Use an Antenna House rendering engine

This procedure describes how to configure the Output Generator to generate PDF files using the Antenna House Formatter rendering engine or the Antenna House PDF5 Plugin.

This procedure assumes that you have downloaded the Antenna House Formatter rendering engine or Antenna House PDF5 Plugin and that you have a license for it, as required.

To use the Antenna House rendering engine:

  1. Install the rendering engine on the Output Generator server.
    You can install it in any directory. Follow the installation procedure provided by Antenna House.
  2. Open the %OutputGenDir%/data/outgen-init-client.xml file.
    Note: If this is the first time that you are modifying the outgen-init-client.xml file, open the outgen-init-client.xml.orig file and save it as outgen-init-client.xml (remove the .orig suffix).
    Important: Do not update the outgen-init.xml file; always update the outgen-init-client.xml file. This separation ensures that your customization does not get overwritten when you update the Output Generator.
  3. Locate the line that contains the outgen.job.default.pdf.formatter property.
    For example:
    <!--<property name="outgen.job.default.pdf.formatter" value=""/>-->
  4. Uncomment the line and set the property to ah.
    For example:
    <property name="outgen.job.default.pdf.formatter" value="ah"/>
  5. Locate the properties identified as * Config for ah *.
    For example:
    <!--
    *********************************************************************************
    * Config for ah
    *********************************************************************************
    -->
    <!--<property name="env.AXF_DIR" location="/usr/AHFormatterV62_64"/>-->
    <!--<property name="env.AXF_DIR" location="C:\Program Files\Antenna House\AHFormatterV62"/>-->
    <!-- If you need a custom setting file for different output types,
         do not set the value here; set it instead in each target that calls the renderer. -->
    <!--<property name="env.AXF_OPT" location="${outgen.resources.dir.client}${file.separator}AHFSettings.xml"/>-->
                   
    <!-- If you are using the plugin com.antennahouse.pdf5, you must define the 
            AHF_DIR and AHF_OPT properties instead. -->
    <!-- <property name="env.AHF_DIR" location="C:\Program Files\Antenna House\AHFormatterV6"/> -->
    <!-- <property name="env.AHF_OPT" location="${outgen.resources.dir.client}${file.separator}AHFSettings.xml"/> --> 
  6. Uncomment each property for the chosen renderer and set it as follows:
    RendererProperties
    Antenna House Formatter
    • env.AXF_DIR: Set this property to the location of the Antenna House Formatter engine.
    • env.AXF_OPT: If you are using a custom Antenna House Formatter configuration, set this property to the location of the Antenna House Formatter settings file. IXIASOFT recommends that you store this configuration file in the %OutputGenDir%/data/resources/client directory. To use the standard Antenna House Formatter configuration, leave this property uncommented.
    Antenna House PDF5 Plugin
    • env.AHF_DIR: Set this property to the location of the com.antennahouse.pdf5 plugin executable folder.
    • env.AHF_OPT: : If you are using a custom Antenna House PDF5 Plugin configuration, set this property to the location of the Antenna House PDF5 Plugin settings file. IXIASOFT recommends that you store this configuration file in the %OutputGenDir%/data/resources/client directory. To use the standard Antenna House PDF5 Plugin configuration, leave this property uncommented.
    For example, on Windows, you could set the properties as follows:
    <property name="env.AXF_DIR" location="C:\Program Files\Antenna House\AHFormatterV62"/> 
  7. Save and close the file.
  8. Open the conductor file that contains the PDF target (for example, %OutputGenDir%/data/conductor-acme.xml).
  9. Locate the target that calls the PDF transformation scenario and make sure that the target includes the ot_build_add_pdfrenderer target.
    This target configures the PDF renderer information in the build.xml file.
    For example:
    <target name="dita2pdfwrapper" depends="default_dependencies, flatten, resolve_container_keyref, extract_HiRes_images">
     
       ...
       <antcall target="ot_build_create"/>
       <antcall target="ot_build_add_pdfrenderer"/>
       <antcall target="ot_build_add_ditaval_ifpresent"/>
       <antcall target="ot_build_clean_ot_temp"/>
       <antcall target="ot_build_keep_topicfo"/>
       ...
  10. Save and close the conductor file.
    You can now generate PDF files using the Antenna House renderer.