Retrieval preview user exit

The retrieval preview user exit point allows for the modification of document data prior to the data being retrieved from the server. The retrieval preview user exit point enables you to run a user-written program to process documents that belong to the selected application. The user-written program is activated by selecting the Use Preview Exit option on the Miscellaneous Options page of an application. When the option is selected, the user-written program is called any time that a request is made to retrieve a document.

Any information that is specified in the Parameters field is passed to the user-written program, for example:

  1. The user-written program might be used to process single document retrievals only; the bulk data retrieval method is not supported, regardless of the type of client that is making the request, such as the Windows client, arsdoc get -n, and so on.

  2. If a request is made to retrieve a large object document, care should be taken to make certain that the user-written program does not remove any pages from the document. The large object segment size and page navigation information are based on the number of pages that existed when the document was loaded on the server. Unexpected results might occur if this information is changed.

  3. The retrieval preview user exit point might be enabled for all data types, except for None.

  4. The user-written program can be used to remove sensitive information from a document or to perform other types of data manipulation. However, because the user-written program is not used during server reprinting or bulk retrievals, the restricted data might still be accessible by the user.

  5. When modifying the data, the format of the data must not be changed; only the content might be changed. For example, if the format of the data is EBCDIC data with a fixed length of 133 bytes, the format or data type must not be changed to something different, such as ASCII data delimited by X'0A' or AFP to PDF conversion. When the modified data is viewed by the Windows client, the format of the data and the data type that is defined in the application on the View Information tab is used to display the data. If the format or data type has changed, the document is not view properly.

  6. The retrieval user exit point might be enabled for more than one application. However, all applications must be processed by the same user-written program (only one user-written program is supported). The system passes the name of the application that is associated with the document to the user-written program. The user-written program can perform processing based on the application or it can perform the same processing for all documents regardless of the application.