atw: Re: XML and Word - Transforms



> -----Original Message-----
> From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nikki Ward
> Sent: Thursday, 13 July 2006 10:01 AM
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: atw: XML and Word - Transforms
> 
> 
> 
> Hi there,
> 
> Has anyone used XML tags, schema's and transforms in Word yet?
> 

I have set up schemas in XMLSpy and linked them into Word 2003 Professional
to mark-up content from specifications done in MS_Word for export to IT
environment (save data only will only save the element info. Otherwise it
saves a lot of MS material as well (font info etc etc))

The need is due to a customisation option in some software in that we don't
want a lot of documents hanging around. Taking the required content from the
original spec into XML using the mark-up and adding to the DB allows for
association of the XML with a style sheet. 

Thus one has quick documentation of what is in the DB tables by extracting
using XML and the display using CSS (XMLSpy comes with DB table access for
most DB formats). 

Thus there is no intermediate stage of Word documents etc other than the
original generic specification that gets pumped into RoboHelp for a generic
On-Line Help and then a link to the custom pages details is added.

As for CMS - of the different CMS systems I have reviewed recently, plone
seems to cover things well (http://plone.org) and is very easy to download
and install. (then comes the configuration exercise!) but it has workflow
config and file sharing config etc that is easy to use.... and it is Open
Source.

One can use small twiki environments for departments (http://www.twiki.org)
but you do need to know what you are doing to set it up. The focus is on
letting local contexts set up FAQs etc and local management with XML schemas
allowing for the markup and transmission of information required outside of
that local environment.

The issue with using twiki etc for all is that they can turn into the
Barrier Reef if allowed when exposed to a lot of users! So try and keep them
local.

I am currently 'playing' with SharePoint but it does little without the
portal add-on (and that means $$) and it is a bit 'click click
click,,,,click click'!

My overall perspective is on letting local context choose their preferred
tools out of a given set of possibles e.g. network/support use twiki
(unix/linux/win environs), admin on Office/Word, CMS in plone etc and XML
can link the lot to cover movements across different local contexts. (noting
that one has to use MS-Office 2003 professional or higher to implement XML
in that environment - no idea about Office 2007)

Too see what you can do with a single XHTML page and CSS see:

http://www.csszengarden.com

This reflects how to get data in XML format out of the DB and display.

Chris.


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