The Validation Process

The following sections describe the many areas of a Documaker document that the validation process checks.

The validation process checks that all elements:

have their required attributes
are correctly nested; for example, that a form document contains section elements
do not occupy exactly the same range
do not overlap; for example, that a section element does not overlap with another section element
are located only in the allowable areas of the Documaker document
are positioned correctly relative to page boundaries, tables, and frames
are not corrupt – elements can become corrupt if:
- you directly edit an element’s Word Content Control using Word’s functionality instead of the Add-In’s element editing function
- you directly edit a Word variable using Word’s functionality instead of the Add-In’s element editing function

The validation process also checks that:

all element attributes (names, descriptions, and values) have the correct length
all element attributes do not contain any unallowed characters; these are listed in each dialog-level help topic and in this guide
Word tables, shapes and frames are only in elements that support them
section and paragraph elements that are configured to be replaced with Studio's library version are actually present in the Workspace Definition File; for detailed information about this "Studio library replacement" setting, view the descriptions for this Section or Paragraph setting

In addition to the general validation of all element types described previously, there are other validation checks specifically for field elements.

For field elements, the validation process checks that:

The validation process checks that all graphic elements that are based on workspace definition file (WDF) entries:

The validation process checks that:

all paragraph lists are located within paragraph elements
no paragraphs, sections, or triggers have duplicate names
inline shapes have not been converted into non-inline shapes
all fonts used in the Documaker document are listed in WDF; the validation process checks the font names, sizes, and styles (bold and italic)

Important

We strongly recommended that you validate a Documaker document if it has been edited in a version of Word that does not have the Add-In installed.