About RPL External Documentation
The RiverWare RPL editors support an optional multiple-line text description, displayed in a plain-text editor box and stored in the RPL set file. Often this text description is not sufficient to adequately describe a complicated rule or policy set.
The purpose of a link to external documentation is to allow the user to develop more detailed documentation that resides in a separate application, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, or an HTML file. From the RPL editors, the user can click to go to the documentation file.
Note: The external documentation support described in this document is distinct from this description text value.
Note: A RPL set consists of rules (or user-defined accounting methods) and functions organized into groups. In this section, the term RPL object refers generically to a RPL set component of any sort; that is, to the Set, Policy or Utility Group, Function, Rule, or Method.
External Documentation Features
Following is an overview of the capabilities of RPL external documentation.
• From a RPL dialog, the user is able to easily access external documentation for the RPL object associated with that dialog.
• The four supported types of documents are as follows:
– HTML
– Microsoft Word
– Adobe PDF
– Plain text
• The user is able to specify the applications for both viewing and editing each type of document
• The following modes of access are provided:
– Edit. The user can view, create, and change the contents of the document.
– View. The user can view but not change the contents of the document.
• The granularity of the documentation is flexible. Users can associate a separate document with each RPL object within a RPL set or they can document an entire RPL set with a single document.
• When using HTML, the application can open to the most relevant portion of the document. This applies in the following circumstances:
– There is more than one RPL object described in the associated document, e.g., the documentation is a single file describing the entire ruleset, and,
– The user is using standard named anchors within the documentation to describe the sections that pertain to each RPL objects.
• The user can create an HTML template of the RPL set that contains the description field for each object. The user can then expand the documentation using an HTML editor.
The following sections describe the external document link feature. Configuration of this feature is done with the following process:
1. The user must specify the application to be used to edit and/or view one or more types of files;
2. The user specifies how the document is structured by associating RPL objects with external files.
Revised: 07/17/2020