mail Connect Designer [version] shortcut.
l When the application opens, if it has never been activated or the activation has expired,
the Software Activation dialog appears:
l
License Information section:
l
Magic Number: Displays the PrintShop Mail Connect Magic Number.
l
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.
l
Licensed Products section:
l
Name: Displays the name of the application or module relevant to this
activation.
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l
Serial Number: Displays the activation serial number if the product has been
activated in the past.
l
Expiration Date: Displays the date when the activation will expire (or the
current date if the product is not activated)
l
Web Activations: Click to be taken to the online activation page (not yet
functional).
l
End-User License Agreement (Appears only when loading a license file):
l
License: This box displays the EULA. Please note that this agreement is
legally binding.
l
I agree: Select to accept the EULA. This option must be selected to install the
license.
l
I don't agree: Select if you do not accept the EULA. You cannot install the
license if this option is selected.
l
Load License File: Click to browse to the .olconnectlicense file, once it has been
received.
l
Install License: Click to install the license and activate the software (only available
when a license file is loaded).
l
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 PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect:
l
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 PrintShop Mail Connect license file via email.
l
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.
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Accepting the license will activate it, after which the PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect
To activate PrintShop Mail 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:
l
Open the Start Menu
l
Click on All Programs, then Objectif Lune, then PrintShop Mail Connect
l
Open the PrintShop Mail Connect Designer [version] shortcut. The “PrintShop Mail
Connect Software Activation” tool displays information about the license and the End-
User License Agreement (EULA).
l
Click the Load License File button.
l Read the EULA and click I agree option to accept it.
l
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 PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail Connect Designer
PrintShop Mail 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 are located.
If generating Print output, PrintShop Mail Connect Designer requires permission on the printer
or printer queue to send files.
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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.
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The Designer
The Designer is a WYSIWIG (what you is what you get) editor that lets you create templates for
various output channels: Print, Email and Web. A template may contain designs for multiple
output channels: a letter intended for print and an e-mail variant of the same message, for
example. Content, like the body of the message or letter, can be shared across these contexts.
Templates are personalized using scripts and variable data.More advanced users may use
native HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
The following topics will help to quickly familiarize yourself with the Designer.
l "Basic Steps" on page 68. These are the basic steps for creating and developing a
template.
l "Features" on page 69. These are some of the key features in the Designer.
l "Designer User Interface" on page 255. This section gives an overview of all elements in
the Designer User Interface, like menus, dialogs and panes.
More help can be found here:
l Tutorials On Video: watch an introductory video, overview tutorials or practical how-to
videos.
l Forum: Browse the forum and feel free to ask questions about the use of Connect
software
l Demo site. Download demonstrations of OL products.
...
API
Designer Scripts API
This page describes the different features available in scripts created inside the Scripts pane.
See "Write your own scripts" on page 195.
Features that are only available in Control Scripts are listed in the Control Script API. See
"Control Script API" on page 61.
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Objects
results The HTML element or set of HTML elements that match the selector
specified in the script editor.
record The current record in the main data set.
logger Global object that allows you to log messages.
locale Defines which locale to use.
"formatter" on
page 51
automation Automation properties
merge Merge properties
Global functions
Skin/Formats/CrossReferencePrintFormat("loadhtml() Global function
thatreplaces the content (inner html) of each matched element in the result
set, alternatively load the data into a variable.The location should be an URL
or a relative file path. loadhtml(location)loadhtml(location, selector) Loadhtml()
iscached per batch run (based on the URL) in print/email. loadhtml(location)
Loads allHTML from the HTML file. locationString containing a path that can
be absolute or relative to the section/context. Use: snippets/<snippet-name> to
retrieve the content from a HTML fileresiding in the Snippets folder on the
Resources panel.ExamplesThis script loads a local HTML snippet (from the
Global object that allows you to format values.
Loads
HTML
data from
aHTML
(snippet).
The
returned
HTML can
be placed
Resources panel) directly into the matched elementsresults.loadhtml
("snippets/snippet.html");The following script loads a local HTML snippet
(Resources panel) into a variableThe replaceWith()command is used to
replace the element(s) matched by the script's selector with the contents of the
snippet.var mysnippet = loadhtml('snippets/snippet.html'); results.replaceWith
(mysnippet);Same result as the previous script, but a different
notation:results.replaceWith(loadhtml('snippets/snippet.html'));The following
script loads a snippet into a variable and finds/replaces text in the variable
into a
variable
or into a
set of
HTML
elements.
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before inserting the content into the page. The second find command also
adds formatting to the replacing text.var mysnippet = loadhtml
('snippets/snippet.html'); mysnippet.find('@var1@').text('OL Connect 1');
mysnippet.find('@var2@').html('<i>OL Connect 2</i>').css('textdecoration','underline'); results.replaceWith(mysnippet); This last script loads
a snippet into a variable and retrieves an element from the snippet using
query().var mysnippet = loadhtml('snippets/text-root-wrapped.html'); var
subject = query("#subject", mysnippet).text(); results.append("<p style='fontweight: bold;'>" + subject + "</p>");loadhtml(location, selector) Retrieve
specific content from the filename. locationString; the location can be
absolute or relative to the section/context. Use: snippets/<snippet-name> to
retrievethe contentfrom a HTML fileresiding in snippets folder of the
Resources panel.selectorString. The supplied selector should conform to
CSS selector syntaxand allows you to retrieve only the content of matching
elements.ExamplesThis script loads a specific element from the snippet.var
mysnippet = loadhtml('snippets/snippet-selectors.html','#item3');
results.replaceWith(mysnippet);This script loads the children of the selected
element.var snippet = loadhtml('snippets/snippet.html','foobar').children();
results.replaceWith(snippet);Another example is given in the following how-to:
Using a selector to load part of a snippet." on page 1)
"loadjson()" on page 54 Loads
jsondata
from an
url. This is
an simple
way to
retrieve
content
from
external
systems.
"query()" on page 58 Performs
a query in
the
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template's
contents
and
creates a
new result
set
containing
the HTML
elements
that match
the given
CSS
selector.
Functions
All these functions can be used with an HTML element or a set of HTML, such as the results
(the HTML element or set of HTML elements that match the selector specified in the script
editor) or the result set returned by a query (see "query()" on page 58).
"add()" on
page 32
"addClass()"
on page 33
"after()" on
page 34
"append()" on
page 36
"attr()" on
page 39
"before()" on
page 40
Adds elements to a set of HTML elements.
Adds the specified class to each element in a set of HTML elements.Has
no effect if the class is already present.
Inserts contentafter each element in a set of HTML elements..
Inserts content at the end of eachelement in a set of HTML elements.
Change the given attribute of the element or set of HTML elements with
the given value.
Inserts content before an element or before each element in a set of HTML
elements.
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