Setting up iMAIL4Letter (PDF channel) for iAGENT systems

Introduction

The novomind iMAIL4Letter system component can be used to handle incoming correspondence in the Letter channel, as well as outgoing correspondence in PDF format for the Letter but also Email and Fax channels. These instructions describe all the necessary adjustments required to configure the novomind iMAIL4Letter component. User instructions for the agent can be found in the novomind iAGENT Desk user manual.

Stopping all iAGENT processes (Linux example)

$ /srv/novomind/iAGENT/imail-system.sh stop

Changing the feature bitmask

The specific response channels for letter processing – Email (PDF) and Letter (PDF) – are set via the feature bitmask using the Dimail.workflow.supportedFeatures parameter.

The values for this parameter may only be changed by a novomind project manager. Please contact your project manager to adjust the parameter for your system.

Required Java Files

With the release upgrade to version 12, there are different libraries that need to be stored. The libraries are provided by novomind (internally, you can find them in W:\ProductDevelopment\iAGENT_release\iMAIL4Letter\lib\).

iAGENT < 12:

  • itextpdf-5.5.12.jar
  • licensekey-1.0.2.jar
  • pdfbox-2.0.15.jar
  • pdfImpl.jar
  • xmlworker-5.5.12.jar

iAGENT >= 12: 

  • ecom-iagent-imail-pdf.jar
  • itextpdf-5.5.12.jar
  • licensekey-1.0.2.jar
  • pdfbox-2.0.15.jar
  • xmlworker-5.5.12.jar

To install the PDF conversion tool through libraries, the following jar files must be placed in three lib directories each (example for standard installation path on Linux):

Supervisor: /srv/novomind/iAGENT/tomcat/webappsiMail/iMail/WEB_INF/lib
Agent: /srv/novomind/iAGENT/tomcat/webappsiMailAgent/agent/WEB_INF/lib
Core: /srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail/lib

JPedal should not be used anymore, as this no longer works as of iAGENT 11.32.
 Starting from an iAGENT version 11.3x, the routing process of xmlworker requires a version 5.5.12 instead of 5.5.9.
For project managers: iText License (licensekey-xxx.jar) is provided by novomind infrastructure department (IST), see below.

Configuration of iText License

New licenses are ordered from novomind, Infrastructure department (IST). IST provides the itextkey.xml as well as the License Key Library (licensekey-xxx.jar).

Once the license files are being delivered, the following points need to be checked:

  • The license and library must be available to all 3 processes (Agent, Routing, Core) (see above for directory paths).
  • The latest iText license must be stored in the /srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail directory.
  • (novomind internal) In iNSIDE the feature iMail4Letter must be activated on the customer record.

Then the nmIQMail.cfg (/srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail/nmIQMail.cfg) file is configured as follows:

$ vi /srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail/nmIQMail.cfg

#####################
#                   #
#    iMAIL4LETTER   #
#                   #
#####################

pdf.imageConverter = com.novomind.imail.plugin.pdf.pdfbox.PdfBoxConverter
pdf.provider = com.novomind.imail.plugin.pdf.itextpdf.DefaultProvider
pdf.fontPath = /srv/novomind/iAGENT/fonts
pdf.outputDirectory = /srv/novomind/iAGENT/print/default
pdf.provider.license = /srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail/itextkey.xml

Next, the following folders must be created in the iAGENT installation directory:

  • $ mkdir fonts
  • $ mkdir print
  • $ mkdir print/default

Start processes

$ /srv/novomind/iAGENT/imail-system.sh start

After the processes are restarted, check the routing, agent, and core logs (routing.out, agent.out, imail.out) for like output:

2019-04-09 13:01:31.775 PDC: Document provider: com.novomind.imail.plugin.pdf.itextpdf.DefaultProvider
2019-04-09 13:01:31.778 PDC: Provider version: 5.5.12
2019-04-09 13:01:31.778 PDC: XML worker version: 5.5.12
2019-04-09 13:01:31.830 PDF: License file [OK]: /srv/novomind/iAGENT/mail/itextkey.xml
2019-04-09 13:01:31.831 PDF: License key:                 **********
2019-04-09 13:01:31.831 PDF: License key company: xxxx
2019-04-09 13:01:31.831 PDF: Loading default CSS: pdf_default.css (from JAR)
2019-04-09 13:01:32.061 INFO [main AjpNioProtocol]: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-nio-8108"]
2019-04-09 13:01:32.206 PDC: Font root directory: /srv/novomind/iAGENT/fonts
2019-04-09 13:01:32.206 PDC: Fonts registered: 0
2019-04-09 13:01:32.209 PDC: PDF image converter: com.novomind.imail.plugin.pdf.pdfbox.PdfBoxConverter
2019-04-09 13:01:32.277 PDC: PDF text converter: com.novomind.imail.plugin.pdf.pdfbox.PdfBoxConverter

Configuring the knowledge base

The following steps must be performed for the knowledge base so that PDF templates can be uploaded in the supervisor.

  1. The knowledge base must be downloaded via the supervisor.
  2. The global string variable PDF_TEMPLATE must be created and set to persistent.
  3. A function named determine_pdf_template must be created. The function must have the return type “String”. The function should remain empty (will be filled automatically by iAGENT based on the template assignment in the supervisor).
  4. In the FINISH event the variable PDF_TEMPLATE must be set by the function determine_pdf_template (e.g. where TEMPLATE and CONFIRMATION are also defined):
    PDF_TEMPLATE = determine_pdf_template();
  5. Optional: PDF templates can already be stored in the TEMPLATE directory below the knowledge base directory structure. However, this can also be done afterwards via the supervisor.
  6. The customized knowledge base must now be exported via the composer, then uploaded via the supervisor and activated. Afterwards, the node PDF can be found in the Supervisor under Administration –> Answers –> Templates in the tree view under File. The PDF templates that may have already been copied in the composer should now be visible there and can now be assigned to the categories