Generating output using a Build Manifest

You can use a Build Manifest to partially automate the generation of output from a map.

When you generate an output using a Build Manifest, IXIA CCMS Output Generator automatically generates all identified outputs listed in the Build Manifest. It can generate as many outputs as you want in all the languages that you need. And it can apply different combinations of conditions and ditavals as well.
Note: Build Manifests are not visible in IXIA CCMS Web as an object. For example, you cannot search for them or edit them. You see them only when generating an output.

A writer or information architect configures these Build Manifests for a map ahead of time in IXIA CCMS Desktop. These Build Manifests are then available for users to select when they generate outputs from the map.

Each Build Manifest specifies the following information:

  • Types of output to generate (PDF, HTML, xHTML, etc.)

  • Languages to generate for each output type

  • Ditaval files to use for each output type

  • User parameters that must be applied

Advantages of a build manifest

A build manifest can list many outputs. This saves users from generating each output individually for different combinations of output type, language, and conditional profiling attributes.

For example, a map contains documentation that requires three different output types in three different target languages from the English source.

Table 1. Sample output requirements

Output type

Target languages

PDF

Spanish (es-sp)

HTML

French (fr-fr)

xHTML

Japanese (ja-jp)

This example requires a total of nine outputs, one for each output type and for each of the three languages. Without a build manifest, you must generate nine different outputs from the map and select the parameters each time. With a build manifest, you select the related options in the build manifest to generate all nine different map outputs.

A Build Manifest is considered a dependency of the map it is based on. When you push a map from one branch to another—and choose to push dependencies—any associated Build Manifests are pushed to the target branch as well.