DITA blog publication via iiRDS to c-rex.net IDS

DITA as a data source

We have described in previous posts that we rely on DITA as the authoring format in our editorial office.

Now let's answer the question of how to feed the c-rex.net blog based on our metadata-enriched content.

Since we are based on DITA, it makes sense to use the DITA Open Tool Kit for publishing. We first convert the content to iiRDS and then publish it on c-rex.net IDS.

For this purpose we have developed a set of plugins. Plugins that allow us to publish at the touch of a button.

DITA-OT Plugins

The following graphic shows the plugins for the DITA Open Tool Kit used in our editorial environment.

For the Content Delivery usecase, 3+1 plugins are relevant:

• com.c-rex.net.dita.dts

  This plugin provides basic functionality to communicate with the c-rex.net DTS cloud service. It provides basic parameters for authentication to the system and conversions.

• com.c-rex.net.dita.packager

  The Packager is a general purpose plugin that packs the contents of a DITA-Map into a ZIP package in order to send the content to c-rex.net DTS for conversion, as required in this use case.

• com.crex.net.dita.conversion

  The plugin provides parameters for converting DITA content to other formats. The plugin implements both transformation scenarios DITA 2 iiRDS and DITA 2 c-rex.net IDS.

• com.crex.net.dita.td.content

  This is a special plugin for the specialized c-rex.net topic types and the implementation of special requirements.

  In it, we implement the specific metadata in our blog posts so that they can be appropriately recognized and converted to the iiRDS format when converted to iiRDS by c-rex.net DTS.

  This plugin or a variation of it can be used in different scenarios to adapt customer-specific requirements to the HTML to be generated or the metadata set to be generated in an appropriately automated way.

The DITA-OT Conversion Plugin

The DITA-OT Conversion Plugin provides two functions:

• Case 1: Generation of iiRDS package for use in other scenarios.

• Case 2: Publication of content via iiRDS on c-rex.net IDS in various content delivery scenarios

Since we want to publish our blog posts directly, we focus on the second use case, where the only difference is whether the iiRDS is delivered back to the client or published directly.

Configuration and parameters

To use c-rex.net DTS conversion services and c-rex.net IDS publishing options, a user account and appropriate permissions are required. By entering the access data, the call of the transformation scenario is configured in the plugin. In the following dialog window you can see the necessary parameter set for this.

The following parameters must be set to execute the transformation scenario.

• The conversionType.param is used to specify the DTS scenario with which DTS should perform the conversion. In this case, the DITA-Map is to be published to c-rex.net IDS, for which the scenario ditaot2crexIDS is set.

• The organization organization.param is used to specify the organization under which the iiRDS package is to be published.

  Access rights to content could be controlled via the organization.

• The dts.url.param is used to specify the endpoint of the DTS service through which the conversion is to be performed. Designed as a cloud service, multiple instances are naturally available on the Internet or intranet.

• Finally, the three identity are used to specify user data, such as user name and password, as well as the Scope required by the authentication service.

  All this information is available in the respective user profile after registering with the system.

Once the access is set up on the system and this setting has been made, any DITA-Map can be published in the c-rex.net IDS portal with a single click on "Perform transformation".

Data preparation

The DITA-OT-Plugin prepares the data for server-side conversion. Thereby, all DITA-Topics are optionally transformed to HTML5 or XHTML5 via the functionality of DITA-OT.

Since our plugins can be seamlessly integrated into an environment with DITA-OT, this has the great advantage that automatically previous extensions for generating HTML content can be used directly and without further adjustments.

This is the case in our blog environment and this will be easy to implement in yours as well!

Finally, we also use this mechanism by using our own specific plugin com.crex.net.dita.td.content to prepare the HTML pages.

In addition to HTML generation, base metadata is automatically added to the DITA-Map and references to DITA-Topics are changed to the new file name of the HTML output. This generator is now passed to c-rex.net DTS.c-rex.net DTS in turn assembles the information into a valid iiRDS and publishes it automatically.

The metadata automatically extended at the topic references in the DITA-Map can be added automatically via a dedicated DITA-OT-Plugin such as the com.crex.net.dita.td.content. Alternatively, it is also possible to pass a configuration that allows the DTS service to perform a mapping of a specific metadata set.

Transformation according to iiRDS

By the passed mapping or the iiRDS metadata already generated in the section, c-rex.net DTS generates a valid iiRDS package. In the process, conditions specified by the standard are checked, automatically corrected if possible, and published. Any problems are returned via a detailed report.

In addition to the report, the iiRDS package is also returned. This package can be archived via existing archiving mechanisms in the company.

In this way, we ensure that data generated by the system is available at all times and independent of the system.

For companies for whom we realize projects with iiRDS, this means: We break down silos and give our customers back control over their data.

Publication in the portal

The finished iiRDS package will be made available to c-rex.net IDS via the Content API for publication.

The package content is imported into the repository of the organization specified in the parameter. The content is thus available for use in the portal within a few minutes or even seconds.

Conclusion

With little effort through integration of our plugins and minimal configuration required, our content created with DITA is available on our website within a very short time.

It is hardly possible to provide content on the basis of Linked Data technology on the web faster and with less effort.

And the beauty is, this works not only for our blog, which is based on DITA, but analogously with your documents created in Word, FrameMaker or InDesign. Along with your documents, supply a configuration for mapping the metadata and c-rex.net DTS will do the rest.