The best place to start is with the PDF documentation in the Eclipse online help accompanying the plug-ins (see the topic "Component Templates for Assets and Artifacts User Guide").
After you become familiar with the basic concepts, there are several samples you can use to create templates, to create template instances, and to create and use composite templates. These are also available from the online help in the "Samples" sub-topic.
This technology makes a distinction between the role of template creator and the role of template user (although they can be the same person).
The template creator is an expert who identifies an existing asset or artifact as being suitable for templatization (for example, an asset that is already regularly reused or one that would benefit from the configuration tools provided by Component Templates for Assets and Artifacts). The expertise required for creating a template is primarily domain-specific; that is, the template creator must understand the construction of the asset and how it is used in order to create an effective template.
The template user need not be expert in the construction of the asset in order to use it. Instead, the template user will identify the need for one or more templatized assets and will use the Component Templates for Assets and Artifacts tools to create and configure one or more instances of them in a solution.
Component Templates for Assets and Artifacts is implemented in Java as a set of Eclipse plug-ins. It has been tested only on Windows; however, there is no known reason why the plug-ins would not work on UNIX. Please post a note in the forum if you are interested in trying a UNIX version.
4. Why don't my templates appear on the palette or in the Eclipse online help?
Templates are packaged as Eclipse plug-ins so that they can contribute to both the Component Templates for Assets and Artifacts palette and to the Eclipse online help. In order for your templates to be available in these two features, you must either install your templates as plug-ins in your Eclipse environment or launch them in a run-time workbench.
View screenshots:
