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  7. Copy Batch XML Plugin

Copy Batch XML Plugin

Available: on-premises, cloud

This page describes how to configure the Copy Batch XML plugin in Ephesoft Transact. These steps are intended for Transact administrators.

Overview

The Copy Batch XML plugin exports the batch.xml and batch files (multi-page PDFs and TIFs) files to the final drop folder. You can modify the names of the copied document files and to where these files will be copied in the plugin configuration screen for the plugin.

Prerequisites

To configure and use the COPY_BATCH_XML plugin, the following configurations must be in place:

  • You will need a batch class with a document type configured. For detailed steps, refer to Add New Document Type.
  • The COPY_BATCH_XML plugin must be added to the Export module for the batch class. For more detailed steps, refer to Configuring Plugins.

Configuring the Copy Batch XML Plugin

This section provides information on how to configure the Copy Batch XML plugin. This plugin only needs to be configured once per batch class.

To navigate to the plugin:

  1. From the Batch Class Management page, select and open your batch class.
  2. Go to Modules > Export > COPY_BATCH_XML.

Figure 1. Plugin Configuration

  1. Configure the required fields according to your workflow needs. Use the table below as a reference.
Configurable Property Options Description
Batch XML Export Folder Location N/A This property specifies the folder path where the batch XML will be exported. This can be any valid folder location. If the folder doesn’t exist, it will be created upon export.
Export To Folder Switch
  • ON
  • OFF
This switch enables or disables exporting the batch XML.
Batch XML Export Folder
  • Final Export Folder
  • Batch Instance Folder
This property determines where the batch XML will be copied to.

Available locations are:

  • Final Export Folder: Batch XML will be copied directly to the drop folder specified in Batch XML Export Folder Location.
  • Batch Instance Folder: Batch XML will be copied to the batch instance identifier folder within the drop folder specified in Batch XML Export Folder Location. The batch XML will be formatted as <BatchInstance_ID>_batch.xml.
Copy File Type(s)
  • PDF
  • Tiff
  • Tiff and PDF
This property determines what file type should be exported to the location specified in Export Document Folder Location.
Export Document Folder Location N/A This property specifies the folder path where the final batch XML will be exported. This file path can include dynamic variables.
Export Document File Name N/A This property specifies the file name of the exported document. This file name can include dynamic variables.

Dynamic Variables

The Export Document Folder Location and Export Document File Name can include dynamic variables, which will be replaced with their corresponding values when the document is exported. The Copy Batch XML plugin supports the following dynamic variables:

  • $BATCH_IDENTIFIER
  • $BATCH_CLASS
  • $BATCH_FIELD_VALUE
  • $DOCUMENT_TYPE
  • $DOCUMENT_ID*
  • $SERVER_NAME
  • $DATE
  • $TIME
  • $DLF:<DocumentLevelField>

Note: For document level fields (DLF), also known as index fields, replace <DocumentLevelField> with the name of the index field. For example, $DLF:InvoiceNumber.

*Mandatory. Removing this variable will result in failed validation.

Using Multiple Dynamic Variables

Separator Use
&& To separate two parameters.
& _ & To separate two parameters using an underscore. Note: There must be spaces between the ampersands and underscore.

For example, if the Export Document File Name is entered as:

$DLF:InvoiceDate & _ & $DLF:InvoiceNumber & _ & $BATCH_IDENTIFIER & _& $DOCUMENT_ID

And the batch XML has the following values for these parameters:

  • InvoiceDate: 13Jan
  • InvoiceNumber: INV1234
  • BATCH_IDENTIFIER: BI2
  • DOCUMENT_ID: Doc1

Then the exported file name would be 13Jan_INV1234_BI2_Doc1.

Handling Invalid Characters

Invalid characters refer to any character that cannot be used for a file or folder name according to your operating system. For example, on Windows this includes the following special characters:

  • < (less than)
  • > (greater than)
  • : (colon)
  • ” (double quote)
  • / (forward slash)
  • \ (backslash)
  • | (vertical bar or pipe)
  • ? (question mark)
  • * (asterisk)

If any invalid character is used in the Export Document Folder Location or Export Document File Name, or if the value of any parameter contains an invalid character, it will be replaced with an empty string by default.

You can change the default replacement in the dcma-export.properties file. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the dcma-export.properties file, located at [Ephesoft_Directory]\Application\WEB-INF\classes\META-INF\dcma-export.
  2. Set export.replace_char to the character that should replace any invalid characters. In the example below, this has been set to an underscore ( _ ).

Figure 2. dcma-export.properties File

Dependencies

The COPY_BATCH_XML plugin has a dependency on the CREATEMULTIPAGE_FILES plugin. The following fields must match between the two plugins:

  1. COPY_BATCH_XML: Copy File Type(s)

Figure 3. Copy File Type(s)

  1. CREATEMULTIPAGE_FILES: Multipage File Creation Type

Figure 4. Multipage File Creation Type

These two fields control the file type (PDF, Tiff, or Tiff and PDF). The COPY_BATCH_XML plugin will not be able to copy files to the Batch XML Export Folder if they have not been created by the CREATEMULTIPAGE_FILES plugin.

Troubleshooting

Error Message Possible Root Cause
Could not create folder. The batch instance folder couldn’t be created in the Final Export Folder. Check for permissions on this folder.
Folder does not exist The folder specified for the Final Export Folder doesn’t exist.

Conclusion

This completes an overview of how to configure and the Copy Batch XML plugin in Ephesoft Transact.