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New features and enhancements in SDL Contenta S1000D 5.3

This section lists features and enhancements that were introduced in SDL Contenta S1000D 5.3.

Reusable Components

SDL Contenta S1000D includes "author assist" capabilities, which can aid you with quickly locating reusable components and then reusing them in the Data Module (DM) that you are currently editing in Arbortext Editor. Contenta S1000D 5.3 provides enhanced support for five types of reusable components: warnings, cautions, support equipment, supplies, and spares.

To populate a reusable component repository in the CSDB with warnings, cautions, support equipment, supplies, and spares, in Arbortext Editor click Contenta > Add Reusable Component to CSDB Repository. To reuse/share Issue 4.1 warnings or cautions, edit the desired CIR DM and add these warnings or cautions, as appropriate. Once added to the CSDB repository, or to a CIR warnings/cautions DM, or to an internal warnings/cautions repository, these components can be inserted into a DM. In Arbortext Editor, click Contenta > Insert Reusable Component.

See Chapter 4, "Working with reusable components in the editor" in the SDL Contenta S1000D User Guide for more information on reusable components.

LiveContent Preview has been modified to resolve references to and display:
  • warnings and cautions from Common Information Repositories (CIRs)
  • warnings and cautions from internal repositories

The S1000D Publish tool resolves content references when you publish. When you check the Get Latest Content check box in the S1000D Publish tool interface (which is checked by default), this tool will also update reusable components, and report which data modules it updates. For example, these are sample lines from a publish log file:

[REF RESOLVE] Modified DMC-SAMPLEBIKE-AAA-D00-00-00-00AA-041A-A.xml

[COMPONENT UPDATE] Modified DMC-SAMPLEBIKE-AAA-D00-00-00-00AA-041A-A.xml

[COMPONENT UPDATE] Modified DMC-SAMPLEBIKE-AAA-D00-00-00-00AA-121A-A.xml

Formerly S1000D Publish reported how many files it modified but did not report the names of the modified files.

For more information, see the following topics in Chapter 9, "Publishing S1000D Content" in the SDL Contenta S1000D User Guide.
  • Publishing an IETP
  • Publishing a PDF

S1000D Publish

Added support for publishing directly from XPP Web Services.

Due to persistent issues occurring when using XPP Pub in a multi-user publish environment, S1000D Publish no longer uses XPP Pub to call XPP Web Services, but instead calls XPP Web Services directly. If you (or the SDL ProServ team) have customized the S1000D Publish tool for XPP output, there may be additional work required when you upgrade. You should contact SDL ProServ for an "upgrade analysis" service.

S1000D Object Layer

Added the SystemDifferenceCode object layer to the Contenta S1000D database hierarchy, visible in the tree view in Contenta Explorer and Contenta Web.

Added the createSystemDifferenceCodeObjects AppData setting to control whether to add the SystemDifferenceCode level to the S1000D hierarchy. For for backward compatibility with existing databases, this is set to no; in a new S1000D database, is set to yes.

Data Module Type Mapping

Added support for associating a data module type (DM Type) with each data module code (DMC) right in a CSV file. You use the setDMType command from drop-down list (or the Action column). When you subsequently import the CSV file and create DM objects from templates, the correct template (DM Type) will be used.
  • The DM Type for DMC entries in a CSV file is now associated with the DMC code (not the information code), and it is used to determine what object type to create when creating the object from a template.
  • The Manage DMRL and IRL interface now shows the DM Type, in addition to other settings that are associated with a DMC. You can also set or change the DM Type associated with a DMC code in this interface.
  • You can no longer use the Define DMRL and IRL interface to create objects from a template. You now use the Manage DMRL and IRL interface exclusively to create objects from templates.
  • You can still set DM Types associated with Information Codes (IC); however, this DM Type is no longer used by any Contenta S1000D tools. It is retained for customization.
See the following topics in the SDL Contenta S1000D User Guide:
  • Uploading a CSV File to Create S1000D Codes
  • Adding MNS Codes
  • Defining DMRL
  • Creating DMs
  • Manage DMRL and IRL
  • Define DMRL and IRL

S1000D Issue Support

New schema support for SDL Contenta S1000D includes:
  • Issue 4.0.2
  • Issue 4.2

Contenta S1000D database upgrade changes

This section lists the changes made to your existing Contenta S1000D databases when you upgrade them to Contenta S1000D 5.3. You must run upgrade_S1000D_53.pl to realize these databases changes. See the Upgrading an SDL Contenta S1000D Database topic in Chapter 2, "Upgrading Contenta S1000D" in the Contenta S1000D Installation and Upgrade Guide for more information on upgrading your database.
  • Added new database tables to the schema to support Reusable Components.
  • Added the Modify S1000D Reusable Data system tool to support Reusable Components.

    To control access, the Contenta SysAdmin should assign this tool to other toolboxes, as needed.

  • Added support for improved reporting on S1000D projects. A new property field named Percent Complete has been added to DModule, PModule, and SCORMContentPackage objects. This property field may then be manually completed by the user to indicate his or her progress when working in projects.
  • Added support for displaying a large number of Data Module objects in a Contenta S1000D database. Data Module objects will now be indexed.
  • Added support for ContentRoutingProject objects. This adds the S1000D Publish, S1000D Upload, and S1000D Validate tools to ContentRoutingProject objects, and allows ContentRoutingProjects to create the appropriate S1000D objects.
  • Added the SystemDifferenceCode object, and the createSystemDifferenceCodeObjects AppData setting, to control whether to add the SystemDifferenceCode level to the S1000D hierarchy (in AppData, click {Global} > Settings > CaS Upload > createSystemDifferenceCodeObjects. For backward compatibility with existing databases, this is set to no; in new S1000D databases, this is set to yes.
    The following Contenta S1000D tools are impacted by the CreateSystemDifferenceCodeObjects AppData setting:
    • S1000D Upload—uploading DMs and ICN-based graphics
    • S1000D Define DRML and IRL—when the option to create a DM or ICN from the code is checked
    • S1000D Manage DMRL and IRL—when the create tool is selected for a DM or ICN

Accessing Product Documentation

The SDL Contenta and SDL Contenta S1000D product documentation is available in PDF format from the following sources:
  • The Contenta Explorer and Contenta Web interfaces (click Help > SDL Contenta Help).
  • The SDL Contenta S1000D documentation—including an Acrobat Catalog search index—is available as a .zip download from the following FTP Site: ftp://SDLdoc2:ReadTheDoc@ftp.sct.sdl.com/download

    Once you download the.zip file, and decompress it in a folder on your system, double-click search_contenta_s1000d in Acrobat Reader, and then search away.