Running an OT transformation outside of the Output Generator

The Output Generator now lets you re-run an OT transformation without having to retrieve the content from the Content Store and run the conductor file again.

This can be very useful for troubleshooting your DITA-OT transformation. For example, if you are customizing the stylesheets of a DITA-OT plugin, you can test your changes by running the DITA-OT transformation offline. Instead of regenerating the output from the IXIASOFT CCMS Desktop Generate Output dialog box, which can be time-consuming, you can re-run the DITA-OT transformation directly.

This works as follows:
  • You run the Output Generator with the property outgen.job.keep.temp="yes". This ensures that a copy of the retrieved content will be kept locally.
  • You run your DITA-OT transformation once using the CCMS Desktop Generate Output dialog box. This stores all the files in the job directory. Since the outgen.job.keep.temp property is set to yes, the files are not deleted at the end of the job and you have a copy of all the files that you need to re-run the DITA-OT transformation.
  • You run your DITA-OT transformation from outside of the Output Generator.
To run an OT transformation outside of the Output Generator:
  1. Run the Output Generator with the property outgen.job.keep.temp="yes" (see Run the IXIASOFT CCMS Output Generator in debug mode).
  2. Run your DITA-OT transformation using the Output Generator.
    At this point, you should have the following files:
    • Source files to transform: In %OutputGenDir%\temp\<job_id>\content
    • Build file: In %OutputGenDir%\temp\<job_id>\ (for example, build.xml)
  3. Run your build file. For example, if you are using the DITA-OT to transform the content:
    1. In the %OutputGenDir%/data/%OT_Dir%/ directory:
      • On Windows: Right-click startcmd.bat and select Run as administrator
      • On Linux: Run startcmd.sh
    2. Enter the following command: 
      ant -f %OutputGenDir%\temp\<job_id>\build.xml
      For example:
      ant -f C:\ixiasoft\OutputGenerators\Prod\temp\ 
Dita2Pdf.mtest.140.1417549370659\build.xml
      The DITA-OT runs the transformation. This step is equivalent do running the dita_startcmd_ot_build target.
  4. Modify your stylesheets or DITA-OT plugin configuration and re-run the DITA-OT transformation as described in step 3.