2019.2

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
(see "About branches and conditions" on page137). 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476).
It is important to note that job files may be used as a helpful debugging resource (see
"Debugging and error handling" on page99).
Job file names are generated automatically and stored in the %f system variable (see "Job file
names and output file names" below).
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 (see "Sample Data" on page71).
In the PlanetPress Workflow Configuration program, you use sample data files to create, edit
and debug PlanetPress Workflow configurations (see "Debugging your PlanetPress Workflow
process" on page107).
Job file names and output file names
When an Input task sends a new data file down a process, it gives it an internal file name
referred to as the job file name (associated with the %f variable). The new job file typically
keeps the same name until the end of the process.
l If the job file comes to a branch in the process, PlanetPress Workflow makes a copy of the
job file and gives the new file a new job file name.
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