Managing Presentation Templates

Overview

All IGP:Digital Publisher Presentation templates are built on IGP:FoundationXHTML. This can be customized and extended if required by Infogrid Pacific or any publisher. 

Templates directly affect both the presentation of a PDF generated document and all e-Book formats. It also controls the IGP:Writer Interface tools that are available within the context of any specific template.

When you open the interface there are Global Templates and Account Templates.

You cannot modify or change Global Templates but these can be copied and then modified for a specific requirement.

Accessing Template Components

You must have Account Administration permissions. If you cannot see the (Green) Account Administration Toolbars you cannot make any changes.

From the Administrator Tools, click on the Templates Toobar. The Template Administration Interface will open.

The buttons on this interface that are used for Template management are:

1. Templates. Click to view Acccount and Global Templates.
2. Create. Click to create a new template.
3. Modify. Click to modify an existing template.
4. Delete. Click to delete an existing account template. Note you cannot delete Global templates.
5. Copy. Click to create a copy of any existing Account or Global template.
6. Download. Click to download a complete Template file set as a zip file to your local computer.
7. Import. Click to import a complete Template file set as zip file from your local computer.

Templates

To View the available templates:

1. Click the Templates Button. The interface will change and show you a list of all Global Templates and the Templates that exist only for your account.
2. The Account templates are listed by Template Type in expandable Group tags. To view the template Group click the blue Type Title.
3. To carry out a Modify, Delete, Copy or Download operation on any Template you must select the target template. Click once on any Template Item. The selected item will be highlighted with a gray background.
4. You can now carry out any of the major actions on the highlighted template.

Create

This is an Advanced Production Engineer Feature.

You can create a template from scratch by importing the various template components from the desktop.

You must have the full list of components ready for import.

1. From the Template toolbar click the Create button.
2. Enter a name for the template. You must give the template a unique name.
3. Select the template type from the drop down.
4. Enter a description. This assists others who may have to maintain the template in the future.
5. Import each component until all have been uploaded.
6. When all of the template components have been imported click the Create button.
7. The template will now be alive and available for the creation of documents within the account.
8. Click the Cancel button to exit the interface without making any changes.

The newly created Template can be modified at any time by using the Modify procedure outlined.

Modify

This is an Advanced Production Engineer Feature.

You can interactively modify any template on a component by component basis from this interface. This is useful for quick small changes or modifications.

Select a Template by clicking on the target item in the main template list.

Click the Modify button. The interface will open with a complete list of template items. Each item has a checkbox next to it.

The Presentation Template components are organized into logical groups. All of these are advanced Production Engineer features except for Metadata Info.

It is good practice to keep your template description maintained with any modifications that have been made so there is a full history of changes available.

You can change the Template Type classification at any time to reorganize your templates.

Delete

You can delete a template at any time.

Select a template and click the Delete button. A simple confirmation dialog will pop-up.

If you want to go ahead and delete the template click the OK button.

To cancel the delete operation click the Cancel button.

Copy

You can create a copy of any template to create a new template. This is the recommended method for creating new templates using the standard supplied default Global templates as the source.

To create a new template by copying an existing template: 

1. Click on a Global or existing Template Item so it is highlighted.
2. Click the Copy button. The dialog will change to the copy form.
3. Enter the new Template Name into the Template Name field.
4. Click Save. The template will be copied to the newly named template.
5. Click Cancel to exit the interface without making any changes.

NOTE: The template name must be exclusive for the account. If the template name is already in use the system will warn you accordingly and give you the opportunity to create a new name.

Download

You can download a complete template with all components at any time. This includes both Account and Global Templates. You can then modify these off-line and re-upload them as new templates.

1. To download a template first select the target template so it has the gray highlight.
2. From the Templates Toolbars click the Download button.
3. The operating system save dialog will immediately open.
4. Navigate to the required location and complete the save operation.

Import

You can import a template at any time. This feature can be used to transfer templates between IGP:Digital Publisher systems; or for importing a new template from a desktop location (advanced Production Engineers only).

Your presentation template must be a complete and correctly packaged zip file.

1. From the Template Toolbar click the Import button. A pop-up dialog will open.
2. Enter the Presentation Name in the Presentation Template Name field. This must be unique for the IGP:Digital Publisher installation.
3. Click the Browse button. Navigate to the prepared zip package.
4. Click the Import button. Your new template will be imported. When the import process is complete you will receive an OK message.
5. To close the interface without importing a template click the Close button.