User interface

You use the AFP Visual Environment user interface to display and enhance sample AFP files.

The AFP Visual Environment user interface can display one AFP file at a time–up to 1,000 pages. It can display:

Bar Code Object Content Architecture (BCOCA) objects: POSTNET barcodes, Intelligent Mail barcodes (IMBs), Interleaved 2of5, Code39, and QR Code
Graphics Object Content Architecture (GOCA) objects
IM1 and Image Object Content Architecture (IOCA) images
Index tags (also called Tag Logical Elements or TLEs)
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images
Medium map information in a form definition, including overlay, page, and sheet information
Overlays
Page segments
Text, including outline fonts, double-byte character set (DBCS) fonts, and text barcodes (text barcodes use barcode fonts)

The user interface cannot display all AFP objects, and it might not display some text and AFP objects with complete fidelity. These are the limitations:

BCOCA objects: The user interface can only display POSTNET, IMB, Interleaved 2of5, Code39, and QR Code BCOCA objects. For other types of BCOCA objects, it displays a box the size of the barcode area. It cannot display any human-readable interpretation (HRI) text.
Form definitions: The user interface does not apply any modifications in the form definition (such as print direction, page position, constant back, and N_UP page positioning).
Images: Images might differ from printed images because of color differences and resolution differences between monitors and printers.
Text: The user interface cannot display user-defined characters in DBCS fonts.

The user interface has several modes. The modes that are available depend on the components that are installed. Each mode lets you make different enhancements. The AFP Indexer mode lets you create page groups and index tags. The AFP Editor mode lets you create barcodes, text, and hidden areas. Whitespace Manager lets you create definitions for white space and fill the white space with content. .

This diagram shows the major parts of the user interface. It shows the title bar, menu bar, toolbar, AFP file, file-structure pane, index pane, and status bar.

RICOH Visual Environment user interface

Title Bar
Menu bar
Tool bar
AFP file
Page pane
Index pane
Status bar

Title bar

The title bar at the top of the window identifies the mode that is active, the AFP file that is open, and any control file that is open.

Menu bar and toolbar

The menu bar is below the title bar. Below the menu bar is the toolbar, which contains icons for the most common functions available on the menu bar. The options on the menu bar and toolbar vary depending on whether an AFP file is open. If an AFP file is not open, you see only the File and Help options. If an AFP file is open and a mode is selected, you see all options.

The menu bar options, with the keyboard shortcuts and toolbar icons, are:

File

The File menu options are:

Open AFP File (Ctrl+O): Opens the AFP file that you want to enhance. If another AFP file is already open, it is automatically closed. If you have not saved the control file for the AFP file that is already open, AFP Visual Environment lets you save the control file before it opens the new AFP file.
Open Control File: Opens an existing control file that you created previously.
Reset: Closes the current AFP file and clears cached resources from memory.
Save Control File (Ctrl+S): Saves the control file for the open AFP file. A control file with the same name is overwritten.
Save Control File As: Saves the control file for the open AFP file. You can specify a name and directory for the control file.
Save Plug-in Output: Saves the sample AFP file with any enhancements that were made. After you save the file, you can print and verify the enhancements. You can specify a name and directory for the output file.
Exit: Stops AFP Visual Environment. If you have not saved the control file for the AFP file that is open, AFP Visual Environment lets you save it.

View

The View menu options are:

File View: Displays the inline resource group and the page structure of the AFP file in the left pane. You can double-click a page to display it.
Index View: Displays the index tags and the index tag values for the AFP file in the bottom pane. You can double-click a page group to display the first page of the page group.
Rotate by 90^o (Ctrl+R): Rotates the AFP file clockwise in increments of 90 degrees so that you can view it more easily.
Units: Displays measurement units in inches (USA default) or millimeters (non-USA default).
Zoom: Changes the display size of the AFP file by the percentage you select.

Resources

The Resources menu options are:

Change Form Definition Settings: Lets you specify whether form definitions and medium maps are used. If so, you can specify that an inline form definition is used or specify a directory for a default form definition.
Enable Object Selection: Indicates which objects you can select in the AFP file for the active mode. The selectable objects change when you select a new mode or open a new AFP file.
Modify Default Encoding: Lets you specify the default code page encoding.
Modify Font Mapping: Lets you modify defined character set, coded font, and code page font mappings.
Show Page Information: Shows the AFP resources that the page refers to and whether they were found and where.
Specify Resource Directories: Lets you specify the directories that contain AFP resources, such as fonts.

Tools

The Tools menu options vary depending on which mode is active. If no mode is active, no options are available. Tool menu options shows the tools menu options that are available for each active mode.

Tool menu options

Mode	Option	Description
AFP Editor	Modify Definitions	Lets you modify or delete definitions for barcodes, text, operators, hidden areas, and text masks.
AFP Editor	Import user exit	Lets you work with exits.
AFP Indexer	Header and Trailer Pages	Lets you define the number of header and trailer pages and indicate whether the pages are contained in the final output.
	Index Tools	Lets you create indexes from page group NOP records – on a page or outside a page, relocate page indexes to page groups, or edit existing indexes.
	Modify Definitions	Lets you modify or delete definitions for page groups and index tags.
	Other Page Groups	Lets you use existing page groups or create fixed-length page groups.
	Manage Comments
	Import user exit	Lets you work with exits.

Whitespace Manager	Manage Campaigns	Lets you assign image and text content to defined white space areas.
Whitespace Manager	Modify Definitions	Lets you modify or delete definitions for white space areas.

Pipeline Manager

Manage Pipeline

Lets you configure and run a set of filters, in a specific order, to quickly and efficiently process large AFP files.

Mode

The Mode menu options vary depending on which components are installed.

You must select a mode before you can enhance an AFP file. The possible modes are:

AFP Editor: Creates definitions for barcodes, hidden areas, text strings, and text masks in the control file.
AFP Indexer: Creates definitions for page groups and index tags in the control file.
Whitespace Manager: Creates definitions for white space in the control file and fills the white space with content.
Pipeline Manager: Orders and runs a set of filters.

Help

The Help menu options are:

AFP Editor Help: In AFP Editor mode, opens the help topics for AFP Editor.
AFP Indexer Help: In AFP Indexer mode, opens the help topics for AFP Indexer.
Whitespace Manager Help: In Whitespace Manager mode, opens the help topics for Whitespace Manager.
Pipeline Manager: In Pipeline Manager mode, opens help topics for Pipeline Manager.
Help Contents (F1): Opens the help topics for the AFP Visual Environment user interface.
About: Displays the version number of AFP Visual Environment and the contact information for obtaining assistance.

AFP file

The main pane displays the AFP file. You can see text (including text barcodes that use fonts), images, overlays, page segments, GOCA objects, and some types of BCOCA barcode objects.

File-structure pane

The left pane displays the page structure of the AFP file. You can double-click a page to display it. If the AFP file contains page groups, this pane also shows the page groups. You might also see a resource group entry at the top of the page structure if the file contains inline AFP resources, such as overlays and page segments.

Index pane

The Indexes tab in the bottom pane displays the index tags that exist in the AFP file and that are defined in the control file. For each index tag, you see the value of the index tag in each page group. You can double-click a page group to display the first page of the page group.

Status bar

The status bar at the bottom of the window displays the number of the current page in the AFP file. If text is selected in the AFP file, it also displays the origin of the text block (X and Y position in inches or millimeters).

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