The emulation defines how your document receives and processes its input data. It is basically a method with which PReS™ Workflow will read the data and display it on screen. The way data selections are made and data pages are created depends on the emulation, so it is always set at the beginning of your document creation, as you select your data file(s).
While you can have multiple sample data files in your document, all of them have to use the same emulation, since data selections and data pages rely on the emulation to work properly.
Various emulation specific options can be set for most emulations, with the exception of the line printer and database emulations. All emulations, except the database and XML emulations, also let you perform operations on the data to stabilize it, such as add and remove characters or lines.
The sample data file you associate with the document, the emulation you select and the PPD you associate with the document define how your document handles its input data, and consequently determine the accuracy of the output the document produces with the data stream it receives at runtime. If you alter any of these settings, you should verify the change does not compromise the output accuracy of the output.
This section explains what an emulation is, the different types of emulations available in PReS™ Workflow, and how to fine-tune the emulation to your input data.