Using Print to vMedia

To activate Print to vMedia, print the desired content from the application to the vMedia printer. For most Windows based applications, this can be accomplished by choosing File>Print... from the application’s menu.

For example, from Internet Explorer:

  1. Select File>Print...

  2. If the vMedia printer object is not the default printer, select it from the drop-down list.

  1. Click [OK].

NOTE: After a brief time, the application will finish sending all of the pages to the Windows print spooler.

After the document has been spooled, the vMedia printer object will create the page images and bring up the Data Entry window:

The Data Entry window is used to enter index field values for filing the document.

[Change Database] - Selects a different database in which to file the document.
[Save] - Files the document in the database.

[Locate] - The Locate (Search) function (see below section) performs similarly to the Locate function in the vMedia Scanning Module.
[View Document] - Displays the unsaved document as it will appear once it is filed in the database.
[Close] - Deletes the unsaved document without adding it.

A confirmation prompt will appear before closing the unsaved document.

The Locate (Search) function - abbreviated usage steps:

  • Only the FFF/document uniqueness fields participate (as indicated by the chevron symbol in the left column of the field description). Non-FFF fields in the DES are ignored.
  • All non-empty FFF fields participate in the search. Since many fields may default to non-blank values (such as Document Date), those fields will need to be cleared or contain a valid search value. Date fields are considered empty even though the separator slashes will still be displayed.
  • If all FFF fields are empty then the standard "Search Scope Confirmation" will be displayed to confirm that the user intends to return ALL documents.
  • After filling in the appropriate FFF fields, click [Locate]. The Search Mode Selection dialog will be displayed:
    • Standard - Left to right search in all non-empty FFF fields. Case sensitive for DBF back-end only.
    • Extended - Containing search (case blind for DBF and SQL).
  • Last Saved Document - If this is the first document being saved by the user in this PTV session (which is defined as the startup of PTV after the configured maximum PTV idle time has elapsed), then the Last Saved Document will be unavailable. If a prior PTV has been performed and the idle timeout has not expired, the [Last Saved Document] button will be available. If chosen, no search is performed. Rather the Last Saved Document is loaded into the entry screen as the selected document or media object. This is a useful shortcut when multiple PTV requests are targeting the same document (typically to add pages).
  • Once Standard or Extended is selected, a search is performed. If no documents match the search criteria, a non-matching dialog will be displayed. Click [OK] to acknowledge this outcome. No selection will be made. If there is, an existing document will remain selected and no entry fields will be updated.
  • If one or more filed media objects match, the selection grid will be displayed.

Note the visual change to the selection bar colors. There is now black text on a yellow background (except for the selected cell, which remains black text with white for technical reasons).

 

Related Topics

Print to vMedia Introduction