The ability to track changes and the ability to show changes in a published document are not the same thing when you are dealing with XML documents.
Tracking Changes
Many editors now have the ability to track changes as you are editing a document. This is useful in that you can undo any particular change or ask another person to accept or reject changes. However, these tracked changes are typically not shown up in a published document. It is also necessary to have the tracked changes switched on for these to be recorded, it is typically not possible in a standard XML editor to compare two documents and generate a tracked change result. Having said that, at DeltaXML we are developing a plugin for oXygen to provide that facility, and it will also be available as an API to integrate into CMS systems.
Showing Changes in a Published Document
If you want to show changes in a published document, then your publishing pipeline needs to understand the changes and mark them up in the HTML or PDF output. To achieve this, you need to set the correct attributes in your source document. You could do this manually in the editor (difficult!) but it is much easier, faster and more accurate to use DeltaXML DITA Compare to do this for you.
You indicate that your CMS vendor
I am sure that the CMS system keeps all the versions of a particular document and it probably also allows you to view all the lines that have changed between two particular versions of a document. But it is very unlikely that it will allow you to generate a proper DITA document with revision flags set to show changes - and this is what you need to publish a document showing the changes. If your CMS system incorporated DeltaXML DITA Compare within the system, then they would be able to provide this useful facility to all their users.
In fact there is a good case for a CMS that is serious about DITA to provide this ability in their system, and they could also use DeltaXML comparison to generate tracked changes for editors also, as mentioned above. This can be useful in support of translation as well as providing end-users with documentation that shows changes since a previous revision.
Whether you want the compare functionality in the editor or integrated into the CMS depends on your use. Integration with the CMS is probably easier to manage, but can only be used on documents in the CMS of course.
I hope this helps to explain how DeltaXML can fit into your publishing system.
Robin
Tracking Changes
Many editors now have the ability to track changes as you are editing a document. This is useful in that you can undo any particular change or ask another person to accept or reject changes. However, these tracked changes are typically not shown up in a published document. It is also necessary to have the tracked changes switched on for these to be recorded, it is typically not possible in a standard XML editor to compare two documents and generate a tracked change result. Having said that, at DeltaXML we are developing a plugin for oXygen to provide that facility, and it will also be available as an API to integrate into CMS systems.
Showing Changes in a Published Document
If you want to show changes in a published document, then your publishing pipeline needs to understand the changes and mark them up in the HTML or PDF output. To achieve this, you need to set the correct attributes in your source document. You could do this manually in the editor (difficult!) but it is much easier, faster and more accurate to use DeltaXML DITA Compare to do this for you.
You indicate that your CMS vendor
says that a dif engine like DITA Compare adds more steps and expense to the process of implementing a revision-tracking strategy. |
In fact there is a good case for a CMS that is serious about DITA to provide this ability in their system, and they could also use DeltaXML comparison to generate tracked changes for editors also, as mentioned above. This can be useful in support of translation as well as providing end-users with documentation that shows changes since a previous revision.
Whether you want the compare functionality in the editor or integrated into the CMS depends on your use. Integration with the CMS is probably easier to manage, but can only be used on documents in the CMS of course.
I hope this helps to explain how DeltaXML can fit into your publishing system.
Robin
