7.4

generally used to generate output.
Data can be manipulated using the tasks in the process, used as comparison for conditions and loops, complemented with data
from other sources, and used to generate your output. It originates from many different sources (as many as the Input Tasks
support), parts of it can be stored in variables, and is always accessible by the task that currently handles it.
Data is referred to using Data Selections either from the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools or a PlanetPress Design Document
that is being merged with the data (for example in a printed output).
For more information about Data, please see the chapter Data in PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools.
Null characters present in the data may not be displayed properly when using the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools
Configuration program, and that they may also be printed differently by different printers. To ensure consistency, you
should consider filtering out such characters.
About Data Selections
A data selection could be compared to an address. It indicates a location within a data file using coordinates. The PlanetPress
Suite Workflow Tools Configuration program includes a tool called the Data Selector that helps you make data selections. The
Data Selector does two things:
l It uses the current emulation (either the emulation chosen when the sample data file was selected, or the one chosen in
the last Change Emulation action task appearing above the current task) to format the data.
l It displays the formatted data to let you make selections easily using the mouse pointer.
The Data Selector is essentially the same as the one used in PlanetPress Design.
AboutData Emulation
Emulations are like filters that can be used to read the data. When you create a document in PlanetPress Design, you choose a
sample data file and specify the emulation to use for the chosen data. The emulation setting you choose will typically always
be associated with that document. If you choose a CSV (comma separated values) file and specify the corresponding emu-
lation, for instance, commas encountered in the data will typically be considered as value separators.
Within the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools, the same emulation tools as PlanetPress Design are available throughout your
process, using the Data Selector. One notable exception however is that User-Defined Emulation is not available because it
uses PlanetPress Talk code, which is not available within the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools Configuration Program.
The emulation that is used in your process can change during the process, and can be different than the one used in any Plan-
etPress Design document used in your process. PlanetPress Design documents use their own emulations, as defined in the doc-
ument itself from PlanetPress Design.
Emulations in the PlanetPress Workflow Tools:
l Line Printer
l ASCII
l CSV
l Channel Skip
l Database
Understanding PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools