Route Reports based on Content

There is support in the Info Services framework route formatted reports based on content in the report and also to be able to control the paper tray for different types of pages (first, last and rest) in a report when printing. This functionality is only available for print jobs handled by the Report Formatter. Furthermore, the only thing that's included in standard is the framework to make the routing possible. The entire routing (i.e. rules for controlling where a certain report should be sent, what paper tray options to use and so on) is considered business logic and needs to be developed separately in each customer project and handled as a customization.

The new functionality enables you to do the following things:

1. Route reports to three different channels based on what ever criteria you'd like. These channels are print, e-mail and other connector.
2. It enables you to control the paper tray selection when doing a physical printout (i.e. using the print channel)
3. Its support duplex printing (i.e. using the print channel)
4. PDF insert and merging. (i.e. using the print channel)
   You can specify inserts for the first last and rest pages. The default location of the inserts is after each page, but you can also specify the insert to be placed before the page (see example below).

   Read more about Report PDF insert.

Implementation details

The way to enable this and start using it is to customize the Route_Print_Job method in the Print_Job_API (i.e. add the appropriate call to you own customized routing code). This Route_Print_Job method is invoked when the status of the print job is set to waiting. This means any routing information will be added before it's picked up and processed by the Report Formatter. The task of the routing code is to update the routing_info column in the print_job_tab table. This column holds a CLOB which needs to be a well formatted XML message according to the below definition.

Here you can see the structure of the routing info (i.e. the type of XML your routing code needs to assemble). Further guidance and instructions can be found below.

<REPORT_ROUTING>
  <OMIT_PRINTOUT_TO_JOB_PRINTER>TRUE</OMIT_PRINTOUT_TO_JOB_PRINTER>
  <DESTINATION>
    <CHANNEL>PRINTER</CHANNEL>
    <ADDRESS>GBG2B</ADDRESS>
    <OPTIONS>
      <TRAY_FIRST>1</TRAY_FIRST>
      <TRAY_LAST>2</TRAY_LAST>
      <TRAY_REST>3</TRAY_REST>
      <COPIES>2</COPIES>
      <DUPLEX_MODE>DUPLEX_VERTICAL</DUPLEX_MODE>
      <INSERTS>
        <INSERT_FIRST location="after">FirstPageTerms.pdf</INSERT_FIRST>
        <INSERT_LAST location="before">BeforeLastPage.pdf</INSERT_LAST>
        <INSERT_REST>RestPageTerms.pdf</INSERT_REST>
      </INSERTS>
    </OPTIONS>
  </DESTINATION>
  <DESTINATION>
    <CHANNEL>EMAIL</CHANNEL>
    <ADDRESS>martin.olsson@ifsworld.com</ADDRESS>
    <OPTIONS>
      <MAIL_SUBJECT>Order Confirmation from Ferrari</MAIL_SUBJECT>
      <MAIL_BODY>Dear Mr Olsson,

                 Attached you'll find the order confirmation of your
                 Ferrari Enzo. Don't hesitate to contact us if you
                 have any questions or inquiries.
                   
                 Thank you for your order</MAIL_BODY>
      <ATTACHMENT_NAME>OrderConfirmation_64378.pdf</ATTACHMENT_NAME>
      <SEND_FROM>methika.sapukotana@ifs.lk</SEND_FROM>
      <SEND_CC_TO>muhammed.naseer@ifs.lk;
                  chanaka.amarasekara@ifs.lk</SEND_CC_TO>
    </OPTIONS>
  </DESTINATION>
</REPORT_ROUTING>

This sample shows how to route the reports in a print job to all three supported channels simultaneously. The XML structure should be pretty intuitive. A root element called REPORT_ROUTING, containing any number of DESTINATION elements. Each destination must have a CHANNEL and an ADDRESS element (i.e. those are mandatory). For the OTHER channel the CONNECTOR_INSTANCE element is also mandatory.

Report PDF insert

PDFs that are expected to be inserted should be imported via the Solution Manager page.