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Generating PDF Files
After constructing a Help model in Enterprise Architect, you can then generate PDF files from the model. The PDF generator includes content from the selected package as well as recursively including content from all of its child packages. So you can produce one large document covering all of your Help model, or smaller documents that cover just selected topics from within your model.
It is also possible to save a 'Resource Document' associated with a package, so that you can easily regenerate the PDF document associated with a package as its content is updated and revised over time.
Steps for Generating PDF Files
The generation process is as simple as choosing the HelpTopic for which to generate a PDF file and invoking the 'Generate Documentation' command. In the dialog that displays, specify an output filename and the templates to use, then click on 'Generate'.
The table below steps through the process of creating a PDF document for a topic.
Step |
Description |
See also |
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Select the Package |
Using the Browser window, find and select the Package containing your topic. Note that the document generator (as well as the HTML generator) will generate content recursively, so you might select to build a set of Packages by building from a common parent, or build a single leaf topic as required. |
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Open the Document Generator |
Once you have selected a Package, either:
These options display the 'Generate Documentation' dialog. An important difference in the third method is that the Specification Manager will create a non-recursive document, meaning that only the elements in the current Package will be output. This is ideal for testing high level Packages without the need to generate child Packages at the same time. |
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Set Type and Filename |
In the 'Generate Documentation' dialog check the output filename and path and modify if necessary, ensuring that the output file extension is set to .pdf. |
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Select Generation Templates and Stylesheet |
A set of system templates and a stylesheet have been provided for you to use. Select the 'User Guide' template in the 'Template' drop-down list and the 'User Guide Styles' template in the 'Stylesheet' drop-down list. Optionally, you can also select 'User Guide Cover' in the 'Cover Page' drop-down list and 'User Guide TOC' in the 'Table of Contents' drop-down list. If no selection is made in the Cover Page and Table of Contents fields, then those items will not be generated. |
Templates For Generating PDFs |
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Set Generation Options |
There are a couple of additional options to select before creating the PDF document. 1. On the first page of the 'Document Generation' dialog, tick the 'Markup Glossary Terms' option to enable automatic highlighting of glossary terms as per the CSS stylesheet, defined along with glossary definitions. 2. On the 'Options' page select the 'Hide Non-Printable Objects' option. This will ensure any diagrams rendered 'on the fly' will exclude elements that are designated as non-printable. This is important if you have placed explanatory notes on diagrams, that you want to suppress in PDF (and HTML) output. |
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Create PDF Document |
Once everything is set, click on the to create the PDF file. |
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View and Verify |
Once the document has been successfully created you can immediately display it by pressing the View button. Carefully examine the document for excessive or missing vertical spaces, inappropriate use of tables, images that render poorly, poor readability, bad grammar and other obvious errors that mar the overall effect. If necessary return to the HelpTopic and correct outstanding problems, then re-generate and confirm the fix has been effective. |
Resource Documents
Once you are ready to generate the PDF document, all of the generation parameters such as the root package, the output file's pathname and the templates to use, can be saved for re-use, as a Resource Document. To save the parameters, click on the button labelled 'Resource Document' in the upper right hand side of the 'Generate Document' window. Provide a name for the new Resource Document, then click on OK.
To regenerate the document for that package, using the saved settings, open the Resources tab of the Browser window, then expand the node 'Document Publishing > Report Library'. Right click on the saved Resource Document, then select 'Generate Document...' from the menu. The 'Generate Document' window is displayed, populated with all of the saved generation parameters.
At this stage, you have the option to modify the generation parameters before generating and if you wish, any updated values can then be saved back to the Resource Document by clicking the 'Update Resource' button.