Ekaterina S. wrote:
I have downloaded the trial version from
http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/downloadeval.shtml#xslutil and have
been experimenting with it to make sure that it suits our needs. I would
like to clarify one issue.
In our environment, we use DocBook as documentation format. The output
formats for our documents are PDF and Eclipse Help.
Conversion to PDF using XSL Utility is pretty straightforward, and
currently I don’t have any questions about it.
As for Eclipse Help, you state that “out of the box,” only DITA ->
Eclipse Help conversion is possible, but not DocBook -> Eclipse Help.
That's right. "DITA -> Eclipse Help" is implemented by a copy of XMLmind
DITA Converter (http://www.xmlmind.com/ditac/), our in-house,
full-fledged DITA processor, which is embedded in XMLmind XSL Utility.
There is no equivalent of XMLmind DITA Converter for DocBook documents.
That's why, for DocBook documents, all the conversion steps must be
specified "by hand" using the XMLmind XSL Utility Conversion editor (see
http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/_distrib/xslutil/doc/help/com.xmlmind.xslutil.ConversionEditor.html).
As the users of XMLmind XSL Utility are mainly interested in conversion
to DOCX, we didn't bother specifying the conversion of DocBook documents
to formats other than DOCX, WML, RTF, ODT and PDF, (that is, output
formats generated out of an intermediate XSL-FO file).
So
I’m curious, does this “out of the box” phrase mean that with some
additional customization it would be possible to also *use* *XMLmind XSL
Utility to* *create Eclipse Help from DocBook sources?*
Yes, this is possible by creating a DocBook to Eclipse Help conversion
specification using XMLmind XSL Utility Conversion editor
(http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/_distrib/xslutil/doc/help/com.xmlmind.xslutil.ConversionEditor.html).
Please take a look at this appendix "D. Using XMLmind XSL Utility to
convert a DocBook 4 document to HTML Help (.chm file)",
http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/_distrib/xslutil/doc/help/generating_chm_file.html
It explains how to specify a custom conversion allowing the conversion
of DocBook 4 to HTML Help.
The conversion of DocBook 5 to Eclipse Help is similar though slightly
simpler as it does not involve invoking "hhc.exe" Microsoft's HTML Help
compiler.
I can see that
in XMLmind DocBook Editor there is such possibility.
That's right, but XMLmind DocBook Editor conversion facilities leverage
a different, more generic, more flexible mechanism called process
commands
(http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/commands/process.html).
Can it be that XSL
Utility also has it,
No, not out of the box.
but it’s just not that obvious?
It’s just not that obvious. However with relatively little efforts, you
can do that too using XMLmind XSL Utility.
Please give it a try. The only tricky step is the last "Process" step in
which you'll copy to the output directory all the images referenced in
your DocBook input file.
I guess I need to mention that we are interested in performing such
conversion using command-line capabilities.
XMLmind XSL Utility can be used as a command-line tool. See "2.5.
XMLmind XSL Utility as a command-line tool",
http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/_distrib/xslutil/doc/help/running.html#command_line
FYI, XMLmind DocBook Editor too. See "The xxetool command-line utility",
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/xxetool/index.html
Or could you maybe kindly give us any other advice regarding DocBook –
Eclipse Help conversion with the help of your products, what could be used?
--> You don't need any fancy, commercial tool to convert DocBook to PDF
and to Eclipse Help using command-line tools. This excellent book
DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide by Bob Stayton
http://www.sagehill.net/docbookxsl/
explains (among many, many other things) which free, open source tools
you'll have to download and install to achieve that.
--> This being said, if you don't want to read a lot of docs, install a
lot of free open source software and just want to convert DocBook to PDF
and Eclipse Help, then XMLmind DocBook Editor is the best possible choice.
XMLmind DocBook Editor is inexpensive; conversion DocBook to PDF and to
Eclipse Help works out the box; XMLmind DocBook Editor can be used as a
command-line tool thanks to the xxetool command-line utility; XMLmind
DocBook Editor fully supports DocBook v5.1, including assemblies
(http://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.1/ch06.html).
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