Multi-part DCT - how?

Hi Templaters -
I'm on TeamSite 6.1 on Solaris and want to build a multi-part DCT. I'm posting for both a reality check (is it possible?) and, if it is doable, for some pointers.

Here's the deal:
I've got a standard header and left navigation area on a page that I'd like common on all generated pages. I'd like to break up the rest of the space into (let's keep it simple), 2 equal columns.
I'd like to set those 2 columns up as separate DCT types.

So, that could be 2 DCTs and a PT that 'includes' them. Seems pretty simple, but I can't yet imagine the user experience. It'd be best if they said they'd like to create a new page and then were presented with DCTs for both columns and, when done, generated the resultant page.

Ideas on how to go about this? I can imagine it from the perspective of starting from an already generated page, but not from scratch.

I'll be glad to clarify any further!

Thanks,
Wally Box
Nike, Inc.

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Comments

Migrateduser

Wally,

I assume you're clear on how to incorporate the left header and navigation components -- the two-column scenario would work much the same. That is, your presentation template can generate the anscillary components (that's the 5th time this week I've used that word... I think I like that word) and include them as the generated output.

Wondering, why do you insist on keeping these two columns under separate DCT's?

A possible scenario is that, your presentation template would actually "belong" to your Column 1 DCT. This would reference and generate the other DCT's, like I said, and there you are. If you're working with the Column 2 DCT / DCR, however, you could have TS start a mini-workflow as tt_data and generate the Column 1 PT when you're finished with the Column 2 DCT / DCR.

Dave

Current Environment(s):
(1) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K3
(2) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K
(3) TS 5.5.2 SP2 on Win2K

Adam Stoller

Top-of-the-head brainstorming ...

Have one DCT for the common data (left-hand nav?) and another DCT that contains the content-specific fields and an inline that essentially includes and populates all the fields for the left-hand nav fields. You'd want the "common" fields to be read-only though.

How you display all the information in the rendered DCT is up to you - but if you pull this off - your PT could process the content DCT completely as it would have ALL the data.

I'm not saying it will be simple, but I ***think*** it might do what you want.

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

Migrateduser

Thanks for the replies. After more research, it looks like I'm trying to build a 'component' PT which uses the iw_include command. I'm going to work on testing it out.

With this info, I still wonder if, when an author goes to edit a page generated with this configuration, will they possibly have 2 visual edit toolbars available: one for the primary dcr and one for the included one..

Wally Box
Nike, Inc.

Hans

The answer is no.

Component PTs are on the presentation tmplate side, visualformat bars in the data capture template (DCT). So the user will open the primary DCR and see only the elements available in the DCT.

Hans

Migrateduser

I think he might have been referring to the Smart Context Editor toolbar. But, the answer is still "no". The presentation template introduces the component but the SCE appears after your page has been generated. At this point, the page has no notion that it's made up of two or fifty-two different parts.

Dave

Current Environment(s):
(1) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K3
(2) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K
(3) TS 5.5.2 SP2 on Win2K

Migrateduser

Thanks again for the replies -
Yes, I'm talking about the SCE.

I was investigating having 2 DCT/PTs - one for maintaining the left navigation and header info for a series of pages, and a second for the body of a page (this wasn't the example I started with, but my poc has evolved into this).

All new pages would include the common nav/header upon generation. Then, when editing a previously generated page, I was imagining that it might be possible to have an SCE for the body and and SCE for the nagivagion, each which would show up if the correct access was set.

Wally Box
Nike, Inc.

Migrateduser

It sounds as though you're clear on this now, but to make sure, it is not possible to have two SCE's for a single generated page, whether it's comprised of component DCR's or not.

Dave

Current Environment(s):
(1) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K3
(2) TS 6.1 SP1 on W2K
(3) TS 5.5.2 SP2 on Win2K

Adam Stoller

I'm not sure if it still works - and was rarely convinced that it was a good design - but I believe if you use HTML *frames* and put the navigation in one frame and the body content in another frame it is possible to have the SCE toolbar show up for each frame (I can't remember whether it was the default or an option in the old SCE toolbar - nor whether it still exists, but ...)

Again - this is assuming that the frames are loading different HTML files within them - not a single HTML page that is just divided into two visual regions. - so I'm not sure that this is what you really want to do.

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