Output Tab

When you click on the Output Tab, the following dialog will appear:

Output Tab

Output Options

The Output Tab contains options that control how TechWriter builds the outputs for your project.

Output Option	Description
Output Folder	Folder where the documentation output files will be written. Defaults to folder containing the project file.
Language File	Specifies a file containing alternative values for output headings and text. For information on creating your own language file see Creating a Custom Language File. (Optional)
Style Sheet File	Specifies a file containing font style definitions for output headings and text. For information on creating your own output style sheet see Creating a Custom Output Style Sheet. (Optional)
Omit document summary topic	Indicates whether the document summary page that provides a high-level overview should be omitted. This option can be useful if you have only a single website to document.
Mark missing descriptions with an error message	Indicates whether items being documented that are missing descriptions should be marked by putting an error message in place of the missing description when printed. This option is useful for creating a review copy of your documentation.

Note: Previous versions of TechWriter included a Page Footer option under the Output tab. Page headers and footers are now defined using the Annotations tab.

Output Types

To add an output type select the 'Add' button at the bottom of the tab. TechWriter currently supports the following output types:

Output Type	Description
HTML Help 1.x	Compiled help file in HTML Help 1.x format.
PDF Document	Portable Document Format (PDF) file that can be viewed with PDF readers like Adobe Acrobat.
HTML Page	A single HTML page that can be published on a web site and viewed with standard web browsers.
Web Site	A set of web pages that can be published on a web site and viewed with standard web browsers.
Word/RTF Document	Word/RTF document that can be edited and viewed with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.
XML / DocBook Document	A single XML file formatted using the DocBook 5 schema (see www.docbook.org for details).
XPS Document	An XML Paper Specification (XPS) document.

Output Settings

Depending on the output type, different output settings are available. The output settings available for the HTML Help 1.x output type are as follows:

HTML Help 1.x Setting	Description
Help File Name	The file name to use for the compile help file.
Index Tab	Indicates if the help file should contain an index.
Search Tab	Indicates if the help file should be searchable.

The output settings available for the PDF Document output type are as follows:

PDF Document Setting	Description
PDF File Name	The file name to use for the PDF file.
Table of Contents	Indicates if a Table of Contents should be included in the document.
Index	Indicates if an Index should be included in the document.
Bookmarks	Indicates if Bookmarks should be included in the document for navigation.
Page Size	The page size to use.
Page Orientation	Sets the page orientation to landscape or portrait.

The output settings available for the HTML Page output type are as follows:

HTML Page Setting	Description
Top Page Name	The file name to use for the HTML page.
Page Template	A custom page template used to generated the documentation. See 'Creating a Custom Page Template for Web Site Output' below for more details.
Number of Levels in Table of Contents	The number of levels to include in the table of contents that is included in each page.
Internal hyperlinks	Includes navigation hyperlinks for cross-referenced items.

The output settings available for the Web Site output type are as follows:

Web Site Setting	Description
Top Page Name	The file name to use for the top or main page of the documentation.
Page Template	A custom page template used to generated the documentation. See 'Creating a Custom Page Template for Web Site Output' below for more details.
Number of Levels in Table of Contents	The number of levels to include in the table of contents that is included in each page.

The output settings available for the Word/RTF Document output type are as follows:

Word/RTF Setting	Description
Word/RTF File Name	The file name to use for the Word/RTF file.
Internal hyperlinks	Includes navigation hyperlinks for cross-referenced items.
Page Size	The page size to use.
Page Orientation	Sets the page orientation to landscape or portrait.

The output settings available for the XML / DocBook output type are as follows:

XML / DocBook Setting	Description
DocBook File Name	The file name to use for the XML file.

The output settings available for the XPS Document output type are as follows:

XPS Document Setting Description

XPS File Name The file name to use for the XPS file.

Table of Contents Indicates if a Table of Contents should be included in the document.

Index Indicates if an Index should be included in the document.

Bookmarks Indicates if Bookmarks should be included in the document for navigation.

Page Size The page size to use.

Page Orientation Sets the page orientation to landscape or portrait.

XPS Document Setting	Description
XPS File Name	The file name to use for the XPS file.
Table of Contents	Indicates if a Table of Contents should be included in the document.
Index	Indicates if an Index should be included in the document.
Bookmarks	Indicates if Bookmarks should be included in the document for navigation.
Page Size	The page size to use.
Page Orientation	Sets the page orientation to landscape or portrait.

Creating a Custom Page Template for HTML Page and Web Site Output

The default page template used for the HTML Page and Web Site output types creates static HTML output that has a look and feel that is similar to HTML Help output. By using your own custom page template, you can produce HTML output for scripting languages such as PHP and ASP, and include custom styles and navigation to create your own look and feel.

Below is an example page template that uses server-side includes so that each page includes a common header and footer. This example also references a custom style sheet.

<html>
<head>
    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>${tw_title}</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/myStylesheet.css" />
</head>
<body>
    <!-- #Include Virtual="/header.inc" -->
    <table height="100%" width="100%">
        <tr valign="top">
            <td width="30%" class="toc">
                ${tw_toc}
            </td>
            <td width="70%" class="body">
             <div class="topic">
                    ${tw_body}
                </div>
            </td>
        </tr>
    </table>
    <!-- #Include Virtual="/footer.inc" -->
</body>
</html>

Content is inserted into the template through the use of substitution variables. These substitution variables are defined in the table below.

Substitution Variable	Description
${tw_title}	The title of the page.
${tw_toc}	The table of contents for the document.
${tw_body}	The body of the page.