Preface Welcome to Database Print Manager (DPM)! DPM is the variable data printing solution of the DDP Server printing system. DPM is described in the following manuals: • DDP Server User Guide – describing the installation and giving an overview of all DDP Server components •...
DPM runs on Windows 98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP clients. The system RAM requirement is a minimum of 64 MB (recommended: 128 MB). A printer driver for a DDP Server must be installed. Before Database Print Manager (DPM) can be used it must be installed at the user’s client workstation.
DPM Installation Basic Steps Database Source Template and control file 2 • General DPM is installed during the DDP Server installation. See the DDP Server User Guide for details of the installation. The basic workflow steps for using DPM are as follows: 1.
Tags and Field Names Images Paragraph reflow Database Print Manager Reference A tag in the DPM template represents a placeholder for variable data. A tag is identified by an enclosing marker which may be french brackets like «tag», double brackets like <<tag>>, a single bracket and brace like <{tag}> or a single brace and bracket like {<tag>}.
Creating a DPM Template Preparing a Database Creating a DPM control file 4 • Creating a DPM Template It is recommended to first create and fill in data into a database or identify an existing database to use with a DPM job. Type of data supported by DPM include text strings and graphics or images.
Selecting a Database Source Database Print Manager Reference After all settings informations have been entered, select File » Save to save the DPM control file. The template can now be viewed and personalized. The database must be established before creating a DPM template. In the Settings dialog of DPM, across from Database, select the Browse button.
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Select a Type of Data Source (probably a user data source). Then select Next. Select the driver for the database source, then select Next. Then select Finish. Select the database file and provide a name and location. Click OK. Select the database name from Machine Data Source. Click OK to return to DPM.
To create a PDF file for the template, print it using the Adobe Acrobat Distiller printer. Acrobat Distiller should be installed as a Windows printer during Acrobat installation. To obtain PDF suitable for DPM, you should configure Distiller to use the DPM job options file which is installed during DDP Server installation.
Viewing and printing a DPM Template Opening a DPM Control File 8 • Viewing and printing a DPM Template To preview and print a DPM job, double click a DPM control file within Windows Explorer, or launch DPM and select File » Open to select a DPM control file.
The DPM Window Database Print Manager Reference You can select DPM functions from the pull down menus or the tool bar. You can control what tools are displayed from the View menu. The Tool bar allows to switch between the different viewing and editing dialogs.
DPM Settings 10 • Viewing and printing a DPM Template To enter the Settings dialog click the Settings button in the tool bar, or select View » Settings. The Settings dialog allows you to enter information for the control file of the DPM job: •...
Viewing the Database Database Print Manager Reference After launching DPM and establishing the data paths you can check the database. Click the Database button in the tool bar, or select View » Database after completing the Settings requirements. The database interface displays field names and data records to be used by the DPM job.
Editing a Template 12 • Viewing and printing a DPM Template To edit a template click the Template button in the tool bar, or select View » Template. DPM provides image and text tools to edit a template. Editing can be helpful before previewing documents as it allows you to adjust text alignments, mark images for replacement, and perform an automatic paragraph analysis on the template.
Editing Image Properties Database Print Manager Reference Editing images is needed to associate a tag with them. When a DPM template is created, you need to mark images with tags within DPM. It is important to have the correct tag associated with each image. Images can not be substituted correctly if the tag is wrong or missing.
Editing paragraph properties 14 • Viewing and printing a DPM Template Editing text may be needed to adjust information about alignment and boundaries of paragraphs. For proper text flow, paragraphs need to be marked before personalization. This is done automatically by the built-in paragraph scan of DPM. Paragraph marking can be adjusted by the user.
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Database Print Manager Reference • Split to fixed lines – this splits the selected paragraph into single lines. Additionally each paragraph gets the attribute “Fixed position”. • Clear underlying paragraph’s attributes – this clears marking, alignment and line spacing properties currently associated with the selected paragraph and allows to reassign these attributes.
Previewing Documents 16 • Viewing and printing a DPM Template To examine the results of merging variable data with the DPM template click the Preview button in the tool bar, or select View » Preview. Preview allows you to scroll through each document to verify that data substitution and alignments are correct.
Printing Printing Options Database Print Manager Reference DPM offers three options for printing: • Print the DPM job – this prints all or a subset of the personalized documents. Output is optimized for download and execution speed. Select File » Print. In the print dialog, select the first and last document instance to be printed.
To send the template by E-Mail, select File » Send as E-Mail. This will show the following dialog: Select the Windows printer corresponding to your DDP Server to let DPM confirm its license. Select the database column to be used as recipients. The E-Mail addresses of the recipients must be contained in the database.
Showing an instance of a document produced by variable data printing on the client workstation. S. merge. Printer controller of DDP Server. Identifier in a document marked for replacement with data from a database, e.g. «FirstName». Tags correspond to database columns (e.g. FirstName, LastName).
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Term/Abbreviation Variable data printing (VDP) 20 • Glossary Explanation Printing a template document in combination with a database. A template is a document with placeholders (tags). During VDP, the tags are replaced with values from the database. A database consists of records (e.g. for John Smith, Alan Miller etc.) and columns (e.g.