Before you begin authoring templates, consider the data
sources and output types you plan to use.
Data sources
Some data sources work with Rational® Publishing Engine in
different ways. Review the integration documentation for data source-specific
information, such as identifying data source schemas and applying
filters.
For more information about your data source, see the Integrating section.
Output types
Rational Publishing Engine offers
the following output types to generate documents into:
- HTML
- Microsoft Word
- PDF
- XSL-FO
As you design templates, refer to the reference documentation
for the output types you plan to use. You might find some differences
between the presentation of the content in the supported output types.
For
more information about each output type, see Element properties reference by output
format in the Reference section.
Preview template output as you author
Test
templates frequently as you are designing them. Start out with a simple
template that includes only a few paragraph elements and generate
a preview to see how the output looks with a subset of data. Gradually
build on that simple design by adding tables and other element types.
Preview your template frequently so you can troubleshoot issues as
they appear. If you wait and test your template after you complete
the entire design, you might have more trouble identifying where the
issues are in your template.
For more information about previewing
the output, see Previewing a document with the document generation wizard.