Publishing configurations as Web sites

You can use the Publish Method Configuration wizard to generate a Web site based on a method configuration.

Procedure

In the toolbar, use the Configuration menu to select Publish. The Publish Method Configuration wizard opens.
Select HTML as the publishing format. Click Next.
From the list of available configurations, select the method configuration that you want to publish. Click Next.
1. Select None if you want to publish without selecting a method configuration.
Indicate whether you want all method content of the selected method configuration to be included in the published site, or if you want only the method content that is being used by the processes in the process list. Click Next.
1. If you selected None for method configuration, you can select any process within the method library.
Select options to customize the look and behavior of the published site:
Select options for Title and links.
- Title: The title is displayed in the title bar of the browser that displays the published site
- About content: Select a text or HTML file that contains the text that displays when the user presses About in the published site
- Feedback URL: For more information about the feedback URL, see page Changing feedback addresses.
Select options for Glossary and index. Check these boxes to generate a Glossary and Index section (applies to Classic skins only).
Select options for Look and feel.
- Skin: Select a skin to be used for publishing. Skins are stored in the users home directory (such as C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\MEC\Skins on Windows XP). When you publish from Engineering Method Composer for the first time, a default Skin directory is created that you can copy, paste, and modify to create your own skins.
- Publish banner: Check this box to create a banner on top of the published content. Use the Banner image field to select a graphic file that contains your banner. If you do not enter anything here, Engineering Method Composer uses its default banner.
- Publish background: Check this box to create a background image, for example, the company logo or a watermark in your published Web site pages. Use the background image field to select a graphic file (.gif, .jpg, or .bmp) that contains your background image.
Select options for Validation.
- Check external hyperlinks: When this option is selected, Engineering Method Composer checks each hyperlink before publishing. Clear this option if you are not connected to the Internet or you use a Proxy server (currently not supported).
- Convert broken hyperlinks to plain text: If there are broken links and this option is not selected, Engineering Method Composer prefixes each link with a broken link symbol. The same is true for links to content elements that are not in the published method configuration. If this option is selected, all links are converted to plain text instead and no broken link symbol is used.
Select options for Diagrams.
- Publish activity detail diagrams that have not been manually created: When this option is selected, Engineering Method Composer publishes an Activity Detail Diagram for every activity. It creates these diagrams and publishes them with a default auto-layout. If the option is cleared, then only the Activity Detail Diagrams are published that a user has manually created in the Process editor and saved with a custom layout.
- Publish activity diagrams for unmodified activity extensions: By default, activities that are extensions of other activities are not published with an Activity Diagram, but only the Breakdown Structure. If this option is selected, then extending activities are published with the diagram of their base activities if these extending activities do not define their own subelements. That is, the subelements are pure pattern applications without providing its own modifications. If these activities define their own elements, create a local activity diagram for the extending activity that can be published later.
Select options for Layout.
- Show relationship subfolders in navigation trees: If you select this option, it publishes elements, such as task with its related elements (such as input and output work products), in separate subfolders. If cleared, it publishes related elements as subelements. It also lists a subset of these related elements in the tree. For example, only output work products for tasks and not the inputs.
- Show task descriptors in navigation trees: If you select this option, Engineering Method Composer creates a breakdown for all activities for published processes in the tree-browser. This option also includes the descriptor level into the tree-browser. Selecting this option has an impact on publication time and performance of the published site.
- Include method content in descriptor pages: If this option is selected, it hides the distinction between method content elements and descriptors from the users of the published site. All descriptors are published without using the word “Descriptor” as their type and all textual content and guidance relationships of the related method content elements.
- Replace descriptor page with linked content element page: When this option is selected, element descriptors that are process specific will not be published. Instead, links to the original elements are published.
- Publish process usage in role, task, and work product pages linking to related descriptors: When this option is selected, all method content pages include an additional section called “Process Usage” that displays all occurrences of the method content elements in all processes of the published configuration. This list provides a quick overview to see in which processes and where in these processes method content elements have been used. When this option is selected, you can also select the option “Show all indirect (green) occurrences in extended patterns” which determines how many process occurrences are shown for a method content element. If the option is not checked, then only direct usage of the elements is shown (recognizable by using a black font for these elements in the process editor breakdown structure). If the option is checked, then also all indirect occurrences are shown. Indirect usage means that the element has not been applied directly to the process, but indirectly by applying a capability pattern that had this element applied (recognizable by using a green font for these elements in the process editor breakdown structure).
- Default tab for activity pages: Published activity pages comprise four tabs (applies to the Classic skin only). This option allows selecting which of these tabs is presented first by default.
To get to the next set of publishing options, click Next.
Select the tag groups for publishing:
1. In the upper pane, select the tag groups to be used in the publication process. Unless your organization has specific instructions for tag groups, select all tag groups. See Tagging overview for guidance on how tags affect publication.
2. In the lower pane, click Add.
3. In the Select tags window, select a single tag, multiple tags, or the entire tag group by selecting the parent node that you want to be displayed on the published elements with those tags applied. Click OK. Unless your organization has specific instructions for publishing tags, do not select any. See Publishing tags on elements for guidance on how this option affects publishing.
4. To continue, click Next.
Enter the destination Directory: Indicate a directory to create the published site.
Select options for Web site format.
- Static Web site: This option creates static HTML pages in the directory that you selected. If the check box is selected, there are two options to include a Web search:
  - Include Java based search capability: the search requires a Java™ runtime environment that is installed on the machine for the Web site user because it uses a Java applet (Classic skins) or application (MEC skins).
  - Include PHP/Lucene based search capability: the search requires one of the following configurations on the Web server:
    - Apache, PHP, and Zend
    - Internet Information Server (IIS), PHP, and Zend
- Java EE Web application: This option creates one WAR or EAR file in the selected location that can be installed on a Java EE Web server with Servlet 2.3 or above capabilities. Search is realized as a Servlet running on such servers.
Click Finish. Publishing is initiated.

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