Document properties file

RICOH ProcessDirector uses information from the document properties file in these processes:

  • Steps that sort, group, and split documents. For example, if you want to use a step to sort documents by ZIP code, a property such as Doc.Custom.ZipCode must be in the document properties file.
  • External programs that process document properties.
  • Steps that process document properties files for use with postal software. The Postal Enablement feature provides these steps: BuildExternalDocPropsFle, MapExternalResultsFileToDocProps, and UpdateDocPropsFromExtResultsFile. For these steps to run successfully, the Doc.ID or Doc.SequenceInChild property must be included in the document properties file.
  • Steps that process document properties files for use with values from external files. All document processing features provide the SetDocPropsFromList and EmailDocuments steps. The Preference Management feature provides the ApplyPreferences step.
  • Steps that process AFP documents, such as steps based on the CreateAFPJobsFromDocuments and BuildAFPFromDocuments step templates. For either the CreateAFPJobsFromDocuments or BuildAFPFromDocuments steps to run successfully, these properties must be included in the document properties file:
    • Doc.OriginalJobID
    • Doc.ChildJobId
    • Doc.SequenceInChild
    • Doc.OriginalSequence
    • Doc.OriginalSheets
    • Doc.DataOffset
    • Doc.DataLen
  • Steps that process PDF documents, such as steps based on the BuildPDFFromDocuments step template. For the BuildPDFFromDocuments steps to run successfully, these properties must be included in the document properties file:
    • Doc.OriginalJobID
    • Doc.ChildJobId
    • Doc.SequenceInChild
    • Doc.OriginalSequence
    • Doc.OriginalSheets

The first line in the document properties file contains the information from the document properties template file. Each additional line contains values for each of the properties from one document.

These steps automatically create the document properties file:

  • A step based on the IdentifyDocuments step template creates the document properties file using the Visual Workbench control file as a guide.
  • A step based on the IdentifyPDFDocuments step template creates the document properties file using the RICOH ProcessDirector Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat control file as a guide.
  • A step based on the ReadDocumentsFromDatabase step template creates the document properties file using a document properties template file as a guide.
  • A step based on the CreateJobsFromDocuments or CreatePDFJobsFromDocuments step template creates the document properties file for child jobs using the document properties file of the parent (current) job as a guide.

These steps can manipulate the document properties file:

  • GroupDocuments
  • SortDocuments
  • SplitDocuments
  • SetDocPropsFromList
  • ApplyPreferences (Preference Management only)
  • UpdateDocPropsFromExtResultsFile (Postal Enablement only)
The document properties file might also be used by an external program or a custom step that you create.

A document properties file always contains the properties Doc.ChildJobId and Doc.SequenceInChild. If a step (such as GroupDocuments) that creates document groups runs, the document properties file will contain more than one value for Doc.ChildJobId.

RICOH ProcessDirector provides methods, including getFileName and getAbsoluteFileName, that let you provide access for external programs to read and write spool files in the spool directory for the job. For more information, see Using RICOH ProcessDirector methods such as getFileName.

The document properties file is stored in the spool directory for the job. When the IdentifyDocuments or IdentifyPDFDocuments step creates the file, the file name is in the format: jobid.original.dpf (for example, 10000009.original.dpf). When the WriteDocumentsToDatabase step runs, it copies the file and adds additional properties, including Doc.ID. The new file is saved with a file name in this format: jobid.document.dpf (for example, 10000009.document.dpf). The values are in UTF-8 format and separated by tabs.

Some information in the document properties file is not stored in the database but is used only during the processing of steps. This information, for example, is in the document properties file but not in the database:

Doc.DataOffset
The offset of the print data for the document in the original job's AFP print file.
Doc.DataLen
The length of the print data for the document in the original job's AFP print file.

Parent topic: Control files for document processing features