Document Step Types

The Document palette provides three types of Document steps, which are usually used in the following order: source, transformation, and output steps.

  • Source steps—Used to define a document object using different parameters, such as a URL or a file name. Three Document steps are Source steps:

    • Create File Document

    • Create URL Document

    • XSL Transform Document

    Source steps define the parameters for a document variable but do not read data at the time they execute. You can use the Cache step to cause the system to obtain and store the document defined by a Source step. Otherwise, the document is read when passed to a transformation or output step.

Note

Other source steps used for documents are DB Get (a Database step), Recording (a Media step), Get User Info (a User step), and Get Session Info when retrieving document objects stored in the session (a Session step). For information on these steps, see the appropriate chapters in this guide.

  • Transformation steps—Used to process an input document and store the results in an output document. The output document can use the same variable as the input document. Three Document steps are Transformation steps:

    • Create XML Document

    • Cache Document

    • Keyword Transform Document

  • Output steps—Used to direct a document to an output destination, such as a URL or file system. Two Document steps are Output steps:

    • Write Document

    • Get XML Document Data

Note

Other steps can act as output steps for documents. You can use any Media or Prompt step to accept a document as input representing a prompt to be played back. You can use the Set User Info step (a User step) to upload a document as the spoken name for the user. You can use the Attach To eMail step (an eMail step) to attach a document to an e-mail message. You can use the DB Write step (a Database step) to upload a document to a database. You can use the Send Response step (an Http Contact step) to send a document as a response to an HTTP request. You can use the Set Session Info step (a Session step) to store a document in the session context.