Smart parameters

Smart parameters are action arguments that get evaluated at run time.

You used a few smart parameters already in the TravelDocs application. For example, when you created the ExportXML ruleset you used @BatchID to set the export file name equal to the ID of the current batch:

xml_SetFileName("@BatchID")

Since the value of @BatchID is different each time you run a batch through the workflow, you can create a unique export file for each batch.

Datacap provides various special variables (@<variable_name>) that you can use within smart parameters to access dynamic information at run time. You can use smart parameters to do the following tasks:

• Get information from the application configuration file
• Get (or set) the value of an object in the document hierarchy (typically a variable or a field value)
• Get job information such as the task name, ID of the operator who is running the batch
• Get system information such as the current date, time

Smart parameters can also include strings, navigation elements, and combinations of strings, navigation elements, and special variables.

You are going to look at smart parameters in more detail. You can update the TravelDocs application to export the line item grid data to an XML file. This update requires the use of various smart parameters.