Purpose

This tool mentor describes how to use Microsoft Word documents as templates for documents in your Rational RequisitePro projects.

Overview

Every new document in RequisitePro includes default formatting information. New documents are based on document types, which include a default file extension, a default requirement type, and an associated outline. RequisitePro includes the following outlines which can be used when creating document types in your project:

  • Product Requirements Document
  • Software Requirements Specification
  • Test Design Specification
  • Test Case Scenario

RequisitePro also includes these Rational Unified Process provided templates for requirements management:

  • Requirements Management Plan
  • Stakeholder Requests Document
  • Glossary
  • Vision Requirements Outline
  • Use Case Specification
  • (Use Case) Software Requirements Specification
  • (Non-Use Case) Software Requirements Specification
  • Supplemental Requirements Specification
  • Test Plan Document
  • Test Case Scenario

These outlines are available in RequisitePro by clicking Project > Properties. At the Document Types tab, click the Add or Edit button. The Document Type dialog box appears. The list of outlines is available at the Outline Name field. Select an outline when creating or editing a document type.

Creating Custom Outlines

You also have the option of creating custom outlines, based on your existing Microsoft Word documents. A RequisitePro outline is a reference document used to control the formatting of Microsoft Word documents in RequisitePro. This is useful for maintaining consistency across documents of the same type.

RequisitePro outlines are composed of two files, which are stored the outlines directory in your RequisitePro installation:

  • An outline file, which has a .def extension. The outline file is a simple, unformatted text file that contains an outline name, a description, and a reference to a Word template.
  • The Word template, which has a .dot file extension, contains the paragraph styles and other information, such as formats, page layout information, attributes, attribute definitions, and system defaults that will control the appearance of your RequisitePro document.

To add a new template to your RequisitePro project, do the following:

  1. Create a Microsoft Word template
  2. Create an outline file
  3. Add your outline to RequisitePro
  4. Create a document type based on your outline

1. Create a Microsoft Word Template To top of page

  1. Start Microsoft Word outside of RequisitePro.
  2. Open the file you want to use to create a template.
  3. Edit the file, as needed, to prepare the content for use as a template.
  4. Save the file as a template with the extension .dot. See the Microsoft Word documentation for more information about creating templates.

You can also use the template files provided with the Rational Unified Process. They can be found in your Rational Unified Process installation directory in the folder wordtmpl/templates.

The following templates are available for the business engineering workflow:

  • Business Use-Case Specification (wordtmpl/templates/bm/rup_bucs.dot).
  • Supplementary Business Specification (wordtmpl/templates/bm/rup_sbs.dot).

The following templates are available for the requirements workflow. If you created your RequisitePro project using the RequisitePro Project Template, your project already contains these templates. The templates are also available in the RequisitePro installation directory ..\Program Files\Rational\RequisitePro\outlines.

  • Requirements Management Plan (rup_rmpln.dot)
  • Glossary document (rup_gloss.dot).
  • Vision document (rup_vision.dot).
  • Stakeholder Requests document (rup_stkreq.dot).
  • Use-Case Specification (rup_ucspec.dot).
  • (Use Case) Software Requirements Specification (rup_srsuc.dot)
  • (Non-Use Case) Software Requirements Specification (rup_srs.dot)
  • Supplementary Specification (rup_sspec.dot).
  • Test Plan Document (rup_tstpln.dot)
  • Test Case Scenario (rup_fcnltst.dot)

2. Create an Outline File To top of page

An outline file is created in a text editor and saved with a .def extension. The outline file is unformatted text file that contains an outline name, a description of the outline, and a reference to a Word template. The .def and the .dot file, created in procedure 1 above, must have the same name with different extensions, for example, usecase.def and usecase.dot. Both files must be stored in the outlines directory in your RequisitePro installation or in a secondary outlines directory that is referenced in RequisitePro by clicking Tools > Options/Directories/Outline Path.

  1. Open a text editor, such as NotePad.
  2. Create a new text file containing the following three lines of information, separated by returns:
    - The outline's full (logical) name, up to 64 characters. Be sure that this logical name is unique in the outlines directory.
    - A description of the outline, up to 256 characters.
    - The Word template's file name (with the .dot extension).
  3. Save the text file in the RequisitePro outlines directory or a secondary outlines directory using the same file name as the template but with the extension .def.

An example usecase.def file includes the following lines:

RUP Use Case Specification
Rational Unified Process supplied template used to specify a use case.
rup_ucspec.dot

3. Add Your Outline to RequisitePro To top of page

Copy the .dot and .def files to the outlines directory in your RequisitePro installation directory or a secondary outlines directory. Typically the outlines directory is: C:\Program Files\Rational\RequisitePro\outlines. Your installation may vary, depending on the Rational products you've installed.

If you use a secondary directory, be sure that the path is defined in RequisitePro. On the RequisitePro Tool Palette, click Tools > Options. In the Directories/Outline Path text field, type the path and directory name for your custom outlines.

4. Create a document type based on your outline To top of page

  1. On the RequisitePro Tool Palette, click Project > Properties. The Project Properties dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Document Types tab.
  3. Click the Add button. The Document Type dialog box appears.
  4. In the Name text box, enter a name for the document type, up to 64 characters.
  5. In the File Extension text box, enter a three-character text string, or, if long file names are supported, a longer extension. (File extensions can contain a maximum of 20 characters in RequisitePro.) The file extension is applied to all documents associated with the document type.
  6. Select a default requirement type in the list, or click New to create a new requirement type.
  7. Select an outline from the Outline Name field.
  8. Click OK to close the Document Type dialog box.
  9. Click OK to close the Project Properties dialog box.

For More Information

Refer to the following help topics in the RequisitePro online help:

  • Creating and modifying document types (Index: document types > creating)
  • Creating outlines (Index: outlines > creating)

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