DPM Installation DPM is installed during the DDP Server installation. See the DDP Server User
Guide for details of the installation.
Basic Steps The basic workflow steps for using DPM are as follows:
1. Select or create a database to use with DPM
2. Create a DPM template using your favorite application
3. Launch DPM to edit and preview the template with merged data
4. Add a form or finishing options to the DPM print job (optional)
5. Print the DPM job
Database Source A database is used to store data to populate a DPM document and personalize it.
Typically this data is customer demographic information and images. For use
with DPM the database can be locally stored or located on a network server.
The types of data supported by DPM include text, graphics and images.
Supported graphics/image formats include but are not limited to eps, TIFF and
jpg.
DPM can connect to a wide array of database sources. DPM supports ODBC
drivers allowing it to have compatibility with popular database applications. A
partial list of databases that can connect to DPM includes: the latest versions of
Microsoft Access, MS SQL Server, MS Visual FoxPro, FoxPro Files, MS Excel,
Corel Paradox, Oracle Database and other ODBC compliant databases.
To connect to a database see Selecting a Database Source.
Template and control file A template is a document created in any software application (e.g. MS
Word),which consists of static elements (text, graphics, and images), and
placeholders (tags) for variable elements (text, graphics and images).
A DPM template can be a one or more pages document.
For use with DPM, the template must be printed to or saved as a PDF file
(*.pdf).
A DPM control file (*.dpm) contains additional information necessary for
creating instances from the template: the database source, information about
tags, and layout information.
Template and control file ususally have the same filename and are distinguished
only by file type (*.pdf and *.dpm). Template and control file should be stored in
the same folder. They can be moved together to a different location.
2 • General Database Print Manager Reference