You can generate an HTML report from an encyclopedia. You can select the diagrams to include in the HTML report. You can filter the properties of the diagrams and definitions to include in the report. You can also control the appearance of the generated HTML pages.
Procedure
1 In System Architect, load the encyclopedia that you want to publish. Close all open diagrams prior to the generation.
2 Click Reports > HTML Reports.
3 On the General tab, do this:
▪On the Template home page field verify that the path points to the correct path and file. The default value is:
If you moved your templates to another path, specify that path.
▪In the Publish home page field, specify the directory in which to publish the HTML report.
▪To generate an HTML report with all diagrams and definitions that you selected in the current encyclopedia, in the Options section, click Encyclopedia Report.
▪To generate an HTML report designed to appear as the specific framework, click Framework Report; then select a Framework from the list. This option enables you to view the selected diagrams and definitions in the HTML report through the cells of the framework.
4 On the Diagrams tab, search for the diagrams to publish as HTML.
▪To search by diagram name, enter a value in the Name field, and then click Search.
▪To search by diagram type, select a type from the Type list, and then click Search.
▪To search by both name and type, enter values in both fields, and then click Search.
▪To display all diagrams in the encyclopedia, click Search without specifying any criteria.
5 Move diagrams from the Source list to the Diagrams for generation list. Only the diagrams in the Diagrams for Generation list will be written as HTML, irrespective of any other setting. If the Publish All Diagrams or Use List File to Publish Diagrams are selected on the List Management tab, then changing to the Diagrams tab sets up the Diagrams for Generation list for the first time and any changes to the list are used in the generation process.
6 To limit the maximum diagram width setting that is generated in the HTML, enter a number in the Maximum diagram width field.
If the diagram is smaller than the maximum width, it is generated at its original size.
If a diagram is larger than the maximum width, it is proportionally scaled to fit in the maximum width. Note that larger diagrams take longer to load across the Internet.
7 On the List Management tab, do this:
▪To generate HTML for all the diagrams in the current encyclopedia, select the Publish all diagrams check boxes. Note that if you modify the Diagrams for generation list before generation, the generation occurs for the diagrams in the list.
▪To generate HTML for the diagrams that are specified in Diagram list file, unless the Diagrams for Generation list is modified before generation on the Diagrams tab, select the Use list files to publish diagrams checkbox.
A Diagram list file is a text file that contains a list of diagram names and types. You can use this file to repeatedly generate and regenerate the same diagrams. The list file must be in a Unicode format to support non-Western character languages such as double-byte Korean and Japanese. If it is not in a Unicode format, an error occurs.
8 On the Advanced tab, you can change the look of the HTML pages. You can open the template pages with an HTML editor, and directly modify the templates that the HTML will be generated to. To customize the look of the generated HTML pages, do this:
In the HTML properties section:
▪To set the frame for displaying the definition content when you click on the link set the Definition Target Name field. You can define the frame in the defns.htm file in the sahtml\template folder under the product's installation directory.
▪To set the frame for displaying the symbol content when you click the link, set the Symbol Target field. You can define the frame in the symbols.inc file in the sahtml\template folder under the System Architect directory.
▪To set the frame for displaying the diagram content when you click the link, set the Diagram Target field. System Architect uses the HTML frame syntax '_top' to indicate that the referenced document will be loaded in the topmost frame; thus, the new page fills the entire browser window. You can add a frame in the template for where the diagram would be presented by defining it as has been done for the definition and symbol sections. The default template does not do this because the diagram page defines subframes and it is designed to take up all the space in the browser window.
▪To split the definitions into multiple files, modify Split definitions by field.
The higher the number in this field, the more defs*.htm files are generated, and the smaller they are.
In the Generation properties section:
▪To keep the bitmap files after converting to another format, select Keep Bitmap Files.
▪To speed up the generation process through the use of locking the encyclopedia so that other users cannot update it while the system generates the report, select High Speed (Lock Encyclopedia).
▪To set the directory for writing temporary files, enter a file path in Temporary Directory.
▪To choose a file format for the generated diagram, select PNG, JPG or SVG.
PNG format offers better compression for diagram-type images.
JPG is a popular format but was developed for the compression of photograph-style images, so the compression is less favorable for diagram-type images. PNG and JPG formats are raster formats (a 2-dimensional array with color references) which you can open with most image editors and internet browsers.
SVG is a scalable vector image format which offers perusal of the generated diagram in finer detail at the cost of using a plug-in application to view the image and the risk that image file sizes might exceed those of equivalent raster image formats.
▪To specify the maximum size of the image file when using SVG files set the Max SVG memory field. This refers to the maximum memory size that the SVG viewer applet can use. By default this is 64 MB.
9 By default, the HTML Generator generates all information for all properties of the selected diagrams, the symbols on those diagrams, and the definitions of those symbols. To filter the information to generate for the selected diagrams, on the Preferences tab complete the following steps.
▪Double-click Diagrams or Definitions in the box on the left to display the diagrams or definitions in the current encyclopedia (as configured via Tools > Customize Method Support). Continue double-clicking specific diagrams or definitions to display the available properties of each.
▪Select or clear properties to generate.
▪To open the site in the default web browser when the generation completes, select Browse site when published.
▪To exclude audit properties, such as who last changed the item, select the Exclude audit details.
▪To exclude the GUID that is stored against each item from the report, select Exclude GUID information.
▪To include the properties that are hidden in the user interface in the report, select Show invisible properties. See the help on the INVISIBLE keyword in the USRPROPS keywords in the help section.
10 Click Publish to begin HTML generation.
Links to external documents and URLs that users have added into the Reference Documentsproperty of any definition are generated to the HTML output published by the HTML Generator. If the Reference Document property contains references to documents that are stored in the encyclopedia’s subfolder in the HTML output, so you can open them from the browser.
SVG diagrams also provide diagram navigation options. You can view help for navigation by clicking SVG Shortcut Keys Help which appears on all pages with SVG graphics.