Document Parameter Generator

This page is accessed via Business Process Automation > Power Data > Document Generation > Document Parameter Generators.

A document parameter is an extra document attribute that is passed to the content management system (CMS) during the creation or modification of document or revision content. Attributes may reflect standard or custom parameters used by the CMS. Standard parameters are typically used to uniquely identify the document; custom parameters to facilitate application-specific searches. In WebCenter Content (WCC), for example, the document title (dDocTitle) is a standard parameter used by a user to identify any document. For OTM documents, WCC can be extended to include a source location for shipment documents (xShipFrom). Custom search forms within WCC allow you to restrict your search to documents shipping from a specified location.

Document parameters are passed to the CMS on document creation. Parameters marked as update parameters may also be passed to the CMS after data tied to the parameter is updated. For example, the change of a shipment reference number can trigger an agent that updates the update parameters for all documents associated with the shipment.

OTM supports the association of parameters to a document instance. The population of these parameters can be done manually or through a parameter generator. A parameter generator is passed the document owner (e.g. a shipment GID) and uses one of the following mechanisms to generate a value:

• Business Number Rule: The parameter value is derived from a Business Number Rule associated with the document type context, DOCUMENT_DEF_CONTEXT. This context provided the rule with document type, owner, location, involved party and reference number information. When uploading content to a document of no type, the business number rule is supplied with an empty context. This allows for simple sequencing rules.
• Fixed: The parameter value is assigned a constant value.
• Java Plugin: The parameter value is assigned by a custom Java class. Contact Support if your implementation needs to install a new Plugin for parameter generation.
• SQL: The parameter value is the first row returned by a specified SQL select statement. The statement is passed the document ID as a bind variable and returns a single column result.

Certain document parameters are for reserved use by OTM. These parameters are not passed directly to a CMS but are used by OTM integration connectors to properly communicate with the CMS. Reserved parameters names are delimited by parentheses and are not updatable.

Parameter Generator Precedence

Parameter generators can be specified on:

• the Content Management System Manager. This is to hold parameter generators valid for all document types assigned to a content management system. For example, it may be useful to have a single business number rule for all document ID generation to enforce a global sequencing for documents generated by OTM.
• the Document Type Manager. This holds parameters generators specific to a particular document type. For example, the carrier for Bills of Lading.

If a parameter generator for a given parameter is defined on the CMS, the document type, and a document, the one on the document takes precedence over the one on the document type, which in turn takes precedence over the one on the CMS.

Parameter Generator Invocation

Document parameter generators are invoked whenever:

• document content is created.
• document information is modified.
• a user selects the Update Document Parameters UI action off of the Document Manager or Standard Documents Tab or the Update Revision Parameters off of the Standard Document Revisions screen.
• the Document agent action UPDATE DOCUMENT PARAMETERS runs.
• the Shipment/GTM Transaction/GTM Shipment agent actions UPDATE STANDARD DOCUMENT PARAMETERS runs.

For the update actions, the revised parameters are immediately sent to the CMS.

Note the agent action SET STANDARD DOCUMENT PARAMETER can be used to set a specific parameter and value on a standard document.

User Specified Parameters

Parameters can be directly added, modified and removed via the Document Manager page. These changes, however, may be overwritten for any parameters specified with a parameter generator. You should avoid directly modifying parameters on a document unless those parameters are not generated.

Custom Parameters

Most content management systems allow their document model to be extended to support custom attributes. To allow OTM to send transportation-specific attributes to a CMS, and provide search and display of documents to account for these attributes, various approaches can be used:

• A custom document class can be created in the CMS that holds attributes specific to OTM. Custom search forms and document forms can be developed that allow the custom attributes to be queried and viewed.
• The standard document class can be enhanced to add attributes specific to OTM. This approach can be simpler but forces all CMS users to view transportation-specific attributes.

If OTM sends a custom parameter to a CMS that is not part of its document schema, the parameter may be ignored or force a failure.

The Content Management System Manager supports an optional Document Class field to specify a custom class for transportation attributes. It defaults to "cmis:document" for CMIS systems, "Document" for WCC.

Adding a Document Parameter Generator

1. Enter a unique identifier in the Parameter Generator ID field.
2. Select a domain in which this parameter generator will be active from the Domain drop-down list.
3. Select a Type. Depending on the type you select, different fields are available on this page.
   1. If you selected a type of "Business Number", enter a Business Number Rule.
   2. If you selected a type of "Fixed", enter a constant Value for the parameter.
   3. If you selected a type of "Java Plugin", enter a Java Plugin. The Java plugins are restricted to the type of "PARAM GEN".
   4. If you selected a type of "SQL Statement", enter a SQL Statement. This is an SQL statement taking a single bind variable for the owner object, returning a single column for the parameter value.
4. Click Finished.