Component Authoring

Component Authoring is for authoring custom content for use with AutoDrop and content-based Design Accelerator Component Generators. Guided step-by-step prompts are provided to prepare components with iMates and properties necessary for efficient use as functionally smart content ready for publishing to the Content Center Library.

When authoring user parts you specify:

What part types are available for authoring and publishing?

All standard parts available for authoring and publishing:

Prepare parts

On the Tools tab, Author panel, click Create iPart to prepare your parts for authoring and publishing to the Content Center Library. Each part that is transformed to an iPart Factory contains its own iPart Author table. Units of measurement for the part are set according to the selected standard. To view the Unit setting, select Tools tab Options panel Document Settings to access the Document Settings dialog box and click the Units tab.

When a user iPart is prepared:

Guidelines for defining custom styles using iParts

After user iParts are authored and published to the Content Center Library, you can use them to create custom styles. For creating, authoring and publishing iParts, be aware of the following guidelines:

Requirements for iPart Author table

The iPart Author table must contain a column for each parameter that must change to represent all the sizes of the part properly. For example, if the part contains threads, specify the columns for threads.