FinerEdge Publisher Support Documents

FinerEdge Publisher IDE Manual.
FinerEdge Publisher Reference Manual.
FinerEdge Publisher Demonstration Tutorial (this document).
FinerEdge Publisher Author's Guide.
FinerEdge Publisher Programmer's Guide.
FinerEdge Publisher Updates and Acknowledgments.

FinerEdge Publisher Demonstration
Tutorial


Demonstration Tutorial
Introduction

Introduction

Note: To re-display this document at a later time, or any of the other supporting help documents, you can either select them from the "Help" menu within the IDE or from the FinerEdge Publisher Microsoft Windows menu.

The FinerEdge Publisher demonstration documents are provided both as "live" examples and to illustrate how documents are typically structured for document authors. The demonstration documents extract most of their information from a supplied database called FPDemo or from an XML file that was automatically generated from the FPDemo database by FinerEdge Publisher.

Many of the demonstration documents also have attached forms (for collecting information prior to document generation), which are managed by automatically generated processes. Forms and processes are built-in facilities that are visually created with the assistance of the WYSIWYG form editor within the FinerEdge Publisher Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

The explanations in this document are meant to provide a quick introduction to the FinerEdge Publisher IDE and further supply enough information to successfully generate the demonstration documents. Much more information can be found within the supplied IDE Manual, Reference Manual, Document Author's Guide, and Programmer's Guide, which can be accessed via the links that appear at the top of this document.

FPWeb Facility: The FinerEdge Publisher FPWeb facility empowers an organization's outside customers and internal users with the ability to, from their browser, visually customize document definitions, save the customized document definitions for reuse, generate documents in all supported output formats, and view the generated documents. FPWeb utilizes only HTML elements, CSS styles, and standard JavaScript within client web browsers for maximum compatibility and security.

The facilities of FPWeb are available as both an Active Server Pages (ASP) and Java Server Pages (JSP) implementations. As such, both FPWeb ASP and JSP versions look and operate in exactly the same way. In addition, while the customization capabilities of FPWeb are more selective than documents authored with the FinerEdge Publisher IDE, it nevertheless provides a valuable and easy-to-use environment for web-based users to customize and generate their own documents from any browser.

For more information on FPWeb (including initial setup), click here.

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IDE Fundamentals

When a document is opened in the IDE, five (5) distinct "views" are available. These views show different aspects of the opened document and allow different actions to be performed on the document. Depending upon the view chosen, different menus, toolbars, and supporting panes may be shown. The five views can be selected from either the "View" menu or from the corresponding toolbar buttons just below the "View" menu. The five views and a brief explanation of each are as follows:

Visual definition

The WYSIWYG visual document designer view. This view is kept in-sync with the markup definition view (i.e., any changes in this view will be reflected in the markup definition view).

Markup definition

The markup definition view. This view is kept in-sync with the visual designer view (i.e., any changes in this view will be reflected in the visual designer view).

Document generation

The rendered results of the document, designed with the assistance of the integrated WYSIWYG visual document designer and markup editor. Selecting this view for an opened document causes the document to be processed, rendered, and shown within this view. In addition, this view allows any of the output formats to be generated (e.g., PDF, PostScript, XPS, RTF, etc.).

Form definition

The WYSIWYG visual form designer view. This view shows the front-end form that is attached to the currently opened document (if one exists) or allows a form to be created and attached to the opened document.

Form generation
The GUI generated "live" form. Forms can be simultaneously used in either a GUI format, Web (standard HTML) format, or embedded within automatically generated ASP and JSP processes.

For any of the demonstrations discussed in the next section, we will be using the same basic set of instructions, which are as follows:



Open a demonstration document by either selecting the "Open an existing document" menu item under the "File" menu or by pressing the corresponding toolbar button below the "File" menu. By default, the opened document is shown within the visual definition view (although the markup definition view can also be selected if desired).



Select the document generation view to process, render, and show the document output.



When instructed (and a corresponding form exists for an opened document), select the form generation view to show the attached form in a GUI mode of operation. Fill in or select any applicable form fields and subsequently select the "Test form process" menu item under the "Generate" menu or press the corresponding toolbar button (that appears as a checkmark).


As you've seen, many other capabilities exist within FinerEdge Publisher including automatically generating ASP and JSP web-to-print processes. Please refer to the accompanying help support documents for additional information regarding all aspects of FinerEdge Publisher.

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Generating Demonstration
Documents

Customer Orders Master Reference

This demonstration generates a master reference of customer orders along with multiple sorted indexes, both by order ID and customer name. (For instructions regarding how to open a document or any other general concept used in this demonstration, please refer to the "IDE Fundamentals" section previously presented in this document.)

Step 1: Open the document named "FPDemoOrdersDoc.fpm".

Step 2: Select the "Document Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Document Generation" toolbar button. You can position or scroll anywhere within the displayed document using standard methods such as the Page Up and Page Down keys or by using your mouse. You can also jump particular pages or zoom in/out the display.

Note: Since this document has an attached visually designed form to collect certain preliminary information prior to generating the document, let's now generate the same document using the form.

Step 3: Select the "Form Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Form Generation" toolbar button.

Step 4: On the form, select the number of orders to generate and the desired page break option. (Note: The page break option determines where page breaks are allowed within a particular customer's order.)

Step 5: Select the "Test form process" menu item under the "Generate" menu or press the corresponding toolbar button (that appears as a checkmark). You can position or scroll anywhere within the displayed document using standard methods such as the Page Up and Page Down keys or by using your mouse. You can also jump particular pages or zoom in/out the display.

If desired, select any of the output generation types (e.g., PDF, XPS, etc.) from either the "Generate" menu or using the corresponding toolbar button, and subsequently view the resulting document (you will be asked if you want to show the resulting output generation using the applicable viewer).

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Customizable Products Catalog

This demonstration generates a customizable catalog of products along with an optional index and embedded links from the index to the specific products (if applicable to the generated output type). (For instructions regarding how to open a document or any other general concept used in this demonstration, please refer to the "IDE Fundamentals" section previously presented in this document.)

Step 1: Open the document named "FPDemoProductsDoc.fpm".

Step 2: Select the "Document Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Document Generation" toolbar button. You can position or scroll anywhere within the displayed document using standard methods such as the Page Up and Page Down keys or by using your mouse. You can also jump particular pages or zoom in/out the display.

Note: Since this document has an attached visually designed form to collect certain preliminary information prior to generating the document, let's now generate the same document using the form.

Step 3: Select the "Form Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Form Generation" toolbar button.

Step 4: On the form, select any or all of the desired products you want to see in the catalog, and if an index will be generated.

Step 5: Select the "Test form process" menu item under the "Generate" menu or press the corresponding toolbar button (that appears as a checkmark). You can position or scroll anywhere within the displayed document using standard methods such as the Page Up and Page Down keys or by using your mouse. You can also jump particular pages or zoom in/out the display.

Note: This document contains images that were directly imported from the demonstration database on-the-fly. Images imported from a database are compatible with all applicable output generation types including XHTML (i.e., in the XHTML case a special directory of images will be automatically created for you).

If desired, select any of the output generation types (e.g., PDF, XPS, etc.) from either the "Generate" menu or using the corresponding toolbar button, and subsequently view the resulting document (you will be asked if you want to show the resulting output generation using the applicable viewer).

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Bulk Generated Business Letters

This demonstration generates bulk business letters to customers containing their orders to date. (For instructions regarding how to open a document or any other general concept used in this demonstration, please refer to the "IDE Fundamentals" section previously presented in this document.)

Step 1: Open the document named "FPDemoBusinessLetter.fpm".

Step 2: Since this document does not have an attached form yet, select the "Document Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Document Generation" toolbar button.

If desired, select any of the output generation types (e.g., PDF, XPS, etc.) from either the "Generate" menu or using the corresponding toolbar button, and subsequently view the resulting document (you will be asked if you want to show the resulting output generation using the applicable viewer).

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Products Database to XML File

This demonstration extracts information from the demonstration database for an alternate Products Catalog generation and creates a corresponding XML data file and images directory. (For instructions regarding how to open a document or any other general concept used in this demonstration, please refer to the "IDE Fundamentals" section previously presented in this document.)

Step 1: Open the document named "FPDemoProductsXML.fpm".

Step 2: Select the "Document Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Document Generation" toolbar button.

Step 3: Select the "Generate the document as Text" from either the "Generate" menu or using the corresponding toolbar button.

Note: By default, the generated well-formed XML file was placed into the "Results" directory, which is normally located in the directory C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\My Documents\FinerEdge Software\FinerEdge Publisher. The extension "txt" was used by the IDE because Text output generation was selected (but can be overridden when generating documents via any of FinerEdge Publisher's documented APIs). Notice also the automatically generated directory of images (from the database) in the Results directory.

Note: This demonstration document was automatically generated by FinerEdge Publisher's database Query Editor. In addition, the database query editor also has the ability to generate entire documents with formatted fields and tables simply by applying one or more of the supplied formatting themes (to database queries) and pressing the Generate Document button. This facility provides an ideal way to initially create an entire document (or portion of a document), quickly see some "live" results, and subsequently tune the document to your exact specifications.

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Products Catalog using XML File

This demonstration generates a "Customizable Products Catalog" exactly like the previous catalog of products demonstration, but instead uses the XML file that was also previously generated from the demonstration database (in the "Products Database to XML File" demonstration). (For instructions regarding how to open a document or any other general concept used in this demonstration, please refer to the "IDE Fundamentals" section previously presented in this document.)

Step 1: Open the document named "FPDemoProductsXMLDoc.fpm".

Step 2: Since this document does not have an attached form yet, select the "Document Generation" menu item from the "View" menu or press the corresponding "Document Generation" toolbar button. You can position or scroll anywhere within the displayed document using standard methods such as the Page Up and Page Down keys or by using your mouse. You can also jump particular pages or zoom in/out the display.

If desired, select any of the output generation types (e.g., PDF, XPS, etc.) from either the "Generate" menu or using the corresponding toolbar button, and subsequently view the resulting document (you will be asked if you want to show the resulting output generation using the applicable viewer).

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Where To
Next?

For Document Authors



To read more about getting started with authoring documents and additional tutorials, you can refer to the FinerEdge Publisher Author's Guide.



To receive comprehensive assistance on any portion of the IDE's operation, you can refer to the FinerEdge Publisher IDE Manual.


To receive comprehensive assistance on any FPML tag, style property, expression, or function, you can refer to the FinerEdge Publisher Reference Manual.

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For IDE ASP/JSP Generations



A WebMaster or Programmer will need to perform a one-time setup of the ASP or JSP environments for FinerEdge Publisher ASP/JSP generation to work seamlessly. For setup assistance, please refer to the topics under the section "ASP, JSP, and FPWeb Setup" within the FinerEdge Publisher Programmer's Guide.


To receive assistance automatically generating ASP and JSP processes from documents with attached forms, you can refer to the chapters "Form Definition" and "Form Generation" within the FinerEdge Publisher IDE Manual.

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For FPWeb Use and Initial Setup



A WebMaster or Programmer will need to perform a one-time setup of FPWeb. For setup assistance, please refer to the topics under the section "ASP, JSP, and FPWeb Setup" within the FinerEdge Publisher Programmer's Guide.


To view an FPWeb demonstration tutorial and corresponding sample FPWeb document, you can refer to the topic "FPWeb User Tutorial" within the FinerEdge Publisher Author's Guide.


To receive on-line help assistance while using FPWeb, you can click on the Help icon located in the menu of both the FPWeb ASP and JSP main web pages.

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For Programmers/Integrators



To read more about getting started with the programming/integration subject areas and APIs, you can refer to the FinerEdge Publisher Programmer's Guide.


To receive comprehensive assistance on any programming/integration subject areas or API, you can refer to the FinerEdge Publisher Reference Manual.

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Copyright © 2008 FinerEdge Software. All rights reserved.