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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 tabs controls certain aspects of the software.

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.

Cleanup Service preferences

The Cleanup Service defines how entities in the Connect Server Module are cleaned up when they have been left unused. The values below only define when the specified objects are set for deletion, not when they are actually deleted. Items are only deleted when the cron job runs on its schedule, or when the Run Now button is pressed in this dialog.

The more items are present in your database, and the larger they are, the more time and processing power (CPU) will be used to clean them up. It is recommended to clean up the database as often as possible, especially if you are not retrieving items from the database at a later date. You may also set the database cleanup outside of business hours (see the cron schedule option below).
  • Enable cleanup service: Check to enable the cleanup service Uncheck to disable it.
  • Run at application start up: Click to start the service when the Designer or DataMapper module is opened.
  • Run according to the cron schedule: Enter the interval at which the cleanup service runs. To know how to write the schedule, please refer to the Quartz Scheduler reference page.
  • Object Retention group:
    • Minimum time to retain Data Sets: The minimum time during which a Data Set (and all its contained records) is kept in the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain Content Sets: The minimum time during which a Content Set (and all its contained content items) is kept in the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain Job Sets: The minimum time during which a Job Set (and all its contained jobs) is kept in the database before being set for deletion.
    • Minimum time to retain Managed Files: The minimum time during which files such as data mapping configurations and templates are kept in the database before being set for deletion.
    • Allow orphan file cleanup: Check to automatically detect orphan files and set them for deletion. Orphan files can be resources, and internal files used by Connect.
    • Minimum time to retain orphaned temp files: The minimum time during which orphaned files are kept in the database before being set for deletion.
    • Allow orphan database entity cleanup: Check to automatically detect orphan database entities and set them for deletion. Orphaned database entities are entries in the database that are no longer being referred to by any other entity (for example a record that is not part of a record set).
    • Minimum time to retain orphaned database entries: The minimum time during which orphaned database entities 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 Email Context: Check to enable <div> resizing in the Email contexts.

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:
  • Litmus account Group:
    • Email Test address: If you have a Litmus account, enter the test address to use when using the Send Test Email dialog. For more information on Litmus, please see http://litmus.com/

Email (SMTP) Preferences

This page defines SMTP server presets that can be selected when sending emails using either the Send Email or Send Test Email dialogs. For all three presets, the password is not saved and must be re-entered when sending emails.

  • Production Group: Defines the default SMTP settings when using the Send Email dialog, which is considered "Production".
    • Host: The SMTP server through which the emails are to be sent. Can be a host (mail.domain.com) or an IP address.
    • Use authentication: Check if a username 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 username used to connect to the SMTP server.
  • Test Group: Defines the default SMTP settings when using the Send Test Email dialog, which is considered "Test".
    • Host: The SMTP server through which the emails are to be sent. Can be a host (mail.domain.com) or an IP address.
    • Use authentication: Check if a username 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 username used to connect to the SMTP server.
  • Mandrillapp.com Group: Defines the SMTP settings if using the service of Mandrill. For more information please see http://www.mandrill.com/ .
    • Host: The SMTP server through which the emails are to be sent. Can be a host (mail.domain.com) or an IP address.
    • Use authentication: Check if a username 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.
    • Username: Enter the username used to connect to the SMTP server.

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. 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: [TBD]
    • Extensions Path: Choose a folder where to put extensions to Emmet, which includes custom snippets, preferences and syntax profiles. For more information see Customization.

Emmet Abbreviation Preferences

Abbreviations are the heart of the Emmet toolkit: these special expressions are expandable and transformed into structured code block, HTML for example. The abbreviation’s syntax looks like CSS selectors with a few extensions specific to code generation.

  • Abbreviation List:
    • Name: The name of the item, aka its trigger. Disabled the checkbox next to the name to disable the item (it will not trigger).
    • Context: The context in which the item is enabled (HTML, CSS, etc)
    • Description: A short description of the item.
    • Auto Insert: [TBD]
    • New: Click to create a new item.
    • Edit: Click to modify the currently selected item.
    • Remove: Click to remove the currently selected item from the list.
    • Restore Removed: [Currently not functional]
    • Revert to default: [Currently not functional]
    • Import: Click to open a browse dialog to import an xml file containing exported items. The imported items are added to the list, and any
    • Export: Click to open a save as dialog to export all the items in an xml file that can be shared and re-imported.
  • Preview box: Displays a preview of the expanded item when one is selected.

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.

  • Tag Case: Defines whether tags in the expanded code will be in lowercase, uppercase, or keep whichever case was used when typing in the abbreviation. For example, the keep option means typing P>a expands to <P><a href=""></a></P>.
  • Attribute Case: Defines whether attributes in the code will be in lowercase, uppercase, or keep whichever case was used when typing in the abbreviation. For example, the keep option means typing p[TITLE="Hello world"] expands to <p TITLE="hello world"></p>
  • Attribute quotes: Defines whether the quotes in the expanded code are single (') or double ("). This has no effect on functionality, it's a visual preference for the code.
  • Each tag on new line: Output each tag on new line with indentation, boolean. Values are true (each tag on new line), false (no formatting) and 'decide' (string; only block-level elements on new lines).
  • Place caret placeholders in expanded abbreviations: Defines whether leaf block-level node (e.g. node with no children) should have formatted line breaks inside. Only
  • Indent Tags: [TBD]
  • How many inline elements should be to force line break: [TBD]
  • Self-closing style for writing empty elements:
  • Applied filters: [TBD]

Emmet Snippets Preferences

Snippets are just blocks of plain code, just like in all programmers’ editors. You can type anything there and it will be outputted “as-is”, without any transformation. Snippets are very similar to Abbreviations except for their more static nature.

  • Snippet List:

    • Name: The name of the item, aka its trigger. Disabled the checkbox next to the name to disable the item (it will not trigger).

    • Context: The context in which the item is enabled (HTML, CSS, etc)

    • Description: A short description of the item.

    • Auto Insert: [TBD]

    • New: Click to create a new item.

    • Edit: Click to modify the currently selected item.

    • Remove: Click to remove the currently selected item from the list.

    • Restore Removed: [Currently not functional]

    • Revert to default: [Currently not functional]

    • Import: Click to open a browse dialog to import an xml file containing exported items. The imported items are added to the list, and any

    • Export: Click to open a save as dialog to export all the items in an xml file that can be shared and re-imported.

  • Preview box: Displays a preview of the expanded item when one is selected.

Emmet Variables Preferences

Variables are placeholders used in 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].

  • Variable List:
    • 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

The Language Setting Preferences are as follows:

  • Language: Use the drop-down to select the User Interface Language to use.

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.

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 PrintShop Mail 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 PrintShop Mail 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'sServer 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.

Scheduling Preferences

The scheduling preferences are a way to control precisely how the PrintShop Mail Connect services work in the background when using server clustering; see Server Clustering.

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 with the PrintShop Mail Connect interface.

  • 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