A User Interface

Dynamic Converter includes administrative pages that you use to create and administer your dynamic conversion environment:

"Dynamic Converter Admin Page"
"Dynamic Converter Configuration Page"
"Template Selection Rules Page"
"Template Check-In Form"
"Edit Templates Page"

A.1 Dynamic Converter Admin Page

If you click either of the Dynamic Converter Admin links (see "Dynamic Converter Admin Link"), the Dynamic Converter Admin page is displayed.

Figure A-1 Dynamic Converter Admin Page

You can do the following on the Dynamic Converter Admin page:

Create and manage template selection rules (see Chapter 3, "Template Rules")
Check in existing templates (see Chapter 4, "Conversion Templates")
Create new templates (see Chapter 5, "HTML Conversion Templates")
Edit existing templates (see Chapter 5, "HTML Conversion Templates")
Configure Dynamic Converter settings (see Chapter 2, "Configuring Dynamic Converter")

A.2 Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

There are several configuration settings that determine how Dynamic Converter handles source documents. You can specify the default template to use for source documents, the file types to convert, the number of criteria fields available on the template selection rules page, and a number of other Dynamic Converter translation options.

You set these configuration options on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page, which you access by clicking Configuration Settings on the Dynamic Converter Admin page (see "Dynamic Converter Admin Page").

This page is presented in several sections:

"General Conversion Settings"
"UNIX Configuration Settings"
"Classic HTML Template Conversion Configuration Settings"
"Script Template Conversion Configuration Settings"
"Conversion and Caching Optimizations"

When you are done, click the Update button at the bottom of the page to apply any configuration changes you made. Changes made on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page take effect immediately and do not require a restart of the Content Server.

A.2.1 General Conversion Settings

Figure A-2 General Settings on Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

Dynamic Converter Configuration page and settings

The general settings section of the Dynamic Converter Configuration page enables you to set a number of conversion settings, such as the default template and layout, the supported conversion formats, etc.

The following options are available (for each page section):

Default Template

Option	Definition
Template	This is the name of the template that is applied to source documents that fall outside of your template selection rules. A default template can be especially useful when you are still setting up your template selection rules. You might, for example, create a blank, or stripped-down, template as the default.
Available Templates	This is a list of all the available templates currently stored in the Content Server.
Template Types	This is a list of the different types of templates: HTML Conversion Template, Classic HTML Conversion Template, and Script Template. When you choose a template type, a list of available templates of that type are displayed in the Available Templates field. For more information, see "Template Types".

Default Layout

Option	Definition
Layout	This is the name of the layout template that is applied to source documents that fall outside of your template selection rules. This only applies to Classic HTML Conversion templates. You might create a default layout template that includes the Content Server borders and navigation.
Available Layouts	This is a list of all the available layout templates currently stored in the Content Server.

Conversion Format

Option	Definition
Formats	These are the supported file formats that are converted by Dynamic Converter and as a result, will include an (HTML) link next to them. A file format is the same as a MIME type, and it can be specified using the same comma delimited values (application/rtf, application/msword, etc.). It is important to note that this Format setting serves a different purpose than the Format field on the Template Selection Rules page (see "Template Selection Rules Page"), which assigns templates to source documents based on their file type. When Dynamic Converter is used with Inbound Refinery (or another conversion add-on), a list of file formats similar to the Available Templates list may be available. If Dynamic Converter is used as a stand-alone system, the list may be empty, and you will need to manually add them. For more information, see "Adding File Formats For Dynamic Conversion".

Option

Definition

Formats

These are the supported file formats that are converted by Dynamic Converter and as a result, will include an (HTML) link next to them. A file format is the same as a MIME type, and it can be specified using the same comma delimited values (application/rtf, application/msword, etc.). It is important to note that this Format setting serves a different purpose than the Format field on the Template Selection Rules page (see "Template Selection Rules Page"), which assigns templates to source documents based on their file type.

When Dynamic Converter is used with Inbound Refinery (or another conversion add-on), a list of file formats similar to the Available Templates list may be available. If Dynamic Converter is used as a stand-alone system, the list may be empty, and you will need to manually add them. For more information, see "Adding File Formats For Dynamic Conversion".

Other Settings

Option	Definition
Maximum File Size	This is the maximum size of the source file that Dynamic Converter will process. The value must be entered in bytes. The default is 20,000,000 bytes (just over 19 MB).
Time Out	This is the amount of time that Dynamic Converter will spend processing a source document. If the conversion takes longer than this specified time, Dynamic Converter will quit the conversion and generate an error. The default is three minutes.
Rule Criteria	This is the number of individual criteria fields that is available per rule on the Template Selection Rules page. The default is two criteria per rule.
Rendition	This is the source content item that is converted by Dynamic Converter. The options include: native (the source document), alternate file (the alternative file available for the source document), and web-viewable (the web-compatible version of a source document). The default choice is "native." Please note that the default treatment of primary files versus alternate files is slightly different in more recent versions of Dynamic Converter. Prior to version 6.0, the alternate file was used as long as it was found in the supported file formats list. Dynamic Converter now lets you specify the exact version of the source document to convert: native (primary), alternate, or web-viewable.

A.2.2 UNIX Configuration Settings

Figure A-3 UNIX Settings on Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

Dynamic Converter Configuration page and UNIX settings

The UNIX System Configuration section on the configuration page enables you to configure a number of UNIX-specific settings. These settings do not appear on the configuration page if you are running Dynamic Converter on a Windows system.

Option	Definition
DISPLAY	Enter a value for the DISPLAY environment variable (for example, "10.133.91.193:0.0"). This value determines where display information is sent. This variable tells the X Windows application where to send its data. This setting only applies if the "Use X Windows for Rasterization" check box is selected.
Font Path	This value sets a directory path or paths which have TrueType or FreeType fonts. If this font path is empty or does not have valid fonts in it, your conversion will fail. Use colons to separate directory paths, for example: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype:/usr/share/fonts/default/ TrueType:/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF

A.2.3 Classic HTML Template Conversion Configuration Settings

Figure A-4 Classic HTML Template Conversion Configuration Settings on Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

The Classic HTML Template Conversion Configuration section on the configuration page enables you to configure a number of settings related to the conversion of Classic HTML Conversion templates (for more information, see Chapter 5, "HTML Conversion Templates").

Option	Definition
Use X Windows for Rasterization	This option is displayed on UNIX systems only. If you select this check box, the X Windows graphics device is used for rendering graphics and fonts during template conversions. For Linux and Solaris, you can uncheck this box to use Dynamic Converter's internal software rendering mechanism.
Use Services For Intradocument Hyperlinks	If you select this check box, hyperlinks within a converted document are written as URLs with service calls (for example, using GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION) to refer to the targets rather than file locations in the Web Layout conversion cache. This can help prevent links from becoming broken if the referenced converted item (for example, a sheet within a PowerPoint presentation) is no longer available in the conversion cache (for example, because its maximum caching period expired and the cached file was deleted). The called service will regenerate the referenced converted item if it no longer exists in the cache. This option is selected by default.

Option

Definition

Use X Windows for Rasterization

This option is displayed on UNIX systems only.

If you select this check box, the X Windows graphics device is used for rendering graphics and fonts during template conversions. For Linux and Solaris, you can uncheck this box to use Dynamic Converter's internal software rendering mechanism.

Use Services For Intradocument Hyperlinks

If you select this check box, hyperlinks within a converted document are written as URLs with service calls (for example, using GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION) to refer to the targets rather than file locations in the Web Layout conversion cache. This can help prevent links from becoming broken if the referenced converted item (for example, a sheet within a PowerPoint presentation) is no longer available in the conversion cache (for example, because its maximum caching period expired and the cached file was deleted). The called service will regenerate the referenced converted item if it no longer exists in the cache.

This option is selected by default.

A.2.4 Script Template Conversion Configuration Settings

Figure A-5 Script Template Conversion Configuration Settings on Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

The Script Template Conversion Configuration section on the configuration page enables you to directly access the global script template settings (for more information, see Chapter 7, "Script Templates"). Any changes you make by adding or commenting out parts of this file will override other conversion options. This file contains comments that explain each of the available options.

Text in this box is not verified for correct syntax.

A.2.5 Conversion and Caching Optimizations

Figure A-6 Conversion and Caching Optimizations on Dynamic Converter Configuration Page

Conversion and caching optimization settings

The Conversion and Caching Optimizations settings have been present in the config.cfg file, but are now exposed on the configuration page. The authoritative location for these settings is on the configuration page. If you had these set in a previous config.cfg, those values will be used to populate the values on the configuration page.

Option	Definition
Dated Cache Interval Days	This option defines the frequency (in days) with which the conversion cache is evaluated and cached items may be considered for deletion, depending on how long they have been in the cache and their conversion status. The default is 7 days (i.e., the cache is evaluated once a week). This setting applies to a number of Content Server related products (not just Dynamic Converter).
Conversion Cache Expiration Period	This option defines the number of days that must pass before converted items in the cache may be considered for deletion. Date expiration only applies to cached items for documents that are no longer present and to cached items that were not generated by forced conversion (for more information, see "Forced Conversions"). The default is 7 days (i.e., cached items are not considered for deletion unless they are more than one week old).
Max. Conversion Cache Size	This option defines the number of megabytes of the file cache that is allowed for dynamic conversions. If it is exceeded, then during the next clean-up cycle (which, by default, is seven days) the caches that have not been accessed for the longest period of time are deleted first. (The list for deleting is sorted by the "last accessed" date in ascending order.) If the cache size limit is not exceeded, then the caches are examined for potential deletion in the same order, but caches that are forced conversions of existing documents are not deleted. The default is 10,000 (about 9.8 GB).
Use Upfront and Forced Conversions	Choose whether all upfront conversion and forced conversions should be enabled (for more information, see "Upfront Conversions" and "Forced Conversions").
Reevaluate conversion rules during re-indexing	Choose whether all upfront and forced conversions should be re-evaluated during a re-index cycle. You might temporarily enable this Element, for example, to re-translate all relevant content items using a new conversion rule that you created. To do so, enable this option, rebuild the Content Server index, and then disable this option again.
Reconvert when metadata is updated	Choose whether to convert items again if their metadata is updated. For more information, see "Metadata Changes".
Timestamp Check Frequency	Specify the frequency with which Dynamic Converter checks the timestamp of converted content items. For more information, see "Timestamp Checking Frequency".
Use database method to determine if content items need reconversion	This option is available only if the "Reconvert when metadata is updated" option is enabled. It allows you to specify that the database method should be used to determine if a content item's metadata has been updated. For more information, see "Metadata Changes".

A.3 Template Selection Rules Page

Use the Template Selection Rules page to add, remove, and re-order rules. To access this page, click Template Selection Rules on the Dynamic Converter Admin page (see "Dynamic Converter Admin Page").

Figure A-7 Template Selection Rules Page

Rules are processed from the top down. When a user requests a source document in Content Server, the rule that appears first in this list is processed. If the rule does not apply (for example, the source document might contain metadata not specified in the rule), then the next rule is processed. This process continues until it reaches the last rule in your list.

Once a rule has been added, you can use the criteria section to define or target your rule toward the source documents stored in the Content Server. You might, for example, choose "Type" as a category and "Report" as the name so that your rule applies to all documents with the type "Report."

Lastly, you will choose a template for your rule. In a second template field, you can specify a layout template that complements a Classic HTML Conversion template by establishing a consistent page layout (borders, navigation, scripting, etc.) for your converted documents.

Note:

Rules that were created in a Dynamic Converter version prior to 6.1 appear as a numbered rule in this version of Dynamic Converter. You can continue using that rule or delete it and re-create the rule in Dynamic Converter 11gR1 (you cannot rename a rule).

Page Features

The following options are available (for each page section):

Template Selection Rules

Option	Definitions
Move Up	Click this button to move a rule up the list, giving it precedence over the rules below it. Template selection rules are processed from the top-down.
Move Down	Click this button to move a rule down the list, giving it less importance than the rules above it. Template selection rules are processed from the top-down.
Delete Rule	Click this button to remove a rule from the list. When you remove a rule, you are removing the customized settings for that rule (metadata criteria and template).
Add New Rule	Click this button to add a new rule to the Template Selection Rules list. Once you add a rule, you can move it up or down in the list, changing the order that it is processed by Dynamic Converter.

Criteria for Selected Rule

Option	Definitions
Field	These are the metadata fields that you can base a template selection rule on (all fields are case-sensitive). The number of criteria that you can specify for each rule is controlled by a setting on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page (see "Dynamic Converter Configuration Page"). The following metadata fields are available: Content ID: The unique identifier of a content item. The content ID can be assigned by a user or automatically generated by Content Server. Your template, as a result, is assigned to only one content item. Title: The descriptive name assigned to a content item by the user. Your template, as a result, is assigned to only one content item. Author: The person who created or revised the content item. Your template is assigned to all content items created by this author. Type: The category of content items (a category is created in the Configuration Manager in Content Server). Your template is assigned to all content items matching this category. Security Group: The set of files with the same access privileges, generally 'public' and 'secure.' Your template is assigned to all content items matching this security group. Template Type: Facilitates searches for templates in the Content Server. Format: The file format for a content item (this is determined by the application used to create the file). A file format is the same as a MIME type, and it can be specified using the same comma delimited values (application/rtf, application/msword, etc.). Please note that the Conversion Formats field on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page (see "Dynamic Converter Configuration Page") serves a different purpose, and that is to control which file formats will actually be converted by Dynamic Converter. User Agent: The viewing device that requests and downloads content from a web server. Typically, this is a web browser that runs on a computer, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera. You can target a particular web browser by entering its value in this text box (such as msie 7 for Internet Explorer 7, firefox 2 for Mozilla Firefox 2, webtv 1 for WebTV viewers, and so on). This setting is particularly useful for targeting your content to mobile devices. If you have added custom metadata to the Content Server, those values will appear in this list too.
Value	This is the specific metadata value for your criteria. Source documents are converted with the associated template if their metadata value matches the value listed here. You can select the desired metadata from the menu to the right of the Value field. You can also use wildcards in the Value field (for example report). An * (asterisk) wildcard represents any number of characters, and a ? (question mark) represents a single character. For example, the value report* includes report2001, reporting, and reports. The value report? includes reports and report8, but it does not include report10.

Option

Definitions

Field

These are the metadata fields that you can base a template selection rule on (all fields are case-sensitive). The number of criteria that you can specify for each rule is controlled by a setting on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page (see "Dynamic Converter Configuration Page").

The following metadata fields are available:

Content ID: The unique identifier of a content item. The content ID can be assigned by a user or automatically generated by Content Server. Your template, as a result, is assigned to only one content item.
Title: The descriptive name assigned to a content item by the user. Your template, as a result, is assigned to only one content item.
Author: The person who created or revised the content item. Your template is assigned to all content items created by this author.
Type: The category of content items (a category is created in the Configuration Manager in Content Server). Your template is assigned to all content items matching this category.
Security Group: The set of files with the same access privileges, generally 'public' and 'secure.' Your template is assigned to all content items matching this security group.
Template Type: Facilitates searches for templates in the Content Server.
Format: The file format for a content item (this is determined by the application used to create the file). A file format is the same as a MIME type, and it can be specified using the same comma delimited values (application/rtf, application/msword, etc.). Please note that the Conversion Formats field on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page (see "Dynamic Converter Configuration Page") serves a different purpose, and that is to control which file formats will actually be converted by Dynamic Converter.
User Agent: The viewing device that requests and downloads content from a web server. Typically, this is a web browser that runs on a computer, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera. You can target a particular web browser by entering its value in this text box (such as *msie 7* for Internet Explorer 7, *firefox 2* for Mozilla Firefox 2, *webtv 1* for WebTV viewers, and so on). This setting is particularly useful for targeting your content to mobile devices.

If you have added custom metadata to the Content Server, those values will appear in this list too.

Value

This is the specific metadata value for your criteria. Source documents are converted with the associated template if their metadata value matches the value listed here.

You can select the desired metadata from the menu to the right of the Value field. You can also use wildcards in the Value field (for example *report*). An * (asterisk) wildcard represents any number of characters, and a ? (question mark) represents a single character. For example, the value report* includes report2001, reporting, and reports. The value report? includes reports and report8, but it does not include report10.

Template and Layout for Selected Rule

Option	Definitions
Template	This is the name (content ID) of the template that you want to apply to source documents matching the above criteria.
Available Templates	This is a list of all the available templates currently stored in the Content Server.
Template Types	This is a list of the different types of templates: HTML Conversion Template, Classic HTML Conversion Template, and Script Template. When you choose a template type, a list of available templates of that type will display in the Available Templates field. For more information, see Chapter 4, "Conversion Templates."
Edit Template	This button is activated once you enter a recognized template in the Template text box. Click this button to open the Template Editor. (The Template Editor contains a suite of editing options, all in a graphical user interface.) The first time you click this button, you are prompted to download the Template Editor. For more information, see "Classic HTML Conversion Template Editor".
Layout	This is the name of the layout template. This only applies for the Classic HTML Conversion templates. A layout template is commonly used along with another template to control the placement of items on a web page, in particular, the areas outside of the converted content (borders, navigation, company logo, custom script, etc.).
Available Layouts	This is a list of all the available layout templates currently stored in Content Server.

Other Settings

Option	Definitions
File Extension	Set the file extension of converted pages that use this rule.
Forced Conversion	Indicates that this rule is to be used for forced conversion (see "Forced Conversions"). This rule will always be applied to content items as long as the content items match the rule criteria. The conversion results can be retrieved using the incDynamicConversionByRule Idoc Script function or the GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION service with the conversionRule parameter specified.
Exclude From User Request	Indicates that the rule should not be used when a user clicks on the HTML rendition link or menu item. Rules designed for fragments (see "Fragment-Only Conversions") and used by the incDynamicConversionByRule Idoc Script function should be excluded from Dynamic Converter's rule evaluation during a user request.
Update	Click this button to apply any changes that you have made to the Template Selection Rules page.
Quick Help	Click this button to display context-sensitive help information about this page.

A.4 Template Check-In Form

Use this page to check in an existing Dynamic Converter template file. To access this page, click Check In Existing Template on the Dynamic Converter Admin page (see "Dynamic Converter Admin Page").

Figure A-8 Dynamic Converter Template Check-In Form

This page is very similar to a typical Content Server check-in form. The main difference is the option to choose a template type. It is very important to select the appropriate template type (for more information, see "Template Types") so that your Dynamic Converter menus and the Template Editor function properly.

A.5 Edit Templates Page

Use this page to edit an existing template (that is, one that is already checked into the Content Server). To access this page, click Edit Existing Template on the Dynamic Converter Admin page (see "Dynamic Converter Admin Page").

Figure A-9 Edit Templates Page

You can either type the content ID of an existing template or, much easier, you can select from the list of templates in the Content Server.

If a known template is not included in the list of available templates, then it was most likely not assigned the correct Template type when it was checked into the Content Server (for more information, see "Checking In a Template"). You then need to open the content information page of the checked-in template and update its template type.

After you specify a template, the Edit Template button becomes available. Click this button to open the Template Editor (for more information, see "About Templates"). The HTML Conversion Editor will be downloaded to your machine.

With some browsers, such as Firefox, you may be prompted for how to handle the file dc_hcmapedit.jnlp. The correct way to open this file is with Java(TM) Web Start Launcher (default).

Note:

The Template Editor comes with its own extensive help system, which can be called from the application's user interface.