• Paper, in case of printout

• WORD format

• HTML/MHTML format

• PDF format

• Picture format

The word format can be very useful if the document must be edited or completed compared to the version produced by the AS/400.
The PDF format more suitable to transmit a document.
To create PDF files it is not necessary to have the ADOBE ACROBAT license, because
these files are created though a driver enclosed in the product
The ZIP option integrated into the product allows to you to zip automatically the files created.

REPORT PROCESSING AUTOMATION
It is necessary to address the report you need to reproduce to a specially provided
queue devoid of printers.
The robot checks one or more queues to detect the presence of reports, by activating itself at time intervals you can set.
The robot can stay in a server or in any user PC.
You can install one or more robots depending on your needs. In case of a remote site, for example, we install a robot in the local network, and a second robot in the remote network.
In this case you get better performances then you would if you processed in the system, and then you sent the graphical report to the remote site.
Since the report’s graphical processing is not executed in the system but in the PC, data transferred by the system to the remote site are strings of information held in the report and not the whole graphical picture.
The Spool Robot module performs the printing automation activities.
There are two versions of Spool Robot:

1. Standard, which is enclosed in Spool Painter. It can intercept the AS/400 report when it is created, and it can run a rule of Spool Painter to obtain a graphical report of any printer of the network.
   

2. Extended, subject to the licence. It can intercept the AS/400 report when it is created, and it can run a rule of Spool Painter to obtain:
   

   • If it is requested, the report is segmented into single files, as we saw in Spool office

   • The report or the single files are created for each copy of the document

   • If it is requested, the files created are zipped

   • The files created can be sent by E-mail or Fax

The original report is held, moved to a queue or deleted according to what you specified in the project.

FAX AND E-MAIL INTEGRATION
Spool Robot is integrated with different email products and with WinFax and ZetaFax to send fax.
Spool Robot automates all the processes required to create files and send them as e-mail or fax attached.
Spool Robot can also segment the report to create different file when parts of the report change (ex. it can create a file for every agent in a report of global commissions) with names that reflect the files' contents and can retrieve the addresses by specially provided address book.
Sending fax through WinFax is not active with Windows XP.
SYMANTEC notifies that they have not updated and tested their Winfax SDK for XP, used to send fax automatically.

STORING
The graphical documents created in PDF format can be stored in a folder, to be consulted by the network users.
In the same way you can store the EXCEL or WORD files created by Spool Office.
You can define 15 search keys at the most to use as filter in the inquiry.
The information used for the search is contained in the heading of in the footer of the document.
The client application Spool Storing is used to search and display the files created by the robot and stored.
After selecting a storing database file, the list of the search fields is displayed.
You can write the type, (equal, greater, less, etc.) and the comparison value to filter the list.
By pressing the button FIND, you obtain the list of the files found.
By double click on the file, you access the application linked.



HOW IT WORKS
The graphical report processing is executed part in the IBM AS/400 and part in the PC.
For every report to process, you have to define the significant lines of the report, and for every line the initial and the final part of the information you need.
You perform this operation through the Spool Office's module, that is therefore pre requisite of Spool Painter's module.
Since the report data identification is executed on the AS/400 original report picture, an unuvocal connection between the report and the handling rule is established.
An identifier name is assigned to every datum of the report.
During the graphical project of the form, all data identified are listed in a window of variables, from which you can drag data to the workspace.
After executong the graphical project, as last step you have to show to the robot a series of parameters to automate the graphical report processing.

SPOOL OFFICE TO RETRIEVE DATA
The first activity to perform the project of a graphical report, is defining the original report's significant data.
This function is executed directly on the picture of the document and it is defined Report handling rule.
For further information refer to Spool Office.
Usually the document has two types of data:

• Data situated in fixed position in the document: document's holder, heading and footer data. To identify this data, you only have to click on the picture of the report, on the initial and final position of the data and assign an identification name.

• Data situated in variable position in the document: document's body lines.

For each report you need to process, you have to define a handling rule, to let the tool know which are the lines of the report, and the data you need.
This information is necessary to define which lines of the reports contain significant data, and within these lines, which is the data you want to transfer to output.
The document original data are transferred to the designer, during the processing, through the report handling rule.
First of all, all the fixed information is transferred, then the variable one.
The report's lines are transferred in the same order as they are in the document.
The graphical Designer prints right the fixed data exposed in the graphical form, and then the variable lines.
The document's totals are available to be printed also at the beginning of the printing processing and not at the end, as in the original document.
For each report's handling rule, you can set more outputs.
The rule retrieves the information from the report and then transfers it to the designer.
You can project to issue from an only document, for example a paicking list:

• The paicking list graphical version

• The labels of the packages, reporting the contents

• A covering letter with a text reporting data of the report

• The left area indicates the current mouse position in millimetres. The values indicate the distance from the left and upper edge of your workspace respectively.

• The middle area indicates the current mode of operation. (For example, selection, draw rectangle, etc.)

• The right area shows the name or type, relative appearance level, as well as the size of a selected object.

Layers



The layers are especially helpful with complex or larger projects. For larger projects it is suggested to relate the objects on each page, (first page, following page, last page) to their own layer. While you can fade in or fade out these layers as required, every page of your project can be handled separately.

Variable list


The variable list displays all variables which are available in the current project to position them in the work space through the Drag & Drop.

TEXT OBJECT 

Text objects are used to place any text in the workspace, or variables' contents of the AS400 reports (that is fixed data of the report).
To project the area pertinent to the document's holder data, you only have to select this object type, delimit the printing area, (by drawing the frame with the mouse) and drag data to print from the variables list to the rectangular frame.
The object can hold more data lines (paragraphs), constants or blanks lines.
The properties of one or more lines can be changed compared to the project default:

• Font, width, fit and coulour

• Horizontal and vertical alignment

• Orientation by 90°

• Page wrapping if the space is not enough to hold the text line

• Execution of functions before printing

TABLES 
The table object can hold any object types: report data, constant, pictures, barcode, etc.
Every table has:

• Heading lines (100 at the most)

• Data lines (100 at the most)

• Footer lines (100 at the most)

• Group lines (100 at the most)

Every colomn or cell has column separator, background attributes.
In the picture underneath you can see a table used to print the heading data and the body of the document, through three tables: for the invoice line, for the bank line and for the document body.



To create the document's body you have to

• select the table object

• draw the frame of the workspace to fix the size and the position needed

• use the data line type to drag inside the workspace the fields you want to show

• use the header line type to head the columns or the cells

• the default set the separators above, underneath left and right for each element

• if you do not want the separators, delete them

• with the preview you can check the size of the columns holding the data

• you can adjust the size of the columns using the mouse

Now we sum up the options you can apply also to a single column of the table:

• width measured in increment of 0.1 mm.

• horizontal alignment (right, left, centered, decimal) and vertical (top, centered, bottom)

• separator

• fit: clipping, word wrapping

• background: pattern and colour (over 100 types) to head the columns, data areas, header groups, footer groups, and colums' footer. Different font (proportional and TrueType) and colour to head the columns, the groups header data areas, the groups and columns footer.

• setting RTF texts in the columns

• sum of columns, groups and page

RTF/FORMATTED TEXT 

The following options are available:
Text integration witah report data, through drag & drop from the variables list.

• Formatting characters within the line

• Inserting RTF texts via Clipboard (ex. from word processor)

• Inserting objects as electronic signature

• Allow page wrap

• Inserting in table

PICTURES 
With this object type you can add pictures in your project.
The picture can be fixed picture or conditioned by value of variables, as the case of the company logo.
The picture can also be dynamic: for example in case of printing of a list, you'd need to print the picture of the product. To retrieve the picture automatically, you have to store the pictures of the products in a folder naming them after product's code. In the project you state the picture to print is to be retrieved through a formula by writing the path (inclusive of the product's code).
If the "Keep Proportions" is marked, the proportions (relation of width to height) of the
picture are always preserved.

GRAPHICAL OBJECTS

Line 
Changeable attributes:

• The thickness of the drawn lines can be increased by 0.1 mm.
• Colour

Rectangles Circles and Ellipses   
Changeable attributes:

• Frame Yes/no
• The thickness of the frame can be increased by 0.1 mm.
• Colour of the frame
• Transparent or full background
• If full background , filling pattern and colour
• If shading width style and colour

BARCODE 
Barcode function transforms any strings of characters into the barcode you selected among the barcode formats



CHART 
The graphical object can create the most diverse charts for your reports. From today besides printing the report you can also print the relevant charts or graphs.


 

• Cylinder: 2-D, 3-D, multi-row, clustered, stacked, 100% stacked or single

• Bar: 2-D, 3-D, multi-row, clustered stacked, 100% stacked or single

• Pyramid: 2-D, 3-D, multi-row, clustered or single

• Ribbon: multi-row 3-D

• Line: single, multiple, stacked or 100% stacked

• Plotted Markers: single, multiple stacked or 100% stacked

• Line/Plotted Markers: single, multiple, stacked or 100% stacked
   

HTML 
By entering a URL in the dialog or just directly by passing on an HTML file as variable, in no time you'll get your HTML page in the printing area.




FUNCTION
Besides printing data held in the report, Spool Painter offers more then 90 functions and
20 calculation operators to process data coming from the original report.
An assistant that has been integrated into the dialog checks and signals the errors made in the functions codification.



Numerical functions:

• Arithmetical Operators, absolute number, square root, exponential function, logarithm, checks if a number is odd or even

• Calculates the integer or decimal value of a number

• Returns the largest or the smallest of the two values

• Tests a number to be in a specified range

• Returns the value of a numerical string

Date functions:

• Returns the day of the week
• Returns current data and time
• Returns the week of the year
• Returns the year, the month, the day of the month, the day of the week of a date
• Returns the date to which the corresponding number of years, months, weeks,
  days, hours, minutes or seconds was added
• Converts a date into hours, minutes, seconds
• Converts date into the Julian date format and viceversa
• Test a date to be in a specified range

Strings functions: