AFP Visual Environment User's Guide

In this section:

1. Introduction
2. Overview
   AFP Visual Environment lets you enhance AFP files without changing the applications that create the AFP files. For example, you can use AFP Visual Environment to index AFP files and to add bar codes in AFP files. The AFP files that you enhance must contain data in Mixed Object Document Content Architecture for Presentation (MO:DCA-P) format.
3. Installing AFP Visual Environment
   You must install AFP Visual Environment on the system where you plan to run the AFP Visual Environment user interface to enhance sample AFP files, and on the production system.
4. Working with sample AFP files
   You can use AFP Visual Environment to enhance a sample AFP file.
5. Indexing AFP files
   AFP Indexer can create page groups, define supplemental pages, and create indexes in AFP files so that the information can be used to navigate to indexed pages in the file, exclude non-customer information from mailpieces.
6. Editing AFP files
   AFP Editor can create barcodes and text, hide areas, and mask text in AFP files. In addition, AFP Editor can replace existing POSTNET barcodes with Intelligent Mail barcodes (IMBs). If you want AFP Editor to use sequential serial numbers in IMBs, you must create an IMB serial number file.
7. Adding content to white space in AFP files
   Whitespace Manager can find areas of available white space in AFP files and then fill the white space with content, such as images or text.
8. Enhancing production AFP files
   After you enhance a sample AFP file, run an AFP Visual Environment command to enhance production AFP files in the same way.
9. AFP Visual Environment commands
   AFP Visual Environment commands apply the definitions in an AFP Visual Environment control file to production AFP files. These commands can run on IBM AIX, IBM z/OS, and Microsoft Windows systems.
10. Configuration files
    AFP Visual Environment configuration files let you customize font-mapping and specify the starting serial number for Intelligent Mail bar codes (IMBs).
11. Accessibility
    Accessibility features help users who have a physical disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, use information technology products successfully.