Publications and publication types

This feature requires PageSeeder v5.96 or higher.

Background

A “publication” is a hierarchical collection of  PSML component documents joined by “embed” or “transclude” type xrefs.

The core of the feature is a process that seamlessly resolves the publication component into a single document for presentation or numbering. The following documentation explains the options for processing a publication.

For additional background, we recommend completing this tutorial. The challenges of document numbering are widely recognized and the sample files of the tutorial help to explain how PageSeeder addresses this issue.

Concepts

Following are some key ideas that have a role in PageSeeder publications.

Block labels

Publications process the content of a <block> element if the value of the @label attribute corresponds to a declaration in the publication config. Use cases for block labels include numbering figures or tables.

Block labels and headings

In the publication-config, the level of the <block> element declarations is significant. Any values to be included with the counter must already be declared in the config.  

For example, to prefix a figure caption with a chapter number, say – Chapter 4: Figure 7 – and chapter heading is @level="2", then block-label="figure-caption" cannot be declared at @level="1". To create a prefix that includes a value from level 2, the declaration for the counter must be at least @level="3".

Components / Shared components

Component document is a term to describe a document that has been referenced from a publication root using an embed, or transclude xref. A shared component is part of multiple publications. How the document is numbered, or its position in the Table of Contents, depends on which publication root is current (open).

See also “current publication”.

embed and transclude

These are the only two xref types that can be used to assemble component documents into a publication. 

Current publication

The publication that determines the display of a component document. Where a component is shared, it is possible to select other publication root documents by clicking the box at the top of the Table of Contents.

See also “shared component”.

@level vs @indent

In PSML, the <heading> element has a @level attribute and the <para> element has an @indent attribute. For the purposes of the publication configuration, unless the documentation is explicit, consider any references to level to also mean indent.

Microsoft Word

To reliably generate correctly numbered DOCX files, it is important to calibrate the Word template and the publication config. See DOCX support.

Numbered vs Unnumbered

Both <heading> and <para> elements support an attribute of @numbered that is available through the number icon in the editing interface. Any object where this attribute has a value of true is subject to processing by the publication config.

Publication config

Stores all configuration information for a given Publication Type in the following folder:

template/[project]/publication/[type]

Publication headings

The <heading> element is a fundamental part of PSML, and in a publication, it is the primary structural and navigational object. Only the content of <headings> elements are displayed in the ToC.

Publication ID

Adding a publication ID through the document properties makes any PSML document with embed or transclude xrefs into a publication. All documents with a publication ID are listed in the Group Publications. A document with a publication ID is known as the Publication Root.

Publication paragraphs

In publications, all the properties of a <heading> element are available to the <para> element, with one important distinction—<para> elements are not display in the ToC by default and when displayed their content is always truncated.

References document type

Although it is not mandatory, the references document type is the logical choice for the document-type of a publication root.

Table of Contents (ToC)

The PageSeeder interface supports two approaches to the ToC:

• If all the headings are linked from a single references document, the entire ToC is displayed at once.
• If the publication root links to a references document, the ToC displays the high-level xref titles always, but only displays a complete list of headings for the current references document.

Versions

Publications add a new dimension to PageSeeder document versions, especially documents that are part of multiple publications. See Versioning a publication.

Xref config

These are project-level configurable templates that automatically format links such as references to numbered paragraphs, footnotes or citations.

<xref display="template"
      title="{parentnumber}{prefix}"
      config="paragraph" ...>

Best Practice

Getting the best results out of publications is easier under the following circumstances:

1. Start every document with a heading level 1 then let the references document and publication process calculate the final level of heading. This is easier than trying to anticipate and adjust the position of the heading in the hierarchy.
2. Do not put any paragraphs before the level 1 heading in a document.
3. To include single fragments in a publication, use xref type of “transclude”, not “embed”.
4. Whenever using an xref type of “embed”, the link cannot be one-way, it must reverse.

Publication management

Following are the details for some routine tasks:

Create a publication

To create a publication requires a publication ID. These can consist of letters, numbers, hyphens or underscores up to 250 characters long. This value must be unique for the PageSeeder server (similar to Document ID).

To create a publication from an existing set of documents, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the root document and click the Properties tab.
2. Enter an ID of your choice under Publication ID (usually less than 20 characters).
3. Unless users have specific instructions to choose a Publication type, ignore this field and let the system assign the default type.
4. Click Save.

Now click the View tab on the horizontal menu, then open the Table of contents block to the left of the document. This displays all the headings across the publication files—see following.

Delete a publication

To delete a publication, clear the value from the publication ID field on the Properties page.

Change the publication root

To change the root document of a publication, navigate to the new root document and enter the publication ID on the Properties page. To do this, the user must also have contributor access to the old root document.

Publication configuration

Each publication has a type that specifies the levels and numbering. If no value has been selected through the Publication Type field on the Properties page of the root document, then the type is default.

To define a custom publication-type needs a publication-config.xml file in the template/[project]/publication/[type] folder. To create this file, do the following:

1. In the Developer perspective, go to Document config under the Dev tab on the horizontal menu.

2. Select Create publication type and enter a name using only letter, number and underscore characters.

3. Select the create icon next to publication-config.xml.

4. Modify the publication (see options following).

5. Save the publication config file.

6. Navigate to the publication root and click the Properties tab.

7. In the Publication type field, select the new type.

8. Save the changes.

publication-config.xml

Following is the default publication-config.xml used by PageSeeder.

<publication-config>
  <toc title-collapse="always" />
  <levels xref-relative-to="heading"
          para-relative-to="6" />
  <numbering>
    <schemes>
      <scheme level="1"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.]" />
      <scheme level="2"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2]" />
      <scheme level="3"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3]" />
      <scheme level="4"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4]" />
      <scheme level="5"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4.][5]" />
      <scheme level="6"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4.][5.][6]" />
      <scheme level="7"
              type="loweralpha"
              format="[(7)]"
              element="para" />
      <scheme level="8"
              type="lowerroman"
              format="[(8)]"
              element="para" />
      <scheme level="9"
              type="upperroman"
              format="[(9)]"
              element="para" />
      <scheme level="10"
              type="upperalpha"
              format="[(10)]"
              element="para" />
    </schemes>
  </numbering>
</publication-config>

<toc> element

This element is optional and can have the following optional attributes:

<levels> element

When processing the publication components into a single instance, this element controls the resolution of the levels. This can affect the numbering and presentation of headings, paragraphs and xrefs. This element is optional and can have the following optional attributes:

<numbering> element

The <numbering> element applies numbering schemes to a PSML document that has a specific document label. Without this element, there is no generation of numbers in the publication. The <numbering> element supports the following optional attributes:

<scheme> element

Each <scheme> represents a configuration of publication characteristics differentiated by a @level attribute.

For the sake of consistency and clarity, the configuration for each @level is explicit. Where the content of a publication does not conform with what has been declared in the scheme, a contingency must be declared (see the @skipped-levels attribute on the <numbering> element above).

The <scheme> element can have the following attributes:

Example

<publication-config>
  <toc title-collapse="always" />
  <levels xref-relative-to="heading"
          para-relative-to="heading"
          heading-adjust="content"
          para-adjust="content" />
  <numbering>
    <schemes>
      <scheme level="1"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.]" />
      <scheme level="2"
              type="decimal" 
              format="[1.][2]" />
      <scheme level="3"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3]" />
      <scheme level="4"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4]" />
      <scheme level="5"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4.][5]" />
      <scheme level="6"
              type="loweralpha"
              format="[(6)]" />
      <scheme level="7"
              type="lowerroman"
              format="[(7)]" />
      <scheme level="8"
              type="upperroman"
              format="[(8)]" />
      <scheme level="9"
              type="upperalpha"
              format="[9]" />
    </schemes>
  </numbering>
  <numbering skipped-levels="strip" document-label="detail">
    <schemes>
      <scheme level="1"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.]" />
      <scheme level="2"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.]" />
      <scheme level="2"
              type="decimal"
              format="[Table 1-][2]"
              block-label="table-caption" />
      <scheme level="2"
              type="upperalpha"
              format="[Fig 1-][2]"
              block-label="figure-caption" />
      <scheme level="3"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.]"
              element="any"/>
      <scheme level="4"
              type="decimal"
              format="[1.][2.][3.][4.]"
              element="any"/>
      <scheme level="5"
              type="loweralpha"
              format="[(5)]"
              element="para"/>
      <scheme level="6"
              type="lowerroman"
              format="[(6)]"
              element="para" />
      <scheme level="7"
              type="upperalpha"
              format="[(7)]" />
      <scheme level="8"
              type="upperroman"
              format="[(8)]" />
      <scheme level="9"
              type="loweralpha"
              format="[9]" />
    </schemes>
  </numbering>
</publication-config>

DOCX support

It is important to understand the consequences of the settings in the publication-config.xml file and their effect on Microsoft Word or applications that can process DOCX file format such as Adobe InDesign.

Getting the needed results from the PageSeeder publication requires coordinating the publication config and the docx template to meet the objectives of the final output.

The intention of the publication is to deliver the wanted results. Sometimes the best way to do this is to capture the numbering logic but not necessarily to transfer these settings to DOCX or other formats. In many cases, the intention of these properties is to represent the same logic, so that the people editing have a representation that is closer to their final format. This might be something as straightforward as image numbers, so references are the same in the editing view as they are in the final format. For example, [Fig 1-2] instead image-456.jpg.

To calibrate the publication with a docx template or an InDesign import might require some deep understanding of non-PageSeeder technologies. In addition to the publication-config, users might need to configure the Default Numbering in the PageSeeder word-export-template.doc. See How to configure auto-numbering for additional information.

As many people might know already, applications like Word and InDesign are powerful, but complex. The good news is that PageSeeder publications can support very demanding numbering, done properly. Users can expect the numbering in their Word documents to be correct every single time they export. Unfortunately, this needs Word skills, not only PageSeeder.

Contact Allette Systems to discuss your requirements.

Versioning a publication

All the component documents in a publication can be versioned by taking the following steps:

1. Navigate to the publication root document and click the Version tab.
2. Click Create publication version and enter the new version number.
3. Click Submit.

Refresh the version page and mouse over the identifier for the new version. Something like Publication ID: [mypub1] is displayed in the pop-up box.

To create a publication version for a single document, do the following:

1. Navigate to a document in the publication and select the Version tab.

2. Select Create version and enter an identifier for the version.

3. Select a Publication from the drop-down menu.

4. Submit.

In the change history of a fragment, publication versions have the publication ID in [square brackets] after the version identifier.

Exporting a publication

To export a publication version, follow these steps:

1. Select Developer perspective from the cube icon (top left).
2. Navigate to the publication root (alternatively, where a publication is the content of a single folder, navigate to the location).
3. For the root document, select the Export icon from the action block the upper left of the Document view. (for the Folder view, select Export from icon to the right of the folder).
4. In the root document, select Export as PSML and enter an appropriate number under Maximum depth of forward xrefs.
5. If applicable, select Version to export.
6.  Select the appropriate value under Publication ID for version. The publication ID must correspond to the publication version or compare version. A publication ID with no version or compare version exports the original uploaded version.
7.  Click Export.