Collector

Updated over a week ago

•

4 min read

Overview

 

  • Collectors are used for forwarding scanned files from the user's computer to Willow
  • The user's computer (that scanner has access to) has to have a Collector App installed
  • The main flow is - a scanner is pointed to scan to a folder on the user's computer. Collector App listens to changes in this folder and forwards scanned files to Willow.
     

Installing Collector and connecting it to Willow
 

  • Collector App could be downloaded from the link provided in Collectors Panel
  • During the Collector App installation process, the security token is required
  • To get the token, user needs to add the device through Collectors Panel. After adding, a one-time security token is created so it can be used to complete the Collector App installation.
    • This token is the connection between the Collector App that the user installed and the Willow organisation
    • The token is shown only once. If the user fails to copy it, they can't get to it again and they have to repeat the process of adding the collector device.
    • Device names have to be unique in the organisation
  • Once the application is installed, the user has to configure the folder that Collector App watches for newly scanned files
  • Depending on the XML data that a scanner exports with a file, the file may be forwarded to any inbox or workflow in the organisation
     

Configuration
 

  • Collector has two hot folders that users can configure so they automatically watch if there are any files inside them and upload them to Willow
    • Personal hot folder will forward files to the Personal Inbox
    • Organisational hot folder will forward files to the specified destination (or General inbox if the destination is not set)
  • Collector processes files inside hot folders periodically (with 30-second delay between processing cycles)
  • Collector has two modes - Dumb and Smart
    • Dumb mode listens to the output of MFDs that don't have the ability to produce XML data that will accompany the file
    • Smart mode listens to the output of smart MFDs that produce pairs on file+XML data that is connected to the file and contains information about the file, the user who uploaded it, in what inbox/workflow the file should go and possibly even more information about the file.
       

Dumb mode
 

  • Dumb MFDs can't export any XML information with the scanned file
  • Collector creates subfolders for all inboxes/workflows inside Organisation hot folder and assumes files inside these folders should be uploaded to the corresponding inbox/workflow (their Willow Destination code is read from the subfolder name)
  • The files are uploaded in the name of the previously set Default User
  • All files processed in the same collector cycle will go to the same job in Willow


Smart mode

 

  • Smart mode assumes MFD is smart enough to export file/XML pairs, with XML file having the information on the scanned file
  • Collector accepts Umango, Papercut and Drivve XML formats. Each of them has their own way of saying “this XML data belongs to this file” and their own structure of the XML file
  • These are the examples of how the file/XML pairs should look so Willow can recognise and connect them
  • Umango
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<document filePath="C:\Users\user11\Desktop\966\966.2018_3_21.pdf">
 <indexes>
   <index name="email">[email protected]</index>
   <index name="Source_File_Name">fileName.pdf</index>
   <index name="WillowDestination">4WPK4SML9MGRGNO8HVAVVFL9</index>
 </indexes>
</document>
  • Papercut
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<scan version="1.0">
    <files>
        <file>fileName.pdf</file>
    </files>
   <user>
       <email>[email protected]</email>
   </user>
    <WillowDestination>
        6AE57403-18D7-4AAD-A9A1-01735C4DC1CB
    </WillowDestination>
</scan>
  • Drivve
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<DrivveImage>
    <Documents>
        <Document Profile-ID="0xF6081C2B237A744BA9ED4833325EE125"
        File="fileName.pdf">
            <Fields>
                <Field Name="email">[email protected]</Field>
                <Field Name="WillowDestination">
                    35466254-CE95-4B7E-8ADA-247439DFC796
                </Field>                       
            </Fields>
        </Document>
    </Documents>
</DrivveImage>
  • Please note that if the Use smart mode setting is on, the file without XML (or with XML poorly connected to it) will wait in the Personal / Organisation hot folder for XML until it comes.
  • If you had a setup without Use smart mode before, you should click Destination Sync to remove the inbox/workflow folders from the hot folder
  • If you see files disappearing from the hot folder, you have successfully set this step up.
  • All files referenced from the same XML (e.g. having multiple <file> nodes will be placed in the same job in Willow)
  • Willow Destination configuration
    • It uses the MFD code of an inbox/workflow to connect to it
    • Check the examples above to see how the destination should be configured in different XML output formats
    • If the destination is omitted, it will fall back to the Personal / General inbox (depending on if it’s Personal or Organisational hot folder).
    • If the destination is wrong (e.g. the MFD code doesn’t exist or doesn’t belong to the user’s organisation), we silently reject the files
    • If the destination is correct, but the user has no credits or workflow access rights, the files fall back to the Personal Inbox and the error email is sent to the user
  • External XML Data configuration
    • Willow360 folder with the strictly specified structure has to be added to the root of the XML document
    • This should happen in the software that outputs the XML data. That software should be configured in a way the XML file will look like this (the example has Umango output format with the Willow360 folder inserted):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<document filePath="C:\Users\user11\Desktop\966\966.2018_3_21.pdf">
 <indexes>
   <index name="email">[email protected]</index>
   <index name="Source_File_Name">fileName.pdf</index>
   <index name="WillowDestination">4WPK4SML9MGRGNO8HVAVVFL9</index>
 </indexes>
 <Willow360>
  <Data>
	<Name>Customer ID</Name>
	<Value>353709</Value>
  </Data>
  <Data>
	<Name>Total Amount</Name>
	<Value>158.03</Value>
  </Data>
</Willow360>
</document>

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