Customize Publishing Templates for WebHelp Responsive

[catherine]

Hi,
I made a customized publishing templates for webhelp.
When I chose the .opt file in the Transformation Scenarios Window, the parameters that I set in my opt file didn't apply to the Parameters settings in the Transformation Scenarios Window.
I need to manually set the settings in the Transformation Scenarios Windows > Parameter, to make the changes work.

I guess after I choose my customized opt file, the settings pre-configured in the file should be applied to the Parameter settings in the Transformation Scenarios Windows to make my customized settings work, but it didn't.

Were my operations correct?
How to make my customize publishing templates work?

[ionela]

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.
We are not aware of such a problem and I have just tested now this scenario with version 21.1 and the 'webhelp.fragment.after.body' parameter was correctly set. Could you please provide us an example of a parameter you try to set?
There are some parameters which cannot be set using publishing templates, for example: args.input.dir and dita.input.valfile.

Regards,
Ionela

[catherine]

Hi,
Thanks for your response.
I guess I misunderstood the parameter settings in the publishing template.


For example:

<parameter name="args.css" value="params/args.css/customized.css" type="filePath"/>

This parameter defines that the customized css file.
When I choose the file path in the Oxygen Transformation Scenarios Window, the file would be copied automatically to the params/args.css/ folder.

So, even I have the parameter defines in the opt file, I still need to choose the correct file path in the Transformation Scenarios Window.
I was wishing that the opt file defines absolute file paths for the parameters, and I was wrong.

Thansk again for your help!

Regards,
Catherine

[catherine]

Hi
I have another question related to the customized publishing templates.
We have a “docs” folder which contains all of our dita files, project files, map files, and this "docs" folder is shared on the SVN server.
Each author checks out the "docs" folder as a working copy in their own PCs.

For me, I check out the "docs" folder in this path "E:/docs"
For one of my colleague, she is using Macbook, and she checks out the "docs" folder in this path "/working/docs"

I create a folder called "templates", in which contains all of my customazied webhelp templates.
I place the folder in this path " E:/docs/templates ".
In the Oxygen > Transformation Scenarios Window， I set the parameters to absolute paths " E:/docs/templates/xxxx "...

In this case, my colleague who checks out the working copy in a different path cannot generate desired webhelp output as some of the templates cannot be obtained.

Is there any way to solve this problem?
Something like variable paths?

[radu_pisoi]

Hi,

In the Oxygen > Transformation Scenarios Window， I set the parameters to absolute paths " E:/docs/templates/xxxx "...

Can you tell us what parameter do you set?

However, for your case, it is better to save your templates in the Publishing Templates Gallery. Also, if you have a project shared with your documentation team, save the options for the DITA/Publishing page in project (use the Project Options switch).

You can find more details in the Creating Custom Publishing Templates for WebHelp and PDF Output webinar.

[catherine]

Thanks, Radu
I learnt the webinar about "Customize Publishing Templates for Webhelp & PDF" and updated my knowledge of “Custom Publishing Templates”.

Still, I have a question: How to set a global output diretory for all writers.
In our case:
The Transformation "Storage" is set to "Project Options".
I'm using Macbook, I check out our "docs" folder to the root diretory "/docs".
For other writers, they check out our "docs" forlder to the windows diretory "E:/docs" or "F:/docs".

Now, we have the problem, we should set the Transformation Output Directory to which path?
If I set the Output Diretory to "/yeastar/docs", and commit the changes to SVN server, other people will see the Output Directory is "/yeastar/docs". In this way, if they want to publish the webhelp, they need to change the Output Directory to thier desired path according to their working copy.

How should I configure the Transformation settings to improve our efficiency of collaborative writting?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Catherine

[radu_pisoi]

Hi,

Now, we have the problem, we should set the Transformation Output Directory to which path?
If I set the Output Diretory to "/yeastar/docs", and commit the changes to SVN server, other people will see the Output Directory is "/yeastar/docs". In this way, if they want to publish the webhelp, they need to change the Output Directory to thier desired path according to their working copy.

How should I configure the Transformation settings to improve our efficiency of collaborative writting?

A solution is to use the ${cfd} editor variable to set an output directory path relative to your project directory.

See all available editor variables in our user guide.

[catherine]

Thanks, Radu
I know that there is a variable ${cfd} that will set an output directory path relative to your project directory.
The ${cfd} defines the path of the current edited document up to the name of the parent folder.
Our problem is that :
We have a folder named "webhelp-out", which is not placed out of the parent folder.
The "webhelp-out" folder contains all of our webhelp outputs, which help us to achieve centralized management.

See the following directory hierarchy：
1. DITA
- en-US
- topics
- images
- maps
- project-en.xpr
- ja-jp
- zh-CN
2. publishing-templates
3. webhelp-out
4. pdf-out

Now, I am editing the project-en.xpr file, if I use ${cfd} to configure the Output Diretory, I can only get my webhelp in the en-US folder.
I want to generate all webhelp outputs to the folder 3. webhelp-out.
And , as different writers check out thier working copy to different paths on their PC, I need to set the Output Diretory to a relative path.
How to solve this problem?

Regards,
Catherine

[radu_pisoi]

Hi,

Maybe you can change the structure of your project to:

Code: Select all

{project folder}
- DITA
-- en-US
-- topics
-- images
-- maps
-- ja-jp
-- zh-CN

- project-en.xpr
- publishing-templates
- webhelp-out ( svn:ignore)
- pdf-out ( svn:ignore)

For webhelp-out and pdf-out folders you can use the svn:ignore property to not commit them to versioning system.
See more about svn:ignore in Ignoring Unversioned Items topic from the SVN book.

[catherine]

You are genius!
Thanks so much!

Regards,
Catherine