Generic Variables

Apogee Help : System Variables : Generic Variables

Generic Variables

You can use variables in a number of different areas to replace parameter and resource settings. These variables are automatically replaced by a text string, or are assigned a text string.

Variable	Description
$BOOKSIGNATURE	The prefix-based name of the book signature when used in a split-for-proof flow using Apogee Impose. Otherwise resolves to $SIGNATURE.
$CALCURVE	The name of the calibration curve used to print a separation. If a separation contains several objects with different curves, only the name of the first one is used.
$CIP3PAPERTYPE	The CIP3 paper type derived from the paper type that corresponds with the press sheet paper stock. (same as HDMPaperTypeFront or CIP3AdmPaperGrade)
COLLECT_TEMPLATENAME	The name of the ticket template that is to be used for a job created by the collecting hot ticket.
$COMMENTS	The “Remarks” field in the Administration tab.
$COMMENTS_1-10	The “n”-th paragraph of text in the Remarks field of the Administration tab. A paragraph is a single line of text, delimited by paragraph marks or by the start or end of the text.
$COMPANY	The “Company” field in the Customer Contact information.
$COMPANYADDRESS	The “Address” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPANYCITY	The “City” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPANYCOUNTRY	The “Country” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPANYPHONE	The “Phone” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPANYSTATE	The “State” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPANYZIP	The “Zip” field of the customer’s company.
$COMPUTER	The name of the Hardware System on which the current Task Processor (or service) is running.
$CONTACTEMAIL	The “E-mail” field of the customer’s contact person.
$CONTACTFIRST	The “First” field of the customer’s contact person.
$CONTACTLAST	The “Last” field of the customer’s contact person.
$CONTACTMOBILE	The “Mobile” field of the customer’s contact person.
$CONTACTPHONE	The “Phone” field of the customer’s contact person.
$CONTACTTITLE	The Title field of the customer's contact person.
$COPYCOUNT	The Requested Copy Count of an Image (S&D jobs only, sets number of copies of the part that is associated with that image).
$CPM	The Calibrated Printing Mode used for the job.
$CUTTER	The name of the cutting device set for the job.
$DATE	The current date (i.e. the date when the variable is resolved). Insert a space when combining this variable with other variables, e.g. \\$SYSTEMCOMPUTER\ArchiveRoot\$DATE:%Y%m \$JOB\
$DESCRIPTION	The Description field in the Administration tab.
$DEVICE	The name of the output device.
$DEVICEGROUP	The name of the device group to which the used output device belongs. For system device groups, $DEVICE and $DEVICEGROUP are identical.
$DOCPAGE	The page number (index) of a page in its document, starting at 1.
$DOCPAGELABEL	The (text) label of a page in its document. Defaults to $DOCPAGE if there is no label.
$DOCPAGETRIMBOX	The trim box of a page, expressed as "<W> x <H>", whereby <W> and <H> are "<value> <units>". The units are determined by the international settings of the server, and can be in mm or inches.
$DOCUMENT	Document title (set by %%Title).
$DOCUMENTAUTHOR	The author of the (PDF) document.
$DOCUMENTBASENAME	The filename of a document, excluding path and extension. Defaults to $DOCUMENT for documents arriving via streamed input channels.
$DOCUMENTCREATOR	The creator of the (PDF) document.
$DOCUMENTEXTENSION	The extension of a document, excluding the separation point. Defaults to $FORMAT for documents arriving via streamed input channels.
$DOCUMENTFILENAME	The filename of a document, including extension but excluding path. Defaults to $DOCUMENT.$FORMAT for documents arriving via streamed input channels.
$DOCUMENTLIST	A set of document names in a multi-page result, such as a flat.
$DOCUMENTPATH	The pathname of a document (excluding the file name) relative to the Hot Folder path. Does not contain the leading or trailing backslash (\). Empty for documents input via streamed input channels. Contains the common path of pre-separated input documents where the separations arrive in different subfolders.
$DOCUMENTPRODUCER	The producer of the (PDF) document.
$DOCUMENTREV	Document revision. Empty for the original. “1” for the first revision, etc.
$FLOWNAME	New SplitJDF; resolves to the Flow Name if there is more than one flow.
$FLOWTYPE	New SplitJDF; resolves to the Flow Type if there is more than one flow.
$FORMAT	The 3-letter extension associated with the type of data being processed.
$HSCALE	The horizontal scale used by the Render Task Processor, expressed as a percentage. See also $SCALE and $VSCALE.
$HOTFOLDERROOT	Root for all PS/PDF Hot Folders (default in Hot Folder Task Processor).
$IMPSIGNATURENAME	The name of the selected signature.
$IMPTEMPLATENAME	The name of the imposition template (name only, no path).
$INKSET	The name of the inkset as selected in the Generic Press.
$JDF_ASSEMBLYIDS	The JDF assembly IDs.
$JDF_CUSTOMERID	The JDF customer ID.
$JDF_CUSTOMERJOB	The JDF name of the customer job.
$JDF_CUSTOMERORDER	The JDF name of the customer order.
$JDF_DESCRIPTIVENAME	Descriptive name per separation.
$JDFIMPORTROOT	The root for all JDF Hot Folders. (default in JDF Input Task Processor)
$JDF_JOBDESCRIPTION	The JDF job description.
$JDF_JOBNAME	The JDF job name.
$JDF_JOBPARTID	The JDF part ID.
$JDF_OPERATOR	The operator name in the JDF file.
$JDF_ORDERDESCRIPTION	The JDF order description.
$JDF_ORDERNUMBER	The JDF order number.
$JDF_PARTNAME	The JDF part name.
$JDF_PARTVERSION	The JDF part version.
$JDF_PRODUCTID	The JDF product ID.
$JDF_PROJECTID	The JDF project ID.
$JDF_SEPARATION	The JDF separation name.
$JDF_SHEET	The name of the sheet in the JDF layout.
$JDF_SIGNATURE	The JDF signature.
$JOB	The “Job name” field in the Administration tab.
$JOBDATE	The date when the job was submitted.
$JOBID	A unique job identifier (intended mainly for internal use).
$JOBNR	A unique job sequence number.
$JOBTIME	The time when the job was submitted.
$LINCURVE	The name of the linearization curve used to print a separation. If a separation contains several objects with different curves, only the name of the first one is used.
$MEDIANAME	The name of the media.
$MEDIATYPE	The type of media.
$MEDIATHICKNESS	The thickness of the media used.
NONE	Overrides the default behavior of generating no text if the specified variable is not used. To be used without the $ sign and between pipe characters. Example: $COMPANY\|NONE\| generates the text string NONE if the specified company variable is not used.
$OPERATOR	The “Operator” field in the Administration tab.
$ORDER	The “Order number” field in the Administration tab. This is the “Name” field in the Hot Ticket Editor.
$OUTPUTSIZE	The size of the rendered image for a sheet/plate. For DQS, the size of the bounding box of all rendered elements on that sheet.
$PLATEID	The platecounter PLATEID. Only supported as a TextMark in the Border which in turn becomes a DeviceMark, which can only be resolved in TP_Output.
$PAPERGRADE	The paper grade that corresponds with the paper type of the press sheet paper stock.
$PAPERSTOCK	The name of the press sheet paper stock.
$PAPERTYPE	The paper type that corresponds with the press sheet paper stock.
$PAPERWEIGHT	The weight of the press sheet's paper stock.
$PART	The name of the part. If it contains pages of different parts, the part name of the page with the lowest Run List index is used.
$PRESS	The name of the press.
$PRESSPROFILE	The profile of the press.
$PRINTDATE	The date the job was printed.
$PRINTMODE	The date the job is printed (yyyymmdd) This format is best suited for creating pathnames that sort properly by name. It also follows the ISO guidelines for date and time formats.
$PRINTTIME	The time the job was printed.
$PRODSET	The name of the production set.
$PRODSETPREFIX	The sheet prefix associated with the production set to which the current sheet belongs.
$PRODUCTDISPLAYNAME	E.g. 'Apogee'
$PRODUCTNAME	E.g. 'APOGEE Prepress' (guaranteed to contain NO special characters)
$PRODUCTVENDOR	E.g. ‘ECO3’
$PRODUCTVERSION	E.g. 3.0
$PRODUCTVERSIONMAJOR	E.g. 3
$PRODUCT_CODE	The code of a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list when the context addresses multiple products.
$PRODUCT_GRAIN	The grain direction of a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list when the context addresses multiple products.
$PRODUCT_NAME	The name of a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list for multiple products.
$PRODUCT_ORDER	The order number of a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list for multiple products.
$PRODUCT_COPYCOUNT	The requested copy-count of a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list for multiple products.
$PRODUCT_TOTALPAGES	The number of pages in a product. Resolves to a comma-separated list for multiple products.
$QUALITY	The output quality as specified in the Layout Editor
$RESOLUTION	The resolution of the image.
$RLCOMMENT	Run List comment
$RLINDEX	The index of the position of a page in the Run List, starting at 1. Do not confuse this with RLPAGE.
$RLPAGE	The number associated with the position of a page in the Run List. The number of the first position in the Run List is specified by the value of First page at: in the Run List Task Processor. Not to be confused with $RLINDEX.
$RLPAGE@m	A string of digits of any size, offset from the first page by <m> page positions (you must replace ‘m’ by an offset number).
$RLPAGE:n	A string of exactly <n> digits.
$RLPAGE:n@m	A string of exactly <n> digits, offset from the first page by <m> page positions (you must replace ‘m’ by an offset number).
$RULINGMAP	Name of the RulingMap in case of Application screening, otherwise empty.
$RUNLENGTH	The run length of the job.
$SCALE	The scale used by the Render Task Processor, expressed as a percentage. This is replaced by $HSCALE ‘ x ’ $VSCALE when the image is scaled disproportionally.
$SCREEN	The name of the screen that was used to screen the separation. If a separation contains several objects with different screens, only the name of the first one is used.
$SCREEN_ANGLE	The angle that was used to screen the separation. If a separation contains several objects with different screens, it is resolved in the same way as the $SCREEN variable.
$SEPARATION	The color name of the separation.
$SEPARATIONSHORT	The color name of the separation, but the primary colors are 'C', 'M', 'Y' and 'K'. Other names are abbreviated in the same way they are abbreviated by the custom color bar mark.
$SHEET	Evaluates to $SIGNATURE for single or no web impositions. Evaluates to $SIGNATURE $WEB for multi-web impositions.
$SHEET_GRAIN	The grain of the sheet.
$SHEETVERSION	The `SV<n>' version number of a sheet version, with <n> being the $SHEETVERSIONINDEX. When used on a result that has the default single-version set-up, <n> is the same as the $VERSIONINDEX.
$SHEETVERSIONINDEX	The index <n> of the sheet version in the sheet version table, starting at 1, per sheet. When used on a result that has the default single-version set-up, <n> is the same as the $VERSIONINDEX.
$SIDE	The Press Sheet side (“F” for Front, “B” for Back). Note that the SIDE variable maps either to the SIDE or the SIDEA Apogee variables, depending on the setting of the Imposition Service.
$SIDEA	The name of the web (starting from A). $SIDEA produces a letter that uniquely defines a side (front or back) on a web. The front of web 1 is referred to as A, the back as B; the front of web 2 is C, the back is D, and so on. This does not depend on the imposition template - If the imposition only uses the fronts of two webs, they will be referred to as A (web 1 Front) and C (web 2 front). This variable produces an empty string if the result is not an imposed flat or if the imposition template is not multi-web.
$SIGNATURE	The number of the signature including the prefix. Produces an empty string if the result is not an imposed flat.
$SIGNATURENUMBER	The number of the signature without the prefix. Produces an empty string if the result is not an imposed flat.
$SIGNATUREINDEX	The index of the signature without the prefix. Produces an empty string if the result is not an imposed flat.
$SIGNATURE_MAIN	Same as $SIGNATURE of the main imposition. Can be used in a 1-up S4P flow to refer to the results of the main imposition.
$SIGNATURENUMBER_MAIN	Same as $SIGNATURENUMBER of the main imposition Can be used in a 1-up S4P flow to refer to the results of the main imposition.
$SIGNATUREINDEX_MAIN	Same as $SIGNATUREINDEX of the main imposition Can be used in a 1-up S4P flow to refer to the results of the main imposition..
$SIMCURVE	The name of the simulation curve used to print a separation. If a separation contains several objects with different curves, only the name of the first one is used.
$SLUG1	First slug-line specified in the output parameters of an output device.
$SLUG2	Second slug-line specified in the output parameters of an output device.
$SLUG3	Third slug-line specified in the output parameters of an output device.
$SLUG4	Fourth slug-line specified in the output parameters of an output device.
$SYSTEM	The name of the Apogee System.
$SYSTEMCOMPUTER	The name of the Hardware System.
$TICKETNAME	See $ORDER.
$TICKET_TEMPLATENAME	The name of the ticket template that is to be used for a job created by the collecting hot ticket.
$TIME	The current time (i.e. the time when the variable is resolved).
$TOTALPAGES	The total number of pages of a job. I.e. the size of the Run Lists when Run Lists are present. Value is -1 when no page count established or no Run List is present.
$TOTALSHEETS	The total number of press sheets in a job.
$TOTALPRODUCTS	The total number of products in a job.
$TRAY	The display name of the engine's current tray that is used. Note that this may change during the course of a job.
$VERSION	The name of the product version of a result. This is the contents of the second column in the product version table (even if that column is renamed). Can be used for input and output. Note that $VERSION always refers to the second column in the table (i.e. the one after the '#' column), even if you have renamed it. Resolves to a comma separated list of product versions when used on a press sheet that contains multiple product versions. Can be used in read-syntax in Page Assembly of Versioning TP.
$VERSIONELEMENT<i>	Used in Versioning jobs: the content of the ith version element in the version table.
$VERSIONELEMENTNAME<i>	Used in Versioning jobs: the name (value of the column header) of the ith version element in the version table.
$VERSIONINDEX	Used in Versioning jobs: the index of the version in the version table, i.e., its row number, starting at 1.
$VERSIONSHORT	The `V<n>' short version number of a product version, with <n> being $VERSIONINDEX. I.e., the content of the first column in the product version table. Evaluates to a comma separated list of product versions short names when used on a result that contains multiple product versions. Can be used in read-syntax in Page Assembly of Versioning TP.
$VSCALE	The vertical scale used by the Render Task Processor, expressed as a percentage. See also $SCALE and $HSCALE.
$WEB	The number of the web (starting from “1”). Evaluates to an empty string if the result is not an imposed flat or if the imposition template is not multi-web.
$WEB_MAIN	Same as $WEB of the main imposition. Can be used in a 1-up S4P flow to refer to the results of the main imposition.
$WEBGROWTHPROFILE	The name of the web-growth profile used for a job (i.e. press parameter).
$WHITEMODE	The white application mode (pre-white, post-white or sandwich-white) used to print the white on the sheet/layout. Empty if no white.
$WORKSTYLE	The workstyle used by imposition. Resolves to any of the strings Sheetwise, Work and Turn, Work and Tumble, Single Sided, Perfector.
$WPS	The displayname of the WebProductionScheme resource.

NOTE: You can use a drop-down menu in the various contexts to see which variables are supported in which context.

You can also use system variables to automatically print information about a job, a template, or the part of a job that is being printed, since the information that prints varies from one sheet of media to the next.

Variable Syntax

This section explains the variable syntax, and describes how variables are interpreted and replaced by Apogee. Any variable that cannot be appropriately interpreted in a given context will be replaced by an empty string.

NOTE: Variables are case sensitive! For example, $system will not be recognized as the $SYSTEM variable: Instead, it will be interpreted as literal text.

Start and End

Variables always start with a dollar sign ($), immediately followed by the variable name. Any non-alphanumerical character (including space or tab) marks the end of the name.

NOTE: The RLPAGE variables that are used in the Run List settings for automatic page placement do not use the dollar sign. They are delimited using the less than/greater than symbols. For example, <RLPAGE:n>. This is also the case when they are used in an input filename template (Open Connect, Hot Folder).

Braces

The variable name should be enclosed between braces { } when other alphabetical text immediately follows the variable name.

Square Brackets

Square brackets should be used to prevent unwanted gaps when variables cannot be resolved because the value is nil, out of context, or only one value is possible.

For example:

$JOB[-$PART][-$BOOKSIGNATURE][-$RLPAGE][-v$VERSION][-$FLOWNAME]

Width Modifier

Variables can have a width modifier (a colon followed by a number, such as :3). This causes the variable to be substituted with exactly the specified number of characters. If the content is longer than the specified width, Apogee truncates it: If the content is shorter than the specified width, Apogee pads the remainder with blanks. You can customize the padding by inserting a plus (+) or minus (-) sign before the width modifier:

•Inserting a “+” before the width modifier specifies that the padding or truncation will be at the end of the variable. Any character you enter after the + will be used as the padding character for the specified number of spaces. For example, +Y12 will result in a 12-character name, padded out at the end with Ys where necessary (e.g. ECO3YYYYYYYY).

•Inserting a “-” before the width modifier specifies that the padding or truncation will be at the beginning of the variable. Any character you enter after the + will be used as the padding character for the specified number of spaces. For example, -X12 will result in a 12-character name, padded out at the beginning with Xs where necessary (e.g XXXXXXXXECO3).

When omitted, Apogee assumes "+ " (plus, followed by a space), in which case the padding is done with the “?” wildcard character.

When the string following a $ is not recognized as a variable, it is printed as a literal (e.g. $SITE becomes "$SITE"). To overrule the meaning of the $ character when followed by a legal variable name, you need to prefix the $ with another $: For example, $$SIDE then becomes "$SIDE".

In the following examples, we assume that the job has the following attributes:

•Order number ($ORDER) = 0106G0001

•Customer contact ($CUSTOMER) = ECO3

Variable Example	Substitution Result
$CUSTOMER$ORDER	ECO30106G001
$CUSTOMER	ECO3
$CUSTOMER:3	ECO
$CUSTOMER:6	ECO3
$CUSTOMER:+ 6	ECO3??.
$CUSTOMER:+_6	ECO3__
$CUSTOMER:-_6	__ECO3
$RLPAGE:-03	001, 002, 003,... 010, ... (3 character nos, padded up front with 0s)
$CUSTOMERX	$CUSTOMERX
${CUSTOMER }P	ECO3P
$CUSTOMER\|NO NAME\|	ECO3
$CUSTOMER\|NO NAME\|	NO NAME (when Customer contact is empty)
$ORDER-P	0106G0001-P
$ORDER:>4	0001
$ORDER[:4]	0106 (takes first 4 characters)
$ORDER[5:]	G0001 (takes characters starting from the 5th character)
$ORDER[-2:]	01 (takes last 2 characters)
$ORDER[:-2]	0106G000 (takes all characters that precede the last 2 and includes the last but two character)

Use NONE without the $ sign and between pipe characters to override the default behavior of generating no text if the specified variable is not used. Example: $COMPANY|NONE| generates NONE if the specified company variable is not used.

Date and Time Variable Formats

The date and time variables by default print the date and time according to the regional settings of the computer that evaluates the variable. However, in some cases you may want to have it printed differently.

NOTE: When you use format strings, the date and time variables (DATE/TIME and PRINTDATE/PRINTTIME) produce the same result: Apogee only uses the format to see what has to be printed.

You can modify the behavior of some format codes by prefixing them with #.

Format Code	Description
%#a, %#A, %#b, %#B, %#p,%#X, %#z, %#Z, %#%	# flag is ignored.
%#c	Long date and time representation, appropriate for current locale. For example: Tuesday, August 05, 2008, 12:41:29.
%#x	Long date representation, appropriate to current locale. For example: Tuesday, August 05, 2008.
%#d, %#H, %#I, %#j, %#m, %#M, %#S, %#U, %#w, %#W, %#y, %#Y	Remove leading zeros (if any).

When you specify no format string, $DATE and $TIME default to $DATE:%x and $TIME:%X.

You need to enclose the variable name and format string in braces if you want to print spaces (see examples below).

When you specify an unknown format string, Apogee prints it as a literal (without the %). A width modifier is therefore also printed literally.

Date and Time formatting options
%a	Abbreviated weekday name (first 3 chars).
%A	Full weekday name.
%b	Abbreviated month name (first 3 chars).
%B	Full month name.
%c	Date and time representation appropriate for locale.
%d	Day of month as decimal number (01 - 31).
%j	Day of year as decimal number (001 - 366).
%m	Month as decimal number (01 - 12).
%U	Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 - 53).
%w	Weekday as decimal number (0 - 6; Sunday is 0).
%W	Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 - 53).
%x	Date representation for current locale.
%y	Year without century, as decimal number (00 - 99).
%Y	Year with century, as decimal number.
%z, %Z	Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.
%c	Date and time representation appropriate for locale.
%H	Hour in 24-hour format (00 - 23).
%I	Hour in 12-hour format (01 - 12).
%M	Minute as decimal number (00 - 59).
%p	Current locales A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock.
%S	Second as decimal number (00 - 59).
%X	Time representation for current locale.
%z, %Z	Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.
%%	Percent sign.

Other characters not prefixed with % are printed as literals.

NOTE: You can control the width of the replacement string by using the appropriate format codes. Most of them have a fixed width. Use %a and %b to retrieve the abbreviated day and month names, fixed to 3 characters wide.

Combinations with $DATE

Insert a space when combining this variable with other variables, e.g. \\$SYSTEMCOMPUTER\ArchiveRoot\$DATE:%Y%m \$JOB\

Examples

Format String	Result	Remarks
$DATE	07/09/03	Depends on locale. Equivalent to %x.
$TIME	11:14:45	Depends on locale. Equivalent to %X.
$DATE:%	A Wednesday
$DATE:%c	Wed Jul 9 11:16:49 2003	Depends on locale.
${DATE:Week %j}	Week 190
$DATE:%A%f	Wednesdayf	%f printed as literal.
${DATE:Hello World}	Hello World	Printed as literal.
$DATE:+ 5	+ 5	Width modifier printed as literal.
$DATE:%y%m%d	030709
$DATE:%Y%m%d	20030709	Case matters!

doc. version 13.1.1