Advanced Data Formatting

Overview

Advanced Data Formatting permits acquired data to be manipulated based on its contents and/or custom rules configured to trigger (or prevent) actions based on specific criteria. For example, a simple rule can move the cursor ahead four characters or from one text field to another. A complex rule might be created to trigger an action only if the first four digits of an acquired 16-digit number match those of a specific bank. Any number of rules and interdependencies can be created, giving DataWedge the ability to suit virtually any data processing requirement.

Controls for data processing appear as "Basic Data Formatting" and "Advanced Data Formatting," and are grouped in a Profile's settings panel along with the Output settings:

See also:

• Basic Data Formatting
• DataWedge Profiles

ADF Components

Advanced Data Formatting features are implemented through Rules, Criteria and Actions.

Rules

The containers for one or more processing Actions and the user-definable criteria that trigger Action(s). All DataWedge Output Plug-ins can contain one or more ADF rules for the processing of acquired data.

Note: ADF rules do not support selection of the scanner used to scan data when multiple scanners are configured.

Criteria

The triggers for taking a processing Action. Criteria can be set according to input type (i.e. only data from a barcode scanner), Symbology (i.e. only Code39 data), and a specified string within the data (at a specified position in the data string and/or of a specified length). Acquired data not matching all defined criteria will not trigger Action(s). Any or all of the supported barcode types can be selected or excluded.

Actions

A set of procedures for analyzing, identifying and processing acquired data.

The four Action types:

• Cursor movement (i.e. skip the first 10 characters)
• Data modification (i.e remove all spaces; pad the left side with four zeros)
• Data sending (i.e. output the last four digits)
• Pause (i.e. pause 50 ms before executing the next action)

Creating ADF Rules

Setting up Advanced Data Formatting is done in three basic steps:

1. Create a Rule
2. Define Criteria to activate the Rule
3. Define the Action(s) to be executed by the Rule

These steps are all carried out within the Advanced Data Formatting Process Plug-in, which is part of every DataWedge Output Plug-in. For further details, see DataWedge Profiles.

To Create an ADF Rule:

1. In the Profile that requires ADF, tap on Advanced data formatting as highlighted below. A screen appears similar to the image in Step 2.

2. Tap "Rules". Then tap the "hamburger" menu, select New rule and enter a name for the rule. The new Rule appears with other Rules in the Output Plug-in screen similar to the image in Step 3, below.

3. Tap the new Rule to access its settings. A screen appears similar to the image in Step 4.

Setting Criteria

4. Tap Criteria as highlighted below to enter the criteria that will activate the Rule.

5. From the Criteria screen, enter the criteria that will activate the Rule based on the options below.

Action Criteria:

• String to check for - Allows a string to be specified that if present in the acquired data will initiate the action(s) (i.e. output the acquired string). If the specified string is not present at the "Starting position" (see below), the action(s) will not be executed. DataWedge can check for the presence of alphanumeric or control characters. For example:

  • x - checks for the character "x"
  • \xhh - checks for the character with a hexadecimal value of 0xhh
  • \uhhhh - checks for the Unicode character with a value of 0xhhhh

• String position - The starting position (starting at 0) at which to check for the string specified in the "String to check for" parameter. For example, the target string "AB" with a string position of 3 would invoke action(s) if the string "123ABC123" is acquired, but would not invoke action if the "AB" was located anywhere else in the string (or was not present). Notice that the "AB" portion of the example string begins at the fourth character from the left, which is position 3 when starting the count from 0.

• String length - An optional parameter that allows a specific length (in characters) to be present before action(s) will be invoked. For example, if scanning U.S. Social Security numbers, a String length of nine (9) might be used as a means of initial validation.

• Source criteria - An optional parameter that can invoke action(s) only when data is acquired via Barcode Input (through which specific decoders can be further selected or excluded), Workflow Input, or Serial Input. The decoder selection in Barcode Input works only when “Single” is selected for the Scanning Mode.
  

6. Tap the BACK button to save and return to the Rule screen.

Creating ADF Actions

To Add an Action:

7. From the Rule screen, tap "Actions" as highlighted below. Then select New action from the menu on the next screen. A scrollable list of Actions appears, similar to the image in Step 8.

8. Tap the desired Action in the Actions list, scrolling as necessary. After tapping an Action, the Rule screen reappears with that Action added to the bottom of the Actions list. For a description of each Action, see the table below.

Supported ADF Actions