Here is a real-world example of the challenges faced with legacy resources.
A customer has a personalized letter that needs revising. A new logo needs to be added and the area code has changed for the corporate office. Also, the customer number data need to be placed in the header in both readable and bar code format. The letter is being printed from mainframe data using legacy technology. Without a Lytrod solution in place, the customer will run into four major challenges: (1) editing the form, (2) converting the logo, (3) remapping the data and data fonts, and (4) printing to a PostScript printer.
- As they focus on the text revisions first, they find that they need to locate their legacy form files (FDL source form *.FSL). Then they remember Xerox coded this form for them and they don't have the form source to modify (!). If only they could read in the compiled form (*.FRM), which they have on their printer.
Or, maybe they still have a legacy software product they can use to edit the forms. This solves editing the text and logo, but doesn’t tackle the data requirements and restricts them to the legacy limitations of: very limited fixed pitch & grainy font formats, no rounded corner boxes, simple and grainy images (no photos), etc.
- About the logo, what if they were provided a new *.BMP? The legacy form will require that an LPS *.LGO or *.IMG be integrated into the legacy design. Now, if they don’t have software that will convert the image file, they have to pay someone to convert the BMP to an *.LGO/*.IMG.
By this time you are probably wondering why they bother working with the legacy form at all. Why not redesign it in something else? They could very well do that with the static form, but they would not be able to integrate the data with the form because most document software products will not merge line mode data. So, unless the customer is interested in the costly expense of converting mainframe data into database data, they must work with the data (line mode) format they have available.
- The customer needs to duplicate the customer number data, once in a readable font and again with a barcode font. The customer number only appears once in the data stream. To complete this project using their legacy resources, they will need to submit a request to their IT department to program the data stream to duplicate the customer number in the correct location in the data file and insert a font flag for the Metacode converter to accept the font change. Also, a new barcode font needs to be created in an *.FNT format because that's what the converter will accept.
- The printer that the customer has is a Postscript engine, so the legacy resources that were originally intended for an LPS printer will need to be sent through a converter to convert the files to PostScript. This process is rarely (if ever) seamless and since this application has been modified, the converter will require some "tweaking" to get the desired results.
The Lytrod Solution:
- Lytrod Proform Designer can ingest the *.FRM or *.FSL form. So if they’ve lost the original FDL code, they can just use the compiled printer file.
- Proform Designer can ingest *.BMP and other image formats and integrate with the form.
- Proform Designer can ingest the line mode data and remap it multiple times, to different locations, and update the fonts seamlessly.
- Proform Designer can convert the variable job to Xerox VIPP for PostScript printing. It can submit files direct to a Xerox VIPP enabled printer or a standalone VIPP compiler (RSA & Solimar), and is compatible with other PDF interpreter options.
