Working with Documents and Databases
Consider how a conventional database stores a collection of addresses. Each person's information is typically split into separate fields:
First Name: Jim
Last Name: Smith
Street: 100 North Main Street
City: New York
State: NY
Zip Code: 02021
Each field in Jim's address is a reusable object. You might write a letter that uses any of the address objects without typing in the information again. If Jim's address changes, changing the information in the address field means that the letters which refer to his address information update automatically. Using the PTC Server connection, Arbortext Editor users can apply many similar database principles to their documents.
An XML document is described by the structural components making up that document. A PTC Server lets you store the individual components of a document's structure separately, and organize those pieces in any manner you need when developing individual documents. When you add content to a PTC Server, the system creates the appropriate objects in the locations specified in your burst configuration.
Consider the structure of the following sample document:
Book
Preface
Copyright Info
Company Logo
Chapter 1
Registration Info
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
The Book object consists of the objects Preface, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3. Each object contains unique data (content and structure) which Arbortext Editor authors have developed.
Notice that objects can contain other objects. The Copyright Info object, used within the Preface object, could be a lawyer-approved company standard and used in every printed document this company produces. Similarly, the Registration Info object could be a small, reusable piece of information that several manuals could use. The Company Logo object, used within Copyright Info, could be a graphic stored in a PTC Server.
When you add an object to your document, you are not actually adding the object's content. Instead, you are adding a reference (or link) to that object. When you open your document, Arbortext Editor uses the PTC Server connection to access the current version of your object and display the content in the Edit view. Documents can contain a combination of unique content and structure along with references to objects.