About Arbortext Styler > Creating a Basic Stylesheet > Opening and Creating Stylesheets
  
Opening and Creating Stylesheets
Open an existing stylesheet in Arbortext Editor
1. Open Arbortext Editor, and choose File > Open to open the document whose stylesheet you want to modify.
2. Choose Styler > Edit Stylesheet to open the stylesheet associated with the current document, or Styler > Open Stylesheet to open any stylesheet, not necessarily that currently associated with the document.
Open an existing stylesheet in Arbortext Styler
1. In Arbortext Styler, choose File > Open.
2. The Open Stylesheet dialog box appears, allowing you to browse for, and select, the required stylesheet.
3. Once you have selected your stylesheet and exited the dialog box the stylesheet will open, replacing the stylesheet that was previously being edited.
Opening a stylesheet for multiple document types in Arbortext Styler
You are permitted to open the same .style stylesheet for use with multiple documents in the same Arbortext Styler session, even if the documents are of different document types. All the following conditions must be met within the document types of all the documents for which you intend to use the same stylesheet:
• Their document type configuration files (.dcf) have the same values for the following attributes of the Options element:
◦ implyScaleToFit
◦ scaleToFitOverridesScale
◦ idAttribute - the name of the attribute that is treated as an ID attribute
See Document Type Configuration files in Arbortext Editor online help for further information about document type configuration files.
• Their case sensitivity setting is the same
If any of the conditions are not met, you will see an error message that advises you that the stylesheets are incompatible for sharing, followed by a confirmation of the condition in which there is an anomaly. Make the necessary changes in the .dcf file for the document type that is causing the error.
The ability to open the same .style stylesheet for multiple documents also applies to DITA documents. You can use the same stylesheet to open both the ditamap and its constituent topics, open multiple topics from the same ditamap, preview and publish the ditamap, or edit and publish the Resolved Document for Editing or the Resolved Document for Styling.
If you are working with FOSI stylesheets, you may also use the same stylesheet for multiple documents of different document types. Note , though, that this works in all instances, without having to meet the conditions outlined above for .style files.
Create a new stylesheet in Arbortext Editor
1. Open Arbortext Editor, and choose File > Open to open a document.
2. Choose one of the following options:
◦ Styler > New Stylesheet: create a new stylesheet that's pre-populated with all the elements of your document type, a default set of property sets, page sets, and other definitions, plus all the Styler Formatting Elements. The elements are initially assigned the Unstyled style unless they are configured in the document type configuration file (DCF) as a graphic, paragraph, document, title, table, link, link target, list, list item, or custom table. Arbortext Styler automatically applies styles to these elements based on their description in the .dcf file. Note that property settings made in Arbortext Styler override .dcf settings if they are changed.
◦ Styler > New Empty Stylesheet: create a new stylesheet that has no pre-populated content. It is useful for creating modules to be used in other stylesheets. A new empty stylesheet cannot stand on its own unless you copy in the Styler Formatting Elements from another stylesheet. Once you have done that, however, the stylesheet is perfectly valid and can be used as a starting point from which you can create your own stylesheet.
The Stylesheet Properties dialog box opens, allowing you to set basic publishing and chunking settings to be applied via your stylesheet.
3. When you have configured your stylesheet settings in the Stylesheet Properties dialog box, click OK to save those settings and exit the dialog box.
Arbortext Styler opens a new stylesheet.
4. Choose File > Save As to save your stylesheet to the required directory location, and with your required stylesheet name.
Create a new stylesheet in Arbortext Styler
1. In Arbortext Styler, choose the File > New menu option.
2. The Stylesheet Properties dialog box opens, allowing you to set basic composition and chunking settings to be applied to your stylesheet.
3. When you have configured your stylesheet settings in the Stylesheet Properties dialog box, click OK to save those settings and exit the dialog box.
Arbortext Styler opens a new stylesheet that's pre-populated with all the elements of your document type, a default set of property sets, page sets, and other definitions, plus all the Styler Formatting Elements.
4. Choose File > Save As to save your stylesheet to the required directory location, and with your required stylesheet name.
Use existing stylesheets to create a new stylesheet
The steps in the previous procedures describe how to create a new stylesheet from scratch. You may also make a copy of an existing stylesheet, or a distributed stylesheet, and make changes and additions to the copy as required. Refer to Stylesheets overview and Default stylesheet locations in Arbortext Editor help for information on the stylesheets that are available.