Order property mappings
When you create an order property mapping, you define how RICOH ProcessDirector interprets XML elements in a sample file. RICOH ProcessDirector can use XML elements in two ways:
Order and job identifiers
Order identifiers are the XML elements that indicate the start of the block of XML for each order included in a file from your ordering system.
Your system might use the same element for the beginning of each order or it might use different elements, depending on the characteristics of the orders.
Job identifiers are the XML elements that indicate the start of the block of XML for each job inside an order. Job identifiers must be descendants of Order identifiers; this relationship tells RICOH ProcessDirector which jobs are part of each order.
You must include at least two XML elements: one to identify orders and one to identify the jobs within that type of order.
Property mappings
Property mappings are used to set RICOH ProcessDirector properties from XML elements. When you define a property mapping, you identify an XML element and which order or job property in RICOH ProcessDirector it corresponds to.
The same order mapping object can be used by multiple workflows as long as the XML files contain the same XML elements. The order of the XML elements can be different in each preferences file.
Example
This image shows the contents of the sample Order.xml file included with the Order Management feature. Compare this XML with the image of the user interface to help visualize the values in the XML element (XPath expression) columns.
In section 2 of the image below, you can see the XML elements that are defined as the order and job identifiers. When the CreateOrdersFromFile step runs, RICOH ProcessDirector reads the file and finds each occurrence of these identifiers. It creates an order for each order identifier it locates and a job for each job identifier in the orders.
In the section 3 of the image below, you can see XML elements from the sample file mapped to order and job properties. For example, the XML element (XPath expression) /Order/Order/ID is mapped to the Order Name property, which is associated with the order object. When the CreateOrdersFromFile step runs, it reads the XML file and finds each occurrence of /Order/Order/ID. It then copies the value into the Order Name property for each order created.
Similarly, the XML element /Orders/Order/OrderDetails/OrderDetail/ID is mapped to the Job Name property. When the CreateOrdersFromFile step runs, it reads the XML file and copies the values into the Job name property for all the jobs created.
