Open Source S1000D Browser?

ptc-3050150 · ‎Jan 25, 2011

We've had this discussion in this group before about how pretty much nothing S1000D is free even if it is a government spec.

The question for today: is there a simple, free way to create a sample, proof-of-concept book that will run in a browser - preferably over the internet?

The files themselves are still XML In Arbortext - that hasn't changed. We've worked with the Trilogi people - pretty, but NOT simple...and the proof of concept is neither cheap nor fast. We should have Eagle installed sooner or later - we've had the license for a couple of years from what I hear. But getting that dang first sample manual up on a screen...!!!

Thanks,

John T. Jarrett CDT
Senior Tech Writer, Integrated Logistics Support, Land & Armaments/Global Tactical Systems

T 832.673.2147 | M 832.363.7234 | F 832.673.2376 | x1147 | -<">mailto:->
BAE Systems, 5000 I-10 West, Sealy, Texas USA 77474
www.baesystems.com

ptc-953343 · ‎Jan 25, 2011

Simple answer is no.

Several of the branches have viewers that they provide. For instance
NAVSEA has the Contenta Viewer and NAVAIR has NSIV. These can be got by
contacting the right people. Not sure what the other branches have. We
also use SpecView which the AF seems to use - not sure if it is their
standard or just on of the many.

An alternative is to go to the vendors (PTC, Inmedius, XyVision) and ask
them to process your content and give you a demo viewer. Inmedius is at
BAE in KY, so you might contact your counter parts there as well.

So what were the problems with Trilogi (a BAE company) and its speed/ease
of use? What were you expecting? My experience is that the viewers all do
some sort of build to either convert the XML to HTML or at least index the
content for the search engine - so that takes time.

Speed of use depends on number of DMs and the processing you are expecting
and how dynmaic the rendering might be. I know with NSIV (the viewer I
currently work with) the TOC/SNS views work reasonably well because they
divide up the content onto sub folders. When I go the the part number or
figure index it is miserable becasue it is one long list. Applicability
and the some of the process modules might slow things down as well.

..dan

> We've had this discussion in this group before about how pretty much
> nothing S1000D is free even if it is a government spec.
>
> The question for today: is there a simple, free way to create a sample,
> proof-of-concept book that will run in a browser - preferably over the
> internet?
>
> The files themselves are still XML In Arbortext - that hasn't changed.
> We've worked with the Trilogi people - pretty, but NOT simple...and the
> proof of concept is neither cheap nor fast. We should have Eagle installed
> sooner or later - we've had the license for a couple of years from what I
> hear. But getting that dang first sample manual up on a screen...!!!
>
> Thanks,
>
> John T. Jarrett CDT
> Senior Tech Writer, Integrated Logistics Support, Land & Armaments/Global
> Tactical Systems
>
> T 832.673.2147 | M 832.363.7234 | F 832.673.2376 | x1147 |
> -<">mailto:->
> BAE Systems, 5000 I-10 West, Sealy, Texas USA 77474
> www.baesystems.com

ptc-3050150 · ‎Jan 26, 2011

The problem with Trilogi has more to do with the old SGML sample set we sent them to convert. Too many work packages, and data old enough the translation scripts have to be redone. And of course there are two to five procedures per work package that they then have to chop into individual data modules. We tried just one model from our FMTV line but that meant I had to remove the other 20 models which made the data just that much harder to work with (I wasn't really given the time to do a high quality job so what they got was a bit confusing.) Their browser is quite impressive, at least compared to say EMS-NG, but getting that proof-of-concept in our hands has been more complicated than we expected.

I did come across Enmedius and noted that a BAE company in Germany uses it in addition to our Kentucky facility...but now we just need something quick I can work on while waiting for comments to come back on my other manual...which, by the way, was a new book in SGML *sigh* here's hoping the 6.0 licenses still work with 4.3. I'd roll my eyes but I don't think you'd much be able to see that.

John T. Jarrett CDT
Senior Tech Writer, Integrated Logistics Support,Land & Armaments/Global Tactical Systems

T832.673.2147 | M 832.363.7234 | F 832.673.2376| x1147 | -
BAE Systems, 5000 I-10 West, Sealy, Texas USA 77474
www.baesystems.com

ebenton · ‎Jan 26, 2011

Does anyone know of a way to prevent Arbortext Editor from inserting the Pub Lcl Processing instructions everywhere in the FOSI when you use the panels?

These PIs (example: ) cause difference-checking problems when comparing a FOSI edited with the panels and one edited with a text editor.

ptc-953343 · ‎Jan 26, 2011

So it sounds like the biggest problem was that your data wasn't in S1000D
format then and not a browser issue. So you are looking for a browser you
can build against to test your conversion as much as anything else?

So what you can do in house is to get some better sample data together and
then all the previous options become available. Assuming you have the
time/budget, I would ask PTC or Inmedius to try their editor plugins that
provide the DTDs and Stylesheets. Then start puling your data into proper
data modules. You don't really need the plugins, but it is nice to have
some level of formatting available while you are doing the work.

> The problem with Trilogi has more to do with the old SGML sample set we
> sent them to convert. Too many work packages, and data old enough the
> translation scripts have to be redone. And of course there are two to five
> procedures per work package that they then have to chop into individual
> data modules. We tried just one model from our FMTV line but that meant I
> had to remove the other 20 models which made the data just that much
> harder to work with (I wasn't really given the time to do a high quality
> job so what they got was a bit confusing.) Their browser is quite
> impressive, at least compared to say EMS-NG, but getting that
> proof-of-concept in our hands has been more complicated than we expected.
>
> I did come across Enmedius and noted that a BAE company in Germany uses it
> in addition to our Kentucky facility...but now we just need something
> quick I can work on while waiting for comments to come back on my other
> manual...which, by the way, was a new book in SGML *sigh* here's hoping
> the 6.0 licenses still work with 4.3. I'd roll my eyes but I don't think
> you'd much be able to see that.
>
> John T. Jarrett CDT
> Senior Tech Writer, Integrated Logistics Support,Land & Armaments/Global
> Tactical Systems
>
> T832.673.2147 | M 832.363.7234 | F 832.673.2376| x1147 |
> -
> BAE Systems, 5000 I-10 West, Sealy, Texas USA 77474
> www.baesystems.com
>
>

SindyYoung · ‎Jan 26, 2011

No but I would pay good money to find out. LOL
Sindy