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set output file and default PT for a DCR

rapid

TeamSite 6.1, SP1 on W2K

Here's the scenario:
>> initial DCRs will be created outside of teamsite
>> Directory structure and DCR name will mimic website dir structure and generated page.
>> Through OpenDeploy, DCRs will copied to correct location
>> Further processing will automatically set EA, generate pages, etc

The above is all fine. Now, how can one set, for a DCR the
a) Output File (I know how to get it via PT,etc.)
b) Presentation Template (we will have multiple PTs)

We will be disabling the "Form Settings" tab in FormsPublisher (using viewoptions) since we don't want
user to select output file or PT as only developers will create new DCR and page. The 1st PT will automatically
generate another page using 2nd PT, hence multiple PTs are also masked from users.

The DCRs which will be created will not have an output file or Presentation Template set.
Hence, when the users hit generate, FormsPublisher will ask for the output filename and PT. - We wan't to avoid this.

Obviously, we could manually go into each DCR and set this, but we want to avoid that.

I RTFM but couldn't find any way to do this. I checked iwattrib and iwextattr for the DCR but did not find any attribute for
output file or Presentation Template.
Is there some way I can set this for a DCR programatically once and for all.

One option that i need to try is to have a function on the formapi init method to set these attributes.
I have no idea what these attributes are for a DCR.
But i would prefer to have my perl script set these for all the DCRs initially.

Any Suggestions ??

Rishi Athalye
TeamSite 5.5.2>>6.1 on W2K

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Comments

Dwayne

To the best of my knowedge, these items are not ever associated with a DCR. Rather, when a user chooses edit from a generated page, at that point those values are set for that session. If a user goes in and edits that same DCR directly, rather than via the generated page, then the PT and output file will still be blank.

Can you just not use generate at all? Let a workflow generate the page?

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

rapid

In TeamSite 6, the output file name and PT can be set for a DCR using the form settings. Thus, when the user clicks on generate, it will automatically generate the page.
Thus, you can effectively set these values for a DCR once without having the user update them(depending on your business case).
You can thus lock down and hide the form settings thus reducing the chance of error with user entering wrong output file, etc.

Someone please advise me if i am wrong in my above assumption.

We will have workflows to generate pages subsequently. But for the initial data load, users will edit DCRs directly. This is a one-time operation and we don't want to develop workflows for this right now.

Thanks.

Rishi Athalye
TeamSite 5.5.2>>6.1 on W2K

Dwayne

I have to admit that I haven't done anything with the form settings in FormAPI. If they behave as you say, then you're fine. Because my statement is still correct. FormAPI or no, the data is not being saved with the DCR. It's being reset every time the DCR is edited - which would include the FIRST time the DCR is edited.

You probably WILL want to capture the onSaveNameSpecified event, so that you can get the right info when the new DCR is created.

The only real downside of this is that it won't work if a user views, rather than edits, a DCR, since FormAPI isn't used for view.

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

rapid

Thanks for your reply.
Hmmm... Looks like the form settings are set for a session.
So, I guess there may be no way to associate those attributes with a DCR (kinda like EAs).
I wonder if anyone has tried this.
I understand this could be a problem if one DCR is used to generate multiple pages. But couldn't there be some way of associating at least a default PT and output filename.

The initial DCRs will be created programatically. So, for onSaveNameSpecified to work, we will have to edit each
DCR and save the correct name.

Rishi Athalye
TeamSite 5.5.2>>6.1 on W2K

Adam Stoller

>> Further processing will automatically set EA, generate pages, etc

Well, perhaps in this "further processing" part you could do something like:

set the ofile based on the name and path of the DCR
determine the PT from either the templating.cfg file or from some other external configuration file

With respect to the first one - assume that you create a DCR in /default/main/branch/WORKAREA/waname/templatedata/Category/DataType/data/subdir1/subdir2/dcrname - the outpuf file would then be /default/main/branch/WORKAREA/waname/subdir1/subdir2/dcrname.html.

As an example of the second part - consider having something like a config file that relates DCT types to PTs - it could be a simple as:Category/DataType:ptname or allow for future expansion by using XML like:<ptlist>
<dct type="Category/DataType">
<pt name="path-to-pt.tpl"/>
</dct>
</ptlist>and then use basic XML processing techniques to extract the information you need from the configuration file based on the DCT type of the DCR you're processing.

Does that make sense? Does it help?

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

rapid

You are right. That is somewhat basically what i am doing and i have no problem with it.

We want to set the output file and PT for the DCR and associate it with the DCR.
My problem is with setting these attributes(which are seen in Form Settings) for the DCR automatically. We will be disabling Form Settings(using viewoptions) so that business users will never have to set the generated page, PT etc. see my reply to Dwayne.

Is there a way of doing this ?

Thanks.

Rishi Athalye
TeamSite 5.5.2>>6.1 on W2K

Adam Stoller

Setting the TeamSite/Templating/DCR/Type EA on the externally created DCRs should be trivial - you just take the path information for the DCR and trim it:#assume $path contains full path of externally created DCR
use TeamSite::Config;
my $iwhome = TeamSite::Config::iwgethome();

(my $dtype = $path) =~ s|^.*/templatedata/(.*?/.*?)/.*$|$1|;
qx($iwhome/bin/iwextattr -s TeamSite/Templating/DCR/Type=$dtype $path);

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

rapid

Thanks for your reply.
maybe i wasn't clear enough. I know how to set the Templating DCR type.

But there is no EA to set the output\generated filename on the DCR
thus, (i wish there was) something like
$iwhome/bin/iwextattr -s outputfile=$generatedpage_path $dcr_path;
$iwhome/bin/iwextattr -s presentationtemplate=xyz.tpl $dcr_path;

Thus, if these two attributes get associated with the DCR, anytime the user edits the DCR and clicks on "Generate", he will not be asked for an output page.
Also, we can hide the "Form Settings" tab in FormsPublisher so that user cannot mess up the generated pagename,etc.

appreciate your help.

Rishi Athalye
TeamSite 5.5.2>>6.1 on W2K

Adam Stoller

Ah - no - there is no out-of-the-box supported EA for setting the output filename and/or presentation template to use for DCRs. You can obviously set those EA's if you want, and make use of them with your own mechanisms, but the out-of-the-box mechanisms will still continue to prompt for that information.

Might make an interesting feature request...

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

JonathonG

Why not train the users to work with the generated files instead of the DCRs directly? So, instead of going to the DCR and clicking "edit", they would go to the generated file and click "edit". Since the generated file has the necessary EAs for finding the DCR, the proper DCR would be opened. And, since they clicked "edit" from a generated page the PT and Output file name should be set, so when they click "Generate" it shouldn't prompt them.

Jonathon
Independent Interwoven Contractor

lhdavis

While this will work with existing content that has the correct EA values for the DCR's, what about new DCR's?

Luke Davis
Open Technology Group, Inc.
luke.davis@med.va.gov

JonathonG

Good point. The process described above involved pre-generating DCRs and I guess I assumed that that would always be the process. Thus, pre-generated DCRs could be used to pre-generate pages. If that's not the case, then reference ghoti's discussions above about controlling generation via workflow. (Although I would still encourage users to use the generated pages, because I think that feels more natural to a non-technical user. But that's just MHO).

Jonathon
Independent Interwoven Contractor

Adam Stoller

JG - making modifications to DCRs by navigating through the generated pages is fine, my issues / advice deal with creation of DCRs and controlling all the page generation processes to avoid requiring users to select the correct PT, the correct output location and the correct output file name; and at the same time to create a directory structure symetry that facilitates all of the various processes including deployment.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com