From the Start menu on your PC select Programs | Cobwebb Document Management | CPPD Designer.  Firstly you should maximise the Cobwebb Designer screen, then select New XML from the File menu. This option can also be used to create HTML output.

If you wish to split your spooled file up into different XML files then you will need to set-up the page counting using the Conditional tab in Page Setup.  Please refer to the ‘Start of new page definition’ entry in Setting up your Output page.

Getting your spooled file

The process for retrieving your spooled file for your XML document is an identical process as for a normal PPD file. See Importing your Spooled File.

Import your XML schema or file

From the Edit menu select Import an XML file.  Select the schema or existing XML file that you wish to use to map your spooled file data.  It is better to use a schema if possible, if you use an existing XML file it will import it without the attached data but you may be missing some of the elements/attributes that exist in the schema.

Mapping your Data

Not all printing tools are available to you when defining XML output.  The ones that are not available will be greyed out.  The loop element is available but you must take care to select loop to end of document if you wish end up with one XML output file per document.  The mapping of the spooled file data to your XML schema is achieved in a totally different way from the mapping of data for printing.  Here we are starting with a schema and we need to map the spooled file into the relevant elements/attributes of the schema.

Open the Explorer View, right click on the view and select ‘Expand All’ to show you all the elements and attributes in your selected schema.  You now need to decide which of the elements and attributes you require for your XML output.  Right click on the first element and select ‘Properties’, then click on the pin in the top right hand corner to keep the properties box open.  In this way you can check if an element or attribute is required.  You will see ‘Required = yes’ in the properties box.  Anything that is a required attribute should not be deleted.

Starting from the top of your explorer view work out if you need the XML Element or XML Attribute in your schema.  If you do not then, provided that it is not ‘required’ you may delete it.  If you do require the information then click on the element/attribute on the Explorer View.  Find where the box has been placed on your spooled file (elements are lilac and attributes are blue) and drag it to the spooled file text that it represents.  You may need to make the box larger or smaller depending upon the length of your data.  Do not forget to allow for data that might be longer on another print file.

You may include Loops and Conditions in your XML PPD file and these work in the same way as for creating documents.

If you need to add multiple text selections these can be done via the XML Text element.

If you wish to add instructions to your XML Output then select XML Instruction from the Insert Menu.  These instructions may be used to specify a Style Sheet that is associated with the XML data for example.  An XML instruction may also contain one or more XML attributes.  If you need to add an attribute then select the XML Attribute (X) tool to define it and then drag and drop it into the relevant XML instruction.

XML Comments

There is a tool icon to add comments to your XML data. Select the XML Comment icon or press E and then either pick the data from the spooled file or add the static comment.

Creating an Output Device

Normally for XML you would configure either a File or Email Output Device for XML but you can select any other type of Output Device.

Save & Export your XML PPD file

This process is exactly the same as for your printed PPD output see Saving & Exporting your PPD for details.