Preferences

The Preferences dialog is used to modify the general software preferences. Changes made in this dialog affect the software globally, not individual templates and data mapping configurations.

The Preferences dialog is separated into individual tabs, where each tab controls certain aspects of the software.

To open the Preferences dialog, select Window > Preferences.

General preferences

The General Preferences are as follows:

• Always run in background: This option correlates with the "Always run in background" option selectable in the "Document Boundaries Refresh" dialog and "Print via Print Server" dialog. When either of these dialogs is used and the option is checked, it will also be checked here. To prevent the refresh boundaries and print via print server dialogs to automatically run as background, uncheck this option.

COTG Servers

By allowing one or more Capture OnTheGo servers to be set up, this option anticipates the release of a Capture OnTheGo On Premise Server product.

• Name: Enter a unique name.
• URL: Enter a valid URL (including the protocol, e.g. http://).
• Restore Defaults: Removes all custom servers from the list and resets to the default Capture OnTheGo server.

Clean-up Service preferences

The Clean-up Service defines how the Connect database and the temporary files created during Connect production runs are cleaned up after the production run has finished.

All the files created and the database references to them are stored for a set amount of time in order to allow Connect to reuse them. However, we do not want to store these indefinitely, because the database would run out of space. The solution is to use the "Clean-up Service" to remove the temporary data and files once they are no longer needed. This clean up service is usually managed by the Server Engine.

The values below define when the specified targets are to be set as being ready for deletion, not when they are actually deleted. The actual deletion occurs only when PReS Connect is started (if Run at application start up is selected), or when the Run Now button is pressed, or as per the cron job scheduling.

• Enable clean-up service: Check to enable the Clean-up services. When checked, either or both of the Database clean-up and File clean-up services can be set individually.
  If the box is not checked, then no Clean-up will occur.
• Run at application start up: Click to start the clean-up service when the Designer module is opened, or the Managing Service is started.
• Run according to the cron schedule: Enter the interval at which the Clean-up service runs.
  To understand how to write a cron job schedule, please refer to the excellent Quartz Scheduler reference page.
  If the Product managing the service is set to Designer, then the Designer must be running at the time that the cron job is scheduled, for the Clean-up to run.
• Product managing the service: Select which of the applications will run the service.
  The Server Engine is set as the default as it is generally considered the best option.
  This is particularly the case when using a scheduled cron job, as the Sever Engine is always running, whilst the Designer might well not be at the scheduled time (in which case the clean-up will fail to run).
• Database Clean-up Service:
  • Allow database clean-up service: Select this checkbox to enable the database Clean-up settings, and enable the actual clean-up.
    • Threads to use for database deletions: The number of Threads to be used in the clean-up. PReS Connect is a multi-threaded application, and the clean-up is likewise.
      
      The default number of threads is considered the best compromise for running both clean-up and production jobs simultaneously. If experience suggests that the clean-up is not running efficiently, then upping the number of threads here would be recommended. Conversely, if production appears to be suffering courtesy of the clean-up process, then reduce the number of threads here.
      
      In general, higher end machines (those with multiple cores) will allow a higher numbers of threads, whilst low end machines will perform better with a lower number of threads.
    • Number of entities in each deletion batch: The number of entities to be deleted at a time. This is done to break the clean-up into smaller chunks. This improves PReS Connect clean-up responsiveness, whilst the clean-up is occurring.
      The number selected here applies to all the following settings.
      i.e. a selection of 1,000 would delete 1,000 data records within a Data Set, 1,000 content items within a Content Set, and so on.
    • Minimum time to retain Data Sets: The minimum time a Data Set (and all the records it contains) is retained within the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain Content Sets: The minimum time a Content Set (and all the content items it contains) is retained within the database before being set for deletion.
      In order to prevent attempts at deleting database objects which might still be in use, it is recommended that all Minimum time retention values should always be set to at least the length of your longest job. Preferably with some extra time added, for good measure.
      
      For example, if your longest job takes 45 to 50 minutes to run, then set the retention time to 55 minutes (or 1 hour) to ensure that all the database objects created during job processing survive for the duration of the job.
    • Minimum time to retain Job Sets: The minimum time a Job Set (and all the jobs information it contains) is retained within the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain Managed Files: The minimum time file references (to files such as data mapping configurations and templates) are retained within the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain other entities: The minimum time any orphaned data (such as Finishing tables, Media tables, DataModels and Properties tables) are retained within the database before being set for deletion.
• Database Partition Settings:
  • Use Database Partitioning: Select to use Database Partitioning.
    
    • Empty partition count: The number of empty partitions that are created each clean up run. This defaults to 24.
    • Partition Size: Enter the length of time before partitions are switched. This can be entered in minutes, hours, days, weeks or months.
      
• File Clean-up Service:
  • Allow file clean-up service: Check to automatically detect orphan files and set them for deletion. Orphan files could be resources and internal files used by Connect, but which are not needed by any running job.
    
    • Minimum time to retain orphaned files: The minimum time during which orphaned files are kept in the database before being set for deletion.
      

Editing preferences

These preferences define different editing options in the Designer module.

• Object Resizing for <div> elements: This defines in which contexts to enable the resizing of <div> elements (including Positioned and Inline boxes). Resizing <div> elements may cause layouts to produce undesirable results especially when using Foundation templates.
• Enable for Print Context: Check to enable <div> resizing in the Print contexts.
• Enable for Web Context: Check to enable <div> resizing in the Web contexts.
• Enable for Email Context: Check to enable <div> resizing in the Email contexts.
• Detail tables preview limit
  • Maximum number of records to show in preview: This setting limits the number of records to show in detail tables in both the Designer (Preview tab) and Datamapper. The lower this number, the shorter the time before the preview or the next record will appear.

Color options

Many of the colors in the user interface of Connect Designer can be adjusted. Click the small colored square next to the field that holds the default color value, to open the Color dialog and pick a color (see Color Picker).

• Show edges: The edges around elements in a section in the Workspace. Click the Show Edges icon to toggle the visibility of these edges.
  • Box Objects: This color highlights positioned boxes, inline boxes and Div elements; see Boxes.
  • Table: This color highlights tables, and the rows and columns in tables; see Table.
  • Resizable Table: This color highlights tables for which the option Allow resizing has been checked when adding the table; see Table.
  • Forms: This color highlights forms; see Forms.
  • Shared Content: This color highlights shared content, such as shared snippets; see Snippets.
• Margin and guides: These settings only apply to Print sections.
  • Guides: This is the color for rulers that can help position content correctly; see Guides.
  • Margins: This color delineates the content area on a page; see Pages.
  • Bleed box: This color delineates the printable area on a page; see Page settings: size, margins and bleed.
• Master pages: These edges are only visible on Master pages; see Master Pages.
  • Header and Footer Margin: This color highlights the header and footer margin set for the Master page; see Adding a header and footer.
  • Objects: This color highlights all elements on the Master page.
• Script Result Highlighter:
  • Results: Hovering over a script in the Scripts pane highlights content that will be affected by the script; see Personalizing Content.

Images preferences

• Transparent PDF image preview: Check this option so that PDF resources added to the template (including in the Master Page and Media) display using transparency. Note that this can affect display performance (showing transparent PDFs is slower) but will not affect output speed.

Email Preferences

Email (General) Preferences

• Default From Group:
  • Name: Enter the name that is set by default in the "From name" field in the Send Email and Send Test Email dialogs (Send (Test) Email).
  • Email Address: Enter the email that is set by default in the "From Email" field in the Send Email and Send Test Email dialogs (Send (Test) Email).
• Litmus account Group:
  • Email Test address: If you have a Litmus account, enter the test address to use when sending a test email (see Send (Test) Email). For more information on Litmus, please see http://litmus.com/.

Email (SMTP) Preferences

SMTP server presets can be selected when sending emails using either the Send Email or Send Test Email dialog. (See Send (Test) Email and Email header settings). For all presets, the password is not saved and must be re-entered when sending emails.

• The Add, Edit and Delete buttons let you create and manage the presets.

• SMTP Host Settings: These settings can be made or edited after clicking the Add or Edit button.
  • Name: The name of the preset. This will show up in the Send Email dialog.
  • Host: The SMTP server through which the emails are to be sent. Can be a host (mail.domain.com) or an IP address.
  • Port: The specified port number will be added to the host name, for example: smtp.mandrillapp.com:465.
  • Use authentication: Check if a user name and password are needed to send emails through the host.
  • Start TLS: Enabled if authentication is checked. Sends emails through Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is sometimes referred to as SSL.
  • User: Enter the user name used to connect to the SMTP server.

• Restore Defaults: There are three default presets, each for working with a different Email Service Provider (ESP): Mandrilapp.com, Sendgrid and Mailgun (see Using an ESP with PReS Connect).

• Apply: Apply the new settings without closing the Preferences dialog.

Emmet Preferences

Emmet is a framework that enables the lightning-fast creation of HTML code though the use of a simple and effective shortcut language resembling CSS Selectors (see Emmet). The Emmet functionality is available in the HTML and CSS source editors of Connect Designer. Emmet transforms abbreviations for HTML elements and CSS properties to the respective source code.

This is, for example, the abbreviation for a <div> element with the class row:​

div.row

On pressing the Tab key, this abbreviation is transformed to:

<div class="row"></div>

To learn more about Emmet itself, please see their website Emmet.io and the Emmet.io documentation.

Common Emmet preferences

• Expand abbreviations by Tab key: Check to enable the Expand Abbreviation function.
• ... in files with extension: Enter a comma-separated list of all file extensions in which expand abbreviation will work.
• Upgrade web editors: This Emmet option doesn't affect how Emmet works in Connect Designer.
• Extensions Path: Choose a folder where to put json and js files to extend Emmet. This includes custom snippets, preferences and syntax profiles. For more information see Customization.

Emmet Abbreviation Preferences

This Preferences tab lets you add and manage custom abbreviations. All standard abbreviations can be found in Emmet's documentation: Abbreviations.

If there is no need to transform the text while expanding it, create an Emmet snippet instead (see below).

• New: Add a new abbreviation.
  • Name: The name of the abbreviation is also its trigger.
  • Context: The context in which the abbreviation is enabled (HTML, CSS, etc.).
  • Description: A short description of the abbreviation .
  • Pattern: This defines what an abbreviation expands to. Since Emmet is mostly used for writing HTML/XML tags, abbreviation definition uses XML format to describe elements; see Abbreviation types.
  • Automatically insert: This standard option doesn't affect how Emmet works in Connect Designer.
• Edit: Edit the currently selected abbreviation.
• Remove: Remove the currently selected abbreviation.
• Import: Click to open a browse dialog to import an XML file containing exported abbreviations. The imported abbreviations are added to the current list.
• Export: Click to open a Save as dialog to export all the abbreviations in an XML file that can be shared and re-imported.
• Preview box: Shows what the selected abbreviation is expanded to.
• Restore Defaults: clear all custom abbreviations.
• To temporarily disable an abbreviation, uncheck the checkbox next to the name of the abbreviation in the list.

Emmet Output Preferences

The Output Preferences dialog is used to control how the expanded (output) code behaves when expanding abbreviations and snippets. There are 6 different dialogs to control output and, while they all have identical options, they control different output types: CSS, HAML, HTML, XML, XSL and the "Default" one controlling the rest of the types.

These options are equivalent to Emmet's syntaxProfiles.json feature.

Emmet Snippets Preferences

Emmet Snippet are similar to abbreviations in that they are expanded when the Tab key is pressed, but they are just blocks of plain text. Anything in a snippet will be outputted “as is”, without any transformation.

• New: Click to create a new snippet.
  • Name: The name of the abbreviation is also its trigger.
  • Context: The context in which the snippet is enabled (HTML, CSS, etc.).
  • Description: A short description of the snippet.
  • Pattern: The pattern defines what a snippet expands to.
  • Automatically insert: This option doesn't affect how Emmet works in Connect Designer.
• Edit: Modify the currently selected snippet.
• Remove: Remove the currently selected snippet from the list.
• Import: Click to open a browse dialog to import an XML file containing exported snippets. The imported snippets are added to the current list.
• Export: Click to open a Save as dialog to export all the snippets in an XML file that can be shared and re-imported.
• Preview box: Shows what the selected snippet is expanded to.
• To temporarily disable a snippet, uncheck the checkbox next to the name of the snippet in the list.

Emmet Variables Preferences

Variables are placeholders used in Emmet snippets to output predefined data. For example, the html:5 snippet of HTML syntax has the following definition:

<!doctype html>\n<html lang="${lang}">...</body>\n</html>

In the example above, ${lang} is used to refer lang variable defined in variables below. If your primary language is, for example, Russian, you can simply override lang variable with ru value and keep the original snippets. Also, you can override variable values with inline abbreviation attributes: html:5[lang=ru].

• Name: The name of the variable. This should be a single alphanumeric string with no spaces or special characters. For example, the myVar name is referred to as ${myVar}.
• Value: The value of the variable when the snippet is expanded.
  
• New: Click to create a new variable and define its name and value.
• Edit: Click to modify the currently selected Variable.
• Remove: Click to delete the currently selected Variable.

Language Setting Preferences

• Display language: Select a language from the drop-down list to be used as the language of the User Interface (after the software is restarted).
• Default Locale: The default locale sets the locale for new templates. By default this is the system's locale. The locale can be changed per template; see Locale.
  • Select System Locale to use the operating system's locale settings.
  • Select Explicit Locale to choose a static locale from the drop-down list.

Print Preferences

Available Printers Preferences

The Available Printers preferences control which printer definitions are available when generating print output or creating Output Presets. Any printer that is unchecked in this dialog will not be visible in the "Model" drop-down of the Print Options dialog; see Print Options and Adding print output models to the Print Wizard.

Available Printer Preferences:

• Selected Printers: Lists the available Printer Definition Files in the system. Note that these are not installed Windows printers or printer queues, but PReS Connect Printer Definition Files.
• Printer checkbox: This checkbox selects/deselects all printers in the list. Click to check all, click again to uncheck all.

General Print Preferences

The General Print Preferences are used to set communication settings with the PReS Connect Server module that does the actual generation of print output. The Server module can be located on the same computer (hostname: localhost) or on a different machine. Multiple Designer modules can use a single Server module to generate Print output, as long as the appropriate hostname, username and password are provided. In essence, this can be used to create a single Print Server.

• Print Server Settings group:
• Protocol: Use the drop-down to select whether to use the HTTP or the secure HTTPS protocol to connect to the Print Server.
• Hostname: Enter the IP, machine name or URL of the Print Server. Default is localhost.
• Port: Enter the port through which to communicate with the Print Server. Default is 9340.
• Username: Enter the username to authenticate to the Print Server. Default is ol-admin. This is set on the server's Server Security Settings.
• Password: Enter the password to authenticate to the Print Server. Default is secret.
• Confirm Password: Re-enter the password above.
• External sort command timeout (seconds): Enter the number of seconds to wait for an external sort command before giving up. External sort commands are set up in the Sorting Options page of the Output module.

Print Measurements Preferences

• Units: Use the dropdown to specify the default measurements system used for dimensions of the template and boxes. In addition it defines the coordinates/position of box elements.
  The default unit will be added automatically when geometry values are entered without a unit in the Attributes pane or in the Box Properties dialog.
• Flip insert guide axis: Check this option to flip the axis on which guides are inserted. Normally, dragging a guide from a horizontal ruler inserts a horizontal guide (see Guides). With this option checked, dragging a guide from a horizontal ruler inserts a vertical guide.

Saving Preferences

The saving preferences are a way control if and how often PReS Connect saves your work in the background, and if how many backup files it creates when you save the template or data mapping configuration. See also: Saving a template.

Auto Save

After a template or data mapping configuration has been saved for the first time, Connect Designer can auto save it with a regular interval.

• Enable: activate the Auto Save function.
• Interval (minutes): enter a number of minutes, e.g. 3 to auto-save the template or data mapping configuration every 3 minutes.

Auto Backup

Connect Designer can automatically create a backup file when you manually save a template or data mapping configuration. The Auto Save function does not cause backup files to be created.

• Enable: activate the Auto Backup function.
• Revisions to keep: Enter the maximum number of backup files. When the maximum is reached, Auto Backup will overwrite the oldest file.
• Destination: Select the directory in which the backups should be stored.
  • Original: the directory in which the original file is stored.
  • Other directory: use the Browse button to select another directory.

Backup files have the same name as the original file with two underscores and a progressive number (without leading zeros) at the end: originalname__1.OL-template, originalname__2.OL-template, etc.

Scheduling Preferences

The scheduling preferences are a way to control precisely how the PReS Connect services work in the background.

Scheduling options

This preference page defines what is considered a small or large job (anything in between is considered "medium" jobs). For a detailed description of all options, see Scheduling Preferences.

Scheduling - Merge engine

This preferences page defines how different instances and speed units are attributed to different jobs when creating output documents. For a detailed description of all options, see Merge Engine Scheduling.

Scheduling - Weaver engine

This preference page determines the number of engines launched, as well as their speed, when generating Print Output of any type. For a detailed description of all options, see Weaver Engine Scheduling.

Scripting Preferences

The Scripting preferences define different options related to scripting within PReS Connect. See also: Testing scripts.

• General:
  • Script timeout at design time (sec): In Preview mode or when running the Script Profiler (see the Profile Scripts dialog), a long running script is stopped after the amount of time set here. The default is 2 seconds, the minimum is 1 second.
• Designer scripting profiling group:
  • Number of iterations: Enter the number of times to run scripts when running the Profile Scripts dialog. The default is 1000. Accepted values are 1 to 1000000000. Yes, that's 1 billion - which would take a long time to run!

Web Preferences

Web Form Preferences

These preferences define the default behavior of some form elements.

The preferences are as follows:

• Insert Form Field Defaults:
• Style: Defines how labels are added to input form elements:
• Wrap input with label: The label is wrapped around the element, such as <label>First Name <input type="text" name="first_name"></label>
• Attach label to input: The label is placed before the input, and refers to it: <label for="first_name">First Name</label> <input type="text" name="first_name">
• Use label as placeholder: The label is removed and the text is put as a placeholder, such as: <input type="text" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name">
• No label: The label value is ignored.
• Insertion Point: Defines how new elements are inserted, by default:
• At cursor position: The element is inserted where the cursor is located in the template.
• Before element: The element is inserted before the current element where the cursor is located. For example if the cursor is within a paragraph, insertion occurs before the <p> tag.
• After start tag: The element is inserted within the current element, at the beginning, just after the start tag.
• Before end tag: The element is inserted within the current element, at the end, just before the end tag.
• After element: The element is inserted after the current element where the cursor is located. For example if the cursor is within a paragraph, insertion occurs after the <p> tag.
• Get Job Data File: Defines the Workflow URL to be used when the Get Job Data File on submit toolbar button is active. This simplifies the process of creating and testing COTG Forms (see Capture OnTheGo).
• Workflow URL: The default URL is: http://127.0.0.1:8080/_getSampleFormData_

• Last Topic Update: 23, November, 2017 11:12 AM
• Last Published: 23, May, 2019 01:55 PM