InfoCenter Attachments

InfoCenter attachments can be used to attach files to an InfoCenter entry, to automatically open or run certain types of applications, or to open Knowledge topics in the Agent Assist window.

When an InfoCenter entry is displayed to a user (either through a suggestion or alert), any attachments are listed in ESP immediately following the main text of the entry. Each entry in the list is a hyperlink which the user can click to launch the particular attachment.

To add an attachment to an entry:

Open the entry to which you want to add attachments. For details, see InfoCenter.
Select the Attachements tab.
Click the New Attachment button on the InfoCenter banner.

Attachment Fields

For each attachment, the following fields are available:

Field	Description
Type	Select the attachment type. The values that you enter in the remaining fields are dependent on the type you select in this field. Choose from the following: File Name: Provides a link to a file in the file system. Help Topic - Context #: Used to launch a custom help file and have it open to the topic associated with a specific context number. Help Topic - Context ID: Used to launch a custom help file and have it open to the topic associated with a specific context ID. Help Topic - Keyword: Used to launch a custom help file and have it open the topic associated with a specific keyword. URL: Uniform Resource Locator allows you to enter a link to a page or document on a website. Description Only: Use this to have the description appear in the list of attachments, but not actually perform any other function. This is sometimes used when there are numerous attachments on an entry, to put separators or headings between groups of related attachments. Emplifi Knowledge Topic: Used to display a link to an Emplifi Knowledge topic. The topic will open in the Agent Assist window. Dynamic Favorite: Used to display a report link in ESP for Related Cases.
Open	In the Open column, select Yes if you want the attachment to launch automatically when this InfoCenter entry is displayed to a user. When you select No, the user must click on the link for the item in the list of attachments on the InfoCenter pop-up window. This can be used in conjunction with the Open option on the main InfoCenter entry definition screen to determine if only the attachment will show, or if the attachment is shown first. For more information about entry definitions, see Defining InfoCenter Entries. As Emplifi Knowledge Topics will open in Agent Assist, always select No for Emplifi Knowledge Topics.
Description	Enter the description of the attachment. This is the text that will appear as a link below the main text of the InfoCenter entry when it is displayed to a user. Clicking on the link will launch the attachment. This is a required field.
File Name	Enter the file name and path of the file being attached to the InfoCenter. If the Type field is set to "File Name", then you can do one of the following: Select the drop-down arrow next to the field and the Select File dialog opens to the InfoCenter folder where you can choose a file. Click the Upload button to display the Select File to Upload window. Then, you can choose a file from your computer to upload to the InfoCenter folder. For more information on how these apply to each attachment type, see the File Names and Application Parameters section below. Uploading HTML files that contain <script> tags is not permitted. If the Type field is set to "Emplifi Knowledge Topic", then a Search button will display in the File Name field. Click Search to display the Knowledge Topic Search dialog window. Then, select and save the Knowledge Configuration and the topic to display for the InfoCenter entry.
Application Parameters	Specify parameters that are required for a given type of attachment. These values will be passed on the command line when launching the external file or application. It is possible to include information from the case from which the InfoCenter entry was launched by using the following syntax: `[tablename.fieldname]` tablename can be any one of "case_id," "address," or "issue." fieldname can be any field in the indicated table. You must use actual database field names, not category descriptions. To limit the data from a field to a certain length, you can specify start and length parameters. This can also be useful if you only want to pass a substring within a code value. Use the following syntax: `[tablename.fieldname,start,length]` example: `[address.postal_code,1,5]` There is also a special insert to include the current user's ID: `[system_user.user_code]` Any information that is not enclosed within square brackets is passed as-is on the command line to the external application.

File Names and Application Parameters

The values that you will put into each of these fields varies depending on the type of attachment.

For Files and URLs

The file name is the actual path and file name of the file, or the fully qualified address of the URL.

For a file, the path can be in any of the following formats:

A path that is relative to the InfoCenter virtual folder of the Emplifi Agent website.
Example:
search.gif
or
images\Search.gif

A path to a file on a network share. The share must be accessible to all clients. If the file is uploaded, the file name displayed in the field changes to the path as described above. If the file is not uploaded, then the file name remains as selected or typed.
If the file is copied to the InfoCenter virtual folder, the system checks to see if a file with the name of the file you are copying already exists. If the file exits, a dialog displays which will allow you to view the existing file to see if it is the same as the one you are uploading, newer than the one you are uploading, or older than the one you are uploading. The system suggests a new name in the following format: <file name>.00#.<file extension>. The "00#" is incremented until the system finds a file name that is not used. You then have three options: use the new name, overwrite the existing file with the uploaded file, or click Cancel to use the file currently in the virtual folder.
Users using the Emplifi Agent Hosted Services cannot access the InfoCenter virtual folder.
Example: \\myserver\mysharename\docs\sample_doc.doc
A full URL to a file located on any website. This type of path is manually typed into the field, you cannot use the Select File dialog to search for a file with an HTTP location.
Example: http://websitename/docs/sample_doc.doc

A path on the local client machine can be selected or typed in the File Name field. The system prompts you to upload the file to the InfoCenter virtual folder.
Example: c:\data\myfile.docx

To open a file attachment, the client computer must have the associated application already installed. (For example, DOC files require Microsoft Word and PDF files require Adobe Reader.)

File and URL attachments do not typically require the use of application parameters.

For Applications

This should be the full path and file name of the application that is to be launched. The rules for entering the file name are the same as the ones described above for Files and URLs.

The Application Parameters can be any command line parameters that are required in order to properly start the external application.

InfoCenter Attachment URLs Reference Other Categories

InfoCenter Attachment URLs can reference other categories on the Case header, Caller Address, or current Issue when opened. The syntax is: [table.column,start,length]. The start and length are optional and can be used to make a substring of the code value. If the code is blank, missing or null, the substitution is removed, so the target URL should have pages to address no substitution.

Example:
http://SomeWeb.htm&Page=XYZ[issue.c08_code,2,3]
If issue.c08_code was ABCDEF then the part between the brackets "[..]" is replaced with BCD.

Tables allowed are: case_id, address (assumes the Caller), issue (assumes current Issue, or first issue if triggered from a non-Issue source).

Depending on how the InfoCenter is accessed and how the feature is used, you should keep the following in mind:

If this feature is used with Category Code Alerts or Catalog entries, an InfoCenter code should be added at the Category level, if any code has an InfoCenter reference, in order for the logic to send the correct data. For performance reasons, the system only scans InfoCenter entries at the category-level.
If the InfoCenter is opened from the InfoCenter Search there is no context for any of the URL references, so the system opens the URL with the references all removed.
The Display Catalog Entries button sounds a beep if the current field in focus is not a Category Code column. If focus is on a column that does not have Catalog entries, the current message still displays.
Changing referenced columns does not trigger InfoCenter messages, only trigger columns. If trigger data fires before the URL is referenced, it shows the blank or old values. If the URL referenced data is changed, the URL on the InfoCenter List window will not reflect the change unless that specific InfoCenter code is triggered again. Changes are not reflected even if the InfoCenter List window is reopened via an unrelated new entry.
Currently Survey InfoCenter requests can only replace issue-table URL references, and only if the Issue Seq is set on the Survey Header.