Porting a document type is the method of adding a new document type to a system from an existing SGML document type. In most instances, additional user document types are set up using Arbortext Architect. However, it is possible to set up document types without using Arbortext Architect.

New document types are developed by a document designer. After final modifications, the document type is placed in a public location through an install process. This process makes the document type available for all Arbortext Editor users.

We recommend that new document types be installed in the Arbortext-path\custom\doctypes subdirectory. At startup, if there are any subdirectories of the custom\doctypes directory that contain a catalog file, those subdirectories are prepended to the catalog path. If the custom\doctypes contains a catalog file, then the parent directory is also prepended to the catalog path. Putting a catalog file in custom\doctypes or in its subdirectories makes them automatically available, avoiding additional steps to add them to the path.

The steps for porting a document type to different platforms running Arbortext Editor vary. The steps depend on whether or not you have a complete document type specification and where the original document type is installed. A completed document type specification consists of a FOSI and a DTD.