Configuring preview output connectors manually

You can manually create and select the preview output connectors. For example, if the Prerequisites for default preview connectors are not fulfilled or if you want to use settings other than the pre-configured ones.

Which output connectors?

If you want to use the same driver settings for previews and for the final delivery, you can reuse the output connectors used for delivery. At a preview service request, the actual connector is not invoked – only the driver is applied.

As an alternative, you can create output connectors dedicated for the previews. For example, by using the connector type NULL Connector. The preview output connectors must have the following drivers applied:

•	For Ad Hoc Correspondence paginated preview – TIFF

•	For Ad Hoc Correspondence unpaginated preview – HTML unpaginated

•	For Correspondence Reviewer preview – PDF

For information about the drivers required by Composition Center, see Creating output connectors for document previews (optional) in the Composition Center documentation.

Prerequisites and recommendations

•	Use default preview connectors must be cleared in the Runtime Message settings dialog box. See Service-enabling a Message.

•	In the Platform configuration, an output queue must be configured.

•	The driver settings affect the performance of the service request responses. For the PDF and TIFF drivers, we recommend the following values:

PDF driver settings	Recommended value
Use Compression	Yes

TIFF driver settings	Recommended value
Compression	LZW
Color	Index color
Resolution	150 DPI (maximum) The resolution directly affects the document size and formatting speed, and thereby the performance.

To create a preview output connector

•	Create and configure the preview connectors using standard procedures.

To select preview output connectors

•	Use the scripting functions below to decide if an invocation is a preview service request and select an output connector depending on content type. For detailed information, see Preview functions in the Scripting Reference.

Scripting function	Description
IsPreview()	Checks if the current job is a preview job.
GetPreviewTypeEx()	Returns a number, indicating whether a job is a preview job. If the job is a preview job, the number indicates from where the preview job is invoked.
GetRequestedPreviewContentType()	This function is only available for preview calls from web service clients. Returns a string containing an optionally requested content type for a response to a preview request. The returned value can be used to select an appropriate connector for the preview Process. The applications requires the following content types: • Ad Hoc Correspondence – image/tiff • Correspondence Reviewer – application/pdf • Composition Center: – For print preview – application/pdf – For email/web preview – text/html

Example 2

Selecting output connector depending on type of preview and content type

A company wants to use settings other than the ones used by the default preview output connectors, which means they must manually create and select the preview connectors.

The company also wants to use different driver options for the previews in Correspondence Reviewer and in Composition Center.

The Design Center Platform includes the following output connectors in the production layer:

•	PreviewAdHoc – For the TIFF preview in Ad Hoc Correspondence.

•	PreviewReviewer – For the PDF preview in Correspondence Reviewer.

•	PreviewCompC – For the PDF preview in Composition Center.

•	FileOUT – For the final release of the document.

In the runtime configuration, the Message is service-enabled, and the Use default preview connector option is cleared.

The script below is run before the Process and selects the output connector that is used.

if (IsPreview()) { $ContentType = GetRequestedPreviewContentType(); if (GetPreviewTypeEx() == 1) { if ($ContentType == "image/tiff") { $connector = "PreviewAdHoc"; } else if ($ContentType == "application/pdf") { $connector = "PreviewRviewer"; } } else if (GetPreviewTypeEx() == 4) { $connector = "PreviewCompC"; } } else { $connector = "FileOUT"; } preproclog(0, " **** OUTCONNECTOR : " +$connector);

 

Related topics

•	Creating output connectors for document previews (optional) in the Composition Center documentation