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Q:
How is SDP a “Smart Client” for XML Web services?
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A:
SDP has built-in support for Web Services.
It allows you to design and edit documents based on XML data that is retrieved
and submitted using Web Services.
In short, SDP provides a rich client experience for Web Services XML data.
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Q:
What servers and databases will SDP support?
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A:
SDP interoperates with any server that exposes data using Web Services.
SDP also has built-in support for Access and SQL Server
databases using ADO and for submitting XML data over http.
In addition to built-in features,
you can write custom code to retrieve and submit XML data.
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Q:
What servers and databases will SDP support? Do employees need to have SDP installed
on their PCs in order to fill out forms created with SDP?
Is SDP required for viewing or reading an SDP form?
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A:
Information workers will need to have SDP
installed on their PCs to enter information into SDP documents
rich-text formatting, and spell-checking.
That said, you can read an SDP documents that has been saved to .HTM
in your browser or within an HTML-enabled e-mail client,
as the body of your mail message.
Because SDP generates XML belonging to any customer-defined schemas,
other software could be used to reuse and display that XML document.
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Q:
Do I need to touch every desktop to deploy SDP?
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A:
In order to fill out or design an SDP document,
SDP needs to be installed on the desktop.
However, once you have deployed SDP,
you can easily roll out the document templates that users need to use SDP.
SDP provides transparent deployment and maintenance of solutions via
a Web-like model that downloads solutions on demand.
SDP form templates are downloaded silently and seamlessly to
the client when a user clicks on a link to an SDP document or clicks on
an SDP attachment.
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Q:
Do I need to understand XML schemas or
know how to code in order to design a form in SDP?
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A:
No, Sydock Document Processor provides an easy-to-use
What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) design mode that lets users design
or modify form templates without writing any code.
SDP includes a set of ready-to-use sample forms that cover typical
user scenarios.
You can modify any of the sample forms (such as adding new
fields to the form) or you can design your own form to suit your needs.
To design a new form, you simply insert controls into a blank template.
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Q:
Can Sydock Document Processor use existing company schemas?
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A:
Yes. SDP was built from the ground up to work natively with XML
and support customer-defined schemas that are based on the W3C XML Schema (XSD)
standard. With SDP, you can design doument templates based on your own schema.
SDP will automatically apply data-type and structural validation based on that schema.
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Q:
What is the file format of an SDP document? Do you support binary attachments?
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A:
SDP does not generate a binary file format.
The native file format for SDP forms is .xml belonging to
any customer-defined schema, which makes it easy for companies
to integrate SDP documents into their existing business processes.
In a way, SPD does not define a file format:
the customer defines the file format that SDP will generate
following the rules of the XSD schema for that format.
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Q:
Does SDP support images?
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A:
SDP enables end users to insert images or link
to images.
You can also include images in your document template when designing the template.
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Q:
Does SDP support multiple languages for editing and proofing?
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A:
Template designers in multinational companies can create
template with a different language per view. For example,
employees in France may want a French version of a form and others may want
an English version, but the designer wants to use a common
schema for both forms.
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Q:
How does SDP work offline?
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A:
As with any file, you can simply save the document you’re filling out or designing
to your hard drive and continue working with it later.
If the document you’re working on is based on a template that’s been deployed
to a Web server, the first time you open a new version of the
document the associated template on the Web server is downloaded silently
and saved on your computer.
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Q:
What is an SDP document template? In what format is the template defined?
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A:
An SDP document template is a collection of files
that defines the layout and functionality for an document.
Document templates can be stored as a folder of files.
This collection of files is required for any XML document to be opened
and filled out in SDP.
The set of files contains, in particular, an XML schema file which defines
the structure for the XML created when filling out the form,
one or more XSLT\ESL files defining different views,
an XML file that determines the structure and content of a blank document
created with the document template, and optional auxiliary files
(e.g., Jscript or VBscript, graphics, and/or other resources needed
by the document template).
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Q:
Does SDP support COM controls?
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A:
Yes. Embedding ActiveX, both standard and specialized, into SDP templates.
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Q:
Can you put editing controls inside a table?
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A:
Yes, the SDP design-mode provide a mechanism
for extending the set of intrinsic controls.
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Q:
What scripting languages are supported? What’s the development environment for scripting?
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A:
SDP provides a built-in scripting environment in
which JScript or VBScript code can be written for custom business logic.
You can use your own scripting environment (e.g. Visual Studio)
if you are working on the files extracted from a form template.
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Q:
How do you localize a form in multiple languages (e.g., can you easily re-use an existing template in one language for another language)?
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A:
You have two choices for creating a form in multiple languages.
First (and preferably), you can create one document template with different
views(stylesheets) for each language.
Alternatively, you can create one view with different languages.
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Q:
Does SDP support COM?
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A:
You can call COM components from script in SDP.
You can call any COM component from a trusted solution.
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Q:
Can you design new SDP templates from existing SDP templates?
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A:
Yes.
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Q:
How big is an SDP document template?
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A:
5-50k.
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Q:
Can a Web page link to an SDP document to install the associated document template and invoke it?
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A:
Yes.
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Q:
Does a template also include automatic updates?
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A:
Yes. Each time a remote template is invoked,
SDP verifies whether there is a newer version available.
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