Capture Fields Generator

The Capture Fields Generator Action Task is used to generate Capture patterns in your job, which will then be printed for use with an Anoto Digital Pen. It also interacts with the Capture database and does some operations.

PlanetPress Capture Fields cannot simply be inserted into an existing document as-is and expected to work properly, efficiently or consistently. In order to design a document with Capture Fields, you must review and understand the Critical PlanetPress Capture Implementation Restrictions.

Input

The Capture Field Generator Action Task expects to receive a regular data file that corresponds to the Capture-Ready document that uses it, along with Metadata generated using the same data file and document. This means that this task must be preceded by at least the Create Metadata task.

This metadata must also be correctly separated at the Documents level, either in the Capture-Ready document's properties or through the Metadata Level Creator.

You may also use a Metadata Sequencer in order to split the job into multiple parts. This both creates multiple smaller outputs, as well as multiple smaller PDFs in the Capture Database. While it is not recommended to separate each document on its own as it removes all optimization and makes the database much larger, you may split into document batches such as 250, 1000 or 2500 documents.

If using the Metadata Sequencer it is generally recommended to place the Sequencer and the Capture Field Generator tasks within a branch and, within the Capture Field Generator's On Error properties tab, to set it to stop the branch if any errors occur. This is to ensure that if such an error occurs most of your document sequences will get generated and you will not have to start the job over from the beginning.

Processing

The Capture Fields Generator Action Task uses an existing PlanetPress Design document containing Capture Fields and assigns a unique Capture Pattern to each printed page. The task then locks each pattern that it used so it cannot be reassigned to any other document.

The whole job is then converted into a PDF file which is stored, without the patterns, in the Capture Database. This PDF file is later used by the Capture Fields Processor to be merged with ink from the pen. At the same time the output is generated, either as a PDF (including the patterns) or an Optimized PostScript Stream file. This means that regardless of the output, a PDF is always generated in the database.

If any error occurs during processing, such as running out of patterns while generating the job, every action made by this task will be rolled back as if they hadn't happened.

Output

The Capture field Generator action Task will output either a PDF and Metadata, or an Optimized PostScript Stream file without Metadata.

Properties

Pattern Generator action task properties are as follows:

Capture Document: Choose the PlanetPress Design capture ready document that will be used to generate the output including the capture fields.
Document Title group: Determines a Title for the document. This title is accessible in the Capture Database and can be used to search for a document or retrieve a list of document using other tasks.
- From metadata: Use the Document Title property as set in the PlanetPress Capture section of a PlanetPress Design document's properties.
- Custom: Use the title in the input field as set by the user. The field is variable so the title can be set on a per-document basis using data or metadata selections.
Output Format group
- Continue process with optimized postscript (no metadata): The job file coming out of the task will be a PostScript file that can be sent to any postscript printer or saved locally.
- Continue process with PDF (with new metadata): The job file coming out of the task will be a PDF with accompanying metadata for that PDF (previous metadata is lost).
Override document pattern sequence: Check to override the pattern sequence as entered in your PlanetPress Design document properties. Once checked, enter a new pattern sequence in the Pattern Sequence box.
Fail if document doesn't contain at least one capture field: If the static or dynamic document that tries to pass through this task does not contain any capture fields, an error will be generated.
Simulate pattern area on final document: When retrieving the document from the database with the Get Capture Document, each Capture Field is simulated using a grey box. This box is not a pattern and cannot be used with the Anoto Digital Pen, however this option can be used to keep the same overall design of your document.

Examples & Use Cases

This task is put into effect in the following use cases and example processes:

On Error Tab

By default, any action task, branch, splitter or condition that generates an error will simply be ignored, and the task just under it (not within a branch) will be given control of the job file without any modification. Any initial input task that generates an error will stop the process from running as a whole, and output tasks will not generate output. The On Error tab can be used to overwrite the default behaviors.

Send to Process: Check this option to send the job file to an error management process.
Error Process drop-down: Enabled only when the Send to Process option is checked. Lists any process of which the initial input task is the Input Error Bin task.
Action Group: This group is disabled in the initial input tasks and defaults to Stop Process. In all other tasks where the On Error tab is present, the following options are available:
- Ignore: The task is ignored as if it did not exist, and the job file is passed on to the next task in the process.
- Stop Branch: If the task is in a branch of the process, the branch is stopped and the job file is returned to the process after the branch. The branch will not produce any output.
- Stop Process: The process is stopped and no more processing is done. No further output is produced.
Log Message: Check this option to enable logging a custom error message in the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools' log file.
Message: Enabled only when the Log Message option is checked. Enter a message that will be logged in the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools' log file. You can use any variables available in PlanetPress Workflow to customize the message.
Store the message in variable: Select in which jobinfo, local or global variable you want to store the message content.
ID: Enter an error ID. This ID will be visible in the Windows Event Viewer. However, the ID is not visible in the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools' log file.
Store the ID in variable: Select in which jobinfo, local or global variable you want to store the error ID.
Reset to defaults: Resets all options in this tab to their default values.

If storing the message or ID, if they are store in a jobinfo they will be available in any error handling process where errors are being forwarded. In all cases, if your process continues after the error, the contents of the variables selected in this window will be available for the rest of your process, or whenever they are overwritten.

Common Errors

Though some error messages are specific to a task in particular, others may apply to any and all tasks because they are related more to the system than to PlanetPress itself. Some examples would be W3813, W3830, W3991, W4005. These correspond to issues such as not having any space to write files, permission errors on folders or files, etc.

Comments Tab

The Comments tab, added in PlanetPress Suite 7.5, is common to all tasks. It contains a single text area (Task comments) that lets you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with the OK button, and are displayed in The Task Comments Pane.

"Anoto" and the Anoto logotype are trademarks owned by Anoto AB. PLANETPRESS CAPTURE is based on Anoto Digital Pen and Paper Technology, which is covered by over 200 patents worldwide, including but not limited to US6663008, US7172131, US7248250, US7281668, JP3872498, JP3842283, CN1595440, SE517445, RU2256225, and AU773011.