Hello,
Our team is trying to evaluate and learn COTG, and the necessary steps in Designer and Workflow. We are trying to setup a test using a potential internal need but are struggling with something that seems like the basic first step.
Our system outputs packing lists as PDF. We want to send those packing lists to COTG users to get signed in the field that the product was delivered which then gets sent back to PP to get processed further. The part we are hung up on at the moment is how to make the PDF the background for the web context. So when the packing list is printed and captured by PP we want that to be an image as a background for the web form that is sent to COTG.
There is a way using the print context to set the background to “From PDF DataMapper input” which I assume would be the answer in print form but how do we do the same for web?
Also, are there any good resources that describe, in detail, each step in creating a COTG process? What I’ve read so far doesn’t describe what all needs to be created for some of the steps, such as the HTTP input parts.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Hi egardecki,
In order to have a dynamic background for your web context you’ll need to:
-Setup your workflow process to send the background image to a local folder(with a specific file name) before the Connect plugins execute…
-When you’re setting up the template: insert an image (picture button near the top) and use the “Disk” option for indicating where to pull the image from. Here you will of course reference that file path/name that you’re sending the image to in your workflow process. You’ll also want to uncheck the “Save with template” option, otherwise it will reference the local copy that is present at the time, instead of going to the indicated path to get the dynamic/updated copy every time.
If there will be several different backgrounds throughout a single job, you’ll have to send each background image to a local folder(each with their own respective file name) and then make your image dynamic by right-clicking on it in Design mode and selecting “Dynamic Image…”. This will give you a GUI that you can use to configure the dynamic file name/path.
As for good resources on learning COTG:
https://learn.objectiflune.com/fr-fr/cotg/overview (videos)
Resource Center | Objectiflune (demo packages / user guide)
Hope this helps,
Thanks Stephen,
How would you create a static image from a PDF in workflow?
Wouldn’t the web form just reference that image and not embed? If I have a web form that accesses an image that keeps changing with every document processed then the background would change for each form instead of having a different background for each form that doesn’t change, no? (hopefully that makes sense…)
thanks
You wouldn’t create a static image from a PDF in the workflow, the PDF would be your image(the background).
There isn’t a “background” for a web context like there is for print contexts, but if you insert an image(PDF) that acts as a background, then there is no practical difference.
When you insert an image into your template, you have the option to provide a path on the disk to the image(PDF). There is a “Save with template” option that you will not want to check, otherwise it will save the image into the form and always reference that saved image.
What you want is an image acting as a background in your web context, with a path to the disk to reference where to pull the image from, and if you want that image to be dynamic you need to use the workflow to overwrite the image at that refenced path.
Make sense?
Yes thanks but still unsure of one thing and I’m not sure how else to ask.
if the image inserted into the template is just a reference to a file, wouldn’t each form shown to a COTG user then have the same image background…whichever is in the folder at that moment? So an image is made, served to COTG as the background, then another is made with a new background and served up. Are those going to have the right background (at time of creation) or accessing the image that is there at that moment?
Hope that clears up the concern.
Thanks
The image will be based on whatever is present at the time the form is created, not when it is opened on the device.
After getting a lot of this setup and having a better understanding, the image is created at the time the form is created…which is also the time it is downloaded to the device. So your method will not work as the only way you wouldn’t get duplicates and lost items is if auto-download is on and always works (no loss of internet or any other issues).
It looks like we’ll have to extract all the image data and reconstruct the form just for COTG and then reconstruct again to have a printable item back at the office. Ugh.