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Conversion phase

Before the actual import, the source data is validated and prepared: it is the conversion phase.

Conversion operations

The purpose of the conversion phase is to convert content (by default only DITA content is converted), and to generate/prepare metadata.

Content conversion involves:
  • The validation of DITA content against the Content Manager DTDs.
  • The creation of the filemap.xml file, used for mapping in the next item.
  • The replacement of file paths by identifiers in internal links.
  • The generation of Content Manager's conditions (ishcondition).
  • The conversion of doc types, from //OASIS// to //RWS// for example.
Metadata preparation involves:
  • The generation of identifiers for objects.
  • The creation of .3sish files.
  • The execution of the Post -XSL. The ContentImporter.xsl file is provided as an example of XSL file.
Conversion is applied to files with the following extensions:
  • .dita
  • .ditamap
  • .xml

Content Importer ignores files with other file extensions, except for images. Metadata is prepared for images that have file extensions according to a resolution map configured through the user interface.

Type of import

Content is only converted in Standard imports.

Metadata is only modified in Standard and Translation imports. The post-XSL is only executed in Standard imports.

Validation

The DITA maps and topics are validated against the Content Manager DTDs. These are located using the catalog.xml file that is located on the Content Manager server.

Identifiers generation

The values of the following attributes are converted to identifiers for objects:
  • The @id attributes on the root elements
  • The @href attributes on all elements
  • The @conref and @conrefend attributes
The values of @keyref attributes are not modified.
Content Importer uses existing object identifiers (starting with GUID), or identifiers provided by the user, if they are present in one of the following items:
  • A .3sish file (or an existing .met file, but .3sish is preferred).
  • The file name of the object to be imported.
  • An existing filemap.xml file if one is manually added by the user to the source content (which is possible but not recommended).

Content Manager condition generation

The DITA conditional processing attributes and their values are converted to Content Manager conditions. For example, otherprops="screen_shots" is converted to ishcondition="otherprops=screen_shots".

File generation

Content Importer adds the following files to the conversion folder:
  • .3sish files storing the metadata.
  • filemap.xml storing mapping information with file paths to objects in the Repository (different from the filemap.xml that a user may provide as input).
  • import.status storing status information about the conversion or import of metadata and content files.
  • Rolling log files: an Import Report.log file is created. By default, it receives a date tag in the name when it reaches the maximum size, and another one is created. The oldest file is deleted when the number of files reaches the maximum. Behavior and maximum levels are set in the NLog configuration.
By default, the following metadata is set in the metadata files (.3sish) in the conversion directory:
Metadata fieldValueImport type
AuthorThe name of the signed-in user when Content Importer is used.Standard
Title
DITA maps
The value of the <title> element. If nothing is found, then the value of the @title attribute on the <map> element. If nothing is found then the file name.
DITA topics
The content of the <title> element. If the content of the <title> element contains a @conref or @conkeyref attribute, that value is not resolved.
Graphics
The original file name of the object.
Standard
Version1Standard
LanguageThe default language.Standard
ResolutionThe default resolution (graphics only).Standard
StatusThe corresponding initial status as defined in Settings > XML Settings > Statuses, in most cases Draft.Standard
StatusThe status in the Translation status after import field. This value, if specified, overwrites the existing value.Translation

If there are metadata files (.3sish or .met) in the source directory, the metadata is copied into the corresponding metadata files (.3sish) in the conversion directory.

The .3sish files that are located in the conversion directory have been modified by the custom post-XSL file, if specified.

Resuming and restarting

You can pause and resume during the conversion phase. The conversion then proceeds with the remaining operations.

If you interrupt the import during the conversion phase (when you cancel the import for example), and then restart it, Content Importer only converts the files that have not been successfully converted before the interruption. Additionally:
  • Added files are converted.
  • Changed files are converted.
  • Files removed from the source folder are also removed from the converted files.

If a filemap.xml file is provided by the user in the source folder, or if the import settings are changed after the interruption, all files will be converted again, whether or not they were converted before.