Only a limited number of people regularly access the Acrolinx Dashboard to monitor updates to terminology, but everybody uses an email program all the time.
This article describes how to use RSS to publish terminology changes to applications like Microsoft Outlook. Then, anybody can add the RSS Feed to Microsoft Outlook and stay informed about changes. You can also syndicate the RSS feed to other programs such as your company’s web portal.
You can export Acrolinx terminology to different XML formats. RSS is a standardized XML file format. It allows you to publish feeds to other programs or websites.
You can create an RSS file using the standalone Acrolinx Term Transfer Tool. Because the tool is script-based, you can use the Windows Task Scheduler or a UNIX cron job to automate a regular export.
Microsoft Outlook can then subscribe to the RSS stream. Other systems, such as a company portal, can evaluate the RSS stream.
To create an RSS file, you'll need a transformation style sheet that you can use to export terms in RSS format. If you don't have a style sheet with "RSS" in the name, you can also download a copy of the style sheet here. Once you customize it, send your style sheet to Acrolinx Support and they'll add it to your Guidance Package.
You can use the term export wizard to create a saved configuration for the RSS export. Use the filter to define a range of terms to export. Acrolinx can filter terms that were changed in a time period relative to today’s date. Select “in the last … days” and enter a number, but don’t enter a number that is too high.
Click Save Export Configuration to save your filter criteria with a meaningful file name.
The transfer tool can run on any machine with a suitable Java installation.
If you haven’t already, install the Java JRE.
Unpack the Term Transfer Tool to a location on your computer.
Set the JAVA variable in transfer.bat.
Example
SET JAVA_HOME="C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_111\"
Create a server directory for saving the feed files. The directory needs to be available on a Web server – such as the Acrolinx built-in Web Server. We suggest creating a directory feeds under output .
Example
C:\Program Files\acrolinx\acrolinxIQ\server\www\output\feeds
Create a directory to hold the feed batch files.
Example
C:\Program Files\acrolinx\feeds
In this directory, create a Batch File that calls the export.
Example content of the batch file
cd "C:\Program Files\acrolinx\feeds\acrolinx-term-transfer" transfer.bat --export --config 50days --user feeds --password "GJurv37-H" --server localhost --output "C:\Program Files\acrolinx\acrolinxIQ\server\www\output\feeds\50days.xml"
The parameters have the following meaning:
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location of the Term Transfer tools |
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Name of server export configuration |
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Name of the user created for the automatic export |
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Password of this user |
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Path to feed file directory |
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Name of the feed file to be created |
The example batch file above creates the feed file 50days.xml in the feeds directory. The URL of the RSS feed has the following format:
http://<SERVER_ADDRESS>/output/feeds/<FILENAME>
In this example: http://localhost/output/feeds/50days.xml
You can use the Windows Task Scheduler to execute a program at a predefined time or after specified time intervals. The following screenshots show how to Schedule Tasks in Windows 7.
Schedule a new task.
The new task now appears in the list.
You can also start a task manually.
You can customize the style sheet used for the RSS feed to your needs. Once you're finished, contact Acrolinx Support to add it to your Guidance Package.
You need to configure the server name in the style sheet, so the links to the term database work correctly.
Find the section of the style sheet with the parameter "server-url". It should look something like this:
<!-- xsl:param name="server-url">http://saas-demo.acrolinx.iq.com/</xsl:param> -->
Uncomment it and replace the example with your Acrolinx URL.
Configure how often clients shall retrieve the feed, for example how often the feed is renewed.
Find the following line:
<xsl:param name="refresh-rate">120</xsl:param>
The number 120 indicates the number of minutes that pass before the client checks for updates to the feed. Update it to meet your requirements.
You can define what fields from the terminology database to display in the description area.
You can also display comments with the term. The sample RSS style sheet should already have comments included. The following block of code in the description section is responsible for displaying comments.
<xsl:if test="default:complex-value[@field='term/event']"> <!-- print comments --> <xsl:text><b>Comments</b><br/></xsl:text> <xsl:apply-templates select="default:complex-value[@field = 'term/event']"/> </xsl:if>
You can add information from more fields with the following template:
<xsl:call-template name="descr_element"> <!-- example for an element on the term level --> <xsl:with-param name="elem" select="default:value[@field='<FIELD_NAME>']"/> <xsl:with-param name="description"><DISPLAY_NAME></xsl:with-param></xsl:call-template>
Replace the placeholder values and add this block within the description section.
For example, you might add a sample context for all your terms. If you open the dashboard and navigate to Terminology > Field Manager, you might notice that the "context" field has the field name "context" and the display name "Sample context." You would replace the placeholders <FIELD_NAME> and <DISPLAY_NAME> to match the names in the Field Manager.
Many different clients can display the RSS feed. This section shows some prototypical examples, and explains how to configure them.
Thunderbird has a separate “Blogs & News Feeds” option that you can use to subscribe to feeds.
Links open in the default web browser
Outlook Click the File tab. Open the Account Settings. On the RSS Feeds tab, click “New…”. Type the URL of your RSS feed.
On the RSS Feed Options dialog box, click OK.
The RSS postings appear in the RSS Feeds directory.
New postings also appear in “Unread Messages”.