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Topic Title: How to get an acceptable output to MS-Word
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Created On: 18-Jun-2004 09:31
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Answer This question was answered by Michelle Lee, on Friday, March 11, 2005 5:05 PM

Answer:
WEXP does sound like a powerful tool. Does it cost any money to obtain an evaluation copy? We've been evaluating DocExpress from Telelogic and starting to make some progress with it. It's a decent tool but I got to warn you the learning curve is VERY VERY steep b/c of lack of documentation and tutorial. With that said, how hard is it to learn/use WEXP?
 18-Jun-2004 09:31
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Ian Kirwan

Posts: 25
Joined: 17-Jun-2004

We are having serious problems getting DOORS to produce printed documentation in an acceptable format.
1) The standard print output from DOORS seems to be quite good except for 1 major and 1 minor issue.
    The front page can not be customized to suit the organisation
    The contents table is not indented by heading level to allow easy visual scanning.

2) The built in word export has the following issues
    Table export
      DOORS tables are exported a series of requirements instead of a table (not as they are seen in DOORS)
      Originally imported MS Word tables are exported as tab separated values (not as they are seen in DOORS)

    Book export
      Book format is just plain hideous, and the result is not easily manipulated to be of any use.

3) WEXP
Is not a fully developed tool and is unsupported though it seems to be designed to deal with some export issues but still fails to deliver satisfactorily e.g. boiler plates do not work properly, images are not exported.

Has anyone discovered how to produce a usable requirements specification output from DOORS?
Please let me know how to do it.

Many thanks
Ian


-------------------------
Principle Software Engineer
Electrical Engineering
Product Development
MG Rover Group
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 18-Jun-2004 13:14
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Peter Seager

Posts: 32
Joined: 10-Feb-2003

We print to file using a poscript printer driver and then use Distiller, packaged with full Acrobat, to turn it into a pdf file. The front pages are seperate Word files which we also convert to pdf and stick together with the DOORS body text using Acrobat. The body text is usually inserted as Annex A. Some front page docs also include an Annex B holding the graphics within the front pages. You can even insert multiple DOORS outputs if required.

Works well for us and stops those pesky engineers using the current issue as a basis for the next issue when they should be working in the database.

We also use print to file for the Word output. Seems to work better than the Acrobat supplied macro. Keeps our logo in the right typeface.

Peter
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 18-Jun-2004 14:43
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Ian Kirwan

Posts: 25
Joined: 17-Jun-2004

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the reply. I started to investigate this approach last week using ghostscript. We create and release a lot of specifications, so this seems like an uneconomical solution for us (unless you have managed to fuly automate it).

Many thanks
Ian

-------------------------
Principle Software Engineer
Electrical Engineering
Product Development
MG Rover Group
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 18-Jun-2004 15:59
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Pieter DE WAARD

Posts: 73
Joined: 11-Jul-2003

We use the same system. But, since we migrated to DOORS 7 (from 5.2), table of contents is no longer generated if the view printed does not contain the main column (Object heading and text). Unfortunately, before my time, contract documents were generated based on views containing only attributes. Hence, I cannot use this rather efficient way to generate new issues of the same documents. I reported this as a bug to Telelogic, but no joy there ...

-------------------------
Pieter de Waard
www.nhindustries.com
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 22-Jun-2004 16:05
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Peter Seager

Posts: 32
Joined: 10-Feb-2003

Ian,

Its no hassle at all, just a few minutes job. Every one is slightly different so you can't automate it. You get the Authors to do the print to file then I use Acrobat to convert the files to PDF, put them together and check them - which is where we often go round the loop again!

We also produce a lot of documents and, to support the Design Certificate, collect them together on a CD. With the pdf files you can be sure of what the viewer will see. We even convert published Word documents by the same process for this reason. Its also a simple job using Acrobat to delete the front page and insert a new scanned copy complete with signatures.

Peter
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 28-Jun-2004 16:12
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Paul Tiplady

Posts: 176
Joined: 28-Oct-2003

I've written a script that exports to RTF, and fires up MSWord to read the RTF just created. The neat part is that the layout, font, styles, colours etc are all defined in a 'layout' DOORS module, that gets parsed separately to create some DXL utilities that are used by the exporter to give the exported document the correct look for the project (pause for breath). So things like copyright notice, header (including logo), footer, warning notice ('The master for this document is held in DOORS...'), table of contents etc are all defined separately from the formal module for export, but get stirred into one single RTF document. The script also ensures the pictures get shrunk to the printable page width, allows the user to select between output to a table or to paragraphs for each object in the formal module (an additional attribute), and includes link (in and/or out, as required) information.

As we speak the script is not in a fit state to face the public, but I can change that if required...

Cheers,
Paul.

-------------------------


Paul dot Tiplady at TRW dot com
TRW Automotive
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 29-Jun-2004 19:03
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Lenda Rothleutner

Posts: 5
Joined: 9-Oct-2003

How To Create a WORD Document from DOORS
Open Module
Select Print View
Run appropriate dxl to move id number as a requirement number to the back of the object text.
Select Book
De-Select Use Horizonital Lines
create a word template that has unque styles, do not use auto-numbering.
Select “Allow Style Mapping"
Load - appropriate map file located on your C Drive, or create one based on your word template
Close
Wait - about 3-5 minutes for export to complete
In Word, Run Macro “Master” (create macro to do search and replace on styles if needed)
Verify format cleanup
Save
Add Front Matter.doc to beginning of file - This would be the title pages
Update TOC, LOF, LOT - based on the styles in the map
Add Back Matter.doc to end of file - revision pages, etc.

This entire process took me 6 minutes to create a perfect Specification, ready for release.
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 30-Jun-2004 15:23
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Scott Maley

Posts: 1
Joined: 30-Jun-2004

We use an MS Word document template, but have a problem with one Table, which has a lot of columns. The Export from Doors, having selected "Ignore DOORS column width in table layout..." does some strange things with the widths of individual cells in the Table, causing a general mess. I suspect what might help is a way during Export to change the Page Setup from Portrait to Landscape, for just that Table.
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 11-Jan-2005 12:31
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Gerhard Schneider

Posts: 1
Joined: 2-Jan-2003

We faced the same problem as stated by Ian, and our solution is a two-step procedure, which I'd like to explain briefly:

1) There is a common template, including two VBA macros and all formattings.
2) There is a so-called "frame document", including title page, toc and all the stuff that cannot be served by DOORS properly.

The user now performs a DOORS Word export with that template. In Word, he pushes one button for the "document beautifier" macro. This macro scrubs over the document and does several magic processings (among others, set tables to automated formattings, resize pictures, make proper picture descriptions). This document is saved to a certain file name.

Then, the macro takes the frame document which refers to that file name and puts the beautified document into the frame document, refreshes all Word field functions, and saves the document to the final file.

Sounds a bit complicated, but is highly automated and requires a minimum of interaction by the user. Works fine, as long as you want to get "nice" documents from "book" style DOORS exports.
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 17-Jan-2005 04:08
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werner kolze

Posts: 19
Joined: 30-Oct-2003

Hi Ian,

I can not believe that you are not happy with WEXP and can not make it work with boiler plates etc.
We are using it here on 60 or more projects each project having their own front page and each project have started with the same template.

I agree that WEXP is not a fully developed tool but certainly beats the DXL plus VBA plus... approach.
After an initial investigation of WEXP, which took about a week to do, we found that it is a comprehensive enough tool to deal with all issues:
Headers, Footers, Footnotes, comments, attribute contents placed into the template where required,
graphics, images, etc etc...

Above all, it does not attract any license and maintenance cost, yes it is unsupported, but the benefits outweigh this.

If I can assist in any way, shape and form, please let me know.

Werner.

-------------------------
werner.kolze@baesystems.com
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 17-Jan-2005 11:48
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Antonio Norkus

Posts: 109
Joined: 28-Jun-2003

Quote about WEXP..."e.g. boiler plates do not work properly, images are not exported"

I use WEXP and don't experience these problems. I would recommend ensuring you have the latest version of WEXP...currently v11.0.

If you find any bugs, report them to Jeremy Dick (jeremy.dick@telelogic.com) and I'm sure he will fix them in the next release. If you have any problems, he usually replies promtly to emails.

Also, I would say that WEXP is the best supported "unsupported" software around ;-) Since a lot of the major DOORS customers use WEXP, it's going to be around for a while.
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 17-Jan-2005 22:28
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Richard Starr

Posts: 10
Joined: 6-Nov-2002

What is WEXP and where could I get a copy of it to try?

Thanks,
Richard
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 18-Jan-2005 15:45
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Antonio Norkus

Posts: 109
Joined: 28-Jun-2003

WEXP stands for Word EXPort, and is DXL tool for exporting DOORS information into a WORD template.

It's developed by Jeremy Dick, a Telelogic consultant. Contact your Telelogic account manager regarding obtaining a copy.

Here is a list of features, copied from the user guide:

Ability to export to a Word Document Template
Ability to export to a (partially complete) Word Document
Ability to specify the paragraph style for individual objects and attributes
Ability to specify a template for the export of different types of object, based on the positioning of object attributes
Ability to specify the position of arbitrary page breaks in a document
Ability to export some objects from different DOORS views as Word tables embedded in normal paragraph text
Ability to export complete views from named modules into the Word document
Ability to export views constructed from linked objects in named modules into the Word document
Ability to export module attributes into the title page
Ability to export module attributes into headers and footers
Ability to export sections of modules into appendices, or other sections of Word Document Templates
Ability to export attributes as in-line text following the object paragraph
Ability to export attributes as labels on paragraphs
Ability to export requirement numbers against requirements paragraphs
Ability to make one or more indexes of requirements, distinguishing defining occurrences from others
Ability to export multiple modules into a single Word Master Document
Ability to place page breaks at certain places
Ability to place section breaks at certain places with odd even page boundaries
Ability to switch the orientation of the page between portrait and landscape
Ability to rotate the text of headings in tables
Ability to export multiple spanning table headings
Ability to name the repeating header rows in tables
Ability to shade selected table cells
Ability to export embedded OLE objects
Ability to specify the size of OLE objects in the Word document
Ability to export Word document enbedded as OLE in DOORS as normal text in the Word document
Ability to make specific enhancements to the exporter.
Ability to align pages to odd and even numbers.
Ability to place a rubric on blank pages used to align to odd and even numbers.
Ability to scale tables to fit into width of page
Ability to place revision marks on attributes that have changed since a named baselines of the same module
Ability to export a named bookmark at a points in the document
Ability to export hyper-links to other documents
Ability to export hyper-links to within the exported document
Ability to export attributes as footnotes
Ability to export from the current filter in the module
Ability to export from baselines
Ability to export without having to set any DOORS attributes at all
Ability to export entirely in table mode
Ability to export views based on objects linked to the current object
Ability to execute a Word Visual Basic macro after export
Ability to export a Word field defined in a DOORS object.

Edited: 18-Jan-2005 at 15:47 by Antonio Norkus
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 20-Jan-2005 15:46
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Michelle Lee

Posts: 21
Joined: 14-Oct-2004

Answer Answer
WEXP does sound like a powerful tool. Does it cost any money to obtain an evaluation copy? We've been evaluating DocExpress from Telelogic and starting to make some progress with it. It's a decent tool but I got to warn you the learning curve is VERY VERY steep b/c of lack of documentation and tutorial. With that said, how hard is it to learn/use WEXP?
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 21-Jan-2005 14:15
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Antonio Norkus

Posts: 109
Joined: 28-Jun-2003

WEXP doesn't have any licence/time restriction with the code, so I have no idea how Telelogic would deliver an evaluation copy. I'd recommend asking Jeremy Dick (jeremy.dick@telelogic.com).

It's fairly easy to use, with a GUI front-end and a module is configured for WEXPing using well-decribed object attributes.

I've found that, once a module is configured for WEXP by an administrator or an experienced user, further exports are one click away from the end-user. I don't believe that's achievable using DocExpress, but I could be wrong.
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