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When the decision was made to put the Dictionary of Composite Materials Technology online, no electronic version of the book was available. The print version, therefore, had to be converted into a series of HTML documents. There was also a desire to maintain the flexibility to create multiple formats in the future..
Because of the large number of files to be managed - there are over 5000 terms in the dictionary - the entire project was implemented through a database. That meant the conversion process would have to consist of three main steps: 1) converting the print book into an electronic format; 2) populating the database from the electronic book; and 3) generating the HTML files from the database.
Microsoft Access 2000 was chosen as the database. The table structure is fairly simple. It allows for an arbitrary number of entries in the Related Terms, Related Resources and Elsewhere on the Web areas. The Related Terms are chosen by selecting from the entire list of terms in the dictionary.
The print conversion was accomplished by cutting the binding of the book, scanning the individual pages into TIFF format, then running the resulting images through the ABBYY FineReader OCR program. This part of the process was handled by Aristotle Digital Archiving in Albuquerque, NM. The converted document was delivered in PDF and Microsoft Word format.
Some proofreading of the converted document was needed to correct formatting and typographical errors. All proofing and corrections were done in the MS Word document.
Once the document was cleaned up, it was time to import it into the database. A Visual Basic program was used to step through the dictionary, one word at a time, and populate the database fields. Formatting codes were used to determine which words belonged to terms and which to definitions. Meta tag fields were filled automatically based on the terms and definitions.
With the database filled, all that remained was to write out the HTML files. A special set of template files was developed to create the files. The template files are basically standard HTML files with special commands for inserting text from the database. The commands are actually a general purpose macro language, and include such constructs as conditional statements and loops.
Only two template files are required to generate the entire set of HTML files: one for the definitions, and one for the indexes. All 5000+ HTML files can be generated with a single mouse click, or the output can be restricted to selected portions of the dictionary. By simply creating two new template files, the dictionary can be created in an entirely different format.
The program that interprets the template files is written in Visual Basic. Although it is part of the dictionary database, the language is general enough to use for any database. It can also be used as a stand-alone program, and can connect to ODBC databases in addition to Access.
If you have a similar conversion project and would like to discuss any part of the conversion process, or are interested in the template file program, please feel free to contact Barry Berenberg at berenberg@alum.mit.edu .
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<Preface> <Suggest a Word> <CRC Press Catalog>
<Abbreviations/Acronyms> <Symbols>
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
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