Working with Document Collections

An AnswerBook2 collection is a logical grouping of books. For example, you might have a collection that contains all Solaris^TM developer-oriented books. This collection can be an AnswerBook2 (SGML) collection or an AnswerBook1 (Display PostScript^TM) collection.

Listing Collections

To see a list of all collections installed on your server, select View List of Available Collections from the Admin GUI. This list includes AnswerBook1 collections and AnswerBook2 collections.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o list [-m server_name] [-p server_port]

Adding New Collections

To add a collection to the server's database, select Add Collection to List from the Admin GUI. This function assumes the collection already exists as an installed package on the server's system or some other system to which the server has access. If the collection is not yet installed, use pkgadd to add the collection first, then use this function. For new collections (those that are on the Solaris 7 Documentation CD, for example), if you run the pkgadd command on the server, it adds the collections to the server's list automatically.

Perform the following steps to install the collection:

1. Enter a valid path to the collection file in the Path to Collection field.

   For example, /opt/answerbooks/english/solaris_2.7/SUNWababe/collinfo. The path must point to a directory that contains either a collinfo file for an AnswerBook2 collection or an ab_cardcatalog file for an AnswerBook1 collection.

2. Click on Add Collection.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o add_coll -d path_to_collection

After you install a collection, you must restart the documentation server. To restart the documentation server, click Restart on the Admin GUI's status page or type the following from the command line:

# /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o restart

Adding Existing Collections

The AnswerBook2 server can scan your current system to find locally installed AnswerBook1 and AnswerBook2 collections and add them to the server's database. To have the server perform this function for you, select Scan for Locally Installed Collections from the Admin GUI. This function creates and displays a list of all valid document collections it finds on the local system.

To add a collection to the server's database:

1. Click on the checkbox next to the collection you want to add.

2. When you have selected all the collections you want, click on Add Selected Collections.

Collections that do not have a checkbox next to them are already in the database.

If the list does not include document collections that are installed on a local mount point, verify that the directory into which the collections were installed has read access set for others.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o scan

The command line scanning function adds all the collections it finds; it does not allow you to choose which collections to add.

After you install a collection, you must restart the documentation server. To restart the documentation server, click Restart on the Admin GUI's status page or type the following from the command line:

# /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o restart

Removing AnswerBook2 Collections

To remove an AnswerBook2 or AnswerBook1 collection from the server's database, select Delete Collection from List from the Admin GUI. To remove the collection:

1. Select the checkbox next to the title(s) of the collection(s) you want to remove from the Collection List. To deselect a selected item, click the checkbox again.

2. After you have selected all the collections you want removed, click on Delete Collection.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o del_coll -t collection_title

These functions do not remove the collection packages from the system; they only remove the entry for the collection from the server's database. To remove the packages from the system use the pkgrm utility.

After you remove a collection, you must restart the documentation server. To restart the documentation server, click Restart on the Admin GUI's status page or type the following from the command line:

# /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o restart