Discussion of the use of Arbortext software in production of complex print products.

1. Managing Complex Print
Deliverables with Arbortext 5.4
Gareth Oakes
GPSL (Global Publishing Solutions Ltd)

2. Join the conversation!
Event hashtag is #PTCUSER10

3. Introduction
• Gareth Oakes (goakes@gpslsolutions.com)
• My experience:
– Griffith University
– Advent/3B2
– Arbortext
– PTC
– GPSL
• GPSL: we solve complex publishing problems

4. The Conversation: Managing Complex Print
Deliverables with Arbortext 5.4
• It’s 2010, and we’re still printing on dead tree?
• Tell me about modern enterprise publishing systems
• What publishing features are in Arbortext 5.4 then?
• What’s this APP software all about?
• How can we manage our complex print deliverables with
PTC software?

5. It’s 2010, and we’re still
printing on dead tree?
Alphabets and paper,
leading to adoption of
moveable type
Johannes Gutenberg
circa 1447
Logographs on clay
tablets and papyrus
Egypt & Mesopotamia
~4000BC
WWW and HTML
Tim Berners-Lee
August 6, 1991
PDF
Adobe
circa 1993
Pictures on
cave walls
~30000BC
What next?What next?

6. Trends
• There has been a massive, accelerating shift over the last
10-15 years towards electronic media
• However it’s not necessarily a shift from one format to
another, it’s a diversification
• We are discovering that certain classes of content are
better suited to other media types than others, eg.
– RSS feeds: news articles
– Epub format: books (growing fast!)
– Web: shopping, social communications, technical
forums, etc.

7. Disadvantages of Print
• Not searchable 
• Bulky
• Easy to mass produce, but costly to
distribute
• Difficult to duplicate
• Difficult to keep information updated
• Expensive to compose large,
complex documents with high quality

8. Advantages of Print
• No electronics =
no hardware, no batteries,
no interference, always “on”
• Paper is cheap
• Fast and simple to scan through a large bulk of content
• Easier to read than electronic screens
• Annotatable
• Large display, high resolution, full colour 
• Well suited to certain classes of content, and conveys a
message of professionalism and formality

9. Printed materials are still widely used
• Fiction and non-fiction books
• Operation, service and reference manuals
• Catalogues, brochures and flyers
• Scientific journals and technical articles
• Parliamentary records and legislation
• Taxation/legal reference material
• ... government and enterprise publishers in particular face
strong market demand for printed materials

10. Tell me about modern enterprise
publishing systems
• Content stored in a Content Management System, usually
as fragments of related information
• Best format for structured content is XML
– Separation of content from style
– Supports information fragments
– Multilingual, and supportive of translation management
• Actual content may be authored, or driven by a database
• Multi-channel delivery

11. Tell me about modern enterprise
publishing systems
• Printed outputs are usually the toughest ones, unless
compromises can be made
• Desktop operators are expensive
• Even outsourced composition vendors are not as cheap
as they used to be...
• Software tools and automated systems help solve the
modern enterprise publishing problem:
“we need to deliver more content, to more consumers, in
more formats, faster and cheaper than ever before”

12. What publishing features are in
Arbortext 5.4 then?
• Arbortext Publishing Engine is the traditional flagship
publishing product in the Arbortext range
• Java, scripting and web services APIs
• Capable of:
– Working natively with complex XML content, through
validation, scripting and transformations
– Publishing XML content to many output types
– Importing unstructured formats (MS Word, PDF, etc.)
– Exporting unstructured formats (eg. RTF)

13. What publishing features are in
Arbortext 5.4 then?
• The Arbortext 5.4 release brings the following major
publishing enhancements:
– Composition request queue (APE)
– Subprocess pools can have unique custom
environments (APE)
– Web publishing enhancements (new look’n’feel too)
– Huge improvements to Styler UI
– APP integration

14. APP integration details
• APP ships as a DLL, within its own “app” folder in the
Arbortext install path
• APP can be driven by Styler stylesheet or native APP .3f
templates (installed in doctype folder)
• Works for print preview, compose to PDF, print composed
• APP “edited source” available in Styler
• APP “associated template” available in Styler, for
customisations which are too complex for edited source
• APP native templates and libraries can be installed...

15. What’s this APP software
all about?
• Started life as a Desktop Publishing Tool
• Also runs in server mode, automated via scripting APIs
• Native XML/SGML
• Provides advanced print publishing capabilities – many
more typographic and composition controls
• Can use APP Desktop to manipulate composed pages
before printing or publishing to PDF, PostScript, etc.

16. What’s this APP software all about?
• APP engine ships with APE and can be used instead of
the traditional FOSI/TeX or XSL-FO composition paths
• Stylesheet language is proprietary to APP
(not based on FOSI or XSL-FO)
• Native APP templates can be complex to write, but APP
can now be driven by Arbortext Styler

17. Developing for APP
• Arbortext Styler great for building basic stylesheets
– GUI driven
– Stylesheets can be extended via “edited source”
• APP Desktop best suited for building complex templates
– Development method akin to programming
– Ultimate flexibility

18. Styler dialog box
Main menus
Action buttons
Resource groups
List of resources
Output type
Property groups
Properties editor

20. What is APP good for?
• Once you reach the limits of InDesign
– Need to lower production costs
– Need consistency of output
– Need native XML/SGML support
– Automatically assemble and build complex print
products (server and/or desktop)

21. What is APP good for?
• Once you reach the limits of FOSI, TeX and XSL-FO...
– Complex tables and custom tables
– Complex footnotes/sidenotes
– Automating complex float rules
– Content within arbitrary rotations (eg. at a 37º angle)
– Workflows that require manual adjustments to pages
– Composition rules which are driven by the format
environment rather than the markup (eg. force a
pagebreak if element starts > 40pc down a page)

22. How can we manage our complex print
deliverables with PTC software?
PTC Arbortext technology platform is underpinned by XML
The PTC Dynamic Publishing System is formed of an
integrated set of customizable components:
• Arbortext Content Manager – XML content management
• Arbortext Editor – XML authoring
• Arbortext Styler – XML stylesheets
• Arbortext Publishing Engine – XML rendering
• Arbortext APP Desktop – composition touchup or
automated, native XML, desktop publishing

23. Developing for APP
• The legacy typesetting language:
<?tpfmt 3><?th 10pt><?tlb 12pt>
<?show +0?x(10)$^x(10)>
• Javascript:
p.textAlign = fParagraph.ALIGN_CENTER;
p.leading = '12pt';
s.Height = '10pt';
if(count > 0) f.write(count);

24. Demonstration
• Complex print samples
• Arbortext 5.4 – new UI elements
• Arbortext 5.4 – how it all works, how to setup for APP
• APP install folder, quick rundown including *.3sp files
• Styler sample that works via APP
• APP-specific tweaks in a stylesheet
• APP Desktop, feel the power 

25. THE END
Q&A