Kitting and Stacking not playing nice together

With help from a colleague, I have the kitting graphics working from a previous thread. However, the code only works when composing single page output. It does not work for previews (presumably because the variables are never correctly initiated) and they do not seem to work when using an FPI (stacked/telescoped) imposition.

 

Final code:

if (FusionPro.Composition.inputRecordNumber == 1) {
       lastbox = Field("boxid"); // the kit number from data
       lastblock = 0; // the filled tab on template, cycling 0-7 positions
   }
   else {
       if (Field("boxid") != lastbox) {
           lastbox = Field("boxid");
           lastblock = ((lastblock+1) % 8);
       }
   }
   FindGraphicFrame(Right(signType, 2) + "-block" + lastblock).fillColorName = "Black";

I'm assuming the code also doesn't work with the stacked imposition since the records are theoretically composed out of order (per page rather than per record). Do I have any options for getting around this problem?

 

At this point, it would seem I am forced to output single-page PDFs and impose them offline, but certainly the preference is to automate the entire process as well as output in the JLT format to decrease RIP time. For the record, the Indigo 7000 does not appear to be able to impose JLT data at the press either. I am testing press-imposition of PPML data to see if that is an available option.

I'm not sure I completely understand what you're doing in that code, but why not just base the lastblock variable on the record number?

I'm not sure I completely understand what you're doing in that code, but why not just base the lastblock variable on the record number?

My bad. If you reference the uploaded files in this thread I think you'll have a better idea of the issue. I might have 300 records that get a "tab" at position 1 (per a boxid value of 1), before record 301 changes its value to 2. Beginning with record 2, I need the "tab" to move to the second position and stay there until a future record changes to a value of 3. The data will always be sorted on the boxid but the value does not always increment by 1 nor is there a set number of records for a single boxid value.

 

Unfortunately for me, when trying to impose using a stacking layout, FP does not compose in the order the records are sorted in the data but rather in the order they will print on each sheet. That breaks the ability for my code to compare the boxid value of record (n) to record (n-1) which usually leads to the "tabs" incrementing for each and every record.

 

I'm looking into having a field added to the data to pre-determine the tab position for each record so that code is not required in a callback rule, but I was curious to know if this could be handled within FP directly. I'm guessing I could set up some type of array in an OnJobStart rule that parses all the records before beginning composition, but that may be overkill and too process-intensive compared to having our data department handle it "upstream".