I have jobs that uses an Output Preset with “Add Additional Content” to place a 2D Datamatrix barcode to control a folder/insert. The barcode uses the “page.nr” and various other variables to encode the page count and page number values.
Next, I need to add a “Banner Page” to print as the first sheet of the template, and this Banner Page isn’t considered part of the mailing. It’s an informational/instructional sheet. I can get it to print once per job by adding a “record.index” field to my data map and making the Print Section for the Banner Page conditional, to only print when RecordIndex = 1.
However, the pages of the Banner Page section are included as pages of the first document, and that throws off my barcode.
What is the proper technique of adding a conditional Banner Page to a template without it being considered part of a “Document”, or to make it its own “Document”?
In my output preset, I would just insert a condition which prevents the barcode from printing on the first page (or the first sheet), which is the banner page (or sheet)
You are allowed to write expressions there which account for the banner page and which calculate and yield the correct values for your barcode’s content and conditions. You may open a support ticket and submit a sample job if you are still having issues, but I think you can workout the actual values for your barcode by discounting the banner page.
What I was hoping is for a Feature to have Print Sections marked as “Banner” and “Trailer”, and print sections so-marked to not effect the page and document counts.
If I am not mistaken, there is a feature request where the Slip Sheet in the separation option of the output preset could be used as banner page in future. You probably want to check with the support department if that feature will be helpful in your case. Reporting it through the support channel will be recorded and will help increase the priority of the request with the development team.
With that said, I would probably review these expressions and find ways to simplify or combine them. Note that you can write there a fully blown javascript expression with all the if/else conditions whilst alo declaring variables with the var keyword as long as your expression is within ${} and returns a valid string. But I would make sure to keep the expression as minified as possible. An example such expression can be seen in the following post: Designer Output Creation additional barcode (DataMatrix) - Designer - Upland OL User community
With PlanetPress v2023.1. Are there any newer examples to share with regards to banner feature? If Sorry to keep going back at this.
What is the proper technique of adding a conditional Banner Page to a template without it being considered part of a “Document”, or to make it its own “Document”?
Hi
I create the banner page through workflow…
Create a separate template for the banner page, run the datamapper for the main job you are running, capture the variables you need in workflow from the datamapper you just run ( you will have to output to a txt file and use that as the data file for banner template), create a separate branch after the datamapper calling in and processing the banner page template with the variables you want on it and send it to a folder, then add print content,job section and output on original line and append to the folder you saved the banner sheet to.
I have this already set up, but was able to find out how to using the Banner feature that was added recently.
On a seperate note hopefully someone can help me with is I’m trying to pass a runtime variable to the banner page through the output creation. But on the output creation I cannot see where I need to place it. I can add it to the job creation preset. Anyone able to point out what the issue could be or guide me to achieve this. Attached are the presets. Thank for your help in advance.
