Process Designer Utility

The Process Designer is a utility used by administrators to create and edit output processes. Output processes are used to modify document data while sending a document to a destination. Banners can be added, transforms can be processed, and various other changes made to the document record format.

The process designer is separated into three panels:

Actions panel	This panel is a tree list of all actions that are available to build the process. The tree’s top level nodes represent groupings of similar type actions. Expanding a top level node reveals all the available actions for that group.
Process panel	This panel is where the process is built. An empty process will contain a start and end action image (which are not configurable and cannot be moved or deleted) with a link between representing the flow of the process. To build a process, you drag actions from the tree list and drop them on the link between two existing actions.
Action Configuration panel	This is where you configure an individual action. It is populated with all the parameters associated with the action that is currently (or most recently) selected in the Process panel.

Output processes can either be associated with a destination or with a document. If associated with a destination, any document being sent to the respective destination goes through the process. If associated with the document, the process is executed no matter which destination the document goes to. The document’s process takes precedence over the destinations, unless the check box Override output process assigned to document is selected on the Destination's More settings tab. This is also where you would associate the output process with a destination. Output processes can be associated with documents through source configuration on the Output settings tab, business rules, or by assigning an output process profile from the Document right-click menu.

The Process Designer can be accessed by selecting Tools > Process Designer from the Output Manager Console menu bar or from any area where output processes can be managed using the Manage Output Process Profiles dialog box.

Click the area of the window you want to learn more about.

Menu bar

The menu bar displays below the title bar.

Menu	Command	Description
File	New	Starts a new output process in the Process Editor pane.
	Open	Displays the Open Process dialog box for selecting the process you want to open.
	Save	Saves the current process. If you are modifying an existing output process, you will enter a process name and description.
	Save As	Saves the current process with a new name. You will enter a process name and description.
	Rename Process	Displays the Rename Process dialog box for renaming processes.
	Delete	Displays the Delete Process dialog box for selecting the processes you want to delete.
	Print Preview	Displays the contents of the Process Editor pane as it looks when printed. From the Print Preview window, you can specify the number of pages to view at a time, page through the document, zoom in and out of pages, and print.
	Print	Prints the contents of the Process Editor pane.
	Exit	Closes the Process Designer window. When you exit, you are prompted to save any changes.
View	Zoom Canvas	Allows for setting the zoom level of the Process Editor pane. Displays the Process Designer Zoom dialog box.
Help	Help	Displays Help for the Process Designer window.
	About	Displays program information, version number, and copyright.

Actions panel

The Actions panel shows a tree view of all available actions. These actions are available for use in output processes. Click and drag actions from this panel to the Process panel. Actions can be configured as necessary after they are added to the Process panel.

The top-level folders in the Actions tree are used to group related actions. These folders cannot be moved or renamed.

Action types

The following table describes the Output Manager action types:

Action type	Description
Append	Places data at the end of the document. The item being appended can be a set of bytes, a string, a text resource, a binary resource, or a banner resource.
Code Page	Changes the encoding of a document from one code page to another.
DCO	Allows for record format changes.
Hex Table	Allows single or multiple byte substitutions.
Package Management	Configures actions to define or manipulate package contents.
Post Processing Actions	Configures actions to be performed at the end of the output processing.
Prepend	Inserts data at the beginning of the document. The item being inserted can be a set of bytes, a string, a text resource, a binary resource, an Output Manager job ticket, or a banner resource.
Print Preferences	Modifies document properties and other document attributes to satisfy printer requirements for a specific document.
Search/Replace	Enables bytes and/or strings to be searched and then replaced. The item being replaced can be a set of bytes, a string, a text resource, a binary resource, or a banner resource.
Transform	Performs document transforms. The EPS and EPS Advanced actions are used for converting LCDS documents for use with an Xerox EPS controller. The Advanced Document Modification action allows repurposing of documents.

For more details, see Output Process Actions.

Search box

A search box is provided in the Actions pane below the tree. To search, type the text you want to find in the box and press Enter or click the search button next to the box.

Process panel

The Process panel is where the output process is created. The Start and End images are initially displayed in this pane. You can click and drag actions into a process from the Actions tree. All you have to do is drag the actions on top of the line linking two actions. Because the placement and order of actions is important, the Process editor enforces where actions can be dropped using drop zones. When an action is placed on top of a line linking two actions, it can only be dropped if the line turns green. If the line remains black, the action is not accepted in that location. Actions can be reordered within the drop zone by dragging them to a new position.

Processes are built with a sequence of actions. Some actions must be performed in specific sequences when combined with other actions within the same process. Therefore landing zones are enforced within the Process panel. Actions are processed in zone order, and the Process editor will only allow new actions to be dropped into the proper zones. The following table lists the processing order dependency for actions.

Landing zones

Number	Zone	Allowed actions or groups
1	Before processing a document	Prepend
2a	Document conversions	Transforms and DCOs in any order
2b	Document conversions	Search/Replace, Hex Table, and Code Page
3	After processing the document	Append
4	Currently not used
5	Post processing	Email, Call Method, and Script

There are five exceptions that will override the standard landing zone rules.

Landing zone exceptions

Number	Exception
1	Transform, Transform with Banners, Adept Transform, and Advanced Document Modification actions are not allowed anywhere in the workflow after an Apply Print Preferences action.
2	None of the EPS type actions are permitted to be in the same output process workflow with an Apply Print Preferences action.
3	Merge, Set Document Properties, and Make Copies should always occur in that order.
4	If the Set Document Properties action passes all previous exception rules, it is allowed to be anywhere in the output process workflow.

You can remove actions from an output process by selecting the action in the Process panel and pressing Delete. When an action is selected, a green box will display around the action.

Action Configuration panel

The Action Configuration panel allows for configuring the action selected in the Process panel. The configuration options that display vary depending an action. This panel is divided into the following three sections.

Action Parameters	Configures the parameters of a selected action. These vary depending on the action it represents.
If Action Encounters Error	This is common to all actions. It contains a single parameter: Workflow error: It sets what to do in case the action encounters an error. Specify Stop to end the process and send an error to the destination, or Skip to skip the action and continue executing the remaining process actions.
Action Executes For The Following	This contains the following parameters: Printer families: Common to all actions, it specifies whether or not the action is to be executed depending on the printer family of the destination. Select one or more. The default is All. Document data types: Common to all actions, it specifies whether or not the action is to be executed depending on the document data type being processes. Select one or more. The default is All. Job level: Currently only available for Append, Prepend, and EPS Adv W/Banners actions. Specifies if the action is to be executed at the package or document level. (see Package concept below). Specifying document level would execute the action on each document within a multidocument package. Specifying package level would execute the action on only the first and last document within the package. Thus, the result would be the same if the package contains only one document.