CSDB for S1000D Dynamic Linking Question

[it1]

Fellow Forum Members,

The PTC suite of apps listed below has just been installed on my computer by my employer:

• CSDB for S1000D (Control Station)
• CSDB for S1000D (Task Station)
• Publisher for S1000D
• Provisioning Manager
• Parts Catalog Manager
• LSA Interface

My goal now is to figure out if the following is possible. Let's say for example sake I have created the following two projects using the CSDB (Control Station) application:

• PROJECT A contains data modules 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A
• PROJECT B contains data modules 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B and 5B (which has as a baseline PROJECT A, but all data modules 1B thru 5B contain addtional unique data that has been added).

I want to be able to dynmically link data module "1B" to data module "1A" (which resides in an entirely different project) so that when I make a change to data module 1A it automatically updates data module 1B as far as the basline data goes but the additional newly added data in 1B stays untouched. .

Not sure which of the following options is the correct way to go. Can this "dynamic link" I want to establish between the two data modules residing two different Projects best be done using an Alias or a RefDM or by using a Container? Those are the 3 options I have researched but I would like this community to enlighten me as to which of the three options is the most solid option to go with for setting up the S1000D conditional logic workflow for a DoD Technical Publication Department that produces a lot of technical documentation on a yearly basis. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[it1]

Can anyone at PTC monitoring this Arbortext forum please respond to my question. It will be much appreciated. Thanks.

[SusanFort]

Hi,

I am not aware of anything built into our software that can meet this requirement. I have an inquiry into RD to see if there is something I am unaware of.

Thanks

Susan

[GarethOakes]

That would be cool. I suspect there will be edge cases that make this workflow difficult to fully automate though. What you are suggesting is directly analogous to branching and merging in the discipline of software source code control (Subversion, Git, etc.). In that model, we would describe Project A as the trunk and Project B as a branch into which you merge all Project A changes.

While this would be possible I imagine it is not going to be an out-of-the-box feature. You would probably need customisation code to implement the required functionality. I'm not an Arbortext S1000D guru though so maybe there are features that can semi-automate or assist?

[DmitryTsarev]

I'd use applicability for this.

Applicability is a S1000D feature, supported by PTC's S1000D solution OOTB. Is means a lot of good things in terms of data interchange, system support (upgrades) etc.