Dependency between PDF2 customization folders(?)

[Paul Anderson]

Greetings All,

Question: Can a PDF2 customization folder use code in another PDF2 customization folder? If so, what's the recommended practice for making that happen?

Background: We have three different PDF outputs based on the PDF2 plugin:

• Our main PDF "book" output.
• A "simple" PDF output (more like a white paper).
• A "release note" output (simple output with special TOC and notices handling).

We currently implement these outputs as two PDF2 customization folders. One for the "book" output and the other for the simple/relnote outputs. We use a custom input parameter in the simple/relnote customization to differentiate between the two; they are nearly identical.

The vast majority of the code in the book customization folder is reused in the simple/relnote customization folder. We currently have copies of that code in both customization folders. If there were a way to reuse that code without copying it, it would be easier to maintain. Otherwise, if we adjust some base behavior in the book customization folder, we have to remember to copy the change into the same file in the simple/relnote customization folder.

If there is no DITA-OT mechanism to do this, I was going to rearrange the source tree for our PDF2 customizations into three folders, one for each output. Then, when we "build" our PDF customization plugins, we could pick and choose which files to copy into each customization folder. That way, the duplication only appears in the deployed plugins, not in our source tree.

Thank you for any input you may have.

Best regards,

Paul Anderson
Compuware Corporation

[mkaa...@gmail.com]

I'd like to figure out a way to do this as well.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to achieve it?

[Julio Vazquez]

I would just merge the code and use modes to select the right templates basses in the type. this way you're only looking at one set of files and you can keep the variants relatively close for maintenance.

Julio J. Vazquez
Write Spirit
http://www.writespiritservices.com

[Paul Anderson]

On Wednesday, January 29, 2014 6:29:19 AM UTC-5, Julio Vazquez wrote:

I would just merge the code and use modes to select the right templates basses in the type. this way you're only looking at one set of files and you can keep the variants relatively close for maintenance.

That might work for the simple and release note variants but not for our normal PDF output. The differences between the normal and simple PDF outputs are not conducive to handling via modes. Trust me, I started down that path a few years ago when we first added the simple PDF; I didn't want to add mode awareness to a bunch of templates that didn't otherwise need it.

It looks like I'll rearrange the source code for these PDF outputs and "build" them into separate customization folders where I don't care so much about duplication. At least each individual plugin will be independent.