Pre-Press Plugin

Overview

This plugin displays an interface showing the PDF files currently in the specified Pre-Press folder. It also provides a hot folder system to enable automatic submission of jobs with specific target media.

Pre-Press

Any PDF files in the Pre-Press folder are shown in the Files in Pre-Press Folder list. The list updates in real time according to the state of the folder on disk.

Each file has six buttons associated with it:

• Edit opens the PDF file in the application selected in the Settings tab. The PDF file must be readable, must not have been sent from the Waiting Queue, and an application must be selected before the file can be edited.

• Launch Label Studio opens the PDF in Label Studio. This requires a Workflow level license to be in use in order to be activated. For more information refer to the Smart Workflow section of the documentation.

• Send to Waiting Queue resubmits the PDF file to the Waiting Queue.

• Send to Workflow submits the file to the Workflow tab. This button will only show if Enable Workflow Folder is enabled in the Settings tab.

• Remove removes the file from the list and deletes it from the Pre-Press folder.

• Revert to Original restores the file to its original state, undoing any changes made by SmartDFE.

After a successful send to either the Waiting Queue or Workflow, a message at the bottom of the application confirms the name of the job that was sent and where it was sent to. If multiple sends happen in succession, these messages are queued and shown one by one.

NOTE:

The Send to Waiting Queue and Send to Workflow features report any submission failures with a red warning triangle next to the job. Check the log for details of any failures.

At the top is a toggle button for Auto-submit jobs to Workflow. This automatically sends any file that arrives in the Pre-Press folder to the Workflow plugin.

NOTE:

This feature disables itself if it fails to submit any job, and displays a red warning triangle. The log shows the relevant failures.

Next to the toggle button is the Open Pre-Press folder button, which opens the Pre-Press folder in Windows File Explorer.

Workflow

This tab displays an embedded view of a web page. The displayed web page depends on the contents of PrePressPlugin.UiPlugin.json found in your SPC install folder, for example:

<SPC installation folder>\UiPlugins\PrePressPlugin

This tab can be used to sign in to your pre-press workflow of choice by setting the URL and username/password in that JSON file.

Hot Folders

This tab is visible only when Enable Hot Folders is enabled in the Settings tab.

Up to 128 hot folders can be defined in this tab, with up to 8 of these being active at a time. When a change is detected in a hot folder is queued to be made active. If Label Studio is installed along with Smart Print Controller then the program will allow you to pair them with studio files - otherwise it will allow you to pair them with the names of Smart Media.

When a PDF is detected in any hot folder, it is automatically submitted to the Waiting Queue. With Label Studio installed, the PDF will be automatically processed according to the specification laid out by the paired studio file before being sent to the Waiting Queue; otherwise the PDF will be sent there without extra processing and will simply have its Target Media set to the chosen media name.

NOTE:

This is separate from the regular hot folder job submission in the Waiting Queue because you do not need to create your own .complete files.

Clicking the + button opens a dialog for creating a new hot folder at a specific existing directory, along with a drop-down list of all currently compatible target media.

NOTE:

Two hot folders cannot be defined in the same directory.

Clicking the bin button deletes the highlighted hot folder from the list after prompting for confirmation.

If Enable Hot Folders is unchecked, all specified hot folders are disabled. PDFs placed in them are not processed until the option is checked again.

NOTE:

If the web view fails to initialize when SPC launches, this tab is greyed out until the program is restarted. An error is printed in the log if this happens.

Settings

A PDF editor can be selected via a file selection dialog by navigating to the .exe file of the chosen application.

The command line arguments for the chosen application can also be configured. The default value is "$JOB$", where $JOB$ is replaced by the file path of the selected PDF file.

The Workflow Folder can be selected here. This determines the folder that files are sent to when Send to Workflow is pressed, or when they are sent by the auto-submit feature.

The Workflow Folder can also be disabled, in which case any actions that involve it are hidden or disabled. In addition to selecting the folder, you can open it in Windows File Explorer with the Open Workflow Folder button.

Hot folders can be enabled or disabled here. This shows or hides the Hot Folders tab, and disables all specified hot folders so they stop submitting jobs to the Waiting Queue.

NOTE:

Network paths are not supported by this feature.