2018.1

originates from many different sources (as many as the input tasks support), parts of it can be
stored in variables, and it is always accessible by the task that currently handles it.
Data is referred to in tasks using data selections; see "Data selections" on page26.
Note
Null characters present in the data may not be displayed properly when using the
PlanetPress Workflow Configuration tool, and they may also be printed differently by
different printers. To ensure consistency, you should consider filtering out such
characters.
Data file and job file
Whichever source it may come from, a serial port, an e-mail message, or an LPR request, for
instance, and whatever its format, data entering a PlanetPress Workflow process via an Input
task is always referred to as a data file.
When a data file enters a process, it becomes the job file. 'Job file' however is a more general
term, that can refer to data files as well as other types of files traveling through a process. Image
files, for example, can be passed from task to task in order to be downloaded to a printer. So
files traveling within a process are referred to as job files.
A single job file can be the source of multiple job files. This is the case, for example, when a
process includes multiple branches, as each branch is given a duplicate copy of the job file.
This is also the case when a job file is split into multiple smaller files by a Splitter action task,
for instance (see "Data Splitters" on page324).
It is important to note that job files may be used as a helpful debugging resource (see
"Debugging and Error Handling" on page56).
Job file names are generated automatically and stored in the %f system variable (see "Job File
Names and Output File Names" on the next page).
Actual data and sample data
The actual data is the dynamic data captured by PlanetPress Workflow at run-time. The sample
data file is a static sampling of the run-time data.
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