What can setAttrFromHTML() do?

(talking DOORS V8.2):

I know what the documentation says it can do but (unless I'm doing something wrong) the functionality seems rather limited.

Sets the value of the specified attribute based on the HTML in the buffer.
 
If the call succeeds, returns a null string; otherwise, returns an error message.
 

Based on the documentation, one can load a buffer with HTML text and call setAttrFromHTML() which will populate the specified object attribute with a rendering based on the supplied HTML.

In short I can get the help file example for bolding text to work but can't get a simple table to render.

For DOORS V8.2, does anyone know what HTML functionality (or subset) is supported by setAttrFromHTML()? Sorry, I was not too impressed by the bolding text example (there are simpler ways to do that). I was hoping for a bit more.

I attached a browser rendering of a very simple table. I was hoping the code below would insert something that resembled a table into o."Object Text". When the smoke clears all that is populated is the inner table text with no tabular formatting whatsoever.

void canDoors82InsertATwoRowTwoColumnTable() {
    // Suppose the cursor on an object in a module open for write.
    Buffer b = create();
    string errorMessage;
    Object o = (Object current);
    Module m = (Module current);
    print("The initial content of object " (o."Absolute Number") " is " (o."Object Text") "\n");
 
    // This seems to work
    b = "That was a <b>bold</b> move.";
    errorMessage = setAttrFromHTML(b, o."Object Text");
    if (!null(errorMessage)) {
        ack("setAttrFromHTML failed: " errorMessage);
    }
    refresh(m);
 
    ack "The word \"bold\" is bolded as expected."
 
    // This does not fail but does not render a table as expected
    b = "<table border=\"1\"><tr><td>Row1 Col1</td><td>Row1 Col2</td></tr><tr><td>Row2 Col1</td><td>Row2 Col2</td></tr></table>";
    errorMessage = setAttrFromHTML(b, o."Object Text");
    if (!null(errorMessage)) {
        ack("setAttrFromHTML failed: " errorMessage);
    }
 
    refresh(m);
    ack "Was expecting to see a table.  Where is it?"
 
    delete b;
}
 
canDoors82InsertATwoRowTwoColumnTable();

Can the code above be modified to produce the desired result?

Has anyone been down this road and can share what setAttrFromHTML() can or can not do?

Thanks in advance for comments.

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
Mathias Mamsch - Fri Sep 24 18:09:13 EDT 2010

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
SystemAdmin - Fri Sep 24 18:37:17 EDT 2010

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
Mathias Mamsch - Sat Sep 25 13:05:41 EDT 2010

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
SystemAdmin - Mon Sep 27 12:44:18 EDT 2010

The application of the desired single-DOORS-object RTF table rows would be to show a correlation that is most clearly shown in a table but where individual rows may be "filtered out" based on target need (e.g., specific customer).

A simple example is an acronym definition table. Some terms are general. Some terms are customer-specific. Some terms are "configuration-specific".

The filter part is easy (a column for each filterable attribute, e.g., customer, etc.)

The only challenge is choosing how to display the acronyms and their definitions in the main "Object Text" column.

If we saw an acronym definitions in a book, Word document, or HTML page, chances are very high it would be implemented as a table. This makes all the acronyms and definitions horizontally aligned.

REALIZING THIS IN DOORS (PROS/CONS of various techniques):
1) DOORS Table - Each cell is its own object so seeing its filter attributes is not easy to set and maintain. For example if one desires to make an acronym and its definition associated with a specific customer only, you have the make sure to set appropriate attributes for both the acronym DOORS cell and the Acronym Definition Cell (a nuisance to maintain and verify).

2) OLE Table - Overkill and text won't be search-able.

3) RTF Table Row - Works fine but DOORS GUI does not support an RTF table editor. The RTF table solution would be for each table row to be a unique DOORS object (that way it can be filtered in or out as a set). If each each RTF row is formatted the same (e.g., show borders, left cell is 1 inch, and right cell is 4 inch) than the objective is achieved.

4) Just do "ACC - ACC Definition" as plain old text
(Will work but definitions will have a ragged edge (left side is not aligned).

5) On each line do (like a properties entry):

• Acronym = API
• Definition = Application Program Interface

(Works but visually harder to spot terms)
Summarizing the desire is:
 

*** OBJECT TEXT ********* | *** CUSTOMER **** | *** Object No *** |
| ACRONYM | DEFINITION    | All Customers     | 1001              |
|  ACC1   |  Definition 1 | All Customers     | 1002              |
|  ACC2   |  Definition 2 | All Customers     | 1003              |
|  ACC3   |  Definition 3 | Customer A        | 1004              |
|  ACC4   |  Definition 4 | All Customers     | 1005              |
|  ACC5   |  Definition 5 | Customer B        | 1006              |

For the above, if we were to apply a filter for "All Customers" and "Customer B" we would expect to see a table with all rows shown except Object 1004.

// *** More knarly than HTML, but works in DOORS 8.2
void loadAcronymToObjectText(Object o,
                             string acronym,
                             string meaning) {
    Module m = (Module current);
    Buffer b = create();
    b += "{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033\\deflangfe1033";
    b += "\\trowd\\trgaph108\\trleft-108\\trbrdrl\\brdrs\\brdrw10";
    b += "\\trbrdrt\\brdrs\\brdrw10 \\trbrdrr\\brdrs\\brdrw10";
    b += "\\trbrdrb\\brdrs\\brdrw10 \\trpaddl108\\trpaddr108\\trpaddfl3\\trpaddfr3";
    b += "\\clbrdrl\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrt\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrr\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrb\\brdrw10\\brdrs";
    b += "\\cellx1440\\clbrdrl\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrt\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrr\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrb\\brdrw10\\brdrs";
    b += "\\cellx6748\\pard\\intbl " 
    b += acronym;
    b += "\\cell ";
    b += meaning;
    b += "\\cell\\row\\pard}";
    o."Object Text" = richText(tempStringOf(b));
    refresh(m);
    delete b;
}

See attached picture for DOORS rendering.

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
Mathias Mamsch - Mon Sep 27 14:59:01 EDT 2010

*** OBJECT TEXT ********* | *** CUSTOMER **** | *** Object No *** |
| ACRONYM | DEFINITION    | All Customers     | 1001              |
|  ACC1   |  Definition 1 | All Customers     | 1002              |
|  ACC2   |  Definition 2 | All Customers     | 1003              |
|  ACC3   |  Definition 3 | Customer A        | 1004              |
|  ACC4   |  Definition 4 | All Customers     | 1005              |
|  ACC5   |  Definition 5 | Customer B        | 1006              |

// *** More knarly than HTML, but works in DOORS 8.2
void loadAcronymToObjectText(Object o,
                             string acronym,
                             string meaning) {
    Module m = (Module current);
    Buffer b = create();
    b += "{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang1033\\deflangfe1033";
    b += "\\trowd\\trgaph108\\trleft-108\\trbrdrl\\brdrs\\brdrw10";
    b += "\\trbrdrt\\brdrs\\brdrw10 \\trbrdrr\\brdrs\\brdrw10";
    b += "\\trbrdrb\\brdrs\\brdrw10 \\trpaddl108\\trpaddr108\\trpaddfl3\\trpaddfr3";
    b += "\\clbrdrl\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrt\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrr\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrb\\brdrw10\\brdrs";
    b += "\\cellx1440\\clbrdrl\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrt\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrr\\brdrw10\\brdrs\\clbrdrb\\brdrw10\\brdrs";
    b += "\\cellx6748\\pard\\intbl " 
    b += acronym;
    b += "\\cell ";
    b += meaning;
    b += "\\cell\\row\\pard}";
    o."Object Text" = richText(tempStringOf(b));
    refresh(m);
    delete b;
}

• if obj is a normal object return the "Manual Customer"
• if obj is a table cell, then 1. check if the table has a "Customer Column" (look for a special title), 2. for every cell in a column that is not the customer column, return the value of the customer column (if it exists, otherwise nothing) 3. for every cell of the customer column return something special like "<customer column>"

Re: What can setAttrFromHTML() do?
SystemAdmin - Mon Sep 27 16:17:01 EDT 2010