Overview of ACIF
With ACIF you can do these tasks:
- Convert line data, XML data, or mixed data into Mixed Object Document Content Architecture for
Presentation (MO:DCA-P) data, which is data that is composed into pages
and includes data placement and presentation information (such as
which font to use).
- Index a document to enhance your ability to view, archive, or
retrieve individual pages or groups of pages from large documents;
create a separate index object file from the
indexing tags.
- Retrieve and package AFP resources that are needed for printing
or viewing a document and place them in a separate file, so that you
can print and view the exact document, possibly years after its creation.
ACIF accepts data from your application in these formats:
- AFP data
- MO:DCA-P data
- Record format or traditional line data
- Mixed-mode data
- XML data
- Unformatted ASCII data (AIX® and Windows operating systems only)
ACIF can process application print data and AFP resources to produce these AFP files:
- Document file
- Resource file
- Index object file
With the files that ACIF creates, you can do these tasks:
- Use PSF or InfoPrint Manager to print the AFP document file. If you specified resources
in the AFP document
file, PSF or InfoPrint Manager references the AFP resource file for the names and locations
of the resources. The AFP document
file must be concatenated to the end of the resource file before the
file is printed.
- Use the AFP Workbench
Viewer application to view the AFP document file. AFP Workbench Viewer takes MO:DCA-P data and
resources as input to produce output that can be viewed.
- Store report files and the index file entries that are created
by ACIF in a document archival system, such as IBM® Content Manager OnDemand. OnDemand operates
in a client/server environment and supports small office environments
and large enterprise installations with hundreds of system users.
OnDemand provides a server to store report files and other types of
business documents. Users can search for and retrieve files from the
server with client programs that run under Microsoft Windows and z/OS® CICS/ESA operating
systems. OnDemand supports viewing with full fidelity and reprinting
of report files on local and remote printers.
- Use your own archive system to store the ACIF-created files.
- Use your own retrieval system to access information in the ACIF
files by using retrieval information in the index object file.
Figure 1 shows a high-level overview of how ACIF fits
into an installation’s AFP process for creating, indexing, viewing,
and printing documents. This figure shows the resources and text data
that can feed into ACIF for processing. The resources and text
data can be provided and used by various AFP and AFP-compatible products. The files
that ACIF produces can then be sent to a customer-supplied archival
and retrieval system, to the spool, or to the AFP Workbench Viewer for viewing.
Figure 1. How ACIF fits into Advanced Function Presentation
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