1-2 Administrators Guide for Dynamic Converter
The HTML renditions of source documents in the Content Server are made available to users via an HTML link on the search results page and the content information page
in the Content Server.
1.2 Whats New
Dynamic Converter 11gR1 provides the following new and enhanced features compared to version 10gR3:
■
Compatibility with Content Server 11 g
R1: This version of Dynamic Converter is designed to work seamlessly with Content Server 11gR1.
■
New template editor option : Dynamic Converter now offers the HTML
Conversion Editor to use for customizing your templates. The former GUI Template Editor is now named the Classic HTML Conversion Editor. Both editors
have extensive Help systems that can be launched from within the interface.
■
New support : Dynamic Converter now supports Office 2010 files, Office Art,
Table Styles, Alternate Text, and Protected Workbooks.
1.3 Basic Dynamic Converter Concepts
The following concepts are important in the context of Dynamic Converter:
■
Developer: The individual who integrates Dynamic Converter into another
technology or application.
■
Source file: The document, spreadsheet, presentation or other information that the
developer wishes to convert to a web page also referred to as source document and content item.
■
Output file: The file being created from the source file also referred to as the
web-viewable format.
■
Output files: The complete set of files that together make up the rendered output
web page from a source file.
■
Template: A template tells the conversion engine how to convert the source
document into the output document.
■
Template rules: Documents matching certain criteria are converted using the
specified template, layout, and options.
1.4 Dynamic Converter Process
Figure 1–1 shows the basic Dynamic Converter process.
Introduction 1-3
Figure 1–1 Basic Dynamic Converter Process
The process consists of five steps:
1.
A user requests a content item through a web browser.
2.
The web server passes this request to Dynamic Converter, which determines the template to be used for the HTML conversion based on metadata matching
criteria.
3.
Dynamic Converter converts the native file for example, a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.
4.
The conversion produces one or more HTML pages with supporting files GIF, JPEG, and so on, which Dynamic Converter outputs to a special caching area in
Content Servers web-viewable file repository Web Layout.
5.
The web server retrieves any additional files for example, CSS files or images used for the page header and footer, and serves these, together with all files
produced by Dynamic Converter, to the user.
1.5 Upfront Conversions
In earlier versions of Dynamic Converter, a content item was converted to a web-viewable format HTML, XML, etc. when the content item was first requested by
the user; more specifically, when the user clicked the HTML link beside the content item on the search results or content information page. Once the content item was
converted, it was cached in the Content Server so that each subsequent request for the converted file would be immediate.
Note: Dynamic Converter uses caching to reduce the load on the
server and ensure that documents are not unnecessarily re-translated.
1-4 Administrators Guide for Dynamic Converter
Since version 6.0 circa 2004, Dynamic Converter converts content items that match a conversion rule when the content item is checked in, rather than when the user
requests it. As a result, users will be able to immediately view the dynamically converted rendition of the content item.
This upfront conversion applies only to content items that match a conversion rule in Dynamic Converter. Rules are specified on the Template Selection Rules page see
Template Selection Rules Page on page A-9.
If no rule exists for the content item, then an upfront conversion will not take place, even if a default template and layout file are available for the content item. The default
templates and layout files are specified on the Dynamic Converter Configuration page see
Dynamic Converter Configuration Page on page A-2.
Please note that upfront conversions must be enabled in the Conversion and Caching Optimizations section of the Dynamic Converter Configuration page see
Conversion and Caching Optimizations
on page A-7.
1.6 Forced Conversions
