How to transition from java to browser templating

We recently upgraded TeamSite to 5.5.2 and want to upgrade our templating to the browser-based version. I printed out the Templating Developer's Guide, but would like to know what is the smothest way to do the conversion from our existing templates. Do the DCRs have to be modified as well?

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Baeck

Joe:

You should need to make only a few changes. The biggest thing I can think of off the top of my head is that any Java callouts you may have will need to be re-written into CGI callouts (Perl).

I would suggest some pretty heavy testing in the browser UI by your users before you actually make the switch. I would pay particular attention to the number of VFEs you may have in your templates. If you use a lot of replicants (read: more than 7-10), I would make sure to change your templating set up so that the VFEs do not load in-line.

Be forewarned: Browser-based templating will be slower than Java-based templating. You may want to consider waiting until the Project Leo release. It looks like the browser-based templating will see a large jump in performance once Leo comes out.

Just my 2 cents.

Migrateduser

I guess a better question is can I do the conversion on a test or dummy branch while not upsetting the java-version, as I do not have any down-time capability. Meaning, I can't take our templaitng system down while I figure out how to make changes and test the thing myself.

What do you suggest as far as how to start this without taking down the current version?

Baeck

I would set up a test branch and workarea and stick the templates I want to test out there. You'll probably want to create a new category for your templates so you can isolate the changes in your templating.cfg.

You should be able to swap between Java and browser-based templating by navigating into a workarea and selecting Change Templating UI from the View menu. If you're not seeing this option, then I can walk you through the CLT to change this value on a user-by-user basis.

This is a very high-level description, but once you get moving, I should be able to walk you through the process more.

Migrateduser

I have an understanding now of what to do. I have experimented with the visualformat attribute in the following section of code:

<item name="paragraphs">
<database deploy-column="f"/>
<label>Paragraphs</label>
<replicant min="0" default="1" max="15">
<item name="p">
<database data-type="CLOB" searchable="t" />
<label>Paragraph</label>
<textarea cols="600" rows="110" external-editor="visualformat" rtf="t" validation-regex="(?s)^.{0,8000}$" />
</item>
</replicant>
</item>

However, when I view the DCR, the height of the text field is only a few lines, with the scrolling arrows. How do I make the text area larger? I used the example n the Templating Developer's Guide on page 46, plus some legasy items from the old version of the templates.

MattP

the " rtf="t" is specific to the java interface. Remove it for non-java version.

Matt

Matthew Petitjean
BOC Group
Murray Hill, NJ 07974 USA

Migrateduser

When I open a DCR created with the java versionk, then go to save it while in the browser version,I get an error ("Syntax error in Regular Expression"). Unfortunately, the line number is from the browser html code, so I don't think it tells me anything at the line number.

Where should I turn to do conversions on reg exps?

- Joe

MattP

It would really help if you posted the dct.

Matt

Matthew Petitjean
BOC Group
Murray Hill, NJ 07974 USA

Migrateduser

Here is a sample section of text from the DCT:

<item name="hedgeordisclaimer">
<database data-type="VARCHAR2(2000)" searchable="t" />
<label>Hedge or Disclaimer</label>
<textarea cols="400" required="t" rows="90" rtf="t" validation-regex="(?s)^.{0,2000}$" />
</item>

Does this help?

Migrateduser

I ran the ugrade_dct_cfg.ipl tool and that seemed to have worked. Thanks for looking into this.