About fields and tags
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EscapeE allows you to define data-fields and tags on the document's pages and then extract the content or add text. Text found at these field positions may be exported into one or more log-files, see about exporting data. Fields may also be defined to store data calculated from other fields or parts of other fields: these are Composite fields. Data extraction can be automated.
Regular data-fields are defined by their position on a page. Fields can also be defined as being located at some offset relative to a search tag which is matched against items in a specified area of the page. A search tag can be a text string, a graphic or part of a graphic, or a font characteristic such as a particular style, point size, typeface, weight etc., see Setting search tag options.
If you rearrange the contents of a page, any fields found in the areas moved are relocated along with the clip-areas. When a document is exported to IDF or RTF you may choose to extract everything on the pages or just those fields already defined. These features enable you to regain control of existing information and re-purpose documents.
Composite data-fields are not defined by a position on a page. They are composed of the values of other fields and are typically used to store the results of a condition.
The hierarchy of fields and their related tags can be viewed as a tree in the Field dialog. This makes it easy to reorganize fields, say to become 'children' of different tags. Note that a field will only be output on condition that all its 'parent' tags are recognized.
You may specify what action is to be taken when a field is found, not found or changed. For example, you may choose to start a new log, set or file. You may force a new front or back page and specify which tray, bin or overlay to use.
The Tagged Text feature enables automatic form-filling. Tags are set up to call on the AddText Plugin and insert new text where and when required.
A field may be set up to load a new a field definitions file for the document dynamically. This allows each document, or even each page in a document, to invoke a different field definitions file. A tag can be linked to an overlay by specifying a macro number, and whether that overlay is to be turned on or off when it recognizes the selected tag. See Setting advanced options in field definitions.
You may specify how fields are to be rendered in some formats: for example PDF forms, DICOM elements and XML stylesheets.
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