The Validation Process
The following sections describe the many areas of a Documaker document that the validation process checks.
General Validation of All Documaker Elements
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
- The document is in the current version of Word
Validation of Field Elements
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 range of each inline field element is less than a full paragraph
- The range of each multi-line element includes one or more complete paragraphs
Validation of Graphic Elements
The validation process checks that all graphic elements that are based on workspace definition file (WDF) entries:
- Are actually present in the WDF
- Match the size specified in the WDF
Validation of Redact Tags
If there is a WDF attached to the document then redact tags defined in each element are validated against redact tag set defined in the WDF. If any element has redact tags not found in the redact tag set defined in WDF, then these elements are reported on validation.
If there is no WDF attached to the document then only the syntax of redact tags is validated:
- Redact Tags may include only letters, digits, spaces, and underscores
- Each individual tag is limited to 64 characters
- Different Redact Tags are separated by a comma separator
- All tags together (including comma separator) may not exceed 255 characters
It is hard to store redact tags with invalid syntax in the document as the syntax is checked on every change and invalid characters are filtered out. Long tags are truncated right away.
Other Validation Checks
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 the 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. |