I have a similar question and wondered if there is another way to split the output.
What I tried:
We have a template with multiple sections. Every section has its own media (preprinted).
The workflow gets an XML file. Every section uses the same data. 1 record → multiple sections.
The idea was to branch after the template with all sections has been processed. So each branch uses the “Job Creation Preset” Data Filtering Option to filter each media by its name and then outputs each section separately in a spool file.
Unfortunately, the filter “(Media.Name is “Media XY”)” does not seem to work as I thought it would. The output file contains all the sections, not only the ones to be printed on “Media XY”.
Should that work and I have an error? Or was the idea wrong in the first place?
It sounds like for each record you’re producing each section. Therefore, for any record, the Media Name filter would be true. Assume you’re checking if Media A is used, since it has Media A and Media B and Media C, it’ll come back as true.
What you might consider instead would be to duplicate your records in the datamapper.
There’s a nice example here that shows you how you can duplicate out the records and set a field value that’s unique to each copy. Then in your Design, you’d create a condition that disables all of the Print Contexts except the one you want.
Doing this, you’ll end up with individual documents for each print context and your filtering will work.
If I understand this correctly, there is no way to separate the different media types or sections into separate spool files after you have created them by using a template once on one record?
So, you have to either duplicate the records in the datamapper or branch after the datamapper and use the template multiple times (like you described here). Correct?
I think, I will go with second approach. With ~20 different sections which are used depending on the data, this will be quite the workflow.
I find it easiest to think of the Record as the smallest divisible unit of output, yes. You can’t split the content created by a record, but you can control what becomes a record and what content that record generates.
That link pre-dates the feature to duplicate records in the datamapper. The approach still has it’s uses, but I think you’d be better off with leaving the duplication up to the datamapper, as that allows you to run all of your Content Creation in one batch.