User's Manual

2-6 System Guide
Job submission
JDF support via the Hot Folder feature
The Job Definition Format (JDF) is a job ticket and workflow
specification language. It provides the means to describe print
jobs.
The ability to support JDF job tickets with PDF data files adds
flexibility when users want specific settings for jobs instead of
default queue settings.
Technical overview
JDF job tickets are submitted through the Hot Folders
feature. Upon receiving a JDF job ticket from Hot Folder (HF)
Observer, the JDF Gateway (JDFGW) uses the JDF Toolkit to
process the ticket and submit the data file associated with the
ticket to the FreeFlow Print Server to print.
After each job submission to the FreeFlow Print Server, the JDF
Gateway updates and outputs the JDF job ticket into a specific or
a default folder.
The JDF Process
Receive JDF Job Tickets from Hot Folder
When a file is dropped in the Hot Folder, HF Observer checks if
the file is a JDF job ticket. If it is, HF Observer submits the ticket to
JDFGW.
Process JDF Job Tickets
The JDF Gateway is invoked to parse the ticket and create a JDF
Node based on the ticket. The JDF Toolkit then transforms the
JDF Node into a Combined Digital Printing (CDP) Node.
After a CDP Node is formed, the job attributes are converted into
the common Common Print Semantics Specification (CPSS)
representation.
Submit Data Files to FreeFlow Print Server
The JDFGW converts the CPSS representation of job attributes to
the FreeFlow Print Server representation and submits data files
along with these job attributes to the Print Server for printing.