Publish from a snapshot

After you create a snapshot, you have a copy of a component as it exists at a specific time during its development. You can publish any snapshots you've created on demand or snapshots that Inspires saves for you, such as when you create or move a component.

You may not have permissions to publish under the following conditions:

  • A content owner or administrator can set permissions to deny access to components or folders. If your permissions to content has been blocked and you are not an administrator, you can use the Publish option in a project's Content pane, but it will fail with a warning.
  • An Inspire administrator can define at the user and role level whether the Publish action is available.
    • By default, only administrators can publish content in Inspire.
    • You can see the Publish option only if you're an administrator or have the can_publish module property.

Before you begin:

  • You may not be able to re-create a previous version if any of the following changes occur:
    • If content was removed from Inspire, the content may not appear in the deliverable, whether you use filtering or not.
    • If your stylesheets change, the deliverable won't look the same as it did before.

Tips and tricks

  • Set notifications: If you have changed the defaults and want to see publishing notifications, make sure you configure them before publishing. Follow the steps in Set notification preferences for publishing.
  • Use a Publish Configuration. The same settings on the Publish Component screen can also be set by an administrator in the Publish Configuration.
    • If you select options on the Publish Component screen, your settings are used even if they are in conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates.
    • If you select options on the Publish Component screen that don't conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates, then both sets of options are used.
  • Publish a map with a DitaVal file: Ditaval files specify the conditions to include and exclude when you generate your map's output. DitaVal files are useful if you're using conditional attributes extensively in your documentation. If you're publishing a map, follow the steps in: Publish from a map.
  • Use tokens in the Publish Name: When publishing a component or from a profile, you can optionally use a token in the job's Publish Name to pull in data so you don't have to type it in every time you send the component out for publishing.

To publish from a snapshot:

  1. Click Components_TopMenuOpt Components.
  2. In the Folders pane, locate the map component that you want to see past versions of.
  3. In the Components pane, right-click the component and then select Details...
    You can access the same menu by clicking Action_Menu the Options menu.
  4. On the Component Details dialog, select the History tab.
  5. Select the snapshot you want to publish, right-click the snapshot, and then select Publish.

    Result: The Publish Component screen opens.

    You only see the Add Ditaval button if you are publishing a map snapshot

  6. By default, Inspire provides a Publish Name for your publishing request (job) using the component's File Name without the GUID. You can do any of the following to this job name:
    • Optionally, you can change the Publish Name to a different set of characters.
      • Use 1000 characters or less
      • You must use underscores (_) instead of spaces.
    • Select a Publish Configuration to populate the Publish Name.
      • If the configuration includes a Publish Name, it overwrites anything previously used or entered into this field.
      • If the configuration does not include a Publish Name, you can leave the default of the component's File Name or enter a new name.

    • If you leave Publish Name empty, Inspire uses the component's File Name without the GUID.

    • To add a token to the Publish Name when publishing a component, follow the steps in Publish a component with tokens.
  7. Optionally, in Publish Configuration, select the publish settings you want to use.

    This configuration is created by an administrator and includes settings such as populating the Publish Name, identifying the export process to use, validating XML, and using profiling attribute filters.

    An administrator can choose a Publish Configuration to be shown automatically as the default. If you need to use something other than the default, you can select another option.

    The same settings on the Publish Component screen can also be set by an administrator in the Publish Configuration.

    • If you select options on the Publish Component screen, your settings are used even if they are in conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates.
    • If you select options on the Publish Component screen that don't conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates, then both sets of options are used.
    For some customers, Inspire provides a publishing configuration and a publishing plug-in for DOCX. If it's supported for your organization, you can select the Publish Docx option.
  8. In Export Configuration (Publish), select the format you want the output to be in, for example PDF or HTML.

    Your configuration choice is used to create the output, even if it is in conflict with the Export Configuration (Publish) set in the Publish Configuration by an administrator.

  9. When you're publishing a map, you can optionally select one or more DitaVal files that already exist in Inspire, and configure the order in which they are used.

    Ditaval files specify the conditions to include and exclude when you generate your output. They ensure that conditions are always applied consistently to generated output. DitaVal files are useful if you're using conditional attributes extensively in your documentation.

    Although you can select more than one DitaVal file, only the first file is used.

    • Any other files listed after the first one are ignored.
    • There are future plans for supporting multiple DitaVal files.
    1. On the Publish Component screen, click Add Ditaval.
    2. On the Add Ditaval screen, click Add.
    3. On the Select Components screen, search for or browse to the folder where the Ditaval file is saved.
    4. Select the checkbox for the DitaVal file and click Select.

      Result: On the Add Ditaval screen, the file you selected is listed.

      • If you selected multiple files, only the first file (#1) is used.
      • Make note of the file you selected.
        • Your selection is not shown on the Publish Component screen.
        • If you select the Add Ditaval button again, the screen will be blank and you will have to re-select the DitaVal file you want to use when publishin
    5. On the Add Ditaval screen, select Save.

      Result: You don't see the name of any DitaVal file you've applied on the Publish Component screen. (However, there are future plans to display the selected DitaVal on the Publish Component screen.)

      If you select the Add Ditaval button again, the screen will be blank and you will have to re-select the DitaVal file you want to use when publishing.

  10. If you've applied profiling attributes to content in the component you're publishing, you can use filters.

    1. To choose the profiling attributes you want included in the publishing job, click Add Filter.
    2. On the Filter profiling attributes tab, do any of the following:
      • Select the individual options you want to transform the content you are publishing.
      • In Saved Filters, select a defined collection of attribute filters.
    3. On the Filter profiling attributes screen, click Select.

      Result: You see the profiling attributes you select on the Publish Component dialog, listed after the Clear Filter button

  11. If you want to verify that your XML code in your component is valid according to your framework at the time of publishing, select the Validate XML option.

    By default this option is not selected.
  12. If you want to import the published deliverable back into Inspire automatically, select Create Attachment.
    1. In Target Folder, select the location where you want the publish deliverable saved.

      The file is saved as a binary. By default, it is named using the following default format: Publish-{ComponentName}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM. However, an administrator can configure Inspire to omit the timestamp from the published file name.

  13. To add a snapshot to the history for this component and all referenced content, click Create snapshot.

    1. On the Create snapshot dialog, in Name, enter a descriptive title for the version in 50 characters or less.
    2. Optionally, in Comment, enter additional information differentiating this version from other snapshots in 2000 characters or less.
    3. On the Create snapshot dialog, click Create.
    Result: You see a component snapshot labeled On Demand on the History tab. Look in Component details for a list of the components that were included when you created the snapshot. Follow the steps in: View a snapshot
  14. On the Publish Component dialog, click Publish.
    Result:

    In the top-right corner, you see a message that Inspire is preparing your publishing job.

    After Inspire successfully submits the job, you receive a notification that you can review on the Notifications tab, in Slack if it's configured for notifications, and in email.

    When you complete a task that triggers a notification, such as publishing content, the Slack and email body contain:

    • The notification with ten or less Issues, Errors, and Warnings.
    • A link at the bottom of the message [See Full Version].
    • You can click the [See Full Version] link to expand a section under the link with the full details.

    Finding your publishing request by name.

    • By default, when you select one component to publish, Inspire provides a Publish Name using the component's File Name without the GUID. You can change the Publish Name, and you see it on the Publish portal in the Title column.
    • The Publish Name is not the same as the deliverable (published content) name.
      • You can create whatever job Name you want.
      • Deliverables are named by Inspire using the following default format: Publish-{ComponentName}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM. However, an administrator can configure Inspire to omit the timestamp from the published file name.

    Finding your deliverables.

    • You can download your deliverable from publishing notifications or in Publish Server.
    • You can also find the deliverable in Inspire if you selected the Create Attachment option when you were configuring settings on the Publish Component screen. You can find a copy of the published deliverable in the Target Folder you selected.

    After the publishing job completes successfully:

    • A copy of the published deliverable is imported back into Inspire automatically as a binary file.

      The file is named using the following default format: Publish-{ComponentName}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM. However, an administrator can configure Inspire to omit the timestamp from the published file name.

    • A relationship between the component you published and the deliverable that was imported is created.
      • In the Component's Browser, the component you published now has a black paperclip before its name. This indicates it references another component as an attachment.
      • In the Component's Browser, the published deliverable has a green paperclip before its name. This indicates it is referenced by an another component as an attachment.
      • For more information on attachment relationships, read See component attachments.

    Tips and tricks

    You can use Publish Server to see job status and histories, download files related to a job, and re-publish content from an existing job. To learn about job management, read Welcome to Publish Server.
    • Open Publish Server from a link in the following places:
    • For the following Inspire publishing formats, you download a ZIP file that includes multiple files:
      • HTML
    • For the following publishing formats, you download a single standalone file:
      • PDF
      • DocBook PDF
      • DocBook HTML
      • DOCX
    • When you use the Zoomin publishing option, you must open the notification and use the link to go to the Zoomin site.
    • For custom publishing options, you can configure the publishing deliverables