Using the XML Response

In some cases, an XML response is created after the script runs. An example of this is when you pass BTXML script to BarTender by using ActiveX Automation. An XML response gives you valuable information about the print job, the printer that was used to complete the job, the BarTender settings during the print job, and complete details about the printed items. This response can be integrated with a custom application. An XML response is returned when BTXML script is run by using the following methods:

You can use the information that is contained in the response to do the following:

The default response that is returned contains information about the user who sent the BTXML request, the printer that was used to process the request, the status of the print job, and any messages that were created. The following example shows the response that is returned when no attributes are used or when the ReturnPrintData attribute is set to true and the ReturnSummary and ReturnLabelData attributes are set to false.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>

<User>Administrator</User>

<Server>MyServer</Server>

<Description>Finished sending print job to printer.</Description>

</JobStatus>

<Text>BarTender successfully sent the print job to the spooler.

Job Name: MyJobName

BarTender Document: Document1.btw

Printer: Datamax H-4212 7.1.4 </Text>

</Message>

</Print>

</Command>

</Response>

You can set the response to include additional information by setting the attributes that are associated with the following commands:

The following sections describe these attributes and how they affect the response.

Returning Print Data in the Response

The ReturnPrintData attribute displays the summary data and the template information, depending on how the ReturnSummaryData and ReturnLabelData attributes are set. When you set the <Print> command's ReturnPrintData attribute to true and do not include any other attribute, the response includes the print job details, a summary of the print job, and the individual item information. When you set either the ReturnSummaryData or ReturnLabelData attributes to false, their information is removed from the response.

Click Response to view an example of the response that is returned when the ReturnPrintData attribute is set to true and no other attributes are set or when the ReturnSummary, ReturnLabelData and ReturnChecksum attributes are included and also set to true.

Returning Summary Data in the Response

When you set the ReturnSummary attribute of the <Print> command to true, or do not include the attribute at all, a response is returned that includes the ReturnPrintData attribute information and a summary of the entire print job. The summary information includes document and printer information, general page and layout information, and information about how BarTender was configured when it processed the print job. Refer to the <Summary> tag for a detailed description of the various tags.

When you set the ReturnSummary attribute of the <Print> Command to false, a response is returned that does not include a detailed summary of the print job.

Click ReturnSummary to view an example that displays the response that is returned when the ReturnSummary attribute is set to true and the ReturnLabelData attribute is set to false.

Returning Template Data in the Response

When you set the ReturnLabelData attribute to true or do not include the attribute at all, a response is returned that includes the print job information that is described in the ReturnPrintData attribute and a detailed definition that includes page, template, object, and data source information and can be used to validate and reprint the print job. Refer to the <Pages> tag for a detailed description of the various tags.

When you set the ReturnLabelData attribute of the <Print> command to false, a response is returned that does not include any template data.

Click ReturnLabelData to view an example that shows the response that is returned when the ReturnLabelData attribute is set to true and the ReturnSummary attribute is set to false.

Returning Checksum Data in the Response

To return checksum data in the response, you must set the ReturnChecksum attribute to true. The checksum attribute returns checksums that represent various parts of the print job and objects that are included on the document that is being printed.

History Explorer and Reprint Console use these checksum values to verify the content of the documents that are being reprinted by comparing the checksums of the new document with the old one. If the checksum values match, you can be sure that the document that you print exactly matches the old one. If the checksum values do not match, the new document has changed in some way. With that knowledge, you might choose to print the document with the difference, or you might choose to correct the difference so that the items match again before you print them. Refer to the <FormatChecksum> tag for a detailed description of the returned checksum values.

Click ReturnChecksum to view an example that shows the response that is returned when the ReturnChecksum attribute is set to true.

Returning an Exported Template in a Response

The ReturnImageInReponse attribute of the <ExportPrintPreviewToImage> command returns a response that contains an image of the exported template as a string in Base64 format.