Concepts
Overview
Web2Publish was designed with composable wizard steps in mind. The steps can be mixed and matched, so a project can cover many use cases and react to customer requirements.
Web2Publish is a separate application from the rest of priint:suite. It stays compatible with existing applications like priint:planner, but the focus is on a wizard flow that fits the requirements of the project.
That flexibility means every new project starts from scratch, which can be overwhelming. This AccPack removes the starting cost by shipping a few use cases pre-wired to the consistent demo data. Install the demo data and set up the Web2Publish skeleton to get started.
Required Reading
Please ensure that you have read and understood the core concepts of the Web2Publish before starting:
Contents of the AccPack
This AccPack packages two use cases that come up most across client projects:
- Bucket selection-based: content buckets from an internal or REST-connected source, assigned by drag-and-drop.
- Import-based: product data from an Excel upload, validated and imported through a Camunda process.
Each use case is pre-configured against the shared demo data (the aio entity models and the Baroque 'N' Heart catalog). A consultant can install one, run it end to end, and see a finished result before adapting the configuration to a real client model.
How It Works: Composable Wizard Steps
A Web2Publish wizard is not a fixed sequence. It is assembled per publication type from a set of step types. Each step type has its own mechanisms and is driven by priint:bpm to model your business process.
- Form step: displays a dynamic metadata form (name, description, and other fields) for the publication. It starts every wizard in this AccPack. See Web2Publish: Wizard steps for more information.
Depending on your use case, the second step lets you assign bucket items or run an import process.
- Products Assignment step: assigns bucket items to a document by drag-and-drop, from an internal or REST-connected data source. Drives bucket selection-based rendering.
- Custom Documents step: lets a user customize predefined cover documents (front and back page media and text) before rendering. Optional, and usable in any wizard configuration.
- Process step: runs a backend Camunda process as part of the wizard. Used to trigger rendering in every method in this AccPack.
Import-based rendering does not use these named steps. Instead, product data comes from an uploaded Excel file that a Camunda process validates and imports. The publication then moves to a planning review before rendering.
- Import-based rendering uses a step of type
PROCESS_STEPto upload the data. - The next wizard step is a planning step of type
PLANNING_TREEto review the planning.
Because each step type is an independent building block, a client project can combine them differently from the methods documented in this section. It can drop the cover-customization step, or combine an assortment selection with a bucket assignment. The rendering methods in this AccPack are the combinations that recur most often across client engagements, not the only ones Web2Publish supports.
Next Steps
- Install and configure the shared demo entity models and processes.
- Selection-Based Rendering
- Import-Based Rendering
For the end-user perspective on these wizard steps, see Creating and Rendering Publications.