In batch mode, actions from the data source can be applied to a number of input documents.

The plugin Batch only provides the user interface and is optional.

Using the panel Batch the batch operation can be configured and started or stopped:

1. Start time in the form HH:MM - if the start time is earlier than the current time, the operation will not start until the next day. The start time is not taken into account until batch operation is started via the button at point 5.
2. Input folder from which the input documents are retrieved
3. Output folder to store the output files
4. Current status of the batch operation
5. Start / Stop of batch operation
6. Selection of batch actions
7. Interval that is waited between each batch job
8. Current data connection display

Batch processing processes all documents from inside the input folder ('Hotfolder'). Processing is performed in alphabetical order and includes the following steps:

• Move the input document to the XCache
• Execute the batch action
• Delete the input document from the XCache

The second step is decisive here, in which all processing of the input document must take place.

Batch actions are always cScripts with ClassID 22. These are stored as usual in the data source (e.g. actions.xml in case of XML offline).

The following global variables are defined in the script during the execution of a batch action on an input file:

All variables are only provided as global variables in the cScript - for a correct processing like e.g. opening, changing and saving the input document into the output folder you are responsible yourself!

Since the document is not opened automatically by the batch mode (e.g. other input documents than Illustrator files could be processed), variables like gDocument are not defined here!

Here is an example for processing a document in batch mode and saving several variants:

//This script creates a language variant of a document by setting the
//gLanguage attribute on the document itself, loading all placeholders
//and saving the document under a new name with the language as suffix.
		
#include "internal/types.h"
#include "internal/products.h"

int main()
{
	String 		languageVariants 		= string::alloc("deDE;enEN");
	String 		languageVariant			= string::alloc();
	int 		languageVariantsCount 	= string::token_count(languageVariants, ';');
	ItemList 	allFrames 		= 0;
	int 		framesCount 	= 0;
	int 		i 				= 0;
	int 		j 				= 0;
	int 		k 				= 0;
	ItemRef 	frame 			= item::alloc();
	Image 		preview 		= 0;
	String 		outPreviewPath 	= string::alloc();
	
	ItemRef 	doc 			= 0;
	
	String 		docName 		= string::alloc();
	String 		docNameShort 	= string::alloc();
	String 		outName 		= string::alloc();
	String 		outPath 		= string::alloc();
	
	//get the products from the product pool panel which are watched
	ProductList	products 		= productlist::get("watched");
	int 		productsCount	= productlist::length(products);
	
	Product 	currentProduct	= 0;
	int 		productID1 		= 0;
	int 		productID2 		= 0;
	int 		productID3 		= 0;
	String 		productStringID = string::alloc();
	String 		productName 	= string::alloc();
	
	if (!productsCount) 
	{
		showmessage("You need to set some products watched in the product pool!");
		batch::stop();
		return 0;
	}

	//Make sure we only handle .ai input files
	wlog("", "Begin batch job for input file '%s'", gInFile);
	file::extender(inFileExtension, gInFile);
	if (string::compare(inFileExtension, "ai") != 0) 
	{
		wlog("", "Skipping input file '%s' - not an Illustrator file.\n", gInFile);
		return 0;
	}

	//open the base document and prepare it
	doc = document::open(gInFile);
	if (!doc)
	{
		return 0;
	}
	document::select(doc);
	
	document::name(docName);
	wlog("", "Document name is:%s\n", docName);
	if (!string::length(docName))
	{
		//no document opened
		return 0;
	}
	
	//iterate over all language variants
	for (k = 0; k < languageVariantsCount; k++)
	{
		string::set(languageVariant, string::token(languageVariants, ';', k));
		
		//now iterate over all products
		for (j = 0; j < productsCount; j++)
		{
			//fetch the frames from the document
			allFrames = itemlist::allframes_of_doc(doc);
			
			//set the language for the placeholders to load
			xml::set_document_attribute(doc, "gLanguage", languageVariant);
			
			//fetch the product ids so we can link all frames to this product
			currentProduct = productlist::get_nth(products, j);
			productID1 = product::get(currentProduct, kID);
			productID2 = product::get(currentProduct, kID2);
			productID3 = product::get(currentProduct, kID3);
			string::set(productStringID, product::gets(currentProduct, kStringID));
			string::set(productName, product::gets(currentProduct, kRow1));
			
			wlog(", "Linking all frames to product %d, %d, %d, '%s' - '%s'\n", productID1, productID2, productID3, productStringID, productName);
			
			//calculate the output name
			string::set(outName, "%s_%s_%s", file::shortname(docNameShort, docName), productName, languageVariant);
			wlog("", "Output name is:%s\n", outName);
			framesCount = itemlist::length(allFrames);
			
			wlog("", "Linking and loading %d frames\n", framesCount);
			for (i = 0; i < framesCount; i++)
			{
				itemlist::get(allFrames, frame, i);
				
				//link the frame to our current product...
				placeholder::link2(frame, 0, productID1, productID2, productID3, productStringID);
				
				//...and load the frame
				placeholder::load(frame);
			}
			
			string::set(outPath, "%s/%s.ai", gDestfolder, outName);	
			string::set(outPreviewPath, "%s/%s.png", gDestfolder, outName);
			
			wlog("", "Creating preview at %s\n", outPreviewPath);
			preview = image::snapshot_page(0, 1, kOriginalSize, "PNG");
			image::save(preview, outPreviewPath, 1);
			
			document::saveas(doc, outPath);
		}
	}

	if (doc)
		document::close(doc);
	}
	
	return 0;
}

There are several cScript functions available for driving the batch processing:

• Class batch

The panel has the classID 405