Upgrade Planning for Siebel Web Template Files and Style Sheets

Environments: Development environment only.

Siebel Web templates and Siebel Web template files (SWT files) help define the layout and formatting of the user interface, such as views, applets, and controls. The Siebel Web Engine in the Siebel Server uses the Siebel Web templates to build Web pages, which it then forwards to the Siebel Application Interface.

A Siebel Web template file contains regular HTML or XML tags interspersed with Siebel tags. Siebel tags are prefixed by swe and contain placeholders for user interface objects such as controls and data. HTML formatting tags are defined in cascading style sheets (such as main.css).

When you install Siebel Application Interface or Siebel Tools, you receive new style sheet files. The upgrade process does not use your existing files. If you have manually customized your Siebel Web template files or style sheet files, then you must evaluate whether to reimplement these customizations in the new Siebel Web template files and style sheet file.

Observe the following planning guidelines for reimplementing customizations:

Resolve any user interface problems related to object definitions in the Siebel Tools repository first. While doing so, review the areas of the new user interface where you plan to implement Siebel Web template file customizations.
Evaluate existing customizations to Siebel Web template files, and decide which ones to reimplement. Changes to the user interface in the new release might make some customizations obsolete.
Document why each customization was reimplemented. This reference will help you evaluate customization issues later.
Use formal change control for managing versions of the Siebel Web template files and style sheet files. This allows you to maintain orderly distribution of the files to developers.
Applets typically have a separate Siebel Web template file for each applet mode. Customize all the mode Siebel Web template files for an applet at the same time. This allows you to verify applet functionality in a single test pass in the user interface.
Individual Siebel Web template files are typically used by multiple screens, views, or applets. Set up formal test plans that verify customizations are correct across all user interface objects that use each Siebel Web template file. This reduces the amount of time required to verify customizations and prevents unintended changes to the user interface.
Reimplement style sheet customizations in two passes. On the first pass, implement only those changes required to address user interface usability issues. On the second pass, implement the remaining style sheet customizations after Siebel Web template customizations are complete. This shortens the time required to resolve functional problems in the user interface.

All Siebel Web template files must be copied into one directory and you must provide the same folder path during the upgrade process. The style sheet files must be copied to the Siebel Application Interface installations in the environment. The files must also be included in upgrade kits sent to remote sites.

Siebel Web template files have an .swt file extension and are located in the webtempl directory in both the Siebel Server and Siebel Tools installations.

The style sheet files are located in the installation directory of Siebel Application Interface and Siebel Tools (Windows path syntax). For example:

Siebel Application Interface: SIEBEL_AI_ROOT\applicationcontainer_external\siebelwebroot\files

Siebel Tools: $SIEBEL_HOME\public\files\main.css

The steps for reimplementing customizations to these files and copying them to new environments are included in the upgrade process topics in Overview of Performing a Siebel Database Upgrade

For information on how Siebel Web templates and style sheet files work, see Configuring Siebel Business Applications and Configuring Siebel Open UI.

In Siebel CRM 15.x and later, a script is executed that migrates data from Siebel Web template files into table-based content in the Siebel database. For Incremental Repository Merge, Siebel Web template migration occurs during the upgrep operation. For full upgrades, this migration occurs during the upgphys operation.

For more information, see Converting Siebel Web Templates with the SWT to OD Conversion Utility.