WinQueue Input

WinQueue Input tasks capture print jobs received by a Windows printer queue.

Note: Before configuring this task, on the computer running OL Connect Workflow you will need to create a local printer queue that will be used to receive data files in the form of print jobs. This queue can be shared, so as to be able to receive jobs sent from local as well as remote users.
To ensure that the spooled files created by OL Connect Workflow remain in the spool folder, the printer queue must be paused.

Input

The WinQueue input regularly polls the selected printer queue for new jobs. When a new job is available, it is captured automatically by this task.

Processing

The print job, by default, is in EMF format. If this option is selected, no action is taken on the data file. However, if the RAW format is selected, the job is converted to RAW. Furthermore, if the Create PDF option is selected, the file is converted to a PDF, including metadata.

Output

Either one of 3 formats is output from this task:

  • An EMF job format
  • A RAW job format

  • A PDF with attached metadata.

    Note: A PDF that is the output of the WinQueue input task is generally unreadable by the OL Connect Execute Data Mapping task, even if the original document was a PDF. This is because documents are converted to PostScript when printed, and character identity information is usually lost in this process.
    A rule of thumb is: if copy-paste from Adobe Acrobat works, the data mapping can also work. However, if the original document is a PDF, an input task that does not require printing is preferred.

Task properties

General Tab

  • Printer queue: Select the OL Connect Workflow Printer Queue (the one to which data files are going to be sent; see: OL Connect Workflow printer queues).
  • Printer properties group
    • Spool Print Job ins EMF Format (Advanced printing features): Select to create EMF files for Windows Print Converter action tasks (see Action-EMF Converter (Windows Print Converter)). Note that this option must not be selected when capturing generic text type data.
    • Spool Print Jobs in RAW Format: Select to output in RAW format, which is the exact data that the computer receives (and is not converted in any way).
      • Create PDF (With Metadata): Select to output a PDF.
        • Optimize Resulting PDF: The resulting PDF is optimized for size and caching options are enabled. This reduces the size of the PDFs (depending on some factors), but may take more time to output the PDF.
  • Include empty files: Check to process empty incoming jobs. The output will be empty, the job is deleted from the print queue, but the job information is available in the process (sending computer and user name, etc).

"Other" Tab

  • Job Information group
    • Information elements: Indicates what Job Info variables are automatically created by the input task.
    • Add lines before first data page: Using the arrows keys you can add any job information directly at the beginning of your data file.
  • Backup input files: Check this to save a copy of each data file that is captured by your input. These files are saved in the OL Connect Workflow Tools working folders under the "Backup" folder.
    To navigate quickly to the Workflow working folders, press the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+Shift+F4 from within the Workflow configuration tool.
    The number of days to keep backups of jobs processed by input tasks is set per process; see Process properties.
  • Backup filename: Enter the file name that you wish the input data file backup to be saved under.
  • Delete Existing Metadata: Check to remove any Metadata from memory. This option is disabled on initial input tasks, and is checked by default on secondary input tasks.

Job Information definitions

  • %1 - User name: Contains the user name of the user who sent the job to the printer, or the user un which a software sending the job was logged in under.
  • %2 - Host computer: Contains the name of the computer from which the job was sent.
  • %3 - Printer name: Contains the name of the printer in which the job was received. Is the same for all jobs received on any given printer.
  • %4 - Document name: Contains the name of the job as seen in the printer queue from which it is captured. This name is defined by the software that creates the print job.

On Error Tab

For a description of the options on the On Error tab see Using the On Error tab.

Miscellaneous Tab

The Miscellaneous tab is common to all tasks.

It contains a text area (Task comments) that lets you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with the OK button and are displayed in The Task Comments Pane.

Check the option Use as step description to display the text next to the icon of the plugin in the Process area.

The tab also provides an option to highlight the task in The Process area with the default color, set in the Preferences (see Colors), or the color selected or defined under Highlight color on this tab.
To revert the selected highlight color to the default color, open this tab, turn the Highlight option off and close the dialog with the OK button; then turn highlighting back on.
Highlighting can also be turned on and off via the task's contextual menu and with the Highlight button on the View ribbon.