S_Black

From what I am reading about the ExternalDataFileEx, and correct me if I am wrong, but it is unable to create a new file or add new fields to an existing file. If I have a Primary Input and a Secondary data source, the ExternalDataFileEx can update records (SetFieldValue) and save data in either of those files, but it is unable to output a file that contains the fields from both files. Is that correct? As an example. The primary input has contact names and a unique business code. The secondary file has the business code and business addresses. I would like to have a single data file with the name from the primary and the addresses from the secondary.

I am curious about whether the Designer can output data files, and if there is a tutorial, or maybe key rules, on how to do so. I've never attempted it and I'm not sure where to start. A little background: I have a job that uses a secondary data source. Merging works great and I have my print files, but I would like to output the merged data for quality control purposes. Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

I've searched through the forum and I found this thread to my same inquiry from 2012. From what I can tell there is still not a way to produce what is needed but I want to at least ask. I have a 4-page document that needs printed Single Gate Side-By-Side. The client provided pages 2 & 3 preprinted (the back), so I need to produce pages 1 & 4 (the front). By suppressing the content of pages 2-3, I am able to select Single Gate and create a duplex document with a blank back. The alternative would be to re-create the design file as 11x17 sheets instead of 8.5x11. It would be great if there was a way to produce multiple simplex pages on a single sheet using FusionPro Imposer

I have a rule that creates a checkdigit. It's lengthy and took a bit of programming. I unfortunately need that checkdigit in a data file so that the data can be used on an inkjet machine that doesn't handle javascript programming. I could, but I don't want to recreate the programming in Excel. Is there a way in javascript to output a rule's value (the checkdigit) to a text file? If so, all I would need to do is compose the file and merge the newly created checkdigit file into the original input.

Rather than setting the data type to "none", could you create a data source with 12 records? Seq 1 2 3 4 etc. I would think you could then iterate in the preview

Thanks Dan, I have a few screen caps. Capture1: Text with Variable fields Capture2: Example of a lot of content Capture3: Example of a little content. I've never used the table feature and made an attempt to create one, but I'm stuck. I placed the text in a Formatted Text Resource and create the table from a Rule that returned the resource, but the table data is invalid. I need to read up on the table feature. It looks like a powerful feature, but I haven't had a need to use it thus far. The width can be fixed, and the text should wrap around the table when necessary.

I have a client requesting a task I am unsure how to implement. There is a text frame of variable content. By default I allowed text to shrink to fit a frame, but the client is asking for the text box to shrink to the size of the text... or expand if necessary. Is that even possible?

There are multiple ways of doing doing things, but if it were me I would change the names of your signatures to be only the state or place the signature name into your data file and do something like: //Change the image from "AR Sylvester Smith.tif" to "AR" return '<graphic resource="'+Field("st")+'.tif" height=7200>'; //OR add the signature name to your data as a field to be pulled return '<graphic resource="'+Field("signature")'" height=7200>'; This way you don't need to program each state, and if a signature is updated you don't need to update your code.

I don't know, but you may want to look at the path of your image(s). I've had to do the following. { if (Len(Field("CS46SIGNAT"))==0) return '<graphic file="\\\\PDMSRV\\PioneerData\\Acknowledgements\\Client Files\\Signatures\\SA_00000_NO SIG IMAGE_Sig1.tif" height=4000 />'; else return '<graphic file="\\\\PDMSRV\\PioneerData\\Acknowledgements\\Client Files\\Signatures\\'+Field("CS46SIGNAT")+'" height=4000 />'; }

Thank you Dan

I have multipe PDF files that need VDP, stacked & imposted. Some are simplex and others are duplex. I have the OnRecordStart set to pull the backside of the PDF if the PDF has two pages FusionPro.Composition.SetBodyPageUsage("Page2", Resource(Field("RemitPartID")+".pdf").countPages == 2) if (FieldChanged("PDM_Vsn")) { if (Resource(Field("RemitPartID")+".pdf").countPages == 1) { FusionPro.Composition.OpenNewOutputFile("10937 AD No.10 Remits " + Field("PDM_Vsn") + " Simplex_Print Ready." + FusionPro.Composition.outputFormatExtension); FusionPro.Composition.StartNewStack(); } else { FusionPro.Composition.OpenNewOutputFile("10937 AD No.10 Remits " + Field("PDM_Vsn") + " Duplex_Print Ready." + FusionPro.Composition.outputFormatExtension); FusionPro.Composition.StartNewStack(); } } Using this I can compose the document one time for all versions in the job, but the second page is removed because the imposition definition is simplex. Is it possible to switch the Imposition Definition during the OnRecordStart so that any 2-Page documents impose using a duplex imposition and any 1-Page documents impose with a simplex?

Thank you Dan, this is really helpful.

Thanks Step. For now, we are going to communicate with the client to change their paragraph to either omit the highlighted text, or place it before the variable(s) to ensure it does not move. I would still like to know how to control the shading for future projects, and my own education. Attached is a zip file with everything you might need. In this example I am attempting to highlight "ABOVE MARKET TRADE VALUE", which you can see may wrap to a second line. There is no urgency to this, so please don't take extensive time. If there is a resource/video/wiki or anything I can use to self-learn I would be fine with that as well. 10375 Xcel Capital Nissan of Wilmington SignOff.pdf.zip

I am looking to highlight words within a text frame. But can't find a way that works. I have attempted a rule as such the following, but it doesn't produce what I would expect. I would add a highlight to the background, but the placement of the highlight moves based on variables in the paragraph. Any help would be appreciated.

That is one hefty script. I can see how that works, and hopefully I'll have some free time next week to implement it. Thank you for the time you took to reply. I appreciate it.

I have a 4 page document (2 pages duplex) and I am trying to control the paper type of each. The first two pages print on letterhead, and the second two on plain paper. I have tried to use the Finish Settings for each, but I can't find a solution that will work for our business. So, what I have been doing is marking pages 3 & 4 as Unused and compose the first sheet, then change the Page Usage and compose the second sheet. I would like to write a rule to have page numbers 1 & 2 to output as one document and page numbers 3 & 4 as a separate document. Conceptually it seems feasible, but I can't find a script that fits. Hopefully someone in the community could help. Edit* I just realized I was in the Producer Thread. I intended to post in the Creator Thread

That was it. I went to check the registration on the server, and instead of "Renew Registration" it displayed "Initial Registration". Once clicked, I was able to compose the entire file. Very strange. Thanks for your help.

I am running a trial version of Producer. Last Friday everything seemed to be running well. Today however, files that are sent to compose on Producer, output a single page only. I can compose on my desktop fine, but not through Producer. Here is the log for the output, I don't see anything in it that seems to indicate a problem. The job Monitor has a return code of "0". Any assistance would be appreciated. And if necessary let me know any files to send.

I need a little assistance with the MakeDataMatrixBarcode Function. Here is the code I currently have var ID = Field("Partner ID") var Appeal = Field("Appeal") var Segment = Field("AppealSegment") return MakeDataMatrixBarcode (ID+" "+Appeal+" "+Segment+" ", true, "ASCII", 4, 7) Specifically I need to know how to input a tab into the fields. It needs to be a horizontal tab of ASCII value 09. If I manually place a tab " ", the rule editor converts it to double-spaces. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Edit: I read the System Guide for this function, and used the requested "~009", but the string (ID+~009+Appeal+~009+Segment+~009, true, "ASCII", 4, 7) doesn't come through correctly.

The layout has variable names and sequences that need to stay in order. Without a stack my first page has 1,2,3,4 rather than 1,5,9,12

FPI attached and I was not aware that I needed additional chunk breaks. It makes since though Edit: From your comment, I searched the forum for "chunksBreakStacks" and found this thread which appears to be identical to what I need. 4-Up 7.25x3.5.fpi

My Rule is: if (FieldChanged("PDM_Version")) { FusionPro.Composition.OpenNewOutputFile("9127" + Field("PDM_Version") + "." + FusionPro.Composition.outputFormatExtension); }

I have a document that imposes to 4-Up, perfectly fine. I have also used the OnRecordStart call to create new output files when a field changes on other projects. However, I have been searching through the forum to find a way to combine these two tasks. I have a data file and need 91 separate imposed documents. I want to avoid processing each of the 91 files separately, but each time I use the imposition with the combined data, the FieldChanged command doesn't execute correctly. I haven't been able to find a post that addresses this specific topic, but would appreciate any guidance available. Thanks

As it turns out, I had a <span> tag that was not closed and wrecked havoc on every line that followed.

Apparently it is just this one project, so it's irony that I updated to 9.3.21, and the first project post-update has this issue. Fonts are embedded All fonts are listed in the PDF document properties. Due to the content of the project, I cannot post the output online. I think this issue just transitioned to a technical support conversation, because my solution, likely will not be beneficial to the community.