CopiaFacts™ Reference Manual

SRO - System Read Only

These variables return a value controlled only by the system.  If you attempt to define or set a variable of the same name, your value will be not be accessible because the system value overrides it.  The values of these variables are not written out automatically as $var_def statements, and are only available when you expand the variable.

SW - System Write

An assignment to one of these variables in a $set_var command causes an internal system value to be changed or a system action to be performed.  In addition a control variable will normally be created which can be read in user infobox logic.

SWS - System Write Special

An assignment to one of these variables in a $set_var command causes an internal system value to be changed or a system action to be performed.  In addition a control variable will normally be created which can be read in user infobox logic.  These special system variables may also be assigned a value from a $var_def command in an FS file.  When this is done, the variable is also available as a normal control variable.

SRW - System Read Write

These variables return a value controlled only by the system as for SRO variables, but when assigned to they also cause an internal system value to be changed.  In some cases an assignment to the variable may also cause a control variable to be created, but its value can never be expanded because the system value overrides it.

CV - Control Variables

This type of variable can be set using $var_def or $set_var statements in command files, and they may also be set by the system, either to control later operations or to report results (or both). During processing of a job or a call, various system components query the current value of these variables in order to control processing operations. Assigning a value to these variables does not cause any immediate action to take place or any internal system value to be changed, but an assignment other than by the system usually affects the course of a later system action. Values of control variables can be expanded just like user variables.

For control variables we also document the principal system components which set> or >use the variable. If no component is shown as using the variable, setting it is unlikely to be useful.  The letter codes are: C:COPIAFACTS engine; E:CF9EMAIL; G:CF9IMAGE; J:CF9JOBADM; B:FFBC; X:FFEXTERN; V:CVSINGLE; S:CF9SMSxx; D:CF9DATABASE; L:FFCLIENT; M:FFMERGE, U:CF9SUPPORT

User Variables

You can define your own custom variables for use in scripting applications, and to hold any data that you wish to record for your own application purposes. You create your own variables by naming them in $var_def, $set_var or $get_var commands. All new variable names used by the system will contain an underscore character (_). Avoiding the existing variable names and any names with an underscore will therefore help to ensure that your own variable names do not conflict with CopiaFacts variables.

Environment Variables

Variables from the Windows environment variable sets can be used as if they were CopiaFacts variables, but system and user variables of the same name take priority.  Environment variables which affect CopiaFacts operations are documented in Appendix G.

$environment Variables

Any of the variables documented in Appendix G can also be defined on the $environment configuration command.  This may be more convenient than setting Windows environment variables on each affected node.  Variables defined in this way can be applied to selected machine names or CopiaFacts nodes, and can also be defined to apply only at specific times or on specific days.  You can also define your own variables in addition to those in Appendix G.  This type of variable is not inherited as an environment variable by non-Copia processes run from a CopiaFacts application.