Document Import

The Document Import tool is a highly flexible and streamlined web-based application for the ad hoc indexing and importing of documents into Autoform DM.

Video Tutorial

Learn how to set up and use the feature with the help of our video tutorial. Click the Watch Video button below:

To set up and use the tool, follow these steps:

1. Open Autoform DM, select the Administration button and click Application Manager.

2. Select New Application and then select the Document Import (V2) checkbox.

3. Enter a label that will also produce a unique name.

4. Add a description in the Description field for the application and ensure the Show application on home screen checkbox is selected.

5. Click the Document Definition dropdown and select a definition that should be associated with this application.

6. Click Next.

File Types

Here you should list file extensions that can be imported, separated by commas (eg .pdf,.xml,.pcl).

1. In the Allowed File Types box, enter a file type.

2. Click Next.

Import Keys

The Import Keys screen allows for specific keys to be used in conjunction with the Document Import.

New keys are automatically populated with the keys assigned to the Document Definition, however, if you do not require all keys to be imported you can edit which keys are shown in the list.  

To add a key binding, click the Add Key Binding button.

Within each key you can select the Input Type of either Text or a Dropdown list, whether the user can edit the key, whether a value is required before saving the document, a default value and also whether the key is visible to the user. 

Once you have made your preferences, click Next.

Group Access

Select the group(s) you wish to give access to the application and then click Next.

User Access

This page allows you to configure user access to the application.

Use the hand icons to give or remove access and then click Finish.

Once the Import is saved it is now accessible to users.

Using the application

 The user needs to sign into Autoform DM and follow these steps:

1. Click the Administration button and select Applications.

 The newly created application is in the list:

2.  Select the application to display the Import screen.

3. Here users can drag and drop files or import files using the Import button to navigate to a file.

4. Once the file is uploaded the user can then enter the key data that was assigned to the import, and click Import to import the document. This can be repeated as many times as needed.

Opening via URL

As well as opening the Web Doc Import via the Autoform DM front end, users can create a link to open the Import directly as well as pass some parameters to pre-fill some of the fields. 

The format of these URLs is:

http://SERVERNAME:PORT/dm/apps/document-import/IMPORT-NAME?seed=use-query-params&key-KEY-NAME=KEY-VALUE&key-KEY-NAME=KEY-VALUE

The IMPORT-NAME value is found in the “Name” field on the Import:

The KEY-NAME values need to be keys that are bound to the Import:

The Name value can be picked up from the Key Definitions screen:

Date keys can also be used in the URL with the dates using the format 'yyyy-mm-dd'.

If multiple keys are needed, they can be added by using the & symbol to separate them. 

Using the above import called “invoice-doc-import” with three keys:

String Key – name

Number Key – invoice-number

Date Key – import-date

the following URL can be constructed:

http://localhost:80/dm/apps/document-import/invoice-doc-import?seed=use-query-params&key-name=John%20Doe&key-invoice-number=1123&key-import-date=2021-08-26

The values in the URL are automatically pre-filled in the Import.

Additional Information

• In this case, the key invoice-number is a hidden key that will import with the value into the URL.
• If a Default Value was set, this will overwrite the values passed via the URL.
• Spaces and other special symbols will need to be encoded to be passed into a URL.