Dispatch Manager (Successor Documents)

This document function (the Dispatch Manager) activates dispatch handling for successor documents derived from a primary document — for example address labels, enclosures, or cover letters. Successor documents are produced per object (e.g. per recipient) and processed through defined targets and actions.

The Dispatch Manager dialog: one target per recipient (e.g. labels), processed via the actions at the bottom.

How it works

Distribution iterates over the objects the user has selected in an ObjectCollection. For each selected object, the Code of the associated Target is evaluated. This code returns the field mappings (Forms and data field values) for that successor document — the values used to populate the target template. A successor document is then generated per object; the results of a target are merged into a PDF.

The process is triggered via the actions (Actions): GenerateAction shows the Prepare button in the Dispatch Manager dialog (WPF), and PrintAction shows the Print button.

PrintAction lets you set a printer per target — «Print» opens the printer selection per dispatch document type.

Basic structure

<SuccessorDocumentConfiguration>
  <DistributeByObject>
    <Targets>
      <Target Name="Label" Label="Address label" Icon="Tag">
        <TagFilter>
          <Tag>label</Tag>
        </TagFilter>
        <Code>
          function main() { return $("RecipientId"); }
        </Code>
      </Target>
    </Targets>
    <Actions>
      <PrintAction Enabled="true">
        <Default TargetName="Label" Printer="LabelPrinter" Tray="Tray2" />
      </PrintAction>
      <GenerateAction Enabled="true" />
    </Actions>
  </DistributeByObject>
</SuccessorDocumentConfiguration>

DistributeByObject

Controls the distribution of successor documents per object and contains the two areas Targets (which successor documents) and Actions (what happens with them).

Targets

Defines the available targets (successor document types).

Element / Attribute	Required	Description
Target	–	A single target. Multiple targets are allowed.
Target/@Name	yes	Unique identifier of the target; referenced from the actions via TargetName.
Target/@Label / @translate-Label	optional	Display name or translation key of the target.
Target/@Icon	optional	Icon for the user interface.
Target/TagFilter/Tag	optional	Restricts the target to templates carrying the given tags. Multiple Tag entries are allowed.
Target/Code	yes	JavaScript that returns the distribution value per object.
GlobalTargets/@Key	optional	Reference to a global target definition instead of an inline Target.

Actions

Defines what happens with the generated successor documents.

Element / Attribute	Description
PrintAction/@Enabled	Enables the print action and the Print button in the Dispatch Manager dialog (default: true).
PrintAction/Default/@TargetName	References the target to print via its Name.
PrintAction/Default/@Printer / @Tray	Optional printer and paper tray.
GenerateAction/@Enabled	Enables the generate action and the Prepare button in the Dispatch Manager dialog (default: true).
GlobalActions/@Key	Reference to a global actions definition.

note

Targets and actions can be maintained centrally as a global configuration via GlobalTargets / GlobalActions and reused across multiple templates.