I am currently on version 2023.1 and we are testing 2024.2 and as far as i can tell there is no native way in Epicor to print all job attachments at one time (ex: print all button). If i create a button on jobhead that checks a flag to kick off a data directive, that data directive would have been passed the job number, be able to pull the file paths of all the attachments, then say print and to what printer…would that be feasible? If so, all you coding experts, would someone be able to help me design the data directive? Or maybe someone already has this in their pocket? I currently have the ability to print the attachments in classic but everything is written and designed to work through the customization. I am trying to move to Kinetic and need to figure out a way to convert it. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!
Do you not have APR?
Yes, I do.
Sorry, I always forget this, but do you have ECM?
With those two modules, it would be easy, but I always forget that you can only pull the documents from ECM.
No, we do not have ECM. You bring up a good point though i can have it print automatically when printing the job traveler, which is actually better, but i still need help with the code i would have to write in the directive in order to print the attachments.
Update: I have the APR design working exactly how i want it with one exception. So when i go to print a job traveler it will print the traveler as well as all the attached documents that are in the specified document type in the breaking and routing directive. The exception is, I need all documents in all document types to print not just one specified type. Does anyone know how to do this in APR?
I have another update: Per Epicor, i have the APR flow setup correctly and it should be working…what is happening is whether i am in the client with classic or kinetic or on the browser, it will only print the job traveler and PDFs, no other file types like excel or word. Has anyone else seen this before? I am currently on version 2023.1.40. @MikeGross I know you are an expert of all things ECM, would you happen to have any insight?
I am not familiar with attachments that are not in ECM. But if you have ECM, you just add another Take ECM Attachment widget and specify the criteria for the attachments you want.
Disregard that the final step is going to print preview, that is just my work around for now, but this is what my set up is. All attachments are in ECM. It is only printing the attachments that are PDFs.
Do you have this set up to take the file extensions for the doc type? I generally add multiple ones for the doc type if I have different file types. So, one widget WORKINST that is PDF and a second widget for DOCX.
I have no idea where or how i can specify document extensions…is it in document type maintenance? or in the APR designer?
In the File Name Ends With in my screen shot. I don’t know if you can do a compound statement in it, so I just do multiple. Maybe someone else reading this knows if you can do a compound statement.
So for example, i edited the S/U Docs, which are always excel files, to say in the file name ending with field to .xlsx and printed and only PDFs printed out again.
Did you select the correct attachment table and doc type?
Also, might need a * in front of it. Have not done one in a while and can’t remember.
Yes, all of the attachments are on the jobhead table. We dont place attachments per operation or assembly or anything like that. I tried with the wildcard in front with no success either.
Last thing I can think of is whether or not you have set up the Document Associations. Not even sure if that is required, but the system may not know how to process the file types.
Sorry I’m late to the conversation, but I see @jkane has kept you busy LOL
The Print Preview of the XLSX attachments might be the only quick solution. It’s passing the attachment to the Client computer and getting Windows file association to take over - and a human interaction to print it.
As far as I know, the Take Attachment function is just a retrieve, and the document is sent through the same Kinetic printing (or previewing) process as all other attachments printed from within Kinetic. The Take Attachment node does not support inline rendering of other supported types(xlsx/doc/msg/etc.) into PDF (or something that the Kinetic printing process supports like TXT).
I’ll do a little research, but I’m thinking that you’ll need to set up the Content Type in ECM with Rendering Options - so when an XLSX comes in, it’ll get converted to PDF using the ECM Client rendering tools. This requires that MS Office be installed on the same server the client runs on. For a deadhead client process, you’ll need a single-user license of Office, to be compliant.
This way all the job attachments are ultimately PDF when stored and retrieved for printing. This also solves the problem of potentially changing the XLSX after the job has been processed (job data integrity). You could still submit a new XLSX, but it’ll show as a version change, indicating some change has been made. We have a similar issue with our part drawings, so we force them to exist ONLY in AutoCAD Vault and be viewed on MES stations by a link associated with the job.
Disregard. That is checked for all of my content types.