Esko Pilot Automation Engine User Guide
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05 - 2017
Automation Engine
Pilot Views and Tools
ii
Automation Engine
Contents
1. Concepts and Overview ...........................................................................................................................
5
2. General Views
.............................................................................................................................................
8
2.1 The Files View
.....................................................................................................................................
8
2.2 The To Do List View
...........................................................................................................................
9
2.2.1 Checking To Dos
.......................................................................................................................
9
2.2.2 Handling a To Do
...................................................................................................................
11
2.2.3 Creating a To Do Message
....................................................................................................
11
2.3 The Products View
...........................................................................................................................
12
2.4 The WebCenter View
........................................................................................................................
13
2.5 The Tasks View
.................................................................................................................................
15
2.5.1 Functionality on items in Tasks View
...................................................................................
16
2.6 The Milestones View
........................................................................................................................
19
2.7 The SmartNames View
....................................................................................................................
19
2.8 The Tickets View
...............................................................................................................................
20
2.8.1 Functionality on items in Tickets View
.................................................................................
21
2.9 The Jobs View
...................................................................................................................................
23
3. Commercial Print Views .........................................................................................................................
24
4. Sign & Display Views
...............................................................................................................................
25
4.1 The Gang Run Printing View
...........................................................................................................
25
4.2 The Orders View
...............................................................................................................................
25
5. CTP Flexo Views .......................................................................................................................................
26
6. Cutting Tables Views
...............................................................................................................................
27
7. Smart Views ..............................................................................................................................................
28
7.1 Using Filters and Creating Smart Views
.........................................................................................
28
8. Setup Views ..............................................................................................................................................
31
8.1 Devices
..............................................................................................................................................
31
8.2 FlexRips
..............................................................................................................................................
31
8.3 Queue Monitor
.................................................................................................................................
32
8.4 Containers
.........................................................................................................................................
33
8.4.1 Creating a Container
.............................................................................................................
34
8.4.2 Removing a Container
...........................................................................................................
35
8.4.3 Relocating a Container
..........................................................................................................
35
8.4.4 Refreshing the Containers’ List
.............................................................................................
36
8.4.5 Troubleshooting Containers
..................................................................................................
36
8.5 Access Points
....................................................................................................................................
38
Contents
8.6 Customers
.........................................................................................................................................
38
8.7 Users
..................................................................................................................................................
39
8.7.1 Users Concept and Technical Background
..........................................................................
39
8.7.2 Managing Users
.....................................................................................................................
40
8.7.3 Managing User Access Rights
...............................................................................................
42
8.7.4 Managing Groups
...................................................................................................................
45
9. Tools ...........................................................................................................................................................
47
9.1 To Do List
..........................................................................................................................................
47
9.2 CTP Queues
......................................................................................................................................
47
9.3 SmartNames
.....................................................................................................................................
47
9.4 Task History
......................................................................................................................................
48
9.4.1 Task History Menus
...............................................................................................................
49
9.4.2 Task History Toolbar
..............................................................................................................
50
9.4.3 Task History List
.....................................................................................................................
51
9.4.4 Why and How To Archive parts of this History
...................................................................
52
9.5 Devices
..............................................................................................................................................
53
9.6 FlexRips
..............................................................................................................................................
54
9.7 Queue Monitor
.................................................................................................................................
54
9.8 Containers
.........................................................................................................................................
54
9.9 Access Points
....................................................................................................................................
54
9.10 Customers
.......................................................................................................................................
54
9.11 Users
................................................................................................................................................
54
9.12 Merger Monitor
..............................................................................................................................
54
9.13 Configure
.........................................................................................................................................
56
9.13.1 Overview and main functionality
.......................................................................................
56
9.13.2 ArtiosCAD Servers
................................................................................................................
57
9.13.3 Automation Engine Database
.............................................................................................
59
9.13.4 Automation Engine Web Service
........................................................................................
65
9.13.5 Cloud Storage Services
........................................................................................................
66
9.13.6 Create DCS Master
..............................................................................................................
69
9.13.7 Digital Press
..........................................................................................................................
69
9.13.8 E-Mail Configuration
............................................................................................................
70
9.13.9 External Databases
..............................................................................................................
71
9.13.10 External Web Services
.......................................................................................................
74
9.13.11 FastImpose Site Preferences
............................................................................................
75
9.13.12 FlexProof - Image Downloader
.........................................................................................
76
9.13.13 FlexRip - Approval
..............................................................................................................
77
9.13.14 FlexRip - B
...........................................................................................................................
78
9.13.15 FlexRip - BI (Barco Imagesetter)
.......................................................................................
79
9.13.16 FlexRip CDI, CDI Spark and CDI Compact
........................................................................
80
9.13.17 FlexRip - HP Indigo 4000 Series
........................................................................................
82
9.13.18 FlexRip - Proofer Output
...................................................................................................
82
9.13.19 FlexRip - Screened Output
................................................................................................
83
iii
iv
Automation Engine
9.13.20 FlexRip - Unscreened Output
...........................................................................................
85
9.13.21 Gang Run Printing
.............................................................................................................
86
9.13.22 Global Vision
......................................................................................................................
87
9.13.23 Imaging Engines
.................................................................................................................
88
9.13.24 Jobs
......................................................................................................................................
89
9.13.25 Nexus
..................................................................................................................................
95
9.13.26 Notification
.........................................................................................................................
95
9.13.27 Odystar
...............................................................................................................................
98
9.13.28 Proof Servers
......................................................................................................................
98
9.13.29 Plate Merger
.......................................................................................................................
99
9.13.30 Preflight Tools
....................................................................................................................
99
9.13.31 Printing Methods
.............................................................................................................
100
9.13.32 Processing Preferences
...................................................................................................
101
9.13.33 Products
............................................................................................................................
101
9.13.34 SAP Servers
......................................................................................................................
108
9.13.35 SFTP sites
..........................................................................................................................
108
9.13.36 Secure Web Proxy
............................................................................................................
109
9.13.37 Scripts
...............................................................................................................................
109
9.13.38 Shuttle
...............................................................................................................................
109
9.13.39 Track Edit Session
............................................................................................................
110
9.13.40 Viewer
...............................................................................................................................
110
9.13.41 Web Proxy
........................................................................................................................
112
9.13.42 WebCenter Sites
...............................................................................................................
112
9.14 Connection Doctor
.......................................................................................................................
114
Automation Engine
1
1. Concepts and Overview
Concept
The Pilot's
Views
offer different functionality or a specific mode to work in. Find an overview below with a short description.
At the end of this chapter, we also describe the
. Tools are views or dialogs that you can open in a separate window, next to your Pilot. Most of these are also available as a View.
Automatic Hiding of Views
Depending on the
View Mode
you are using (
Containers
,
Job Overview
or
Last used Job
), you will have access to different views.
, you may not be able to see some of the views.
Manually Selecting Views
Right-click a view and choose
Remove from Views bar
. To enable that view again later, rightclick anywhere in the Views panel, choose
Select Views...
and select the one(s) you want. This selection is saved per user and remembered the next time you log in to the Pilot.
Overview per Category
•
General
• The
Files
view offers a view on the files in your Containers or Jobs. You typically use it
to open or view them and to launch workflows on them. Learn more in
on page 8.
• The
Jobs
view is only visible in
Job Overview
mode. It lists all or a filtered list of your
Automation Engine Jobs database. Learn more in
The Job Views
.
• The
To Do List
view lists all actions that need user intervention. Learn more in
.
• The
Products
view shows the items in your Products database. This concept is useful when you manage re-prints. Products represent production data that you temporarily link to a Job order. It is the Job order that has the specifications how to output the product this time, possibly together with many other Product items.
Products are what you keep long term, until you are sure you will not have to produce them again. Jobs however are 'WIP' (Work In Progress), temporary by definition. A Job should be removed when it is finished. Learn more in the dedicated chapter
Products
.
• The
WebCenter
view enables Pilot users to see what documents are inside a WebCenter project without having to open a browser. Learn more in the chapter on
Integrating with
WebCenter
, in its section
The WebCenter View in Automation Engine Pilot
.
5
1
Automation Engine
• The
Tasks
view shows all or a filtered list of tasks. It shows their status and offers easy access to log files or input or output files. You can here also relaunch them, with or without opening and changing settings first. You have to clean up this list. Learn more in
• The
Milestones
view shows the milestones of the selected Job (in
Last used job
mode), or those of all Jobs (in
Job Overview
mode). Learn more in
Milestones: Tracking Job Status
.
• The
SmartNames
view allows to manage SmartNames. Learn more in
The SmartNames
View
.
• The
Tickets
view allows to manage tickets. Learn more in
•
Commercial Print
These views only serve page imposition workflows:
• The
Pages
view shows a page list and details about the page status in its impositions.
Learn more in
Working with Pages
.
• The
Proofs
view shows the sets of imposition proofs and their status. Learn more in
Working with Proofs
.
• The
Plates
view shows details about all (offset) plates required for that Job. Learn more in
Working with Plates
.
•
Sign and Display
These views are described in the dedicated chapter on
Gang Run Printing for Sign & Display
.
• The
Orders
view shows an overview of what was ordered to be printed on (flat bed or roll fed) digital printers. Learn more in
The Orders View
.
• The
Gang Run Printing
view shows the substrate queues where submitted graphics wait to be nested on your available sheet or roll substrates. Learn more in
The Gang Run
Printing View
.
•
CTP Flexo
These views are described in the dedicated chapter on
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find their short description in
Introducing CDI related Views and Tasks
.
•
Plate Merger
.
•
Press Plates
.
•
Press Plate Sets
.
•
Merged Plates
.
•
CTP Queues
.
•
Cutting Tables
These views are described in
Kongsberg related Views
, a section of the dedicated chapter on
using Automation Engine to cut jobs on a Kongsberg table
.
•
Sheets
.
6
Automation Engine
•
Table Queues
.
•
Smart Views
Smart Views are custom filters that you saved as a View. Learn more in
on page
28.
•
Setup
These views serve to set up your configuration.
• The
Devices
view lists all output devices connected to your Automation Engine server.
You can see their status and workload. These devices can be
CDI Imagers
or
Kongsberg
Tables
.
• The
FlexRips
view gives an overview of the "Esko Link" queues to your FlexRip
.
view.
1
7
2
2. General Views
The views in this category can be used in most types of workflow.
2.1 The Files View
This view is available in
Containers
and in
Last used Job
mode.
Automation Engine
8
1.
The
Folders
Containers
mode) or a job folder and its subfolders (in
Job
mode).
Note:
When working with Automation Engine Jobs, you typically don't use this view but use the
Last used Job
mode to see only the data of the Job you are working on.
2.
The
Contents
pane shows the contents of the folder you selected in the
Folders
pane.
Note:
Every time the Pilot shows you the contents of a folder, it automatically checks the real file types and shows those in the column "
Type
". This means that the file's extension is less important here. For example a file with an extension .AI initially shows as an "Adobe
Illustrator" file but when the file type detection found that it is PDF compatible, it will show as type "PDF File".
3.
The
Launch Favorites
pane allows you to add your favorite tickets and allows to launch them with one click. Learn more in
Creating Favorite Tickets
.
Automation Engine
4.
The
Tasks
pane shows all launched tasks (in
Job
mode, only those for that job). Rightclicking a task offers functionality to delete, open, relaunch etc... Learn more on the page on the separate
2
2.2 The To Do List View
•
The
To Do List
is where you manage all actions that need user intervention. A user intervention is typically a step in an automated workflow where you require a human decision of action.
This view shows several types of actions:
Message
: When created in this view, via . Learn more
•
Checkpoint
: When created by a
Wait for Action (CheckPoint) task
.
•
Milestone Action
: When created by
the Manage Milestone task
.
Use the
To Do List
to view, modify, forward or delete these actions.
This view can also be opened as a separate window:
• Go to
Tools
>
To Do List
.
• In the Pilot's bottom
Status bar
, click on the
To Do List
icon:
2.2.1 Checking To Dos
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2
Automation Engine
Filtering
The
Actions
panel shows all actions when in Container mode or only those of the selected Job.
You can filter the list by using the search field. Learn more in
Using Filters and Creating Smart
on page 28. When you opened the To Do List as a separate window, the filters you saved also appear in the drop-down menu.
When using the To Do List as a View, a number is shown to illustrate how many of the actions are assigned to the user logged in and also those assigned to ' any user...
'. In Job view, this
is limited to the actions in that Job.
10
Details
Select an action to see all its
Details
shown in the panel below.
Double click the action to open it and also see when and which user created it.
Automation Engine
2
2.2.2 Handling a To Do
To handle a To Do, select it and the following options become available after a right-click (or via the menu) or in the
Details
pane:
• Select
I am currently handling this to do item
to assign it to yourself and change its state to
In Progress
.
• In
Files
, double-click the path to open the related file in the associated application..
• To open that file in the
Viewer
, click
View
next to the file path.
• To 'Explore' the folder of the file path, click on .
• In the
Actions
pane, right-click and choose
Go to Job
to open the Job this action relates to.
Alternatively, use
Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + O
.
• To release the action to one of the output states offered by the
Wait for Action
(Checkpoint)
task that created it, right-click or click option (by default
Completed
or
Aborted
).
and choose the wanted
•
Learn more in
The Wait for Action (Checkpoint) Task
.
• To forward an action to another user, click , select the user and possibly change the
Subject
,
Due Date
,
State
or
Message
first.
To delete actions, select them and click , or press
Delete
. You will be asked to confirm.
2.2.3 Creating a To Do Message
To create a To Do Action of the type
Message
:
1.
Click in the tool bar.
2.
In the
New Action
dialog that opens: a) Enter a
Subject
.
b) Choose who to assign the action
To
. (mandatory field) c) Relate this action to a
Job
if needed.
d) Choose a
Due Date
.
e) Choose the To Do
State
.
11
2
f) Enter a
Message
if you want.
Automation Engine
3.
Click
OK
to confirm.
2.3 The Products View
This view is available in
Containers
and in
Job
mode.
The
Products
view is a user-friendly, searchable view on the Products database. You can use it to create new Products, search them and link them to Jobs.
You can see the Products in a thumbnail view or a list view .
12
Automation Engine
2
Working with Products is documented in the dedicated chapter
Products
.
2.4 The WebCenter View
This view is only available in
Last used Job
mode.
Files that have been published on WebCenter (with the
Publish on Web task
or the
Publish imposition on WebCenter Chain task
) will appear in the WebCenter View. Pilot users can so, without having to open a browser, see which documents are inside a WebCenter project and what their status is.
13
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Automation Engine
Attention:
• First you need to configure connections to WebCenter sites that you want to use in tasks, for example in the
Publish on WebCenter task
• Then, when accessing this WebCenter View for the first time, the View will request you to fill in a default configuration for this View (similar as one of those you added in the Configure tool). Click
Save to Configuration
and click
Show Documents
to check if the connection works.
• When you want to change this configuration later, right-click in an empty area of this view and choose
Configure
.
The View also shows the status of the WebCenter documents.
• When a file arrives on the WebCenter site and approval is required, its status will be
pending
.
• Files that do not require approval are marked with
approval is not required
.
• After a file is approved or rejected in WebCenter, its status automatically updates in this
WebCenter View.
14
Tip:
• Press F5 to update the WebCenter view to the latest information.
• Click the link in the top-left corner to open WebCenter in a browser window.
Learn more in
Review and Approval of Page Impositions using WebCenter
, a part of the document on Commercial Print (page) workflows.
Automation Engine
2
2.5 The Tasks View
Concept
The Tasks View allows you to monitor, inspect and relaunch all Automation Engine tasks. Each list entry is a separate task or one step of workflow.
• In
Containers
mode, this view shows all launched tasks and workflows.
• In
Last used Job
mode, this view only shows the tasks and workflows for that job.
Note:
Several other views also show a list of tasks in a
Tasks
pane at the bottom.
Don't forget to clean up!
These launched tasks and their options are kept in a database. Although you can keep many thousands of tasks in this view, when you do not clean up this list, the size of this database will eventually cause slow response and even cause the server software to slow down.
There are manual and automatic tools to clean up this list:
• (Filter), select and press
Delete
.
• Set up a set of automatic
in the Configure tool.
• Set up a set of automatic rules to
Move Tasks to History
. The
Task History
tool is basically another dedicated database, where you can also search and even relaunch old tasks. Learn
.
15
2
Automation Engine
• (Filter), select and press
Move to History
.
Learn more details in
Functionality on items in Tasks View
on page 16.
Sorting, Filtering and Managing Columns
As many other views, this view allows to
• Sort, by clicking on the header of the column you want to sort by.
• Show, hide or change the order of columns by going to
View
>
Select Columns in 'Tasks'...
.
Note:
To easily hide a column, right-click its header and choose
Hide
.
• Filter, by typing in the search field in the tool bar or by specifying a filter. Learn more in
Using Filters and Creating Smart Views
on page 28.
Details
Select an entry in the
Tasks
list to show its
Details
below. This offers you a summary of the log file with information meant for the user. It is also translated.
It can also contain links to related files. See this example of the details of the 'preflight' task that offers a direct link to the preflight report file:
Note:
In the Tasks View, you see the
Details
in a separate pane. In other views that also show a list of tasks, you can request to see the
Details
in a separate dialog (right-click on a task item and select
Details
).
2.5.1 Functionality on items in Tasks View
Tip:
Most of these functions offer a keyboard shortcut. They are mentioned in their
Task
menu item.
16
Automation Engine
•
Go to Job
: When this task was launched in the context of an Automation Engine Job, this will open that Job in the
Last used Job
mode. Learn more about working with Jobs in the chapter
Jobs
.
•
Open Task
: This opens the task's dialog so you can check the used parameters. You can also relaunch the task, with or without first changing parameters.
•
Open Output File
: This opens the output file in the default application for that file type on your computer. For example: Adobe Acrobat Reader can be assigned to open PDF files.
If the task created multiple files, you will be shown a list of files to choose from.
•
Open Output File With
: This allows to chose from applications that you registered by browsing to the locally installed application (on Windows to its .exe
file). For example, this
is how you register a PackEdge 14.0 from a Pilot on that same client computer:
2
Select
Other...
when you want to register a new or a first application.
•
Go to
: This opens the
Files
or
Last used Job
view and there selects the (chosen)
Output
or
Input File
.
•
Hold
: To put a
pending
task on hold.
•
Hold until...
: To put a
pending
task on hold till a specified time.
•
Release
: To release a task that was on
hold
.
•
Cancel
: To cancel a running task. Depending on the task type and its
Phase
, this happens instantly or can take several seconds.
Note:
When it takes longer (for example a minute), right-click the task again and check if the system now offers you the option to
Force Quit
.
Once the task is successfully cancelled, it will show its new state: .
•
Priority
: To change the priority of a
pending
task.
•
Relaunch
: To relaunch the task with the same options. When you want to change any task option, first choose
Open
, make the changes and then click
Launch
in that dialog.
•
Delete
: To delete the selected task(s) from this view. You will be asked to confirm.
•
Move to History
: To move the selected tasks to the
it from this
Tasks
view.
•
Annotation
: To see the annotation that was added when launching this task. Or to change or add an annotation even after the task is finished. You can for example use this to explain your colleagues why you used specific parameters or that you already contacted Esko regarding an error in the task.
Tip:
To easily see if tasks have annotations, switch on the column '
Annotations
'.
•
Log Info
: The
Log
file not only contains the task's
Details
(see also below) but also a lot of detailed technical information. This level of detail can be interesting when searching for the cause of errors. It is mainly meant for Esko support people.
•
Open...
. This shows the log information of the selected task in the
Log
dialog. When the task is still running, click
Refresh
to see the latest content.
17
2
You can send an E-mail containing this log file and attachments.
Automation Engine
•
Open with
: To open the log file in a text editor installed on your client computer.
Register
that application in the same way as you can do for the option '
Open Output
File With
'.
Note:
This requires the Automation Engine client to have access to the network share
'AutomationEngineLogging'
on the Automation Engine Server.
•
E-mail...
. The
Compose E-mail message
dialog allows to send this log info in an E-
mail, using the E-mail configuration as set up in
address(es) and change the
Body
message as you wish. By default all relevant files are already attached (remove any if you want to).
Note:
• Multiple addresses in one field need to be separated by a semicolon "
;
".
• When you here use SmartNames, make sure they resolve to a valid E-mail address.
18
Automation Engine
2
Note:
Files with extension
.ticket
,
.tic
and
.sn
are file types that Esko support can read.
•
Group by Workflow
: In a view ordered by the time that the tasks were launched, this function groups all steps of a workflow together, even when other tasks happened in the meantime. The first step of the workflow is then shown in bold. Open the bold item to open the whole workflow in stead of only the selected step.
Note:
This view is overruled when you click on the header of the column '
Launched
'.
•
Display Related Tasks
: Select this to only see the tasks that are part of the same workflow.
To go back to your previous tasks view, click the button '
All Tasks
' 'or
Tasks
' that appeared on top of the list.
Note:
This is useful when you are already using a
Filter
that only shows the tasks where
"
Task Level
=
Main Task
" (only showing the single tasks and the bold initial steps of workflows). You can then for example select the workflow with an 'error' status and ask to see its related tasks.
•
Display All Tasks
. When viewing only the related tasks, use this to see all tasks.
2.6 The Milestones View
The
Milestones View
is documented in the dedicated chapter on
Jobs
.
2.7 The SmartNames View
The
SmartNames
View and Tool is documented in the dedicated chapter
SmartNames
. Find a direct link
here
.
19
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Automation Engine
2.8 The Tickets View
Concept
A
Ticket
is a set of
Task
parameters. In this view, you can create, delete, export or import tickets or workflow tickets. You can make them
Public
or add
Tags
. Learn more below in
.
• In
Containers
mode, this view shows all
Global Tickets
.
• In
Last used Job
mode, this view shows all
Global
and
Job Tickets
of the selected
Job
.
Note:
Viewing tickets is also one of the
a user needs to have.
20
Note:
Creating tickets and using them to launch tasks is described in
Creating Task Tickets
.
Sorting, Filtering and managing Columns
As many other views, this view allows to
• Sort, by clicking on the header of the column you want to sort by.
• Show, hide or change the order of columns by going to
View
>
Select Columns in
'Tickets'...
.
• Filter, by typing in the search field in the tool bar or by clicking on the arrow in and specifying a filter. An example:
Automation Engine
2
Using Filters and Creating Smart Views
on page 28.
Tags
You can add multiple
Tags
to a ticket. This allows to sort and filter based on those
Tags
.
Preferences
Go to the Pilot's
Edit
>
Preferences
for
specific options on viewing Tickets
.
2.8.1 Functionality on items in Tickets View
Note:
Creating tickets and using them to launch tasks is described in
Creating Task Tickets
.
Tool bar functions
•
•
•
•
Note:
, you may not be able to create, edit or delete tickets.
: To create a new workflow ticket. Learn more in the chapter
Workflows
.
: To duplicate a selected ticket. Learn more
here
.
: To delete the selected ticket(s). You will be asked to confirm.
: To add a
Tag
or a
Description
, or to make the ticket
Public
.
Functionality via "Ticket" Menu or via Right-Click
•
Copy from other Job...
(only via the "Ticket" menu):
This enables copying a (blue)
Job Ticket
from another
Job
to the current
Job
.
•
Export Ticket(s)...
.
Use this to export tickets so that they can be imported on
another
Automation Engine server.
21
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Automation Engine
Select the ticket(s), click
Export Ticket(s)...
and choose the location and file name of the exported data (a ZIP file).
Note:
The resulting ZIP file not only contains the selected ticket(s) but also the following resource files that these tickets refer to and require:
•
SmartNames
•
Referred
global tickets. Learn more in
The Difference between a Subworkflow and a
Referenced Workflow
.
•
ArtPro Action Lists
•
PitStop Profiles
and
Action Lists
•
SmartMark
sets (as .paf files)
•
ReportMaker
templates (as .paf files)
• Tiling templates used in a
Create Tiles
ticket
• Templates used in a
Step & Repeat Template based
ticket
• CAD files used in a
Prepare Station
ticket
• "Compare with" files used in a
Compare PDF
ticket.
• Scripts used in a
Run Script
ticket
• Templates used in a
Create Imposition from RunList
ticket
• .XML files used in a
Create Design (DesignWizard)
ticket.
• Rule sets used in a
Check Print Rule
ticket
• .ppd files
Attention:
Exporting tickets has these limitations:
• Some "resource" information is not included, such as
DGC
files and
CMS
related files like
Color Strategies
.
• Workflows that include (blue)
Job Tickets
by reference can not be exported. An error message will appear.
• Plate templates used in a
Import JDF Stripping
ticket are not included.
• The template used in a
Create IMP File
ticket is not included.
• In a
Expand Variable Data to PPML File
ticket, .XML or .CSV database files that define a grid are not included.
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Automation Engine
2
Attention:
The Automation Engine software version on the server that imports the
ZIP may not be on an older version than the Automation Engine server that created the ZIP.
•
Import Tickets...
(only via the "Ticket" menu):
Use this to import tickets that were created on
another
Automation Engine (using the
Export Ticket(s)...
function).
Click
Import Tickets...
and select the ZIP file that contains the ticket(s) and their dependant files and click
Import
. The newly imported tickets will show up selected in the Tickets view
(when not hidden by filters).
Note:
Tickets are imported as
Global Tickets
and by default keep their original name.
Caution:
When dependant files came from a central resources folder (for example
SmartMarks
sets), they will be written on the central resources folder of the current server.
Other files (for example
ReportMaker
templates or ArtPro mark files referred from an
ArtPro Action List
) will be written in the root of the "ExampleJobContainer", in a folder named after the folder they originally came from. This is why, when importing tickets, the "ExampleJobContainer" must exist and allow writing.
Note:
If the import would overwrite any files, you will be asked to confirm. Click
OK
to accept that the imported files overwrite the old ones.
•
•
•
Open
: To open the ticket. Alternatively, double click the ticket.
•
Make Public
: A public ticket is visible to all users. Alternatively, set this attribute the moment you save a ticket. Learn more in
Public Tickets
.
Duplicate...
(or ): To copy a ticket and save it with a different name, without opening the ticket.
Delete
(or ): To delete selected tickets. You will be asked to confirm.
Caution:
Make sure that the ticket is not used in an Access Point, Configure tool or as referred ticket in a workflow ticket.
Note:
Default tickets can not be deleted.
•
Rename
: To change the name of the selected ticket.
•
Tags...
: To assign one or multiple tags to the selected tickets. In the dialog, click in the input field to see a drop-down list with existing tags to choose from. Type in the input field to add new ones.
•
Add to Favorites
: To add the selected tickets to the list of
Favorite Tickets
of this user.
Learn more in
Creating Favorite Tickets
.
2.9 The Jobs View
The
Jobs View
shows a list of Jobs. It is documented in the dedicated chapter on
Jobs
.
23
3
Automation Engine
3. Commercial Print Views
These views serve a workflow dedicated to page workflows (approval, imposition, output).
Note:
These views are only visible in
Last used Job
mode.
Learn more in the dedicated document on "Commercial Print (Page) workflows in Automation
Engine". Find it next to this "Complete Manual" on
https://www.esko.com/Support/Product?
id=Automation%20Engine
.
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Automation Engine
4
4. Sign & Display Views
These views serve an output workflow that is typically used at sign and display printers.
4.1 The Gang Run Printing View
The
The Gang Run Printing View
is documented in the chapter dedicated to
Gang Run Printing for
Sign & Display
.
4.2 The Orders View
The
Orders View
is documented in the chapter dedicated to
Gang Run Printing for Sign & Display
.
It is used to track production orders that come out of a Gang Run Substrate Queue and are then cut on a Kongsberg table.
25
5
Automation Engine
5. CTP Flexo Views
These views are described in the dedicated chapter
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find a direct link
here
.
26
Automation Engine
6
6. Cutting Tables Views
These views are all described in the dedicated chapter
Kongsberg Production Workflow
. Find a direct link
here
.
27
7
Automation Engine
7. Smart Views
Smart Views
allow to save a filter as a custom view.
You can create Smart Views for all View types: lists of Tickets, Tasks, Jobs, Products, Milestones etc. Here's an example in Job Overview mode:
Smart Views also make it easier to navigate between views.
Tip:
Double click a Smart View name to (temporarily) change it's filter settings.
Creating a Smart View is explained below. To remove a Smart View, right-click it and choose
Remove from Views Bar
.
7.1 Using Filters and Creating Smart Views
A Smart View is filter that you save as a custom view.
We will use an example to illustrate this. Follow these steps to create a Smart View that will filter all tasks based on these criteria:
• Launched by a specific operator,
• During the past two days,
• and ended with a status '
Failed'
.
1.
In the Pilot, choose the
Containers
mode and go to the
Tasks
View.
2.
Click on the arrow in or press
Ctrl/Cmd + F
to open the
Search
bar and see the extra filter options that can help you to refine your search:
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Automation Engine
7
3.
Add these filters:
• Set the first filter to
Operator
+
is
+
<the operator whose tasks you want to see> . You can click to browse a list of operators (see (1) in the image below).
• Open a second filter line by clicking the
+
button in the first filter line (see (2) in below image).
• Set these parameters for this second filter: "
Launched date
is "
within last
" 2 "
days
".
4.
Click the
+
sign in the second filter line while holding down the
Alt
key.
It changes into a
...
sign and allows you to add more criteria to that
same
filter line.
5.
Add these extra filters:
• "
All
"
of the following are true
• "
State
" is "
Failed
".
6.
Click
Save
to save this filter with an appropriate name.
•
Scope
: Choose if this filter will be visible to
All users
or to
This user only
.
• Select "
Add to my views bar
" to add this filtered view to the
Views
pane, in the category
Smart Views
.
Note:
If you don't select this, you only save it as a filter that will be available to
Load
again later.
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7
Automation Engine
Note:
Right click a
View
and choose
Manage Filters...
to add or change saved filters.
30
Automation Engine
8
8. Setup Views
These views offer tools to setup your Automation Engine server.
8.1 Devices
The
Devices
view shows configured output devices, their status and their workload. You can add these device types:
•
CDI Imagers
.
Learn more in the chapter
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find a direct link to the page on CDI devices
here
.
•
Kongsberg Cutting tables
.
Learn more in the chapter
Kongsberg Production Workflow
. Find a direct link to the page on
Kongsberg devices
here
.
8.2 FlexRips
The
FlexRips
view and tool gives an overview of the activity on your Esko FlexRips.
It shows the FlexRip's
Name
,
Type
,
Rip Node
(PC) name, its
Port
and the state of the
Dispatcher
. The
Queue Name
is the channel within Automation Engine that communicates with the Dispatcher (this name is part of how you configured this FlexRip it in the
The
Rip Queue
pane shows the queued RIP'ing jobs of the above selected RIP. Go to
View >
Select Columns in 'Rip queue'...
to select the information that you want to see here.
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Automation Engine
When you stop a
Rip Queue
( ), you can still send files to that FlexRip but the communication will be queued up within Automation Engine. This can for example be useful when the
Dispatcher is located on another computer that you need to shutdown or reboot. To avoid any communication problems between Automation Engine and that Dispatcher, you can stop this queue, do the intervention on the Dispatcher's computer, and then start the queue again ( ) when you are sure that the Dispatcher is back up and running.
Click for quick access to the
to manage your FlexRip configurations.
8.3 Queue Monitor
Concept
The
Queue Monitor
shows Automation Engine's processing queues and their content. All tasks are executed within one of these queues.
Automation Engine uses many different queues to process its tasks and can grant priority to some types of activity. For example lighter tasks, that only take a few seconds, always get priority over heavy calculations that typically take many minutes. This is for example why a
'
Manage Milestone
' task will not have to wait for a '
Trapping
' task to finish.
Automation Engine decides internally which types of tasks are executed on which processing queue. Most tasks are executed on the '
CPU
' queue. As a user you can not choose in which queue your task will be executed, but you can choose its priority within that queue (a standard option when launching the task).
32
Queue Types
•
ADMIN
queue. Used for tasks triggered by events, for example the automatic actions
configured in the Plate Merger's configuration
.
•
Archive & Restore
queue. Used for such tasks.
•
CPU
queue. Used for most tasks. It offers the amount of
processing channels
as referred to in the
Server Admin web page
. The more processing channels your Automation Engine server is licensed for, the more tasks it can simultaneously process on this queue
("concurrent running tasks").
•
CPU_GV
queue. Used to run the
Global Vision Inspection tasks
.
•
CPU_HEAVY
queue. Used for heavy calculations.
•
CPU_LIGHT
queue. Used for light tasks like '
Manage Milestone
' or '
Link Product to Job
'.
•
FTP
queue. Used for
upload tasks to (S)FTP or cloud storage sites
.
• FlexRip queues. These are named after the FlexRip and can also be controlled using the
Automation Engine
•
VDP
queue. Used for expansion tasks in VDP workflows.
•
VIEW_ACC
queue. In older versions, this one was used to prepare view data
Caution:
When you open several
Queue Monitor
s as a Tool (to monitor multiple queues), you might reach your maximum of licenses for client connections to the server and so get related "Exception" errors. As an alternative, consider opening several tab's in the same Pilot.
Main Functionality
Use to start or stop a queue. Use to schedule when a queue can be active (see an example below).
A queue's task entries can be opened, relaunched, etc. Right-click to discover options identical to those in a regular Tasks view.
When is this Tool Useful?
This tool is mostly used by Esko support staff to diagnose CPU load issues. But there are cases where it can also be useful for you:
• The main practical reason to stop one or multiple queues is to help with a controlled shutdown of the server. When queues are stopped, the tasks that would still be launched right before your server intervention then do not risk to fail but stay in this queue "waiting".
When you then start the queue again after the intervention, the tasks in that queue will start.
• Some customers only want to start the FTP tasks at night for example. In stead of having to set these "hold-until" times when launching the task, you could for example schedule the
FTP queue to be active between 8 PM and 6 AM:
8
8.4 Containers
A
Container
is a network share that contains data that Automation Engine can work with.
These containers can be located on your Automation Engine server or on another computer in the same LAN.
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Automation Engine
You can create a container by using (part of) an existing network share or you can have
Automation Engine create the network share while creating a container.
The installation of Automation Engine by default creates an
ExampleJobContainer
on the disk drive where you installed the server software.
You can add many more containers. You can see and browse though them in the Pilots’
Containers
mode. An example:
8.4.1 Creating a Container
Follow these steps to create a container:
1.
Open the
Containers
view or go to
Tools
>
Containers
to open it as a separate window.
34
2.
Click or go to
File
>
New
.
3.
In the
Create Container Wizard
, click
Next
and select either:
•
Local Folder on the Server
to create a container on your Automation Engine server.
•
Existing Shared Folder
to use an existing network share.
4.
Click
Next
.
5.
If you selected
Local Folder on the Server
: a) Select the wanted disk drive and click
Next
.
Tip:
Select a drive to see which containers are already in there.
b) Enter a name for your new container and click
Next
.
c) Click
Next
to create another container, or
Finish
to leave the wizard.
6.
If you selected
Existing Shared Folder
: a) Enter the
Computer Name
of the computer where the shared folder is located, or use the
Browse...
button to select that computer in your network. Then click
Next
.
Automation Engine
b) The wizard now shows a list of all available shares on that computer. Select the share you want to use as a container and click
Next
.
Attention:
Shared folders are not shown when their computer does not recognize the user that was chosen to be the
System Account
for Automation
Engine. By default this is the local user
BGSYSTEM
, but you might have changed this (using the
System Account page in the Server Web tool
).
Your container is now created.
c) Click
Next
to create another container, or
Finish
to leave the wizard.
8.4.2 Removing a Container
Removing a container makes its contents invisible to your Automation Engine server. This does not delete any data inside that share.
To remove a container, select it and click or press 'Delete' or use
File
>
Remove
. You will be asked to confirm.
• If there are active
Jobs
in that container, they will be listed in the confirmation dialog. If you remove the container anyway, the Jobs are removed from the database and their blue
Job
Folders
will become normal yellow folders.
8
Learn more about removing Jobs
here
.
• If there are active
Products
in the container, you can not remove that container.
8.4.3 Relocating a Container
When a container goes offline, this will be shown in the Pilot's
Container
mode and in the
Containers
View and Tool:
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8
Automation Engine
Here are some possible reasons:
• (Temporary) network problems.
• The
Location
is no longer valid because the name of the computer or the share changed.
For example the disk was filling up and you decided to move the data to another computer with another name and then remove the old share.
• The disk that hosts this container crashed. When you have a backup of that disk, you can put that data back on another disk or computer.
For whatever reason you need to move data to another network place, you can use the
Relocate
feature to inform Automation Engine that the container data is now on another
Location
.
Attention:
Relocating does not move any data. It only adapts the Automation Engine database by informing it on the new location.
Follow these steps to relocate a container:
1.
Select the offline container and right-click or go to
Edit
>
Relocate
.
2.
Enter the name of the computer that you want to relocate your container on, or browse to it.
3.
In the
Select the share
dialog, select the share you want to relocate your container on.
Click
OK
.
Your container is now relocated on the share you selected (and has the name of the share).
8.4.4 Refreshing the Containers’ List
By default, each container's availability is automatically checked every 5 minutes. Sometimes, you want to check it manually, for example after you solved a network problem. Then choose one of these methods to refresh the connection:
• Go to
Edit
>
Rescan
.
• Press
Cmd + R
(Mac) or
Ctrl + R
(Windows).
• In the Pilot’s
Files
view, when using the
Container
mode, press
F5
(Windows).
8.4.5 Troubleshooting Containers
These messages explain what is wrong with (the creation of) the container:
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Automation Engine
8
Note:
In below examples, the
System Account
for Automation Engine is still the default user
BGSYSTEM. This can be a different one if you changed it
here
).
• Creating a new container fails because the passwords for the user BGSYSTEM don't match:
• A container is no longer accessible because the user BGSYSTEM doesn't have full access anymore:
• A container is offline. Select it, right-click and choose
Info
to learn why it is offline:
• In the Pilot
Files
view, when the host of the container is down, the warning "Could not retrieve the list of files" appears:
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Automation Engine
8.5 Access Points
The
Access Points
View and Tool is described in the chapter
Integrating with External Systems
.
Find a direct link
here
.
8.6 Customers
Concept
This tool allows you to manage the list of customers on Automation Engine.
A customer minimally has an
ID
and a
Name
. You can define many more fields. Go to
View
>
Columns
to also show those fields as columns.
38
Ideally, you do not type in this customer data but get it automatically via an integration with your business system. Learn more about such integrations in
Integrating with External Systems
.
Fields
Many of these fields are used
when you create a Job, in its tab 'Customers'
.
Most fields can be used as a SmartName. Learn more in the chapter on
SmartNames
.
•
Contacts
,
and
Address
fields.
•
Job Folder
. This field can help to automatically create job folders for that customer under the folder that you specify here. Learn more in
Smart Job Location
.
Automation Engine
8
Note:
Make sure the path you specify here ends with a SmartName already.
•
Product Folder
. When new Products are created automatically for this customer, their Data
Zone will be created under this folder and a dummy Product file can also be created there.
.
•
Upload Folder
is useful to help instruct Access Points where to upload the data to. Learn more, for example, in
upload options of an FTP Access Point
.
8.7 Users
To manage Automation Engine Users, open the
Users
View (category 'Setup') or go to
Tools
>
Users...
to open it as a separate window.
The
Users
dialog can be used from 3 different perspectives:
• Managing
Users
• Managing
Access Rights
• Managing user
Groups
.
8.7.1 Users Concept and Technical Background
Concept
Everything that happens in Automation Engine is done by a specific user. Installing Automation
Engine creates some default users after which you can create your own. You grant them
and maybe arrange them in
, typically to make it easier to manage them.
Technical Background
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8
Automation Engine
Users in Automation Engine map to Windows users. These Windows users are organized in two local Windows groups on the Automation Engine
master
server.
•
BGUSERS
: normal users
•
BGADMIN
: administrator users
Attention:
Automation Engine user groups do
not
correspond to Windows user groups.
When you create a new user in Automation Engine, a local Windows user is created with the same name.
You can also add existing Windows "domain users" to become Automation Engine users. Learn more in the chapter
Pre-Install IT requirements
, in the page with
technical details about users and groups
.
The account
BGSYSTEM
is a special user that runs the Automation Engine server software. This is the default
System Account
. You can change this to another account by using
the System
Account page in the Server Admin web page
.
8.7.2 Managing Users
•
In this mode, most of the functionality is available though the top bar buttons or via a rightclick after selecting one or multiple users:
New User
. Many of these fields become available as
SmartNames
.
Note:
, this tool only creates local users (where the domain name is the
name of the Automation Engine server computer).
Attention:
When creating a user, Automation Engine requests permission from the
Windows OS. Therefore, some changes like changing the password require the use of Windows User Administration tools. These changes must also meet the existing domain policies (for example the length and complexity of the password).
Selecting
Allow this user to administer Automation Engine
makes it an Administrator user who can create other users, groups and manage their access rights.
•
•
New Action...
. Use this to create a message for this user that appears as an action in his
Delete
. You need the access right and you will be asked to confirm.
Note:
Deleting a user that is a local user also deletes the local Windows user.
•
Copy / Paste Groups
. When the selected user is part of one or more groups, an administrator user can use this to copy all the group membership properties onto another user (and so make it member of a group or possibly take this membership away).
•
Copy / Paste Favorites
,
Smart Views
,
Views
and
Red Alerts
. Use these options to quickly set up a similar Pilot interface for several users.
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Automation Engine
8
Note:
• Normal users can only copy Favorite tickets or Smart Views from another user and paste them to their own user profile.
• Administrator users can copy and paste
Favorites
,
Views
and
Red Alerts
as they wish.
They can also copy
Favorites
to multiple users.
•
Properties...
. Shows a summary of all the user's attributes. Learn more about all different user fields in
Properties
.
User Properties
General
The
Name
is always in lower case. Every user can change his own
E-mail Address
.
Groups
This tab shows which groups this user is part of. The fields are greyed out for a normal user.
Views
This tab shows which Pilot Views this user can select. Also a normal user can change this selection.
Access Rights
This tab shows which Access Rights this user has. The fields are greyed out for a normal user.
Settings are also disabled when the access rights are decided by the group that this user is part of.
Red Alerts
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8
Automation Engine
When certain events are detected by the Automation Engine server, a
Red Alert
is broadcast to users. This can pop up as message box and is also indicated in the bottom right corner of the
Pilot with the icon.
This tab shows which Red Alerts this user will see in its Pilot. Also a normal user can change this selection.
Connections
This tab shows from where and with what application this user is connected to the server. A user can have several connections. The tab is empty when the user is logged off.
8.7.3 Managing User Access Rights
To match their roles, you can assign specific
access rights
per user or per user group.
A typical example is to reserve configuration features only for selected users. You can for example fine-tune roles by allowing some users to only
use
tickets but not being able to
change
them.
Note:
Managing these roles will be easier when you do this
automatically gets all rights from the group he belongs to.
Some general rules:
• Administrator users always have all user access rights.
• Only Administrator users can change access rights of normal users.
• To change access rights of a single user:
a) In the
Users
tab, double click the user to see his properties.
b) In the
Access Rights
tab, make the wanted selection.
42
• To change access rights of multiple users (that are not part of a group):
Automation Engine
a) In the
Access Rights
tab, (de)select the access right you want to add/remove.
b) In the
Users
pane, (de)select the users you want to add/remove this access right to/from.
8
Note:
In the above screenshot, notice that the selected users are not part of one of the three groups shown at the bottom.
Access Rights
This access right:
Access Points: create / modify / delete
Containers: create / delete
Files: copy / move / delete files on disk
Job Parameters: create / modify / delete
Jobs: create / modify / delete is about ...
managing
Access Points
.
of containers.
what you can do with files using the Pilot. Note that these users can still use the
Copy or Move File
and
Delete
File
tasks.
managing the tab 'Parameters' in a Job setup. Learn more in
Creating and Modifying a Custom Job Parameter
.
managing Jobs. Learn more in
Creating a Job
and
deleting
Jobs
.
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8
Automation Engine
This access right: is about ...
Monitor: move tasks to trash or history
removing tasks from the Tasks list. See
Tasks list
on page 48.
Pilot : Start the Pilot (in addition to
Shuttle)
logging in to a Pilot.
Queues: stop / start device queues
.
Task launching: set priority
(immediate / high)
setting a higher priority to the tasks this user launches.
Tasks: Inkremapping in inks panel
changing ink attributes in FlexRip or Imaging Engine tickets (LPI, angle, dot, remap, merge).
Tickets: create / modify / delete
(Global and Job tickets)
managing Global and Job tickets. See
Tickets
Note:
This Access Right automatically grants the two below mentioned rights.
Tickets: create / modify / delete
(Job tickets only)
managing Job tickets. See
.
Tickets: Show All Tickets and their
Parameters (Public and other)
which tickets and parameters you can see in the Pilot (in the
Tickets
View, when launching a task or workflow in the
Files
View, or when opening a task ticket from the
Tasks
list).
When this is deselected, the user can only use:
• public tickets (see
Tickets
)
• public parameters in those public tickets (see
Using
Public Parameters
)
• the
Launch with
option on files (not the
New Task
option) (see
Launching a Task on a File
and
Launching a Workflow on a File
).
Note:
• Without this access right, a user can not create any ticket.
• In the Pilot's
Tickets Preferences
, you can use the
'Show only ...' options to simulate how the Pilot looks without this access right.
This is useful for an administrator to check which tickets and parameters a user still can see when he takes away this access right from that user.
Todo's: create / modify / delete
forwarding To Do actions to other users. Learn more in
.
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Automation Engine
8
This access right:
Viewer: Deep Zoom is about ...
using a deep zoom, both when viewing unprepared files and prepared files (when zoom is deeper than prepared for).
8.7.4 Managing Groups
You can create custom user
Groups
to easily change access rights for all group members at the same time.
You can not add Administrator users to a custom group. The Administrators group is a default group of all users that are allowed to administer users and to execute tasks that require an administrator right (for example in the
Server Admin web page
).
Creating Groups
Note:
You need to be logged in as an Administrator user.
1.
In the
Users
tool or view, go to the
Groups
tab.
2.
Press (or go to
File
>
New Group...
or use
CTRL + N
).
3.
In the
New Group
dialog, enter the
Name
,
Description
and select a
Color
for the new
Group.
4.
Click
OK
to confirm.
See an example of user groups that may also have different access rights:
Selecting a group shows its member users.
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Automation Engine
Defining Group Access Rights
You can assign relevant access rights to your custom groups.
Note:
You need to be logged in as an Administrator user.
• In the
Users
tool or view, go to the
Groups
tab.
a) Double-click a group to open its
Properties
window.
b) In the
Access Rights
tab, make the selection that you want for this group.
• You can also set a specific access right to several groups/users in one go. To do this, use the tab
Access Rights
).
Note:
When a user is part of several custom groups, its access rights are a sum of the access rights assigned to those groups.
Adding Users to Groups
Note:
You need to be logged in as an Administrator user.
• To add users to a custom
Group
: a) Go to the
Groups
tab.
b) Select on one of the groups. All its users will be listed underneath.
c) Select the users you want to add to this group and close the dialog.
• To assign one or more
Groups
to a
User
: a) In the
Users
tab, double-click the user.
b) In its
Properties
dialog, go to the
Groups
tab.
c) Select the groups that you want to add this user to and close the dialog.
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Automation Engine
9
9. Tools
Tools
are views and dialogs that you can open in a separate window, next to your Pilot. Many of these are also available as a View, in the left pane of the Pilot.
Closing the Pilot also closes all other open Tools.
Note:
Mind that every open tool counts as a client-server connection. Depending on your licenses, you might reach the maximum.
9.1 To Do List
The
To Do List
Tool is also a View, in the category
General
.
9.2 CTP Queues
The Tool
CTP Queues
is also a View in the category
on page 26. It is described in the chapter
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find a direct link
here
.
9.3 SmartNames
The
SmartNames
View and Tool is documented in the dedicated chapter
SmartNames
. Find a direct link
here
.
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Automation Engine
9.4 Task History
To keep your Tasks view manageable, you might have to clean the list of tasks. If you do not want to keep some tasks, you can delete them. If you want to keep certain tasks or tickets for later use, you can add them to the
Task History
.
There are 2 ways to have finished tasks move to the Task History:
• In the Pilot, select one or multiple tasks (maybe after first setting a filter) and can click on
to move it to Task History.
• Tasks can also automatically move to this tool by using the
Task Cleanup Rules
(in the
Configure panel
>
AE Database
>
Tasks
). You can there define which ones should
automatically move to Task History. Learn more in
To view the history, choose
Tools
>
Task History
. Initially none are shown. You only see tasks after clicking
Apply
on a chosen
Search
filter (or press
Enter
)
The Task History has a lot in common with the Tasks View. It lists all 'moved' tasks which you can relaunch, view and save.
You can archive entries in the Task History which you can restore later (learn more in
How To Archive parts of this History
on page 52). You can make XML reports of the tasks and use them to bill your customers.
The Task History panel has three parts:
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Automation Engine
9
1.
Task History XML Report
2.
Task History Search options
3.
Task History List
9.4.1 Task History Menus
File Menu
•
Open Task
: opens the ticket used for the selected task.
•
Export XML Report...
Writes a report of the current selection. This XML report contains task name, ticket name (whether or not the ticket was modified), the Operator, when it started, when the tasked ended, Status, Priority, job folder...
•
Archive...
It is possible to archive the data in the database to an XML file. This allows you to put the file on CD or store it somewhere else.
•
Import Archive...
Restores the data in the selected XML file in the database. A browse window pops up, browse to the archive.XML and click OK. The archive will be restored.
•
Restart History Server
This will shut down the History Server and reboot it.
•
Close Window
[Ctrl + W] Closes the window. If only one window is left, this is disabled (use
Exit, to close the last window).
Edit Menu
•
Select All
[Ctrl+ A] Selects all entries in the table.
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Automation Engine
View Menu
•
Columns
: define which columns you want to see, for more information, please refer to the section on
Columns
.
•
Customize Current Filter
•
Manage Views
[Ctrl + Shift + F] Here you can save the View Settings or select a previously created view.
•
Related Workflow Tasks
: Some tasks are part of a workflow, use this function to get a list of related tasks.
•
Stop
[Escape] This cancels the current database query and lets you set up a different specification.
•
Refresh
[F5] Perform another database query with the current settings.
9.4.2 Task History Toolbar
•
•
•
Open Task: opens the selected task.
•
XML Report... Writes a report of the current selection. This XML report contains task name, ticket name (whether or not the ticket was modified), the Operator, when it started, when the tasked ended, Status, Priority, Job folder...
Opens the Filter Settings dialog. Please see
.
Views: use the drop-down list to select 'Manage Views...' or an already defined view.
Filter
Filter Settings allow specific modification of the way the Tasks View is filtered. There are five tabs.
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Automation Engine
9
•
Operator
Define the filter according to the Operator. Tick the ones you want to monitor.
•
State
Define the filter according to the Status of the task. Just tick the ones you'd like to view.
•
Task Type
By default, the Tasks View will show all tasks launched, but you can modify the filter in such a way that the Tasks View shows nothing but the type of tasks you are interested in.
•
Date
Define the Filter according to date and time.
• in a given time window (between [date and time] and [date and time])
• during the previous X hour(s)
• during the previous X day(s)
• during the previous X month(s)
•
Advanced
The Advanced Filter settings allow for precise queries.
Hit 'New' to define a rule. The set up is easy. You define a rule that shows X containing a certain string.
9.4.3 Task History List
The Task History list looks a lot like the
Tasks View task list
.
The list lists all tasks that have been moved from the Tasks View to Task History. You define
what you want to see. You can define the number of columns (see
), you can click the head of a column to get the list to sort the way you like it, and you can filter the entries (see View Menu >
).
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9.4.4 Why and How To Archive parts of this History
Archiving serves two purposes:
• The Task History is used to make the Tasks View quicker, more user-friendly. All tasks stored in the Task History can be relaunched, it is a so called 'living archive'. As time goes by, you will end up with a Task History containing a lot of tasks that you may never want to relaunch. You can delete these tasks, but if you think that's not a good idea, you can use the
Archive function. so archiving can be a part of the Task History database maintenance.
• Archiving can be used to make a backup of the Task History data for safety reasons. You archive your data frequently, not because you need the space, but because you want to store your XML archive safely elsewhere, so you can easily restore it when problems should arise.
Archiving will store all information of certain tasks in an XML file. This adds the possibility of restoring those XML archives into the Task History. So your information will never be lost.
Note:
Archiving only works on selected tasks.
Archiving doesn't delete the archived tasks from the Task History.
1.
Select the tasks you want to archive.
If you want to archive all tasks, press CTRL + A. If you want to make a sub selection, the Task
History reacts to the known shortcuts such as CTRL + click and SHIFT + click.
If you want to make an intelligent selection, and you don't want to lose time, you'd better use the
. You define what you want to see in the Task History (for example all tasks
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Automation Engine
originating from one particular job, or handled by one particular operator, ...), click CTRL + A and you're ready to archive.
2.
Click Archive (File Menu > Archive).
3.
A dialog pops up, allowing you to browse to the place where you want the archive XML to be stored. Make sure to give the archive XML a meaningful name in order to avoid confusion
later on. Confusion might arise if you bear in mind that the Task History also uses the XML language to write an XML report.
9
Click OK.
4.
A 'Confirm' dialog pops up and asks you whether or not you want to delete the archived items:
9.5 Devices
The View
Devices
is also available as a Tool in a separate window. Both are documented in the dedicated chapter
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find a direct link
here
.
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9.6 FlexRips
The
FlexRips
Tool is also a View, in the category
Setup
. It is described
.
9.7 Queue Monitor
The
Queue Monitor
Tool is also a View, in the category
Setup
.
9.8 Containers
The
Containers
Tool is also a View, in the category
Setup
.
9.9 Access Points
The
Access Points
View and Tool is described in the chapter
Integrating with External Systems
.
Find a direct link
here
.
9.10 Customers
The
Customers
Tool is also a View, in the category
Setup
.
9.11 Users
The
Users
Tool is also a View, in the category
Setup
9.12 Merger Monitor
If you use a
"RIP to ..."
FlexRip-ticket to output on a device that has been configured to work with merge queues, you can monitor the merging activities.
Note:
This merge tool was mainly used for Computer To Film devices.
Start the
Merger Monitor
by selecting 'Merger Monitor' from the
Tools
menu.
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Automation Engine
9
The Merger Monitor consists of two panes.
The
left pane
lists all devices on which files have been merged or are currently waiting to be merged. In the example above there's one device listed
example_merge
. Every device on which something has been merged stays listed until the server is rebooted.
Select a device to see what is in its
merge queue
. Files that are to be merged are assembled in
pools
.
A
pool
is a group of files with the same characteristics (same plate size, negative or positive, ...).
These characteristics are defined by "
extract restrictions
" (in more recent features this is named 'Grouping Keys"). For example: jobs with a different Dot Gain Compensation setting will not be merged together. They will not belong to the same pool.
Some of these restrictions depend on the setting in the
General tab
of the ticket you use.
1. VDistortion
and
HDistortion
: Files must have the same vertical and horizontal distortion before they can be in the same pool.
2.
Reverse
pool.
: Files have to be reversed in the same way before they can be in the same
3.
Mirror
pool.
: Files have to be mirrored in the same way before they can be in the same
4. Dot Gain Compensation
: Only files with the same Dot Gain Compensation belong in the same pool.
The other restrictions are defined in the
Output
tab of the ticket you use.
1. Conf
: Files need to have the same plate size before they can be in the same pool.
2. Output path
and
Output File Name
: Files with different Output paths or Output File names will end up in different merge pools.
3. Resolution
: Files need to have the same resolution before they can be in the same pool.
4. Compression
: Files need to have the same compression before they can be in the same pool.
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Notice that
example_merge
has two pools : 20051128–1 and 20060215–1 . When you select the device, but not a pool, you get an overview of all files waiting to be merged. In order to visually indicate that files belong to different pools they have a different background color.
White and gray are used consecutively.
The
right hand panel
provides detailed information on files in the merge queue.
• The
Task ID
•
Priority
: this is the priority you defined in the Expose On ticket, not the priority of the task.
• The
Name
of the Job/File
• The
Inks
you are exposing, you defined them in the
Expose On ...
ticket.
Note:
There are two ways in which the inks are listed. C&M&Y&K or C+M+Y+K. They can be merged on separate films or on the same film.
• The
Page
number
• The
Size VH (mm)
Note:
The symbols used to indicate the size tell you whether or not the file can be rotated in the merger.
<>
(
154
<>
191
) indicate that the file can be rotated, an
x
(
154
x
191
) indicates that it cannot.
Rotation
is an option you can set in the
Transformations
part of
General
tab of the used task ticket.
•
Fill %
: This is (Job size / Plate size)
These percentages are relative, the overall fill depends on the margins and gap as they are currently defined in your ticket. You cannot simply add the percentages to get a correct idea of the overall fill. There are all kinds of reasons why files cannot be merged together and why the fill percentage is -as a result- not yet reached.
• The
State
of the file in this
Merger
queue
A file can be
on hold
(it's an option you can choose in the 'Expose On ticket'). A file can be
released
, but that does not mean that it will be merged, it still has to wait till the fill percentage is reached. You can
Force
a file
out
of the Merger queue. The forced out file will take as many files possible with it, if they have a 'release' status.
9.13 Configure
9.13.1 Overview and main functionality
Use the Configure tool to connect to a variety of devices and applications, and define general
Automation Engine settings.
To start Configure, go to
Tools
>
Configure
in the Pilot.
To Define Settings in Configure
1.
Select the category in the left pane.
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Automation Engine
2.
Go to
File
>
New
.
3.
Click on the default name that appears for that new item and wait a moment till the cursor allows you to change the name.
4.
Define your settings on the right.
5.
Go to
File
>
Save
.
Note:
(Windows) shortcuts:
•
'Insert'
: to add an item.
• 'Delete' : to delete the selected item.
•
'F2'
: to rename the selected item.
9
9.13.2 ArtiosCAD Servers
To configure a new ArtiosCAD Server in Automation Engine, go to
Tools
>
Configure
>
ArtiosCAD Servers
.
Note:
When the database is of the
DBMS Type
"Microsoft SQL Server", you can press to select the
Host
and Instance from a list.
How to configure a Standard Edition ArtiosCAD Server
1.
Set up the ArtiosCAD Database Settings a) When using a
Microsoft SQL Server
:
1.
Enter the
Name
of the ArtiosCAD database. Default is ArtiosCADdb .
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Automation Engine
2.
Enter the database
Host
name and the name of the SQL Server Instance when
ArtiosCAD is not deployed in the default unnamed instance (typically <ArtiosCAD
Server>\Esko
).
3.
Enter the
Port
when not using the default.
b) When using
Oracle
:
Important:
The
Oracle Client Software
(
ODBC: Additional libraries for enabling ODBC applications
) needs to be installed on the Automation Engine Master and its Assistants.
When not installed, the
Create CAD Report from XML task
will not be able to connect to the
Oracle ArtiosCAD database.
1.
Enter the name of the Oracle TNS
Service name
, for example Oracle X.E
2.
Enter the name of the Oracle Database
Driver
.
Note:
The name of the
Oracle database Driver
can be found in the Drivers tab of the ODBC Control Panel ( %systemdrive%\Windows\\SysWoW64\Odbcad32.exe
) after installation of the Oracle Client Software.
3.
Enter the database
Host
name.
4.
Enter the
Port
when not using the default.
2.
Enter the location of the ArtiosCAD
Defaults
.
This should be a
file:
URL, pointing to the ArtiosCAD Defaults., for example file://
MyMachine/ArtiosCAD
.
The Automation Engine Server should be able to reach this folder, and the service account of the BGMD Service should have read access to the folder. This account by default is the
System Account "BGSYSTEM" (but can be changed in
the System Account page
).
Note:
ArtiosCAD Defaults are
version specific
. The version of ArtiosCAD hosting the
Defaults must match with the version of CADX installed on the Automation Engine computer (Master and its Assistants)
When no ArtiosCAD Defaults location is specified, the
Create CAD Report from XML task
will use the ArtiosCAD Defaults installed on the Automation Engine computer (Master and its
Assistants).
3.
Test the connection by clicking the
Test Connection
button.
You will get a message stating "
Connection to the database OK
", or get an error message
• when the Automation Engine server can't connect to the database,
• when the Automation Engine server can't get info about the Defaults location. If so, check if the location exists, and if it can be reached from the server.
• when the Defaults location is not a folder.
How to configure an Enterprise Edition ArtiosCAD Server
1.
Select
Enterprise Edition
.
2.
Enter the
WebCenter
location, typically http://<WebCenterServer>/WebCenter_Inst
.
3.
Click
Open
to open the specified location in your default browser.
4.
Enter the
User Name
and
Password
.
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Automation Engine
5.
Test the connection by clicking the
Test Connection
button.
You will get a message stating "
Connection to the database OK
", or get an error message when the Automation Engine can't connect to WebCenter.
9.13.3 Automation Engine Database
These databases are set up automatically when the Automation Engine server software is installed. In this item of the configure panel, you can see their settings, make changes and test their connection.
Attention:
In the
Automation Engine Server Web page
, in the section
databases
, you can also manage databases, but there to make changes after an installation and without the use of a Pilot.
Standard and Alternative Database Server Choices for Automation Engine
Before going in more detail, we here summarize the choices you have:
•
Standard installation with the standard database server (type)
.
• A standard installation of Automation Engine will install and use an
SQL Server Express
version.
•
In case you need a (much) more powerful database server
.
• In case you have reached the limits of the
SQL Server Express
version, you can make
Automation Engine work with a full
SQL Server
version. Learn more in
Databases
.
• Commercial printers with heavy loaded page workflows, can also choose to use an
Oracle
database, but only for their Application Server database.
•
Or use a small test database server for other special cases.
You can use an
"Embedded"
database:
• In exceptional cases on advise of Esko Support, for example to help solve a database problem.
• When first installing Automation Engine, to avoid that the installation installs the default
SQL Server Express, of which you know you will not use it anyway (because you already decided you will use a full SQL Server). This avoids having to uninstall that SQL Server
Express version and other peripheral software.
Important:
For more information on your options when installing Automation Engine, check the dedicated
Installation Guide
.
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
We here describe the general settings of the
Setup
tab in the configuration of the various databases. See their own pages for any specific settings.
Note:
DBMS stands for "DataBase Management System".
DBMS Type "Microsoft SQL Server"
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Automation Engine
These settings will be filled out correctly after installation of the server software. You can however change these settings.
Here is an example of the
Jobs
database:
•
Database
: Keep the default name or, before initial use of this database, enter a different name.
•
DBMS Type
: Select the driver type
Microsoft SQL Server
.
Important:
This type is valid both for an MS SQL Server Express as for a full MS SQL Server.
• You can press to select the
Host
and
Instance
from a list. Here is an example of such a list:
60
• Enter a correct
User
name and
Password
to access that database.
DBMS Type "Embedded" (only for test purposes)
This
Embedded
database engine is built into Automation Engine's installation kit.
Caution:
This
Embedded
database type is not suitable for production use! Embedded databases can only be used in very low volume and low load (test) circumstances.
Production level performance and stability may not be expected with this configuration.
For production use, choose a Microsoft SQL Server (or, in case of the Application Server database, Oracle). Failure to do so may, In a worst case, result in data loss or data corruption.
Automation Engine
• When the DBMS type is
Embedded
, set the
Folder
to point to the location where the embedded database will be kept on disk (for example
"C:\Esko\bg_data_database
\APPSRV"
for the Application Server database).
• Enter a correct
User
name and
Password
for the database user to create or access this database. Enter a blank user name and password when the database or the database user has not yet been created, except for the Application Server database, in which case you need to use the user name " sa ".
DBMS Type "Oracle"
Learn more about using Oracle as engine for the
Application Server
database in the chapter
Pre-Install IT Requirements
, in the page
Oracle as Database Server for the Application Server component
.
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
Each database configuration has in its
Setup
tab two buttons:
Test Connection
and
Apply
.
Testing the Connection
Click the
Test Connection
button to perform these checks:
•
Is the database management system running?
These are possible error messages:
• When the instance is not running or accessible, you get Could not connect to the
SQL Server instance .
• When the user name / password is wrong or when there is no permission to connect, you get Trying to log in failed .
• When the host is not running or not reachable (wrong name), you get Unknown database host .
• When wrong information was typed in, you get
No such instance
.
•
What is the database system version?
• An error is shown when
The database system version is not supported
(anymore)
. For example: you selected an SQL Server 2000.
• A warning is shown when The database system version will soon be outdated . For example, in version 14.1, an SQL Server 2005.
•
Is the database online?
• In case of a wrong user name / password or wrong database privileges, you get Trying to open database failed .
• When the database doesn't exist, you get Could not find database .
•
What are the database user roles?
• When the user is not a member of required database roles, you get Insufficient roles .
•
What about the database system memory?
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9
Automation Engine
•
The maximum server memory does not meet the recommendations
. This is about the memory of the (SQL) database server. For example, in version 14.1, a server minimally needs +- 4 GB.
•
The total physical memory does not meet the recommendations
. This is about the memory of the computer. For example, in version 14.1, a server minimally needs +- 4 GB.
•
Is the database system speed sufficient?
• You get a warning when
The connection is rather slow
. For example, in version
14.1, on average, connecting to the database system and getting version info takes more than 100 ms.
Note:
You can find updated and detailed minimal requirements on
http://www.esko.com/ systemrequirements
.
When all checks return an OK result, an info dialog will tell you that the
Database is online and accessible
.
Applying the Changed Configuration
After you tested the connection, and solved any errors, click
Apply
to save and apply this setup.
When you click
Apply
, Automation Engine restarts parts of its software and then starts accessing the database using the new settings.
Important:
When you do not click
Apply
, but only
Save
these (and other) changes in the Configure tool, then the changed settings will only be applied the next time the (full)
Automation Engine server software is restarted.
Tasks database
Launched tasks are stored in a database with a default name
FastLane_TM
.
The settings in the
Setup
tab are generic and described in the
.
Task Cleanup Rules
In the Pilot, you can not keep all your finished tasks in the Tasks overview forever ; this would slow down Automation Engine and eventually fill up the tasks database.
You have the choice to
• remove them. In the Pilot tasks view, make a selection, press the
Delete
button and confirm.
• or move them to the
on page 48 tool. You can define
Cleanup Rules
to automate this cleanup.
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9
Attention:
Only finished tasks (those with a Successful done , Done with warning
,
Workflow failed
,
Failed
, or
Cancelled
) can be either moved to Task
History or be deleted. The cleanup rules mechanism will ignore tasks that are still running or waiting.
An example of
Task Cleanup Rules
:
The way to create these rules is very similar to making filters in many Pilot Views. You can learn how to do this from a similar example used in
Job View Filters
.
Attention:
The rules are executed from top to bottom, so their order is very important.
You can use the
Move Up
/
Move Down
buttons to make sure they are executed in the most productive order. For example: you typically first want to delete tasks and then start moving the rest to history.
Devices database
This database stores all the information that is shown in the Devices view, both for
CTP Flexo
and for
Cutting Tables
.
By default, this database uses the same database as for
Jobs
.
• Tab
Setup
:
Learn about these generic settings in the above pages on
• Tab
Maintenance
:
Define after how many days you want to
Automatically delete records
in all the devicerelated databases. This deletes
• records in databases that are used in these Pilot Views:
• (CDI workflow):
Press Plates
,
Press Plate Sets
,
Merged Plates
.
• (Kongsberg workflow):
Sheets
view and (Sign & Display)
Orders
view.
The time you specified is calculated after the item's
Finished
date.
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• It also deletes the files in the Media Root Folder (see below) older than that specified time.
• Tab
Advanced
: Browse to specify the
Media Root Folder
.
When a job is finished on a Kongsberg table, a new item is added to the Kongsberg
Sheets view
. The JDF and cut file that this (database) item refers to are stored in a unique subfolder of this Media Root Folder.
Note:
Files related to the CDI Plate Merger are stored in the folder specified in
the Configure item "Plate Merger"
.
JDF database
This database is used when Automation Engine sends or receives JDF commands. For example when jobs are created via JDF or when WebCenter sends workflows to Automation Engine (via
JDF).
By default, this database uses the same database as for
Jobs
.
The settings in the
Setup
tab are as described in
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
59 and
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
61.
Gang Run Printing database
This database is used by the
Gang Run Printing mode
.
By default, this database uses the same database as for
Jobs
.
The settings in the
Setup
tab are as described in
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
59 and
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
61.
Task History database
The
Task History
is a tool that stores old tasks. You keep them there because you may want to look up the settings they used or to relaunch them on same or other files. Learn more in
The settings in the
Setup
tab are as described in
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
59 and in
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
on page
61.
Maintenance
In case this database is filling up or when you experienced that you do not need tasks of a certain age, it is advised to clean up.
•
Automatically delete tasks older than X days
. Choose this for an automatic partial cleanup.
•
Clear All Tasks in History
. This deletes everything in this database. You will be asked to confirm.
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9
Jobs database
Setup
By default the database used for jobs is named BSJobs .
Note:
The BS in the name BSJobs refers to an old Esko server software application.
The settings in the
Setup
tab are as described in
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
59 and in
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
on page
61.
Maintenance
Dangling Jobs
are active Automation Engine
Jobs
that have a link to a job folder that is not there, probably because the folder was (re)moved or renamed.
Normally, each active
Job
relates to one job folder on disk. But it does happen that a user moves or deletes a job folder, for example via Windows Explorer or Macintosh Finder. This causes discrepancies between the information of that Job in the
Jobs
database and the actual situation on disk. Removing such dangling Jobs brings the database back in sync with the reality on disk.
Click
Remove
to make the database check, for each Job, whether or not their job folder still exists. You will be asked to confirm. When that folder does not exist, the Job will be removed from the Automation Engine database.
Note:
This implies that instead of deleting jobs via the Pilot, you are able to delete Jobs by deleting the corresponding folder and then manually cleaning up the dangling Jobs here.
Application Server database
This database is used when you use the Pilot Views that are valid for page workflows:
Pages
,
Proofs
and
Plates
(category
Commercial Print
).
By default, this database uses a database named fasttrack
.
The settings in the
Setup
tab are as described in
Generic setting (Setup tab): DBMS Type
59 and
Generic setting (Setup tab): Testing the Connection and Applying the Config
61.
This database can also use the DBMS Type
Oracle
. Learn more about using Oracle as engine for the
Application Server
database in the chapter
Pre-Install IT Requirements
, in the page
Oracle as Database Server for the Application Server component
.
9.13.4 Automation Engine Web Service
This port number is used in a
Web Service Access Point
.
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By default this is port
4415
.
9.13.5 Cloud Storage Services
This is where you configure cloud storage destinations that the
Upload to Cloud Storage
task can upload files to and where a
Cloud Storage Access Point
can download files from.
Note:
Any form of SSO (as supported by some Cloud Storage services), is here not supported.
Access Points run as user ' BGSystem ' on the master Automation Engine server.
Configuring Box, Google Drive or OneDrive
Follow these steps to create an account:
1.
In
Tools
>
Configure
>
Cloud Storage Services
, click
Add
and select the provider (Box,
Google Drive or OneDrive).
2.
The
Add ... Account
dialog of the selected provider dialog informs you on the process and asks to sign in to that provider.
Attention:
When your internet browser is already open, an account could already be logged in to that service. To make sure you log in with the right account, close your browser first.
3.
Click
Sign In
. Your browser opens a page asking permission for Automation Engine to view and manage files on that storage. When your browser does not auto-remember your credentials, it will first ask you to log in to that provider.
Here's an example using Google Drive (the used account name is shown top right):
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9
4.
Click
Allow
to continue. The provider now grants access to the account and calculates a unique code.
• Google Drive shows this code in a dedicated web page. An example:
• Box and OneDrive display the code as part of the URL that the browser is redirected to.
An example:
5.
• For Google Drive: Select the code and copy it
(Ctrl-c / Cmd-c)
.
• For Box and OneDrive: Select the full URL (or only the characters in the URL after the
' code=
') and copy it
(Ctrl-c / Cmd-c)
.
6.
Go back to the
Add <provider> Account
dialog and paste the code or full URL in the
Code
field
(Ctrl-v / Cmd-V)
:
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Automation Engine
7.
Click
Continue
and add an
Account Name
and
Description
.
8.
Click
Create
.
This account is now ready to be used in the tools that use cloud storage services.
Note:
You can reset the authorization for an account. This is needed when the authorisation token became invalid (it is broken, the administrator of the cloud storage deleted the site, ...).
Follow these steps:
• Select the account for which you want to reset the authorization.
• Click
Authenticate
.
• In the dialog that pops up, fill in the required key(s) and press
Authenticate
.
Configuring Amazon S3
Follow these steps to create an account for Amazon S3:
1.
In
Tools
>
Configure
>
Cloud Storage Services
, click
Add
, select
Amazon S3
and click
OK
.
2.
In the
Add Amazon S3 Account
dialog, fill in the
Access Key ID
and
Secret Access Key
as
generated in the IAM module for the user linked to this account. Contact your administrator for more details.
68
These keys allow Automation Engine the following actions on the
buckets
(root folders) that are linked to this account:
• download, upload and remove files
• create new folders.
Automation Engine
9
Note:
The IAM-defined user must have sufficient permissions to access the required
S3
buckets. Also consider limiting this user's access to one or more specific
S3
buckets. Learn more about IAM policies and access to S3 buckets in
this online article
.
Attention:
When your internet browser is already open, an account could already be logged in to that service. To make sure you log in with the right account, close your browser first.
3.
Click
Continue
and add an
Account Name
and
Description
.
4.
Click
Create
to confirm and close the dialog.
Note:
You can reset the authorization for an account. This is needed when the authorisation token became invalid (it is broken, the administrator of the cloud storage deleted the site, ...).
Follow these steps:
• Select the account for which you want to reset the authorization.
• Click
Authenticate
.
• In the dialog that pops up, fill in the required key(s) and press
Authenticate
.
9.13.6 Create DCS Master
When you use the Create Master DCS task, you might want to map short names used in plates
(that might not mean anything) to full ink names. This is handy for example for plates with international ink definitions. By default,
C
,
M
,
Y
and
K
are mapped to
Cyan
,
Magenta
,
Yellow and Black .
To add an ink definition, double-click an input field and start typing. Press 'TAB' to switch fields.
9.13.7 Digital Press
Use this to connect Automation Engine to the DFE (Digital Front End) of a digital press.
1.
Select
Digital Press
and use
File
>
New
to create a new digital press connection.
2.
Enter the name of your
DFE Server
and click
Connect
.
Note:
Make sure the DFE server is running and reachable over the network.
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Automation Engine
If your connection is successful, you will see
Connection OK!
and details about the DFE server.
3.
If your DFE server drives several presses, select the
Press
you want to connect to.
You will see details about the digital press.
4.
Use
File
>
Save
to save your connection.
9.13.8 E-Mail Configuration
Automation Engine can use your E-mail server to send E-mails. These E-mails can be sent by a task
Notification
, by a dedicated
Send E-mail task
or as an extra tool when you opened a log
file.
70
•
Postmaster
is the E-mail address that will receive a warning mail when an E-mail could not be delivered.
•
Use as sender
: Select this to include a "
Sender
" SMTP header.
Automation Engine
The purpose of such a header is to indicate that the actual sender of the E-mail is different from the person in the '
From
' field of the E-mail. Some E-mail servers refuse to send this E-mail unless this field is specified. Certain E-mail clients will visualise the
sender
info as " sent by <postmaster> on behalf of <from>
".
• Check with your IT department for the correct settings of the
SMTP Server
and
SMTP Port
.
• Select the check box if you want to
Use a secure connection
instead of an unrestricted connection.
• If the
SMTP server
requests authentication, fill out the
User Name
and
Password
fields.
• Click on the button to
Send
a
Test E-mail
(see below).
•
Send Test E-mail...
The following authentication schemes are supported by the Automation Engine mail component:
PLAIN
,
LOGIN
and
DIGEST-MD5
.
9
•
From
: Indicates the address you're using to send the test E-mail. If no address is filled in, the postmaster address is used. You can choose a different sender to test if the mail server allows you to send e-mails on behalf of others. The
Send E-Mail
task relies on this behavior as it tries to send E-mails on behalf of the user that launches the task.
•
To
: Fill in a valid E-mail address that will receive the test mail.
•
Message
: You can enter a personal message or leave the default text.
• When finished, click
Send
to see whether the configuration is working properly. When the E-mail could be sent, an Info message will appear. When it failed, you will get a detailed warning message.
9.13.9 External Databases
External Databases
are databases from external systems (not part of Automation Engine).
Automation Engine uses links to such databases in
• a
Database Query SmartName
. Learn more in
Database Query SmartNames
.
• a
Database Access Point
. Learn more in
Database Access Point
.
• the
Interact with Database
task. Learn more in
Interact with Database task
.
Attention:
When integrating Automation Engine with an external database make sure you are compliant with the license agreements of that database manufacturer.
Note:
Configuring these links requires knowledge about database setups. If necessary, contact your IT database administrator to figure out the correct settings.
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Configuring External Databases
1.
Go to
Tools
>
Configure
>
External Databases
.
2.
Click
File
>
New
to configure a new link to a database.
A new database name is created with the name
db_number
(the number is the chronological number of the database).
3.
In the left pane, click to select the new database and then click again to enable renaming that new database link. Type the name you want and press
Enter
to confirm.
4.
Choose the appropriate
DBMS Type
.
These Database Management Systems (DBMS) are supported:
•
Microsoft SQL Server
•
ODBC Source
Note:
ODBC SmartNames created before version 14 remain unchanged but are deprecated and renamed to the
Type
'
32 Bit ODBC Query
'.
•
Oracle
•
Other
(when a JDBC driver is used).
Attention:
Esko provides the drivers for both SQL and Oracle DBMS types. Not all database drivers can be freely distributed by Esko, and not all drivers have been tested. If you need to connect to
Other
types you have 2 options:
• connect using an ODBC System DSN for the database
• connect using a JDBC driver.
When your database manufacturer allows both ways, we recommend to use JDBC as a connection method. A JDBC connection is directly configured in Automation
Engine, whereas for ODBC you need to pass the DSN setup of the Windows system.
5.
Enter the connection details. These are different per type of DBMS. See examples in
6.
If required for the DBMS, enter the name of the
Host
. This is the database server
(computer) name.
7.
If required for the DBMS, enter the
Port
number.
8.
If required for the DBMS, enter the
User
name and
Password
that will be used to access the database.
9.
Click '
Test Connection
' to test if your setup is valid. If it is not valid, the error message might contain details about the problem.
10.Disclaimer
: Be aware of the risks of direct database queries and of the fact that Esko takes no liability for them. You need to agree before this configuration can be saved.
11.
Click
File
>
Save
to save the configuration.
See the next section for some
.
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9
Specifics per DBMS
Connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server
Connecting to a database server via ODBC
If the database manufacturer does not provide a JDBC driver, you can connect to the database using an ODBC link.
When the name of your system data source is for example '
ProductionDetails
', then enter it in the
Database
name field as ' jdbc:odbc:ProductionDetails
'.
Note:
32-bit versus 64-bit ODBC:
• On 32-bit hardware (for example Windows Server 2003), Automation Engine tools that use these database links can only work with
32-bit Windows ODBC Data Sources
. You need to add the Data Source using the 32-bit ODBC Administrator tool (
%systemdrive%\Windows\
\SysWoW64\Odbcad32.exe
).
• On 64-bit hardware (for example Windows Server 2008 R2), Automation Engine tools that use these database links can only work with
64-bit Windows ODBC Data Sources
. You need to add the Data Source using the 64-bit ODBC Administrator tool (
%systemdrive%
\Windows\System32\Odbcad32.exe
).
Note:
As of Automation Engine 14.1 (2015), Esko only supports 64-bit systems for the
Automation Engine server(s).
Connecting to an Oracle Server
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Connecting an "Other" DBMS
Other
DBMS can be accessed if you can get the necessary drivers and information on how to access the DBMS via standard JDBC technology.
• Download the JDBC driver (a jar file) from the manufacturer’s website into a
Container
that is accessible to the Automation Engine (Master) server..
• Enter the required configuration fields. See an example:
• Check your JDBC driver manual for more details.
9.13.10 External Web Services
Using the
Interact with Web Service task
, Automation Engine can communicate with web services from external systems.
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Automation Engine
To configure such a web service,
1.
Go to
Tools
>
Configure
.
2.
In the
Configure
window, select
External Web Services
.
3.
Press the Insert key or go to
File
>
New
. Specify a name for the new
External Web
Service
.
4.
Specify
URL
.
You can use a secure connection via SSL (a URL starting with https:// ) with or without a valid SSL certificate signed by a "Certificate Authority" (CA).
When using a secure connection without a valid certificate, import the certificate into the server
java KeyStore
. Use the following command on the Automation Engine server: keytool -import -alias mydomain -file myfile.crt -keystore C:\Esko
\bg_prog_fastserver_v40\jre\lib\security\cacerts
Check the
Allow unverified SSL Certificate
option to do this.
Warning:
This setting is not secure.
If you need to pass via a proxy, configure the proxy settings via
Tools
>
Configure
>
Web
Proxy
.
5.
Select the
Authentication
mode from the drop-down options:
None
,
Basic
or
WebCenter
.
Caution:
About the "
WebCenter
" type authentication: if you try to connect to a
WebCenter 14 or more recent, you do not need to configure the WebCenter server, you can indicate it in the task. If you try to connect to an older WebCenter server, you have to configure the WebCenter server here and use the
Interact with Web
Service
task instead of the
Interact with WebCenter
task.
6.
Provide
User Name
and
Password
.
7.
Click
File
>
Save
.
9.13.11 FastImpose Site Preferences
The FastImpose site preferences serve to map ink names to custom names. For example if you want to map ' C ' to the French ' bleu ' on your plates.
Ink Names
Click
Add
to add two initial values to the list:
key
and
value
. Double click the words to edit them.
Tip:
A black rectangle around the field indicates that you can edit it.
If you want to change '
C
' to '
Bleu
', then enter
C
in the
Name
column, and '
Bleu
' in the
Customized Name
column:
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Automation Engine
This does not change your file, but if you used marks that would output 'C' on plate, they will now mention that ink as 'Bleu'.
Surfaces
When the values that describe front - back printing modes, like
F/B, Front/Back, Back,
F, Front, B are not conform your language or your way of working, you can here change them.
An example: changing Front/Back to read Recto/Verso :
9.13.12 FlexProof - Image Downloader
Select the item
FlexProof - Image Downloader
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
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Automation Engine
Tab "General"
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Proofer Node
: Enter the FlexProof computer name.
Attention:
The name of the Image Downloader Proof Node is case sensitive. This is not the case for the other devices.
•
Synchronize with Proof Node
.This may take a few seconds, the system will fill out the
‘
Type
’ field.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed earlier on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
9
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: Define if you want merge jobs on output.
•
Unit
. Select a unit for the below fields.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the output.
•
Gap
: When merging, a gap adds an extra zone of empty pixels around each job.
•
Minimum Fill
: When merging, enter what percentage of minimum fill you want in the output. No output is generated before this fill percentage is reached.
9.13.13 FlexRip - Approval
Select the item
FlexProof - Approval
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
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•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip/FlexProof computer name.
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed earlier on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: Define if you want merge jobs on output.
•
Unit
. Select a unit for the below fields.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the output.
•
Gap
: When merging, a gap adds an extra zone of empty pixels around each job.
•
Minimum Fill
: When merging, enter what percentage of minimum fill you want in the output. No output is generated before this fill percentage is reached.
9.13.14 FlexRip - B
Select the item
FlexRip - B
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
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Automation Engine
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: We advise to set this to
No
as merging will then happen after this pass on the way to the Imagesetter and this gives a higher flexibility in merging (positive and negative can be merged on one film).
•
Unit
. Select a unit for the below fields.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the separations.
•
Gap
: When merging, a gap adds an extra zone of empty pixels around each separation.
•
Minimum Fill
: When merging, enter what percentage of minimum fill you want in the output. No output is generated before this fill percentage is reached.
9
9.13.15 FlexRip - BI (Barco Imagesetter)
Select the item
FlexRip - BI (Barco Imagesetter)
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
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Automation Engine
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: because this device type cannot merge, this settings is always on '
No
'
• Select a
Unit
for the below field.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the separations.
9.13.16 FlexRip CDI, CDI Spark and CDI Compact
These three types of devices can be configured in the same way. Select the matching item and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
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Automation Engine
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: Define if you want merge jobs on output.
•
Unit
. Select a unit for the below fields.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the output.
•
Gap
: When merging, a gap adds an extra zone of empty pixels around each job.
•
Minimum Fill
: When merging, enter what percentage of minimum fill you want in the output. No output is generated before this fill percentage is reached.
Tab "CDI"
When the CDI has a recent version of Grapholas software, the
Pixelclock
will here be shown as '
Automatic
'.
Older versions ask you to define the values here:
•
Pixelclock
is set to 360.000.
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•
Perimeter
: Define the perimeter of the drum, in the selected unit.
9.13.17 FlexRip - HP Indigo 4000 Series
Select the item
FlexRip - HP Indigo 4000 Series
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
9.13.18 FlexRip - Proofer Output
Select the item
FlexRip - Proofer Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
Tab "General"
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9
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished
("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
Tab "Proof"
Recombine Separations
:
You can define this workflow choice: or you choose to let the FlexRip recombine the separations or you choose to add a 'Proof (FlexProof)' task.
•
On the FlexRip
, you can add a margin, no merging is possible.
•
By Sequencing A 'Proof (Image Downloader)' Task
Note:
The list only shows those devices that are configured for the same node ; the RIP and Proof node must be identical.
9.13.19 FlexRip - Screened Output
Shared Settings for all FlexRip flavors of Screened and Unscreened Output
•
Tab "General"
•
Type
: The type will appear after having synchronized. First fill in the other settings.
•
Rip Node
: Enter the FlexRip computer name.
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Automation Engine
•
EskoLink Portnr.
: Enter the port number of the Dispatcher's EskoLink queue.
• Fill out these fields before you click
Synchronize with Rip
. This may take a few seconds.
•
Tab "Queue"
•
Queue
: A default name is proposed. This field automatically updates when you rename the device.
•
Queue Job Limit
: A FlexRip's Dispatcher EskoLink queue can handle the expose command of 2 jobs at the same time. If you want the Automation Engine Queue to allow sending 2 expose commands at the same time, then set the job limit of the Automation
Engine queue on 2.
Putting this job limit on 1 will result in each expose command to that EskoLink queue being handled one by one: the second job will be ripped after the first one is completely finished ("First In First Out" principle).
Note:
Having jobs RIP'ed faster on the FlexRip does not mean that your output device can output them any earlier.
•
•
Tab "Merge"
•
Merge
: Define if you want merge jobs on output.
•
Unit
. Select a unit for the below fields.
•
Margin
: Define an extra margin around the output.
•
Gap
: When merging, a gap adds an extra zone of empty pixels around each job.
•
Minimum Fill
: When merging, enter what percentage of minimum fill you want in the output. No output is generated before this fill percentage is reached.
DCS
Select the item
DCS
below the item
FlexRip - Screened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
TIFF
Select the item
TIFF
below the item
FlexRip - Screened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
There is one exception for the TIFF flavor: The tab "Queue" offers this extra option:
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Automation Engine
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
Select the item
below the item
FlexRip - Screened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
PS
Select the item
PS
below the item
FlexRip - Screened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
9.13.20 FlexRip - Unscreened Output
9
DCS
Select the item
DCS
below the item
FlexRip - Unscreened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
TIFF
Select the item
TIFF
below the item
FlexRip - Unscreened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
There is one exception for the TIFF flavor: The tab "Queue" offers this extra option:
•
Optimize Expose Sequence
: Select this to have all separations RIP'ed in one pass, which normally leads to faster output. For some jobs however, this way of working results in memory problems, when this happens, deselect this option so that all separations will be
RIP'ed separately (the RIP will be restarted after every separation).
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Automation Engine
Select the item
below the item
FlexRip - Unscreened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
PS
Select the item
PS
below the item
FlexRip - Unscreened Output
and go to
File
>
New
.
Note:
Don't forget to save your settings. Use
File
>
Save
.
All options in the menu tabs are equal to those for other flavors. They are described in the
on page 83.
9.13.21 Gang Run Printing
These fields are relevant when you work with the Pilot's
Gang Run Printing
view.
•
Output Folder
: Define the folder where the substrate queues write their nested layout files.
These files are picked up from here as input files for the output workflow (specifically the
Export nested Layouts task
). Normal use of the Gang Run Printing mode does not require you to access these files.
Note:
We advise to clean up these temp data. This can easily done in your output workflow ticket: See this example:
• The
Custom Fields
can be given specific names so that they can be used in the
'Extra' tab of the Submit to Gang Run task
. They then show up as extra columns in the Gang Run printing view of a specific Substrate Queue.
• If you also confirm that a
Custom Field
can be
Used as grouping key
, the value of this field will so help control which files are nested together. Typical attributes to base nesting groups on are Customer, Printing Method, Finishing Method. Learn more about grouping keys in
Grouping Certain Graphics Together
.
• Select
Use the Customer field as grouping key
if you want a system-wide setting for this feature, in stead of having to control it per ticket of the
Submit to Gang Run task
.
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9
9.13.22 Global Vision
Concept
Following Automation Engine tasks use technology from the company
Global Vision
:
Inspect
Artwork
,
Inspect Barcodes
,
Inspect Braille
,
Inspect Spelling
and
Inspect Text
.
These tasks require a software license created by Global Vision. You can purchase various subscription packages directly from Global Vision or choose to purchase one via Esko.
This configuration item guides you to get that license from Global Vision and activate it on
Automation Engine.
How to Request a License
To purchase, activate or check your Global Vision license, click
Request License...
and follow the indicated steps.
Note:
The
registration ID
identifies your computer where the Global Vision License Server was installed. This component of the Automation Engine is by default installed on the same computer as the Automation Engine server software.
Global Vision uses this registration ID to generate your
license key
to run these tasks on
Automation Engine. This license key can only be activated on the same Automation Engine server as the one you used to get your registration ID.
The website
https://esko.globalvisioninc.com/
will ask you if you already purchased such a license from Esko or if you want to purchase a subscription plan from Global Vision.
Note:
This online video
describes this procedure (the case where someone purchased the subscription plan from Esko).
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About Remaining Days and Usage Count
When you have a license from Global Vision, the panel mentions a detailed status of this license:
• It shows the number of
used inspections
and the maximum number of inspections that can be run (without being charged extra).
Note:
An inspection is "used" each time a Global Vision inspection task has run. Only if the task failed to run completely (for example the task ran out of available memory), this is not counted as "used".
• When the number of used inspections is equal or higher than the maximum (licensed) number of inspections:
• An active internet connection is required to be able to continue using the Global Vision
Inspection tasks without activating a new license, given that the current license is not expired in time.
• The Automation Engine master server needs to be able to connect to
http:// www.globalvisioninc.com/eskolicense/
. Connecting through a proxy server is not supported.
• Global Vision then bills you the extra used inspections separately.
• When no active internet connection is available, any subsequently run Global Vision
Inspection tasks will fail.
• When you have annual licenses, the number of used inspections is reset each month.
• When you have a permanent license, this will be mentioned instead.
Note:
You can also request a new license when the license is not expired.
What to do when your Automation Engine Master Server (name) changes
We mentioned above that this license is based on the computer name of your Automation
Engine server.
In case of disaster recovery of your server, you might for example promote an Automation
Engine
Assistant
to become the new Automation Engine
Master
. If you need to do this, you also need to activate the Global Vision license on the new Master.
Note:
Learn more about server Assistants in the
Pre-Install IT Requirements Guide
, specifically the page on
Components Glossary
.
Follow these steps to move your Global Vision license to the new Master server:
1. Activate
the new Automation Engine Server to start up its Global Vision License Server. Do this in
the Server Web page
:
Server Admin
>
Status Overview
>
Activate Server
.
2.
On that new server, request a new license as described above.
3.
To deactivate the previous license, contact
Global Vision support
. They will also credit you for the previous license.
9.13.23 Imaging Engines
This is where you configure any Imaging Engine RIPs.
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Automation Engine
Learn more in the chapter
RIP'ing with Imaging Engine
, in the page
Imaging Engine Configuration
.
9.13.24 Jobs
Tip:
Working with Automation Engine Jobs is documented in the dedicated chapter
Jobs
.
Job Setup
You can here define the name of several
Custom Fields
.
When you enter names in custom fields 3 to 6, an extra tab
Categorization
will appear in the
Job Setup
dialog box.
Note:
Think carefully about these names because changing their names later creates confusing lists of values for these fields in existing Jobs.
9
JDF Setup
This item allows to define default settings that are used when (new) Jobs are created via JDF/
JMF.
• Tab "
Settings for JDF job creation
"
•
Job Name
and
Job Folder
: Use SmartNames to define the name and folder of the resulting Job.
•
Apply Job Setup
: This option allows to create a same job folder structure for each new
Job created via JDF. Select the option and click
Select
the Job of which you want to take over its job folder structure.
You can also indicate what other items should be copied from that Job, apart from the
Folders
. Select
Tickets
to also copy any (blue) Job tickets into the new Job. Select
Parameters
to also copy those defined in the Job's setup tab 'Parameters'.
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• Tab "
Custom Fields
"
This is where you can define how the data in the "Comment" JDF elements is used to populate the custom fields (
Categories
) that appear in the Job Setup dialog.
To do this, type an XPath expression into the field corresponding to the category you want to fill in automatically. To get some help, click
Edit
to open the
Note:
• The JDF that was loaded in the XPath builder is remembered while the
Configure
dialog is open.
• When editing the next XPath, the same JDF will be automatically used as the example
XML in the XPath builder.
90
XPath Builder
Concept
When you click
Edit
in any field that allows XPath Expressions, the
XPath Builder
opens.
The XPath Builder offers alternative starting points:
Automation Engine
• The XPath is not resolved relative to the root node of the XML document, but from another
XML element.
• When a proper JDF is used as the example XML, a list of possible starting points is generated.
• While the XPath builder automatically selects the appropriate starting point, it is still possible to manually change the starting point by clicking on another node while holding down
Command
(Mac) or
CTRL
(Windows).
Example
See an example where the XPath builder is used to create an XPath for a product part attribute:
9
• The XPath builder automatically uses the first
PageData
node as starting point. This is visualised by showing the content outside the
PageData
node in grey.
• It is still possible to select nodes outside the
PageData
node as result node or as predicate node.
• When selecting nodes outside the
PageData
node, the XPath builder will create absolute
XPaths.
• When you want, you can modify these absolute paths by making them relative to the
PageData
node using
../
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Job Web Page
Concept
In the Pilot, you can right-click a job folder and select
Go to Job Web Page
. This opens an internet browser and loads a predefined path (URL).
This is typically used to navigate from within an Automation Engine Job to its related
WebCenter project.
Configuration
This is where you define the web
Address
for the
Job Web Page
. Obviously, it needs to be a valid URL, so if you use SmartNames, make sure they resolve correctly.
This is the typical structure of such a URL to a WebCenter project:
• The first part of the URL is typically the name of your WebCenter web site. For example http://MyWebCenterServer/WebCenter_Inst
• This is followed by /projdetails.jsp?projectName=
• You end with a SmartName that resolves as the name of the WebCenter project for that job.
For example: when the WebCenter project has the same name as the Job on Automation
Engine, then use
[Job Name]
.
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Smart Job Location
Concept
A
Smart Job Location
uses rules and SmartNames to define the location of a Job’s job folder.
This avoids having to enter this path manually when creating Jobs.
There are three types of specifications that you can use to set up the Smart Job Location. You can base the location on the
Customer
of that job, or on a custom
Rule
or you can specify
(only) the
Container
.
Automation Engine
9
These three methods are checked in a specific order: If no path is found based on the
Customer
, the set of custom rules will be checked. If there is still no valid path found for the job folder, then the
Container
setting will be checked.
The dialogs '
New Job
' and '
Job Setup
' offer the option to
Use the Smart Job Location Rules
.
To see a preview of what the folder path will be, click on the button "
Show Job Location
" to
see how the current rules create the path for this job. An example:
Configuration
We now have a closer look at the types of specifications:
•
:
•
:
•
:
Tip:
Also when using JDF to create Jobs, it is possible to use the concept of Smart Job Location as a SmartName for the indication of the folder for the Job in JDF: use <SJL\> .
Customers
You can here define a root location for all jobs of a specific customer. An example:
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These settings also become part of the customer definition in
Tools
>
Customers
. An example:
Rules
When no customer based setting was specified (or no valid location could be found), the systems checks if you did set any custom
Rules
.
These rules are based on conditions that use
Regular Expressions
. Click the
Help
button for a brief tutorial.
Here is an example where job folders are created in a specific root folder based on the number in their job's Order ID:
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9
Container
When the checks on
Customers
and
Rules
did not return a valid path for a job folder, then the folder will be created in the here defined
Container
.
Here are two main use cases for this setting:
• Use it as a "Default Job Location". When you request a Smart Job Location, we always advise to at least here fill in a Container based location. This way, when none of the categories
Customers
or
Rules
result in a location, the system will use this setting, and not use a location that you can not control.
• This setting is useful when you have a system where you have all jobs created within one
Container (a share on a hard disk) until that share has no more free space. You then create a next Container, change this setting to the new Container and you so use that one until it also fills up, etc.
9.13.25 Nexus
This configuration is explained in the dedicated section on
Integrating with Nexus
. Find a direct link
here
.
9.13.26 Notification
Notifications are messages sent by Automation Engine (E-mail, .XML or .TXT files).
Note:
For E-mail notifications, please check if the
Send E-mail task
is a better alternative.
The two tabs in this Configure item offer more advanced ways:
•
.
•
You can also use notification
Templates
to customize their content. Learn more in
Notification Rules
Instead of defining notifications per ticket, you can define general notification
Rules
. You can set a notification rule for all or specific tasks or devices (queues).
You can define such rules for
Tasks
and for
Devices
.
For example:
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• Writing an XML file every time a
Milestone task
ends.
• Writing an XML file of all actions on your CDI Compact device. Or have each notification added to the main XML for that CDI.
Note:
Note that, for
CDI
and
Kongsberg
devices, the specific tools as described in their dedicated chapters may be a better alternative.
Attention:
When you set a notification for both a device and for a task using that device, then only the one on task level will be executed.
Creating a Notification Rule
1.
Click
Add
.
The
Notification Rule Editor
opens.
96
2.
Define the rule:
•
Condition
• Select one or multiple of the task statuses and select if this is the status of this single task type or of the whole workflow that this task belongs to as a step.
•
Action
•
Then
: Choose the type of notification.
Tip:
If you want multiple types, create multiple notification rules.
•
: Choose if you send it to the one who launched the task or type in E-mail address (when multiple, use a semicolon as separator). Select any attachments to the E-mail.
Tip:
This is a good place to use SmartNames that pick up the E-mail address of the job’s Customer Service Representative (Job setup) or any Customer contacts.
•
XML file
: Choose if you want a file per notification or if you want to add the information to an already existing XML file. For example: Adding all notification
Automation Engine
info related to a TIFF output device to one XML for each day (use SmartName
[date]
in the name of the XML file).
In the output field, minimally enter a name (use SmartNames). You can also define or browse to a specific folder to write the XML files into or you can leave this field empty and make the system use the default place for these files as defined in the next configuration item "
".
•
TXT file
: Same options as for XML files, but now you can also use templates to add custom text.
•
Template
: Templates add custom made texts. Learn more in
page 97.
Note:
The "Templates" list and the "Edit Templates" button are only shown when at least one template was created before.
3.
Click
OK
to confirm and close.
Add more if you want to.
Via File
When setting up a notification rule that creates XML or TXT file, you can choose to not enter any output folder for these files, but only specify their name (learn more
these files are written in the default place that you define in these tabs.
•
Tab "Text"
•
Append the message in a Log File
: When you choose to add the notification information to a same file. Browse to change its location and there create/select an empty file.
•
Create a new file per message in a folder
: Define the folder where these notification text files will be created.
•
Tab "XML"
Same as for TEXT files, but you can also choose to include the tasks messages (that appear in the task's "details") and the ticket parameters it used.
Notification Templates
A notification template can add custom text to the notification.
To create, modify or delete templates, click '
Edit Templates...
' in the
Notification Rule Editor
.
Alternatively, go to
Pilot
>
Advanced
>
Edit Notification Templates...
Edit Notification Templates
Creating a template
1.
Click
Add
.
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Automation Engine
2.
The
Add
dialog pops up. Enter a name for the template. Click
OK
.
3.
The
Edit Template
dialog pops up.
It has dedicated fields for
Subject
and
Message
, SmartName enabled.
The field for
Task Information
is best only changed on advise of Esko support. It includes code-based conditional information that can include the attachments you requested while
creating the notification rule
Here is an example:
Tip:
You can also
Edit Notification Templates
in the
Configure
tool, provided that you already have templates available: go to
Configure
>
Notification
>
Rules
>
Task/Device
>
Add...
.
9.13.27 Odystar
This configuration is explained in the dedicated section on
Integrating with Odystar (soon outdated)
. Find a direct link
here
.
9.13.28 Proof Servers
This configuration is used to connect the Esko Proof Server which his required for
• the
Proof for Contract Approval
task (part of the Pack Proof product) . Learn more in the
user guide of Pack Proof
, in the page on
Pack Proof Configuration
.
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Automation Engine
• the
Proof for Content Approval task
task (part of the Imaging Engine product). Learn more in
Imaging Engine Configuration
.
9.13.29 Plate Merger
This item is documented in the chapter
CDI Platemaking Workflow
. Find a direct link
here
.
9.13.30 Preflight Tools
This item serves to link Automation Engine to external preflight server software that you can then use in the
Preflight via External Application
task.
Caution:
In AE v16, the task 'Preflight via External Application' was declared to become
'Soon Outdated'. Learn more about this concept and your alternative in
Concept of
(Soon) Outdated Tasks
.
Note:
When you want to use Enfocus PitStop, consider using the version that is built into
Automation Engine. This is done when you use the task
Preflight with PitStop
.
Important:
• This external preflight server software (for example a separate install of PitStop Server) has to run on your Automation Engine server.
• You must share the folder containing the profiles (for example PitStop's C:\Program
Files\Enfocus\Enfocus PitStop Server 13 ) to be able to access it from the Preflight ticket.
9
Tool Name
: Select one of the supported preflight applications.
Report Language
: Select the language you want the report to be in. For Enfocus PitStop
Server, you can set this in the PitStop Server preferences.
Report Units
: Select the units to be used in the preflight report.
Report Type
: Select the type of report: PDF, XML or both.
Executable File
: Enter (browse to) the path to the preflight application's executable file.
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Profile Folder
: Enter (browse to) the path to the folder where the default profiles for the selected preflight tool are stored.
Action Folder
: Enter (browse to) the path to the folder where the action lists for the selected preflight tool are stored. The Preflight task will allow you to select multiple actions from this folder.
9.13.31 Printing Methods
Printing Methods
are defined in the Configure tool. You get a list of standard names. You can add custom ones.
You can set an ink to a specific printing method by using the Job setup's
Inks tab
or by using a one of these tasks:
Adjust PDF Screening
,
Extract Inks
,
Normalize PDF File
,
Normalize PostScript /
PDF / Illustrator 8.0 File
,
Optimize PDF Separations
,
Trap with PowerTrapper
,
RIP'ing with Imaging
Engine
.
For example:
100
These are typical examples of how to make use of a
Printing Method
:
Automation Engine
• In your
Imaging Engine
(RIP) task for a flexo device, you select only the inks of printing method 'flexo'.
• You make a special ReportMaker PDF that focusses on the 'ink' used for embossing. In your workflow, you use the
Extract Inks
task to select the wanted ink type before you start the
ReportMaker task.
9.13.32 Processing Preferences
Automatic Normalization
Tasks that
require Normalized PDF files
as input will automatically normalize any native PDF you launch them on. This hidden and automatic normalization is using the here defined task ticket.
By default, Automation Engine uses the
Normalize PostScript/PDF/Illustrator 8.0 File
task ticket named "
OnDemand
".
From this ticket only the settings in the
Color Management
tab are taken into account.
All other settings of the automatic normalization are forced to fixed default settings. For example, automatic normalization will always embed all images.
Embedded Images
Normalized PDF files have the ability to save all their images internally, but this may result in oversized files. You can define the maximum size for internal images here.
Images exceeding the defined size will be saved externally.
9.13.33 Products
Tip:
Automation Engine Products are documented in the dedicated chapter
Products
.
Product Setup
In the item
Product Setup
, you can name the custom fields that appear in the
Product Setup
and in the
Product Part Setup
.
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101
9
102
Above example configuration results in this:
Automation Engine
Automation Engine
9
JDF Setup
Note:
JDF workflows are not documented in this user manual. Learn more about the basics of
JDF in the chapter
Integrating with External Systems
. For more information, contact Esko Solution
Services.
General
When you work with JDF, decide here if you want to
Enable automatic product creation via
JDF
.
Data Zone
Note:
The
Data Zone
concept is documented in
Products Data Structure
.
•
Create Data Zone and File when a new Product Part is created from JDF
:
•
Data Zone
: When the JDF references a non-existing product part, define here where to create the data zone for that product part (the physical folder containing the part's file).
•
File
: When the JDF references a non-existing product part, define here where to create the subfolder and/or file in the data zone.
•
Apply Data Zone Structure
: Use this option when you want to add a specific substructure to the data zone. Browse to an example data zone (folder with subfolders).
Product (Part) Setup
In the
Product Setup
and
Part Setup
tabs, you can add rules to map values from the JDF onto the attributes of the products that the JDF creates.
To do this, type an XPath expression into the field for each attribute that should be overruled by the system value, or click
Edit
to open the XPath builder.
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Note:
• The JDF that was loaded in the XPath builder is remembered while the Configure dialog is open.
• When editing the next XPath, the same JDF will automatically be used as the example XML in the XPath builder.
Learn more about using XPath in
Updating
In the
Updating
tab, indicate what should happen when an existing product is updated over
JDF.
104
Learn more about updating products in
The Add to Products task
.
XPath Builder
Concept
When you click
Edit
in any field that allows XPath Expressions, the
XPath Builder
opens.
The XPath Builder offers alternative starting points:
• The XPath is not resolved relative to the root node of the XML document, but from another
XML element.
Automation Engine
• When a proper JDF is used as the example XML, a list of possible starting points is generated.
• While the XPath builder automatically selects the appropriate starting point, it is still possible to manually change the starting point by clicking on another node while holding down
Command
(Mac) or
CTRL
(Windows).
Example
See an example where the XPath builder is used to create an XPath for a product part attribute:
9
• The XPath builder automatically uses the first
PageData
node as starting point. This is visualised by showing the content outside the
PageData
node in grey.
• It is still possible to select nodes outside the
PageData
node as result node or as predicate node.
• When selecting nodes outside the
PageData
node, the XPath builder will create absolute
XPaths.
• When you want, you can modify these absolute paths by making them relative to the
PageData
node using ../
Smart Product Location
Smart Product Location allows to automatically decide the location for a new product based on a set of rules defined in
Configure
>
Products
>
Smart Product Location
.
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106
Learn more about creating products in
Creating Products
and about their file location settings in
Product (Part) Properties
.
Important:
You do not need this tool when your file is already in the right place when you make it a product part.
Three Ways to Decide the Location
You can use three kinds of specifications to set up the Smart Product Location: based on
Customers
, on custom
Rules
and on a chosen
Container
.
These three ways are checked in a specific order: if the
Customers
check does not return an valid path, then
Rules
will be checked. If this still does not return a valid path, then the
Container
rule will be used.
•
Customers
: This rule allows to specify per customer a SmartName based path where all its products will be created.
•
Rules
: This tab allows to set extensive conditional rules. For example you could create all the products in a structure based on their [custom field 1] . You can create several rules and they will be checked from top to bottom.
•
Container
: This tab allows to set a smart path in a fixed Container where all products will be created (from now on). For example: All products are created in Container
Data1
and when the disk of that Container is full, you change the configuration so that from now all new products will be created in Container
Data2
.
Using the Smart Product Location
Smart Product Location is used in these cases:
• When choosing
Uploading As a New Product
. This feature is used for example when your product data is still on a CD or on your desktop.
• When creating products via JDF or when placing products via JDF (a product part URL is already decided but 'empty' and the JDF then delivers the file to the URL that expects the file).
When
Uploading a File as a Product
, the panel shows the extra Smart Product Location tool at the bottom:
Automation Engine
9
Click
Show Product Location
to see a preview of where the uploaded file will be placed. An example:
Product Part Data Zone
Note:
Learn about the concept of
Data Zone
and see some examples in
Products Data
Structure
.
Every product part has a data zone. It contains the product part file itself and any additional related files.
When you look at a product's data zone in the Pilot, the depth of the data zone indicates the number of folders that you will see between the root of the data zone and the folder containing the actual product part file.
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The
Default Depth
value that you enter here is used when you create or change the product part properties.
9.13.34 SAP Servers
Configuring an SAP server is required when integrating with such a system. Learn more in
Interact with SAP task
.
9.13.35 SFTP sites
SFTP sites are used in the
Upload via SFTP task
and also by an
SFTP Access Point
. Learn more about SFTP in the documentation pages of those tools or in this
online article describing the difference between FTPS and SFTP
.
To configure an SFTP site (an SSH server), open the Configure tool, select the topic
SFTP
Sites
and choose
File
>
New
. A default name appears, click and wait to change it. It is good practise to add both the host server and the user in the name.
Settings
•
Server
: The name of the SFTP server.
•
User Name
: The name of the user logging in to that SFTP server.
• Authenticating with an SFTP server requires a valid SSH account ( username@host
) and one or both of these authentication methods:
• a valid password
• a pair of public-private key files, as generated by an SHH-keygen tool.
An SHH private key authentication enables a higher level of security (it for example avoids bots trying out all user/passwords). These keys come in pairs, a public and a private key.
Note:
In the rare case where the SFTP server was set to accept both types of authentication, you can enter both a password and a private key. The system then first checks the password method, and when that fails, it tries the keys.
• When using a
password
, enter the password.
• When (also) using a
Private Key
, use
Select...
to upload the private SSH key file into the
Automation Engine database. Optionally, fill in the
Passphrase
(to be able to unlock the key).
Note:
When the public-private key pair authentication is used, the public key must be added to the authorized keys of the SFTP server and the private key must be selected in this configure tool.
Clear
serves to remove a prior selected key from the Automation Engine database.
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Automation Engine
•
Test Connection
. Always test before saving this configuration.
9.13.36 Secure Web Proxy
Learn about using web proxy settings in
the page on the item Web Proxy
This item is where you add proxy settings when the communication is https (not http).
9.13.37 Scripts
This dedicated chapter about Scripting
explains how Automation Engine can run custom scripts and so help automate desktop applications.
Learn more about its configuration in
this page on configuring the Script Runner tool
.
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9.13.38 Shuttle
Enter the
Port
to use for communication between your Automation Engine server and the
Shuttle clients.
Note:
By default this is port 5182, but if this port is already used by other processes, you should enter the next available port.
Click to define the
Upload Folder
. This is where Shuttle clients will upload files that are not located in a Container (except the Shuttle DeskPack plug-in, that will always upload files to the
DeskPackContainer
).
Note:
The
Upload Folder
must be located in a Container.
• Select
Start Shuttle server automatically when Automation Engine is started
if you plan to make frequent use of the Shuttle technology.
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• Select
Use the task history to re-launch tasks using the same public parameters
if you want Shuttle to remember the public parameter values that were used when submitting a file. If you then re-submit that file, these values will be automatically filled out.
Click the
Start
button to start Shuttle server. This is not required to use the Shuttle application.
However, starting the server is required to use Shuttle via applications like ArtPro, PackEdge and Illustrator. Shuttle server makes Automation Engine’s workflows, tasks and files accessible to the Shuttle clients.
Save the settings by clicking
File
>
Save
.
Shuttle Server Status
This shows whether the Shuttle server is running and how many tasks it manages.
9.13.39 Track Edit Session
When you open a file that resides in an active Job (folder) in an Esko editor, the
Track Edit
Session
task can automatically start logging times and several editing actions. This tracking stops when the file is closed.
You can here select for which editors you want to (automatically) run this task.
Learn more in the page about the
Track Edit Session task
.
Note:
When changing this configuration, restart the editor to activate this behavior.
9.13.40 Viewer
The Viewer offers a range of tools that help guaranteeing optimal viewing details while at the same time limiting the time to prepare the view data. Learn more in
The Automation Engine
Viewer
. You can here define some of their settings:
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Automation Engine
9
View PDF Files
Define here which normalization ticket will be used when you open non-normalized files
(native PDF, AI, (E)PS).
View ArtPro Files
As mentioned in
Supported File Types
, you can choose to see ArtPro files in the Viewer in either of these ways:
•
As in ArtPro
. This mode is advised for ArtPro users who do not work with normalized PDF files in their workflow.
•
As in PackEdge
. This mode adds a normalization step before the view data are created. It is advised when you want to compare ArtPro files with Normalized PDF files. Some users will prefer this mode because it was used before (it was the default mode before version 14.1).
Note:
The
WebCenter Viewer
and the
Publish to WebCenter
task always use this mode for
ArtPro files.
In
External Images
you can define a ticket that has the correct settings to find the external images.
Viewing Preferences
•
Anti-Aliasing
smoothens the staircase effect that you can get when pixels represent line art objects.
•
Merge Similar Inks
merges inks with the same name that have a different ruling or angle.
Attention:
We strongly advise to enable this option when viewing ArtPro files or
Normalized PDF files generated by ArtPro.
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'Speed up for Viewing'
Choose the ticket that the "
Speed up for Viewing
" folders should use. Learn more in
Speed Up
For Viewing
.
9.13.41 Web Proxy
For tools where Automation Engine uses http communication, you can here configure details of the Web Proxy to use.
•
Web Proxy Server
: Specify the computer name or IP address and port of the proxy server.
•
Proxy server requires a password
: When the proxy server requires authentication, specify the
User Name
and
Password
to use to authenticate.
•
Bypass proxy settings
: Specify a list of patterns separated by ' | ', The patterns may start or end with a '
*
' for wildcards.
Attention:
You need to restart Automation Engine before its tools start to use the web proxy for http communication.
These Automation Engine tools use web proxy settings for http communication:
• Tasks:
Create or Modify WebCenter Project
,
Download WebCenter Document
,
Integrate with
WebCenter
,
Publish on WebCenter
,
Interact with Web Service
.
• Cloud applications and storage tools, configured in
•
Connection Doctor
, to troubleshoot the server.
• In the
Server Web page - Server Admin - Server Checks - Network
, the
Online help
check and the
WebCenter Sites
check.
• Automation Engine's JDF Server (JMF), used to communicate with devices and external systems.
9.13.42 WebCenter Sites
This item serves to configure links from Automation Engine to WebCenter sites.
112
Website
:
Automation Engine
Specify the web address of the WebCenter site. After you entered the WebCenter address, click
Open...
to check if the WebCenter site is up and running. If you are redirected to the login page, it means that the address is correct and that the site is up and running.
Tip:
Be aware that this address is also the address that will be included in the notification e-mails when adding links to documents (approval cycle start E-mail). You should therefore make sure that the address can be accessed from the outside. Make sure to not use an internal address, but one that you want your (external) users to use when
they
use WebCenter.
WebCenter and Automation Engine are in the same LAN
Select this toggle if this is true. This will most likely be the case. Deselect this toggle if
WebCenter and Automation Engine are not in the same LAN.
Note:
How can you verify if these two systems are in the same LAN? They are in the same LAN when you can connect from WebCenter’s application server, this is the system where JBOSS is installed, to an Automation Engine Job Folder with the credentials of the
System Account
(by default the user BGSYSTEM or the one you changed it to, using
the System Account page in the
Server Web page
).
WebCenter's Approval Client:
If WebCenter and Automation Engine are not in the same LAN, you first need to create an
Automation Engine
Approval Client
in WebCenter. This is necessary to give Automation
Engine permissions to listen to the approval messages that are stored in WebCenter.
Tip:
If the
Approval Client
does not exist yet, follow these steps:
1.
In WebCenter, log in as
Administrator
.
2.
Go to the
Admin
section. In
Configurations
, select
Workflow and Tunnel Approval
Clients
.
3.
Click the link “
New Workflow and Tunnel Approval Client
".
4.
Enter a
User name
and a
Password
for the Automation Engine client. Mind that this is also the user name and password that have to be entered when configuring the WebCenter site in Automation Engine.
Fill out the client
Name
and
Password
and click the
Check Connection
button. This will check if the user can log on successfully.
The
Info
button displays the following information:
”In case Automation Engine and WebCenter are not in the same local area network (LAN), the retrieval of the approval results is secured by a name and password. The name and password specified in Automation Engine must match the name and password specified in WebCenter by the WebCenter administrator. When clicking the 'Check' button, the WebCenter version will be checked and the name and password will be validated by
WebCenter.”
Check Connection
When you click this button, you should, after a few seconds, get a window saying “
Check OK
".
The software version of that WebCenter will also be mentioned.
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Automation Engine
Note:
The button will check the validity of the user name or password to connect to that
WebCenter but
not
of your WebCenter’s
Approval Client
.
Note:
Passwords are encrypted.
Note:
When you connect to a secured WebCenter site (for example one that uses HTTPS://), then you have to export its security certificate and import it on the Automation Engine server.
If this is not done, publishing from Automation Engine to WebCenter will result in an error.
Learn more on how to do this in the chapter
Install SSL Certificates on the Workflow
Production Server
of the
WebCenter documentation
.
Tip:
After configuring a new WebCenter site, it is recommended to close your Pilot and start it again in order to see the updated list of WebCenter sites in your tickets.
9.14 Connection Doctor
The
Connection Doctor
allows you to troubleshoot the Pilot. This is documented in the dedicated chapter
Troubleshooting
.
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