ex PPI2Q

Gateway between PPISystem and QuarkPublishingSystem®

ex PPI2Q XTension is the Gateway from PPI-System to QuarkPublishing System®. PPI-Dumps (Gateway APIexport) can im- and export manually or automatically  per monitoring a "Hotfolder".

Features:

  • create, update and delete pages in QPS according to PPI Planpag dump files (XML)
  • create, update and delete part pages in QuarkPublishingSystem® (QPS)
  • create, update and delete ad placeholders in QPS pages
  • link ad placeholders to the material path in PPI and automatically import the .eps file (or a preview only) into placeholders (need ex AutoImport XT)
  • create EPS files from QPS part pages and send them back to PPI (optional)
  • create previews from QPS part pages and send them back to PPI (optional)
  • send sticky notes to PPI users
  • automatically generates a box with the URN (ad number from SAP) below the ad (on the page)
  • display comments (based on the part page) in a floating palette in QuarkXPress® (requires the accompanying client XTension)

Concept of the PPI / QPS-Bridge

The bridge is mainly a robot machine running QuarkXPress® with the ex PPI2Q-XTension. This XTension watches a hot folder from the PPI system containing “dump files” in XML format. A dump file is a complete description of the plan for a specific publication on a specific publication date with all production details and all information about adverts (including a path to the material file) contained in this issue.
There is also a thumb client XTension – needed only, if you want to see the page part comments on the editorial client machines (XPress).
The bridge automatically opens all dump files dropped into this folder and process them as follows:

  • create a page with the name stated in ‘Name’ filed of the <Page> tag based on a QuarkXPress® template assigned to the specific ‘EdPart’ / section
  • create on that page a part page in the proper size (specified by the margin guides)
  • create the ad place holders with proper size and coordinates on the part page
  • create an ex AutoImport link to the material file (This link is intelligent enough, to automatically look for the last version of the file (“<filename>.<version>.eps”)
  • imports the ad if the material is already available (HiRes EPS or LoRes TIFF)
  • create a text box containing the ad number (URN) below the ad dummy (on the page)
  • create a page slug for the part page comment
  • map the section with the field ‘EdPart’
  • checkin the page into QPS
  • write the timestamp of the PPI dump into the appropriate QPS header field

If the dump file is successfully processed, it will be moved into the folder “ready”. If there is any problem, a sticky note to the list of PPI users will be created, and the dump file will be moved as well.

If there is a new dump file with an update for existing pages the process is:

  • create new pages (if there are any)
  • set the page status of existing pages to Cancelled / Deleted if required
  • compare the dump time stamp with the PPI time stamp of the pages in the system. If the time stamp in the dump file is newer then the pages, pages will be updated in terms of part pages and ad placements
  • If a user is working on a page (page is checked out) and the ex Message XT is available, a message to that user is generated (“page update is required”)
  • The dump file will be moved into the “ready folder”


Preferences of the ex PPI2Q:

 





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