Using a Conversion Definition with Native Documents

When you assign a native document to a contribution region, (or allow contributors to add native documents to the site), a conversion definition is used to transform a native document to display inline on a Web site. The conversion definition is a rule, template, or combination of both that defines how a native document is converted to HTML and displayed in the page.

When you have a defined conversion definition, adding native documents to the web page is as simple as adding any other asset.

To add a conversion definition to a region template, follow these steps:

1. In the region template, right-click. The contextual menu displays.

2. Select Insert Object, then select Dynamic Conversion.

   The Insert Dynamic Conversion dialog (see Insert Dynamic Conversion Dialog) appears.

3. Select the conversion definition from the menu, or enter the name of a new conversion definition.

4. Click OK.

5. The conversion definition is now placed on the region template. You can now assign a native document by using the Assign Content dialog (see Assign Content Dialog, or the contributor can add the native document.

The conversion definition can also be written in source view directly.

With native documents, you don't have the kind of formatting control over the final web page like you do with contributor data files (which can be precisely controlled in an element).

As such, you should spend considerable time designing conversion templates specific to your site and then encouraging contributors to use styles in the native document that you can map to styles in the conversion template.

For more information on conversion definitions, including creating them and modifying the associated rules and templates, see Conversion Definitions.