JobInfo in name output through workflow

I am trying to use a JobInfo# with some additional static text to name my print outputs through the workflow. It seems to work one day but then stop working the next, for example, if my output is supposed to be “example text - @JobInfo9@” the output will just show what is contained in @JobInfo9@. Then randomly it will work out of the blue for a day or two. I am the only one changing anything in the workflow so I’m not sure what could possibly be causing this. I have tried sending my output profiles again to see if it resets it but it doesn’t. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

My only thought would be to check your workflow variable/data.

For instance, if you’re trying to read the first fifty characters on line one to get your extra information, perhaps some of your jobs actually have that information showing up on line two instead?

Or if you’re reading from a PDF, perhaps some of the PDFs are not machine readable, or are similarly inconsistant with their text placements?

I can’t think of a single case where the workflow variables weren’t properly passed into a Connect template as you’re doing, but I do see cases rather regularly where the data doesn’t contain the expected values in the expected location.

It’s odd also because the variable that is coming from the XML is working correctly, it’s the static information from the output preset that doesn’t come through for some reason. It doesn’t seem to be a character limit issue either because as you can see in my example above, the static info comes before the variable, and the static is what is missing.

When that happens, can you reproduce it at will? Re-sending the same job will produce the exact same behaviour?

Wow I didn’t notice this before but yes it seems to depend on the job, if I reprint an old job where the info showed correctly, it shows correctly now. If i print a job that is not coming through correctly, it will always show the same result as well. I will look at my XML but it is all very similar and simple information.

I suggest to get the data into the Designer in the state that it is, just before reaching the Datamapper in your Workflow process.

This way, you will see the data as it is, in your Workflow.

I found the problem, the variable field from the XML occasionally has a date for internal purposes and the date is formatted with a / which must be a bad character in this case. It only shows what comes after the / so everything before it gets cut off.