Record Count, Indicia & MarComm Central

[traba5058]

I have a client with four sets of triggered post card mailings. On another post, I received javascript help to count the records, then place the indicia graphic. I used the following code in Fusion Pro Desktop:

OnJobStart

var myNewFile = new ExternalDataFileEx(FusionPro.Composition.inputFileName, ",");
scIndicia = (myNewFile.recordCount > 199);

Graphic

if (scIndicia)  {
       return Resource("scIndicia");
   }
   else  {
       return Resource("noIndicia");
   }

When I compose through Fusion Pro, it works correctly. I imported different lists with different record counts, and the indicia always appeared on lists of 200 or over.

 

I collected the template & uploaded it to MarComm Central. When I place an order & upload my mailing list, the indicia never appears in the proof. Even when the list count is 200 or more.

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this works offline but not online and how to fix? Any help would be much appreciated. I'm stumped.

[Dan Korn]

MarcomCentral typically generates a tagged markup data file, which can't be read with ExternalDataFileEx the same way as the comma-delimited data file you're using in FP Desktop. Fortunately, MarcomCentral provides an alternate mechanism to determine the number of records in the data file.

 

In order to work in both contexts, you need to do this:

var RecordCount = 0;
if (FusionPro.Composition.isBatch)
{
   // MarcomCentral
   RecordCount = Int(FusionPro.Composition.JobOptions["MCC_num_records"]);
}
else
{
   // FP Desktop
   RecordCount = new ExternalDataFileEx(FusionPro.Composition.inputFileName, ",").recordCount;
}

scIndicia = (RecordCount > 199);

That said, if you're uploading a data file to MarcomCentral, I think it just uses that file. In that case, you need to make sure that that data file you upload has the same format and delimiter (comma in this case) as the original data file used in FP Desktop. In either case, the folks on the MarcomCentral forum could probably help more.

[traba5058]

Thanks so much for your response. I am running a second test now, but I think it works. The indicia still does not show in the proof, but it looks like it is working when the job is processed through the Dashboard Manager.