Dear all, do we have Batch loader for ARAS Technical Documentation module (similar to what we have for Parts and BOM creation) to create contents in tech doc editor and create / update?
Hi Pnatara,
short answer: No. Wished by myself this feature would exist. Not sure if someone in the community already made the attempt to build something. Its maybe possible to reuse content generator Methods for building this kind of feature.
This question needs to be addressed. The ArasLabs and other Method examples detail how to add content after the Technical Document has been created, not during initial Item creation.
I wish to use a server method to:
These steps must be completed before the user first opens the Technical Document Item, so a ItemInfo approach is not applicable, as the data is defined at the time of Item creation, not at the first view or edit by a user.
What we need in Aras is some kind of XML editor than can build XML structures. Actually not just for TechDocs, I have other user cases were I also would need XML or JSON for export to other data sources.
I wonder if the task it actually hard to achieve?
Importing Excel or CSV is not a big deal.
We mainly need an overview of how Innovator structures technical documents.
E.g. this one is a title element:
<Title aras:id="9861eafb8c444c5b98ea3410a80cb4df">
<aras:emph>Table of content</aras:emph>
</Title>
I assume the id is generated on demand. We "just" have to rebuild this structure and this way you should be able to import existing documents.
Easy. :D
Hello Pnataraj03,
The short answer is technically yes, though it might take a little tinkering.
Batchloader can load any kind of itemtype. You might get some unexpected effects if you use it for some itemtypes (off the top of my head, Requirements has server events that can trigger unexpectedly) but they'll work. A technical documentation item is ultimately just an item, with much of the content existing in a tp_XmlSchema. The schema isn't quite as easy to work with as AML on the face of it, but we can use a content generator to add in the IDs we would otherwise be able to query for.
(I don't know your circumstances- if you are coming from another Aras Innovator instance, then batch loader should work smoothly for you and you can mostly ignore what I'm saying about schemas!)
We have existing content generators for Parts and BOMs that make this easier. We don't have a content generator for Technical Documentation, but do have a blog post on using content generators in techdocs, which might make a good starting point. That's here (https://community.aras.com/b/english/posts/using-content-generators-in-tech-docs) if you're coming from a different system and you want to import your data into Aras Innovator. I can't speak authoritatively on how that conversion would go without knowing anything about what your current techdocs look like, but ultimately data is data and items are items, and this could probably get you close.
Skyler C.
