iCS for PDF (10.00.03.298+) now supports creating a multi-page PDF without using an InterPlot IPS file as an input. Instead, a ProjectWise flat set (aka logical set) is required to specify the input documents. The flat set is also used to seed the output PDF naming patterns and provide values for attribute mapping.
A new checkbox in the rendition profile PDF format dialog controls whether to create a multi-page PDF when the input set consists of a single flat set. If this box is checked, a second "sort order" field is enabled allowing a list of symbols to be specified that control the order of renditions in the multi-page PDF.
By default, the sort order field is blank. In this case, renditions in the multi-page PDF are sorted by their individual PDF file names -- which are the result of the "rendition base file name" pattern specified in the rendition profile file naming convention.
For custom sorting, one or more comma-separated symbols may be defined in the sort order text field. Each symbol is evaluated using ProjectWise document properties, environment attributes, and/or work area property values from the respective master document used to create the rendition.
For example, the symbol list "<Document.Description>,<Environment.IntValue1>" sorts renditions within the PDF first by the master document description, then (if the descriptions are identical) by ascending values of the "IntValue1" environment attribute.
Sorting may also be performed in descending order by qualifying the symbol with the "?order=asc" or "?order=des" parameter.
When comparing two resolved values, if both values can be interpreted as a valid date/time or numeric type, then the sorting is performed using the appropriate comparison rules. That is, "1" comes before "10" (assuming ascending order). Otherwise, alphanumeric string sorting is used. The data type in ProjectWise is not used; only the resolved values matter. In other words, documents A and B, with "string" attributes values "1.1" and "10.2" respectively, would sort A < B if sorted on that attribute. If the attribute values were "z1.1" and "y10.2", then B < A.
If all the symbols in the sort order list resolve to the same value, then the final sort is based on the file names of the individual PDFs (the same as if no sort order had been specified).
The "Add Symbol" helper dialog is like the ones used elsewhere in ProjectWise Administrator, but displays a reduced set of symbols useful for sorting.
Like the "Create one multi-page PDF document for each IPS file" checkbox, the "Create one multi-page PDF document for each flat set" checkbox is only honored if the job's input set consists of a single flat set. If the input set contains multiple flat sets, or a combination of a flat set and one or more individual documents, the checkbox is ignored, and multiple renditions are created and distributed. This allows the same rendition format option to be used with different jobs.
For jobs consisting of a single flat set with the relevant box checked, the document name, file name, and description of the distributed multi-page PDF are generated by evaluating the corresponding patterns in the rendition profile file naming convention using the values from the specified flat set. If the rendition profile destination folder uses the "relative folder" option, the multi-page PDF is distributed to a folder relative to the input flat set.
The new checkbox is honored for both stored/scheduled jobs and jobs submitted from ProjectWise Explorer. However, the job builder dialog in iCS for PDF Administrator does not allow selection of a flat set item – only individual documents, folders, or saved searches. For stored jobs, a multi-page PDF may be created from a flat set by placing the flat set in a folder by itself and specifying that folder in the job definition. Or a saved search may be used that is designed to return only the single flat set result.
Similar to processing of an IPS file, when creating a multi-page PDF from a flat set, the iCS for PDF Administrator job monitor displays the status of each input master document individually. After each rendition is created, the status of the master document changes to "Pending Final Rendition". When all renditions have been created, the multi-page PDF is assembled and distributed.
Unlike IPS processing, if an error occurs when creating an individual rendition, the entire job fails, and no multi-page PDF is distributed. Whereas for an IPS input, a multi-page PDF would be distributed with one or more "Error" pages inserted in place of the missing rendition.