Design & Objects
Objects
Page Elements
Creating Objects - Associated File Text Objects
The Associated File is a powerful facility within FormTrap designed to allow document-specific information to be extracted from a FormTrap form into a separate file at run-time. Most often, the associated file is used to extract delivery details such as the fax number or email address of the recipient, but can be used in conjunction with any user process, either embedded (File and Output Filter processes) or external (written to output and used by external programs).
Associated File Text Objects
The Associated File is a simple text file containing entries in a name=value syntax. The name is simply a field name used to identify the data contained in the value. For example, EmailTo=support@formtrap.com identifies the value support@formtrap.com as being an EmailTo field.
- Associated file entries may direct processes:
archive=yes - may provide data to a process
DocNum=PO60803 - or may both direct and provide data to a process
EmailTo=support@formtrap.com
Within FTSpooler, there are a number of reserved names that are recognized and used for delivery and archiving purposes, or your own name may be substituted (for example, data fields for email and document titles or for other processes).
See the full list of Reserved Names.
Associated File Text Objects
Associated File fields are recognized from this structure:
##A#fieldname#fieldvalue#
This defines an Associated File field. The field is not printed but instead is moved to the output Associated File by FormTrap processing (where it appears in the format fieldname=fieldvalue on one line). You can test Associated File output in FTDesign (from version 7.2 onward) via Tools, Preview (color) or Preview (B&W), then Tools, Preview files and look at assoc.txt for your values.
Associated file fields are available for all of the different structures within FormTrap (ie Base Page, Record or Page headers, Detail Lines and so on). FormTrap processing acts on the first and ignores all other fully duplicated lines, hence items at the document level are best contained in the Report Trailer, although this is not mandatory.
In all other respects, Associated File text objects are standard and may be multiple lines, may use data fields as their source, may use substitutions and may have Print Rules applied to them. Here is an example Associated File text object:
| Multi-line: | ##SMTPTo#«emailaddress»# | from data |
| ##SMTOFrom#sender@emailaddress.com# | or constant |
Associated File entries from the Reserved Name list are IGNORED when the Value portion is empty (for example ##A#SMTPTo#«emailaddress»# is ignored when the data portion is empty).