Build Manifests

A build manifest is an object that allows you to configure a list of different outputs for a map.

A build manifest allows you to arrange multiple output types in multiple languages and with various parameters or ditavals from a single object.

For a given map, a build manifest specifies:
  • Output types, such as PDF, HTML, or xHTML
  • Output languages, including the ability to set a default language for all the output types or per output type
  • Ditaval file, including the ability to set a default ditaval file for all the output types or per output type
  • User parameters that you defined in the transformation scenario for the output type, including the ability to set default parameters for all the output types or per output type

Like any object, the Build Manifest goes through a workflow. When you create a Build Manifest object, it has an Authoring:work or its equivalent status. You must lock the build manifest before you modify it, and you must release it when you are done. When a map has an Authoring:done or its equivalent status, so does its build manifest.

Note: You can create a snapshot of a Build Manifest.
Suppose you have a User Guide that you publish using 3 different output types:
  • xHTML
  • PDF
  • Online help

Suppose you have 2 different audiences, so you create ditavals for that, and then determine that you need to provide the User Guide in 3 languages.

With this scenario, you have two choices:

  1. Generate a total of 18 outputs (3 output types * 2 variants * 3 languages)
  2. Generate all 18 outputs with a single object: the Build Manifest