View source for 2023.1:Multi-Column (Collation Provider)

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{{#lst:Glossary|Multi-Column}}
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You may download the ZIP(s) below and upload it into your own Grooper environment (version 2023.1). The first contains one or more '''Batches''' of sample documents.  The second contains one or more '''Projects''' with resources used in examples throughout this article. 
* [[Media:2023.1 Wiki Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) Batch.zip]]
* [[Media:2023.1 Wiki Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) Project.zip]]
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== About ==
Sometimes you might run into documents with text that is divided up into columns: 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 01 About 01.png|center|500px]]


Grooper cannot intuitively determine when a page is divided into columns rather than just being continuous text. We need to tell Grooper to expect multiple columns using the ''Multi-Column'' '''''Collation Provider'''''.

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'''''BE AWARE: The Multi-Column provider has its limitations.'''''

Multi-Column is an older Collation Provider that never got wide use or adoption in Grooper. As such, it is underdeveloped compared to the rest of Grooper's Collation Providers.

'''''BE AWARE: The Multi-Column provider can only collect two (2) columns.'''''

Multi-Column collation will only work for 2 column layouts. It is not suited for three or more columns of text.

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== How To ==

We are going to go over the basics of setting up the ''Multi-Column'' '''''Collation Provider'''''. There are many options located under the '''''Collation''''' property after selecting ''Multi-Column'' that you can adjust to improve your results beyond what we will discuss here. 

=== Set Up the Provider ===

# The page in our [[image:GrooperIcon_Batch.png]]'''Batch''' has two columns on the page. The text in the first column is continued on the second. 
# Create a '''Data Type'''. 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 01.png]]


#<li value=3> Set the '''''Local Extractor''''' for the '''Data Type'''. In this example we are setting it to a ''Pattern Match''. 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 02.png]]


#<li value=4> In our example we have configured our ''Pattern Match'' with the regex pattern <code>[^\r\n\t\f]+</code> to collect all lines of text on the page. 
#* You need to turn on '''''Tab Marking''''' for this pattern to work.

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 03.png]]


<big>'''Turning on Tab Marking'''</big>

# Click on the "Properties" tab.
# Open up the '''''Preprocessing''''' options. 
# Click the check box to the right of '''''Tab Marking''''' to enable the property. 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 04.png]]


<big>'''Setting the Provider'''</big>

# Set the '''''Collation''''' property to ''Multi-Column''.
# It may look like the whole page is being extracted straight across, but Grooper is now collecting the individual columns.
# Click the Inspection icon located to the bottom right of the Document Viewer. 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 05.png]]


#<li value=4> Now you can see, in the "Text Value" tab below the Document Viewer on the Inspection page, that the text in the first column is collected first before Grooper collects the second column. 

[[File:2023.1 Multi-Column-(Collation-Provider) 02 01 Setting-the-Collation 06.png]]