While trying to debug a problem with a template, I made a discovery
regarding message logging and record #s, as it relates to stacking and
imposition.  What follows is a summary of how I think this works, based on
behavior observed during testing.  Hopefully this will help someone else,
as it's taken me weeks of testing to figure this out.  Anyone from
Printable is welcome to correct or clarify my explanation.

When you’re using stacking, Printable first preprocesses the range of
records given as the input, and then reorders them according to the
imposition and stack layout.  After the preprocessing stage, any message
in the log file that refers to a record number is NOT the original record
number from the data file, but the modified record per page based on the
imposition.  This becomes even more obvious if you compose a record range
that doesn’t start at 1, as it will preprocess records 11 through 20, and
then still number your output as 1 through 10.

For a simple example, say we have 6 records, and a piece that is 2-up on a
page.  With stacking on, we know that the piece will print as follows:

Page 1 – records 1 & 4
Page 2 – records 2 & 5
Page 3 – records 3 & 6

However, the preprocessing step causes Printable to reorder the records,
and it will refer to them by the reordered numbers in the logging.  It
composes the pages in order, and sequentially numbers the records
according to which page they are placed on, like this:

Page 1 – records 1(1) & 2(4)
Page 2 – records 3(2) & 4(5)
Page 3 – records 5(3) & 6(6)

What you need to be aware of is that if the log tells you there was an
error with record #4, it is NOT record #4 in the database, but rather the
record that occupied the 4th position in the output, which in this example
would be record #5.

The key point here is that if you’re trying to debug a template problem
using record numbers from a composition log, you need to be aware of
whether the output is stacked or not.  The easiest way to get the true
record numbers causing your problem is to turn off the imposition, and
recompose, then use those record numbers to find and fix the template
problem.

Paul Klingler
Variable Data Project Manager
TMR, Inc.

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