Ability to control the layout of the QRG’s that are output from an SEN Simulation

[gman73]

A QRG output template has been created as part of our initial install. This includes branding in the header and footer but I would like to customise this further. To that effect, I’d like to know if/how we can control the following in the QRG template

• Layout: Orientation vs Portrait
• Table Column sizes (they are currently too narrow)
• Size of output screens
• Font size
• Text Spacing
• etc

[ShaneLipke]

Hi Graeme,

It is possible to change the column widths but requires the modification of a Javascript file. I can show you how to do that but it is too hard to include in a text description here. Reach out if you do want to do this.

You really have two options to resolve the issue with text:

1. Use the Practice mode text instead of the Demo mode
2. Modify the Recording Dictionary so that the Demo mode texts are good for Simulations and documentation.

If you do decide to modify the Recording Dictionary, you will need to:

1. Click on the Recording Dictionaries folder in Producer
2. Click the yellow + sign on top middle part of the screen to create a new dictionary
3. Enter a name and save
4. Open the dictionary and modify the strings in the given language or export to Excel and modify in Excel
5. If in Excel, import the changes
6. Right click your new dictionary and select Set as Default
7. Synchronise the dictionary to Manager
8. Have the other authors download it, by starting Producer, and also set it as their default.

Regards
Shane

[ShaneLipke]

Hi Graeme,

Much of what you mention above can be controlled using one of three mechanisms:

1. By modifying the Text Styles object used to generate the documentation. It is likely that you will need to duplicate the existing Text Styles object in Adaptable Resources to define suitable text styles for your generated documentation. After duplicating the existing object, modify the actual text styles to suit your specific requirements, e.g. the fonts and text spacing

2. The layout of the documentation is controlled by the Microsoft Word template that you generate content into. These templates are located in the Adaptable Resources > Document Style section. The easiest way to create a new Word template is to double click an existing template, then rename it and save it to a different location. Then make your modifications, e.g. change the orientation, and load the saved document back into the Document Style section of Adaptable Resources. You will need to point your Documentation Settings at the new template to use the new Word template

3. The screen size pieces included in the documentation can be controlled by manually adjust the crop marks on the screen images in the Simulations. There are also some Workarea settings that can be controlled to reduce the size of the standard crop marks that are added during recording. To manually adjust the crop marks, open a Simulation, click on a screen image on the left side and then open the Manual Crop screen and change the size and position of the cropping rectangle.

Unfortunately the last option that you mention about changing the column sizes can be done but it's a bit tricky. I suggest that you Generate Branded Documentation recording available in the Becoming Competent section of https://enable-now.sap.com/ic/pub/ext/index.html?show=group!GR_F8BA0FC968CD2EB9#group!GR_B31C55C7376.... Once you've done that, reach out and we can go through all the outstanding issues that you are still facing.

Regards
Shane

[gman73]

Thanks for the link to the presentation Shane, excellent as always and I was able to pick up a few tips to enhance the QRG output further.

In the case of the column widths, I suspect this will require manual intervention in the outputted Word doc? If so, this would be a non-starter for us (given resources) we would need a low touch "generate to pdf and be done strategy". That's Ok, I think we can live with the portrait layout and current column widths.

Another question I have is around the step text, we output the practice text to QRG, the format of which is:

"In the [NAME] field, enter a value.

Example: [INPUT]"

This works great in the SIM, but it's not so great having the Example in the QRG. Can this be controlled, or would it be better to look to manipulating the Demo text so it works for both the QRG and the SIM.

[DirkManuel]

Graeme:

• Layout: Orientation vs Portrait: Yes, change this in the Word Template the document type uses.
• Table Column sizes (they are currently too narrow): Unfortunately not. For some reason they are hard-coded (and as points not percentages). You could change it in the scripts if you really felt strongly about it, but that would likely be overwritten every upgrade and you'd need to re-do it.
• Size of output screens: Yes, there's a few settings that can influence this, but most notably the Scaling property in the Documentation Settings resource.
• Font size: Yes. Define your own Text Styles resource and specify this in the Text Style setting of the Documentation Settings resource. But be careful doing this as Word also has its own styles so you need to make sure your Text Styles map to those. You may also be able to change the Word styles in the .dot file, but I've found that a bit hit-and-miss.
• Text Spacing: Possibly, if you can define it via the Text Styles.

HTH, Dirk

[gman73]

Thanks for the quick response Dirk, this is very useful.

Given that the column size cannot be modified it makes the change to landscape orientation redundant as it would only result in a narrow table on a wide page, but I can work on the other options. 🙂