Create a new topic template

Topic templates allow users to produce individual content components that follow a common structure. For example, you can set up a reference topic that contains a table listing common characteristics belonging to a product family that need to be updated by a subject matter expert with information specific to a product release.

1. Create a topic with the required structure, along with any other content that will be common to all documents based on this template.
   Tip: If using an existing topic as your starting point, clone it first and rename it (for example, ProductFeatureListing).

   CAUTION: Do not include images that can vary from document to document, because if these or their dependent images are deleted, topics created using the template will have errors.
2. Right-click the topic and select Generate Output.
   The Generate Output window appears.
3. From the Output Format drop-down menu, select Export.
4. Click Create.
5. In the Save As dialog, choose a path to a local folder. Click Save.
   The file is saved and given a system name (typically a numerical string) and the suffix xml.
6. Rename the exported topic filename so the template can be easily recognized by users.
7. Open the template topic in a text editor.
8. Strip out all ixia_locid attributes and the numbers that follows it.
   For example: ixia_locid="6".

   If you are using an editor that uses regular expressions, you can use the following expression to find all instances of ixia_locid and its following number: \b(ixia_locid)( |=)=? ?"\d+\b". The matches all occurrences of the ixia_locid attribute in content, along with values of any number of digits.

9. If the template will be used mostly in CCMS Desktop, you can add template variables:
   Variables are not required. But for some specializations or template parameters you may require them. For example, you might have a specialization that uses a different element other than <title> for the title of topics. If you are using variables for ID, language, and title, they must be {{ixia.id}}, {{ixia.xml:lang}}, and {{ixia.title}}, respectively.

   Important:

   However, CCMS Web does not fully support the use of variables currently. Avoid using variables in places beyond ID, language, and title if the template will be used in CCMS Web.

   1. Delete the existing topic ID attribute value and replace it with the following variable: {{ixia.id}}
      For example:

      <reference id="{{ixia.id}}" xml:lang="{{ixia.xml:lang}}">

   2. Delete the existing xml:lang attribute value and replace it with the following variable: {{ixia.xml:lang}}
      For example:

      <reference id="{{ixia.id}}" xml:lang="{{ixia.xml:lang}}">

   3. Delete the existing title and replace it with the following variable: {{ixia.title}}
      For example:

      <title>{{ixia.title}}</title>

   4. If your organization has custom template variables, add those variables to the template.
10. Save the template.
11. Open the TEXTML Administration perspective and connect to the server.
12. Navigate to /system/templates/topics.
13. Navigate to a subfolder such as web or desktop to differentiate between templates used for the CCMS Desktop and CCMS Web.
    If the subfolders do not exist, you can create them by right-clicking the topics folder and selecting Create Collection.
14. Right-click the topics collection and select Insert Documents.
    The Insert Documents Dialog appears.
15. Click Add File and browse to your desktop.
    1. Select the file.
    2. Click Open.
    The file path and name appear under Import As.

    
    

    

    
    

16. Click OK.
    The file is imported into the /templates/topics collection.
17. Inform users of the changes.
    The changes will be applied automatically once users close and then reopen their IXIASOFT CCMS Desktop. Users can also apply the changes without restarting their CCMS Desktop by clicking IXIASOFT CCMS > Synchronize Configuration.