Impression to HTML

Creating a Mappings file

In the previous section we loaded and examined a pre-existing Mappings file. If, like me, you tend to use variations on a few standard layouts for your documents this is a good way of working. However, at some point you will need to create a Mappings file from scratch.

Scanning the DDL file

Open the Mappings window and drag an Ovation Pro DDL file to it. Once again I'll use the DDL file of this manual as an example

The window will clear any previous definitions and, after Ovn-HTML has scanned the file looking for all Style definitions, the Styles section should look like this.

On the left are shown all the Styles that Ovn-HTML found. You will see that there's one more than appeared in the previous example, Contents. This is because the Style was present in the original document but I didn't bother to include in in the Mappings file as it is only used in a part of the document that is not going to be converted to HTML, namely the Contents.

By default all Styles are 'selected' for inclusion in the Mappings file (it's easier to re-load and remove a Style you've included by mistake than add one you've forgotten to tick) and the 'p' switch is set.

The 'Effects' at the top left are all blank. You can either enter specific codes or just click on 'Default'. Later I shall explain how you can set the defaults for Effects.

Setting the Styles

This is done as previously described. One thing to note is that if you select H1 or H2 (such as for the Main Heading) you will see than 'none' and 'NC' also become selected. Similarly if you choose H4 for something (such as Sub Heading) you will see that 'none' and 'I' are automatically set. This is because these options are included as part of the definitions for these items.

Saving the file

Saving is done by just clicking on 'Save'. A default filename of 'NewFile' will have been placed in the filename icon when you start a new Mappings file, and you would normally alter this first. You should also remember to 'un-tick' any Styles that won't have HTML equivalents first.

If you now click on the menu icon you should see your new file listed.

Style 'culling'

The Mapping window can accommodate only 14 Styles to map to HTML tags. This would normally be more than enough, since you wouldn't often create more than 14 distinctive Styles in an Ovation Pro document. However, it is possible, especially where you have a number of variations on the base Style with different rulers, etc., or where your standard document layout includes a lot of Styles, only some of which are used in the document to be converted.

If there are more than 14 Styles in a document then when you drag the DDL file to Ovn-HTML it will open a window showing all the Styles in the file.

Select the Styles you want to use and leave the ones that either aren't used in the document or which cannot be given any meaningful 'translation' into HTML unselected, then click on 'OK'. The selected Styles will be transferred to the Mapping window, the Abridge Styles window will close and you can proceed exactly as previously described.

Re-using a Mappings file

Once you have created a mappings file then, in theory, you should be able to use it for other documents based on the same Ovation Pro document template. However, this may not always be possible.

With Impression Publisher the various styles are referred to internally by the same name as appears on the Styles menu, so if the names on the menu correspond with the names set in a previous Mappings file then, assuming the characteristics of the Styles are similar, everything should work.

Ovation Pro uses an internal reference number for a Style, so although two documents might have Styles with the same name, they could have different internal reference numbers and so a previous Mappings file might not work.

As long as you use the same document template this problem will not arise, but if you add and remove Styles then the internal reference numbers might vary between documents.