Publishing URLs

What it is and why it exists

Specifications, test plans and compliance documents are often generated from DOORS Next with IBM Engineering Publishing (formerly Rational Publishing Engine). Every template needs data source URLs that point to the right project, configuration, module, view or artifacts, plus the matching schema URLs.

Writing these Reportable REST URLs by hand requires knowing many parameters and the internal identifiers of projects, modules and configurations. A single mistake gives an empty or wrong document. Publishing URLs was created to build the correct URLs from the place where you are in DOORS Next.

Problems it solves

• Writing data source URLs by hand, with internal IDs and many parameters.
• Documents generated from the wrong configuration, stream or baseline.
• Time lost searching documentation for the right parameter.
• Dependence on a few specialists who know the Reportable REST interface.

Benefits

• Correct URLs in seconds for the module, its artifacts, a view, the selection or the whole project.
• Schema URLs included, as the publishing template needs them.
• The right configuration: stream, baseline, change set or global configuration, taken from your current context.
• Copy and open each URL with one click, or copy all of them at once.
• Read only and safe.

How to use

1. Open the project, configuration and module the document is about, and select artifacts if only those should be published.
2. Check the Context section, which shows what the URLs are built from.
3. In Settings, choose the artifact format, configuration parameter, view, attributes and extras such as a cover page.
4. Copy the URLs you need from Data source URLs into your publishing template.

Good to know

• URLs that do not fit the current context are listed with the reason, for example when no module is open.
• Very long URLs, from large selections, get a warning, because some tools limit URL length.