KB94275911: Automation Engine: How can I create an HTML file out of Automation Engine

Question

How can I create a HTML file from Automation Engine?

Answer

Automation Engine does not have a ticket that can directly create a HTML file. However, it can be done using the Create XML ticket along with the Copy or Move ticket, both are in the Automation Engine 12.2 base.

Since both HTML and XML files are simply text files and both are part of the SGML standard, we can create a HTML file with the create XML ticket and simply change the file extension using the Copy or Move ticket.

The Copy or Move ticket has the ability to not take over the extension of the file (normal behavior). This allows us to make a normal XML file a HTML.

Your custom HTML can be copied into the Create XML ticket and SmartNames can be added as content between normal HTML tags. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be either linked embedded, inline or even linked. Javascript libraries (such as JQuery) can also be used in the same manner.

The resulting HTML document along with other needed files can then be moved to a server that is running a webserver. The HTML file can be named appropriately using the Copy or Move ticket. A JPEG image could also be created from the launched PDF by using the Create PAF/JPG/XML (LinkEdge) ticket.

Attached is a sample workflow that creates a HTML file that saves that along with a low resolution JPEG and a copy of the high resolution PDF that is linked within the HTML document. The HTML uses a copy of the JQuery library loaded from a CDN on the Google^® network.

Sample Workflow-Normalized PDF to HTML

Sending a Normalized PDF will create a small thumbnail of the PDF, copy the PDF and create a HTML page based on a HTML template populated by your own SmartNames. Simply edit the Create HTML ticket and replace the included SmartNames with your own. Tables can be extended by coping and pasting and editing new table rows in the HTML.

The destination can be edited to go to an available website that is also a container. It could be set up in such as way that the URL is then Emailed to a customer/ csr so they could look up the values and thumbnail (or high res) with a simple web browser.

Example of the HTML content.

<tr>
<td>Title of Parameter</td>
<td>[Your Smart Name]</td>
</tr>