This section provides an overview of the possible document configurations, including some advantages and disadvantages to both. Following are possible setup configurations.

This structure is a hybrid of the two above and has some of the advantages and disadvantages of both. This structure is useful because exceptions to the overall scheme are natural. For example, most of the set could be described by one document, while special objects could be described in a document of their own.

Combinations of the above could be envisioned. The choice of the structure to use depends on the format and the end use.

External documentation for a single object might also be found in two different files, one for editing and one for viewing. For example, documentation might be created in MS Word, saved in Word format for the purposes of future edits, and also saved to a PDF file for the purpose of viewing. Thus the utility allows the user to specify two locations, one for the purposes of viewing and another for editing. Figure 4.1 shows an example as two separate documents, one for viewing, one for editing. There is an arrow from the .doc file to the .pdf file showing how you would create the PDF from the DOC when ready.

When the documentation for an object is split across many files, then it will often be convenient to the users for all the files to be located in the same directory. This organization is supported without requiring the user to provide redundant information (i.e., repeat the full path to the documentation for each object in the ruleset). At the same time, there is enough flexibility so as not to impose a specific organization on the documentation, either that there be a one-to-one correspondence between ruleset objects and documents or that multiple documents appear in the same directory.