Easy Production Sync

Easy Production Sync is an external app developed by GotPhoto to simplify the production workflow for self-fulfilling photographers and labs.

Before using Easy Production Sync: Please reach out to our customer success team at support@gotphoto.com to ensure you have the right production settings enabled on your account.

What does it do?

As a user, you can use the app to:

Download new orders (order files, photos, and invoices) from GotPhoto to your local hard drive
Send status updates and tracking details back to our servers about your processed orders

How do I start using it?

To use the app, start by downloading the most recent version of it HERE. It’s available to use on Windows and Mac OS.

When you first open the app, you’ll be prompted to log in. Please use the same email address and password that you use to log into your GotPhoto account.
Note: you won’t be able to log into the app unless you already have a lab added to your account, i.e. you must have the “Production” tab visible in your GotPhoto account.

After logging in, you will see the main screen:

The main screen consists of three core parts:

In the top left corner, you will see “Order Download.” This button can be toggled on and off to download orders.
In the bottom left corner, you will see “Status Sync,” where you can toggle the status updates on and off.
In the middle, you will see “Debug Messages,” which is where messages about events happening in the app (orders downloading, status updates, errors, etc.) will appear.

How do I download orders?

First, you need to specify a folder(s) on your local hard drive where you want the orders to download. To do that, go to the settings page by clicking the cog icon in the top right corner.

Simple settings

Within settings, you will see two selections under “Order Download:”

Check every…: From this dropdown, you can specify how often you want the app to check for and download new orders.
Download Files: Here you will select the folder where you want the orders (order file, photos, and delivery notes) to download. You need to select a folder to be able to start downloading orders from the main screen.

Now, go back to the main screen, toggle the "Order download" on, and if you have new orders, they will be downloaded into the specified folder.

Advanced settings

There is a set of advanced features that you can use for downloading orders. This will be necessary if you need the order file, photos, and delivery notes to be saved separately in different locations on your hard drive. It will also allow you to customize how the downloaded files and folders are named.

To access the advanced settings, toggle the “Show Advanced Settings” button in the Order Download section on the settings page.

In the advanced settings, direct shipping and batch shipping orders are handled separately:

Select the folders where you want the order files, photos, and delivery notes for direct shipping and batch shipping orders to be stored on your local hard drive. You need to select folders to be able to start downloading orders from the main screen.

There are also placeholders, which you can use as variables in the folder paths you specify.

Let's take an example:

If you have this setting: `/easyproduction_test/orders/%laborderid%/order.xml`,

And if the current order’s id is 1234

The path will become `/easyproduction_test/orders/1234/order.xml`.

Now, go back to the main screen and toggle the order download, and if you have new orders, they will be downloaded into the specified folders.

How do I update the order status in GotPhoto for processed orders?

First, you’ll need to specify the folder where the app should look for status update files. You can do that from the settings page, under Status Sync → “Status Update Folder.”

Here, you will also need to indicate what should happen to the status files once they’ve been processed by the app. The app can either:

Append “.done” to the filename, or
Delete the files

Once you’ve set your status sync settings, you can go back to the main screen and toggle Status Sync ‘on’. The application will automatically parse all files with .json or .xml extensions from the folder you selected in the settings screen every few seconds.
Note: the frequency of status updates is unrelated to the time duration you have selected for order downloads.

To be able to parse status update files, they need to be in a particular format:

A status file in .json format should have an array called ‘orders’. Within this array, there should be objects that have their ‘id’ and ‘status’ fields set. For example, this is a valid status file in .json format:
{

"orders": [

{

"id": "CICA1009",

"status": "production",

"date": "2019-07-22",

"time": "14:43:42"

},

{

"id": "CICA1006",

"status": "production",

"date": "2019-07-22",

"time": "14:43:42"

}

]

}

A status file in .xml format also should have an ‘orders’ tag, with individual orders within, that have ‘id’ and ‘status’ fields.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<order>

<status>production</status>

</order>

<order>

<status>production</status>

</order>

</orders>

The order IDs in the above examples can have the lab prefix before the order ID, but it’s NOT a requirement. So both ‘CICA1009’ and ‘1009’ are valid IDs.

Debugging / Help

You can see more verbose logging by toggling ‘Verbose logging’ in the top right corner of the main screen.

Errors will automatically be flagged in red.

All orders in the Debug Messages also include a hyperlink to the order within your GotPhoto account for easy access and troubleshooting.

These order logs are stored locally as well, you can find them in the following location:

On MacOs: `~/Library/Logs/easyproduction/`
On Windows: `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\easyproduction\logs\`

Do you have questions about the app? Please contact Nicole at nicole.kovach@gotphoto.com.