Picture of Connect: Flow General Settings | CI_Flow_003

Connect: Flow General Settings | CI_Flow_003

In this tutorial, we will take a look at the options available in the General Settings of the Connect: Flow plugin. This includes options such as configuring your output file and specifying which products are able to trigger the Connect: Flow plugin.

Tutorial Video Transcript

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In this tutorial, we're going
to take a look at some of the options

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that are available in the general settings
of the Connect Flow plugin.

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This includes options such as configuring
your output file and specifying

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whether products are able to trigger
the Connect Flow plugin.

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So starting off with use data
format XML.

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This is a toggle switch
between the creation of your output

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file and XML or JSON format.

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Having the option selected results in XML
being produced.

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Having the option deelected results
in a JSON being produced.

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Options further down this setting list

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allow configuration of an XSLT file.

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If they are utilized,
then this setting is ignored.

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Next setting down
we have escape special characters.

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so in an XML file.

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Special characters are those that have
special meaning within the XML syntax.

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These characters are reserved
and cannot be used directly

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as text within the XML content.

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Instead,
they need to be escaped using specific

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sequences of characters
called escape sequences.

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So there's five different characters
that are considered special characters.

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In the example, you can find more details
on those in the step

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by step guide
that accompanies this tutorial.

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But just as an overview,

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we've got <,
>, &

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‘, “

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By using these escape sequences.

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You can include these special characters
within XML content

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without conflicting with your XML syntax.

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it's important to properly escape
special characters

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in XML to ensure valid and well-formed
XML documents.

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Failing to escape
these characters can lead to parsing

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errors
or misinterpretation of the XML data.

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Next time we have pause order processing.

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So this is a stop toggle switch.

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Enabling this setting means
that the connect flow plugin

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is not triggered by any orders.

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Next we have date time format pattern.

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This provides the ability
to specify a date format.

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predefined XSLT

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So an XSLT file can be used to transform

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the standard XML into any format
required by your third party software.

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we provide a

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range of preconfigured XSLT templates

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which can be freely utilized
and modified as required.

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So at a predefined XSLT

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format and Click Apply XSLT

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to generate the content

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within the textbox.

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So XSLT for submit order.

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This is the XSLT script
to be utilized upon

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the submission of relevant orders.

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It works by transforming
XML content into a format

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which can be utilized by your third
party system. Infigo offers

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Generation of XSLT files
as a professional service

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for an additional development charge.

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Growing down, we have delivery type
so available options in this dropdown.

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I'll print digital and all this allows you
to specify which products trigger

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the connect flow plugin
based on their delivery

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configuration

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include file upload attribute link.

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So a product attribute can be configured
to allow users

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to upload additional files
as part of an order.

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This option within the Connect Flow
plugin ensures information

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on these uploaded
files is captured within the output file

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by providing a downloadable link
for the uploaded

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file.

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The next series of options are various
different naming options.

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So this set of options allows you
to configure the naming

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convention
of many areas of the output file.

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So the majority of the users
that utilize the Connect Flow plugin

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don't tend to adjust the settings.

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So underneath the mapping settings section
we have include only mapped products.

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So this allows

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this option

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allows granular control over
which products will trigger

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the connect flow plugin with this checkbox
selected

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only products with an external ID specify

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it will be considered by the plugin

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The next steps will briefly cover
how to specify an external

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ID on a product by product basis.

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So what I'm going to do
is navigate to my product management

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screen, and in my case

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I'll open that in a new tab
so I don't lose my initial page.

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Click on the ‘+’ icon
next to your relevant product

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and then you'll see
we have this connect link icon

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within the product variant table

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clicking this will load a separate screen

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and all you have here

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is the selection of the relevant plugin
that you want to utilize.

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So we only have connect
flow activated in this case

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and then we have a box for external ID.

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So this is a perfect location
to import and identifier for this product

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from your third party system.

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So for example, I'm test mapping user.

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I want just as a sample.

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If you want to do something
a bit more detailed, then specify

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the connection for an entire product.

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Then you can go into more detail
inside the product variant details itself

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where you can do
the same process with attributes.

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If you had attributes assigned

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and attribute combinations,
so you can link those combinations

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as you would
the same method as the entire product

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include only mapped product attributes.

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So this option has the same behavior
as the setting above it,

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but applies to product attributes
of which there may be multiple per product

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rather than simply an entire product.

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So more information on product attributes
can be found within the Infigo Academy

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or within our help center.

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The next section is asset configuration,

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with the first option
being is asset download link enabled.

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So if selected, this provides
a link in the output file

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to download the artwork
produced by that Infigo job.

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Then we have include asset details.

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Note If I click on that, I get access
to a couple more options there.

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So this allows the generation or
the inclusion of an image of your artwork.

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So three formats are available.

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You can do a PDF.

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So this is simply utilizing
the artwork output produced by Infigo

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You can do a PNG.

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So the PNG is generated
from the artwork output file

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or you could do a jpeg.

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So a jpeg is generated again
from the artwork output pdf.

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If you specify a PNG or a JPEG,

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you're also able to specify the resolution

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of that resulting output.

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Next, we have related PDFs,
so this adds links in the output

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file related to additional PDFs
about the job in question.

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So you can choose to include invoices,
you can include packaging slips,

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and you can include job ticket links.

 

Incomplete
Step by Step Guide

Connect: Flow General Settings

In this tutorial, we will take a look at the options available in the General Settings of the Connect: Flow plugin.

This includes options such as configuring your output file and specifying which products are able to trigger the Connect: Flow plugin.

Creation Date: Jul 11, 2023
Created By: Sam Webster

1. Use Data Format XML

A toggle switch between the creation of your output file in an XML or JSON format.

Having this option selected results in an XML being produced. Having this option deselected results in a JSON being produced.

Options further down this settings list allow configuration of an XSLT file. If they are utilised then this setting is ignored.

Use Data Format XML

2. Escape Special Characters

In an XML file, special characters are those that have special meaning within the XML syntax. These characters are reserved and cannot be used directly as text within the XML content. Instead, they need to be escaped using specific sequences of characters called escape sequences.

The following five characters are considered special characters in XML:

  1. < (less than): It is used to start a new tag in XML. To represent this character as text, it needs to be escaped as &lt;.

  2. > (greater than): It is used to end a tag in XML. To represent this character as text, it needs to be escaped as &gt;.

  3. & (ampersand): It is used to start an entity reference or a character reference in XML. To represent this character as text, it needs to be escaped as &amp;.

  4. ' (apostrophe): It is used to denote attribute values in XML. To represent this character as text, it needs to be escaped as &apos;.

  5. " (quotation mark): It is also used to denote attribute values in XML. To represent this character as text, it needs to be escaped as &quot;.

By using these escape sequences, you can include these special characters within XML content without conflicting with the XML syntax. For example, if you want to include the text "4 < 5" within an XML element, it needs to be written as "4 < 5".

It's important to properly escape special characters in XML to ensure valid and well-formed XML documents. Failing to escape these characters can lead to parsing errors or misinterpretation of the XML data.

Escape Special Characters

3. Pause order processing

A stop toggle switch. Enabling this setting means that the Connect: Flow plugin is not triggered by any orders.

Pause order processing

4. Date Time Format pattern

Provides the ability to specify a date format, such as "yyyy-MM-dd" or "dd-MM-yy".

Date Time Format pattern

5. Predefined XSLT

An XSLT file can be used to transform the standard XML into any format required by your third-party software.

We provide a range of pre-configured XSLT templates which can be freely utilised and modified as required.

Select a predefined XSLT format and click Apply XSLT to generate the content in the text box below this setting.

Predefined XSLT

6. XLST for Submit Order

This is the XSLT script to be utilised upon the submission of relevant orders.

It works by transforming XML content into a format which can be utilised by your third-party system.

Infigo offer generation of XSLT files as a professional service for an additional development charge.

XLST for Submit Order

7. Delivery Type

Available options in this dropdown are Print, Digital and All.

This allows you to specify which products trigger the Connect: Flow plugin based on their delivery configuration.

Delivery Type

8. Include File Upload Attribute Link

A product attribute can be configured to allow users to upload additional files as part of an order.

This option within the Connect:Flow plugin ensures information on these uploaded files is captured within the output file by providing a downloadable link for the uploaded file.

Include File Upload Attribute Link

9. Naming Options

This set of options allows you to configure the naming convention of many areas of the output file.

The majority of users do not adjust these settings.

Naming Options

10. Include only mapped products

This options allows granular control over which products will trigger the Connect: Flow plugin.

With this checkbox selected, only products with an External ID specified will be considered by the plugin.

The next steps will briefly cover how to specify an External ID on a product-by-product basis.

Include only mapped products

11. Navigate to the Product Management screen, select a product and click the Connect Link icon within the Product Variant table

Navigate to the Product Management screen, select a product and click the Connect Link icon within the Product Variant table

12. Select Connect: Flow from the list of plugins

Select Connect: Flow from the list of plugins

13. Input an ExternalID to use with this particular product

This is a perfect location to input an identifier for this product from your third-party system.

Input an ExternalID to use with this particular product

14. Click on Save Connect External Id

Click on Save Connect External Id

15. Include only mapped products attributes

Returning to the Connect: Flow General Settings..

This option has the same behaviour as above, but applies to product attributes (of which there may be multiple per product) rather than simply an entire product.

More information on Product Attributes can be found within the Infigo Academy or within our Help Centre.

Include only mapped products attributes

16. Is Asset Download Link Enabled?

If selected, provides a link in the output file to download the artwork produced by the Infigo job.

Is Asset Download Link Enabled?

17. Include Asset details node

Allows the generation / inclusion of an image of your artwork.

Three formats are available:

PDF - This will simply use the artwork output generated by Infigo

PNG - A PNG is generated from the artwork output PDF

JPEG - A JPEG is generated from the artwork output PDF

If a PNG or JPEG image is being created, you are able to specify the resolution of the output.

Include Asset details node

18. Related PDFs

Adds links in the output file related for additional PDFs related to the job in question.

You can choose to include Invoice, Packaging slip and Job ticket links.

Related PDFs

19. Exclusion List for Extra Data

Exclusion List for Extra Data
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