How To Convert a UserBase Manual to Docbook

    From KDE TechBase

    Preface

    The current process is not polished, the script code is ugly, not intelligent enough, etc.. The only excuse is that it works somehow

    .

    If you want to improve the process, have good Python skills, and know the docbook authoring principles, you can improve the procedure. Please contact Yurchor if you are able to help.

    Preparing Pages for Conversion

    • Check if every page has its header according to the level of this page in table of contents.
    Reference table
    UserBase Docbook Comment
    ==Section== <chapter>
    ===Section=== <sect1>
    ====Section==== <sect2>
    =====Section===== <sect3>
    ======Section====== <sect4> Avoid using this last level if possible
    • Make application name formatting consistent (avoid using Amaroks, do use Amarok's).
    • Ensure that all images are in PNG format.
    • Remove all non-printable characters from image names.

    Export

    • Prepare the page list (strip from UserBase addresses http://userbase.kde.org). Example for Amarok:
    Amarok
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/GettingStarted
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/TheAmarokWindow
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/TheMusicCollection
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/Playlists
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/TheContextView
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/HowToDealWithProblems
    Amarok/QuickStartGuide/Glossary
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokWindow
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokWindow/Toolbar
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokWindow/MediaSources
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokWindow/ContextPane
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokWindow/PlaylistPane
    Amarok/Manual/ConfiguringAmarok
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/CollectionScanning
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/CoverManager
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/DynamicPlaylists
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/AutomaticPlaylistGenerator
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/ExternalDatabase
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/AFT
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/Moodbar
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/WorkingWithMediaDevices
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/SavedPlaylists
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/PlaylistFiltering
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/QueueManager
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/SearchInCollection
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/TagEditor
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/OrganizeCollection
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/Transcoding
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/ScriptManager
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/RemoteCollections
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/RemoteCollections/Ampache
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/RemoteCollections/DAAP
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/RemoteCollections/Samba
    Amarok/Manual/AdvancedFeatures/RemoteCollections/UPnP
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/AmarokMenu
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/ViewMenu
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/Playlist
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/Tools
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/Settings
    Amarok/Manual/MenuAndCommandReference/Help
    Amarok/Manual/KeybindingReference
    Amarok/Manual/KeybindingReference/GlobalShortcuts
    Amarok/Manual/KeybindingReference/AmarokShortcuts
    Amarok/Manual/TroubleshootingAndCommonProblems
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokOnOtherPlatforms/Non-KDE Desktops
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokOnOtherPlatforms/Windows
    Amarok/Manual/AmarokOnOtherPlatforms/OSX
    Amarok/Manual/FAQ
    Amarok/Manual/Credits_and_License
    Tip
    You can obtain the full list of pages for your application with the following script:
    <DPL>
      nottitlematch = %/__|%/zh-%|%(%)
      titlematch = Amarok%
      namespace = Main
      columns = 1
      format = ,\n* [[%PAGE%|%TITLE%]],,
    </DPL>
    Replace Amarok with the name of your application, put it on your user page, and click on Preview. Rearrange the list according to the ToC of your manual.


    • Paste the page list into the bigger text field.
    • Click on Export.
    Export of Amarok manual pages
    • Save the file. The saved file will be called Manual.xml in what follows.

    Conversion

    • Install Subversion package for your system.
    • Checkout the latest version of conversion script:
      svn checkout --depth=files svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/work/doc/
    • Copy Manual.xml to the script folder.
    • Run
      python wiki2docbook.py Manual.xml
      if you want to download all screenshots (it takes some time to download all images from UserBase, grep and wget should be installed), or
      python wiki2docbook.py -s Manual.xml
      if you need not to download images.

    Post-processing

    • Rename Manual.xml.docbook to index.docbook.
    • Check if conversion was done correctly:
      checkXML index.docbook
    • Fix the errors (better on UserBase pages).
    • Convert docbook to HTML:
      meinproc4 index.docbook
    • Check HTML pages (all images should be visible, links should not lead to 404-pages).
    • Replace big images by thumbnails using convert from ImageMagick
    • Fix links in docbook, so they lead to docbook section, not UserBase pages.
    • Fix application name according to KDE entity list.
    • Copy index.docbook and images to your /doc folder and commit them to repository.
    K3b docs on UserBase in Opera and converted page in Konqueror.