O
Olivier Ishacian
V3.0 (October 6, 2005)
XMLmind XML Editor V3 is a complete rewrite of the
``tip of the iceberg'': the application layer.
For the end-user, there is not much difference
with XXE V2.11 and by consequence, V3 is fully
compatible with the previous release. To make it
short, the end-user will just notice that the
windows displaying the document views are at the
same time more powerful and more convenient to
use.
For the integrator and for the power-user, the
situation is different: the user interface of XXE
V3 can now be fully customized. Previously it was
only possible to customize the document view
(special commands, special bindings, etc), the XML
(placeholder) menu and the standard tool bar for a
given document type. For more information, please
read XMLmind XML Editor - Customizing the User
Interface.
Enhancements:
-------------
* Documents are now displayed in tabs.
Each document has its own tab. That is, the
same document cannot be displayed in several
different tabs.
A tab can contain up to five different views
of the same document. More info on this below.
* The document tab area can be split in two
parts, horizontally or vertically
(Options|Split Windows Vertically). This
allows to see two different documents side by
side, very quickly and very conveniently. (To
do this, simply click on the dashed line of a
document tab.)
If you need to see more than two documents
side by side, you are out of luck.
* Using Options|Options, Window section, "Show
both tree and styled views" toggle, it is now
possible to force XXE to open documents in a
tab automatically containing the tree view and
the styled view side by side.
Using the tree view in conjunction with the
styled view is still not recommended by
XMLmind.
You can do everything you want using the styled
view and the node path bar alone. If this is
not the case, then you have missed something in
the tutorial.
* Using View|Add, it is now possible to add up
to four views (top, bottom, left, right)
around the default central view of a document
tab.
A CSS style sheet called "Document Structure"
has been developed for DocBook to demo this
feature. For example, it is possible to add a
tree view at the left of the central styled
view and then, to add the "Document Structure"
view below the central styled view.
* Automating the above action is possible using
the new windowLayout configuration element.
Example:
+------------------------------------------------+
<windowLayout>
<left />
<center css="DocBook" />
<bottom css="Document structure" size="0.15" />
</windowLayout>
+------------------------------------------------+
* XXE can now automatically save modified
documents.
By default, this facility is disabled. You
need to enable it by turning on
Options|Options, Save section, "Automatically
save modified documents".
* Upgraded XMLmind FO Converter to version
2.2 Patch 1. XMLmind FO Converter is used to
convert XSL-FO to RTF and to WordprocessingML
(for use by Microsoft® Office Word 2003).
Bug fixes:
----------
* XXE raised a NullPointerException when
attempting to join an empty element to its
preceding sibling. Now this case is detected
and therefore joining an empty element to its
preceding sibling is no longer possible.
* When a document was saved, a lot of whitespace
was added to xi:include elements containing an
xi:fallback child.
* When add-ons are centralized on a HTTP or FTP
server, spell checker dictionaries were
detected (i.e. listed by Help|About XMLmind
XML Editor) but not properly loaded.
Note that loading such remote dictionaries now
works but still has the following limitation.
Example: if the URL of the .dar file
(autodetected by XXE) is:
http://lupo/~hussein/addon/spell/en.dar, XXE
will just find the plain English dictionary
("en") and not "en" and "en-US" and "en-GB"
and "en-CA".
The workaround is to rename "en.dar" to
"en-US.dar" if, for example, you prefer to use
US spelling of words.
Of course, there is no such limitation when
the .dar file is located on the local file
system.
* Generated content object label(xpath,...) did
not update itself when the document was about
to be saved, checked for validity, etc.
* Changed the detect rule in the XHTML
configuration in order to allow adding
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" to the
html root element. Note that adding such
attribute does not make a document conforming
to the XHTML DTD namespace aware.
* Most .jar files generated when build the
distribution of XMLmind XML Editor (e.g.
xxe.jar, xfc_foprocessor.jar, etc) contained
two META-INF/ entries. This prevented
jarsigner, either used directly or through our
own deploywebstart tool, from doing its job.
Technical information:
----------------------
* ``Proprietary CSS extension'' marker: fill
allows to align generated content with
display: marker to the left (for content
generated at the beginning of an element) or
to the right (for content generated at the end
of an element).
* Added command viewHTML which allows to view an
external file using a web browser (not
necessarily an HTML file, any file accepted by
the browser). Example of use:
+------------------------------------------------+
<command name="docb.startHTMLViewer">
<macro>
<sequence>
<get context="$implicitElement/@url"
expression="resolve-uri(.)" />
<command name="viewHTML" parameter="%_" />
</sequence>
</macro>
</command>
+------------------------------------------------+
* Added the following new commands:
editAttributes
Displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the Attributes tool) which allows
to edit the attributes of selected
element.
checkValidity
Checks the validity of the document
and, if validity errors are found,
displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the Validity tool) listing them.
declareNamespace
Displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the dialog displayed by
Tools|Declare Namespace) which allows
to declare new namespaces and/or
change the prefixes of existing
namespaces.
showContentModel
Displays a window (similar to the
window displayed by Help|Show Content
Model) showing the content model of
selected element.
listBindings
Displays a dialog box (similar to the
dialog displayed by Help|Mouse and
Key Bindings) containing the mouse
and key bindings that can be used in
current document view.
These commands have been added mainly to make
it easier building simple XML editors using
XXE components (that is, not XXE itself).
* It is now possible to have several menus and
several tool bars which are specific to an XML
application (i.e. DocBook, XHTML, Slides,
etc). To do this, see how the menu and the
toolBar configuration elements have been
extended in XMLmind XML Editor - Configuration
and Deployment.
* The documentResources configuration element
has a new selector child element which allows
to specify document resources by using a
Java[tm] class implementing
com.xmlmind.xmledit.doc.XNodeSelector.
Previously, child element resource only
allowed to specify document resources by using
simple XPath expressions.
Possible incompatibilities:
---------------------------
* Windows only: removed
-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true, an old bug
workaround, from xxe.bat and xxe.jstart.
* DocumentHooks can no longer be declared in
customize.xxe because they are now always
specific to a given document type (e.g.
DocBook, XHTML, etc). And once again, the
Java[tm] API of
com.xmlmind.xmleditapp.dochook.DocumentHook
has slightly changed.
* The load configuration element has been
removed because it was useless since V2.10.
In order to force XXE to load some code, you
need to reference the corresponding jar in the
CLASSPATH or to copy the corresponding jar to
one of the directories scanned by XXE at
startup time (e.g. XXE_install_dir/addon/,
XXE_user_preferences_dir/addon/).
XMLmind XML Editor V3.0 can be downloaded from
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml
--------------------------------------------------
XMLmind XML Editor V3 is a complete rewrite of the
``tip of the iceberg'': the application layer.
For the end-user, there is not much difference
with XXE V2.11 and by consequence, V3 is fully
compatible with the previous release. To make it
short, the end-user will just notice that the
windows displaying the document views are at the
same time more powerful and more convenient to
use.
For the integrator and for the power-user, the
situation is different: the user interface of XXE
V3 can now be fully customized. Previously it was
only possible to customize the document view
(special commands, special bindings, etc), the XML
(placeholder) menu and the standard tool bar for a
given document type. For more information, please
read XMLmind XML Editor - Customizing the User
Interface.
Enhancements:
-------------
* Documents are now displayed in tabs.
Each document has its own tab. That is, the
same document cannot be displayed in several
different tabs.
A tab can contain up to five different views
of the same document. More info on this below.
* The document tab area can be split in two
parts, horizontally or vertically
(Options|Split Windows Vertically). This
allows to see two different documents side by
side, very quickly and very conveniently. (To
do this, simply click on the dashed line of a
document tab.)
If you need to see more than two documents
side by side, you are out of luck.
* Using Options|Options, Window section, "Show
both tree and styled views" toggle, it is now
possible to force XXE to open documents in a
tab automatically containing the tree view and
the styled view side by side.
Using the tree view in conjunction with the
styled view is still not recommended by
XMLmind.
You can do everything you want using the styled
view and the node path bar alone. If this is
not the case, then you have missed something in
the tutorial.
* Using View|Add, it is now possible to add up
to four views (top, bottom, left, right)
around the default central view of a document
tab.
A CSS style sheet called "Document Structure"
has been developed for DocBook to demo this
feature. For example, it is possible to add a
tree view at the left of the central styled
view and then, to add the "Document Structure"
view below the central styled view.
* Automating the above action is possible using
the new windowLayout configuration element.
Example:
+------------------------------------------------+
<windowLayout>
<left />
<center css="DocBook" />
<bottom css="Document structure" size="0.15" />
</windowLayout>
+------------------------------------------------+
* XXE can now automatically save modified
documents.
By default, this facility is disabled. You
need to enable it by turning on
Options|Options, Save section, "Automatically
save modified documents".
* Upgraded XMLmind FO Converter to version
2.2 Patch 1. XMLmind FO Converter is used to
convert XSL-FO to RTF and to WordprocessingML
(for use by Microsoft® Office Word 2003).
Bug fixes:
----------
* XXE raised a NullPointerException when
attempting to join an empty element to its
preceding sibling. Now this case is detected
and therefore joining an empty element to its
preceding sibling is no longer possible.
* When a document was saved, a lot of whitespace
was added to xi:include elements containing an
xi:fallback child.
* When add-ons are centralized on a HTTP or FTP
server, spell checker dictionaries were
detected (i.e. listed by Help|About XMLmind
XML Editor) but not properly loaded.
Note that loading such remote dictionaries now
works but still has the following limitation.
Example: if the URL of the .dar file
(autodetected by XXE) is:
http://lupo/~hussein/addon/spell/en.dar, XXE
will just find the plain English dictionary
("en") and not "en" and "en-US" and "en-GB"
and "en-CA".
The workaround is to rename "en.dar" to
"en-US.dar" if, for example, you prefer to use
US spelling of words.
Of course, there is no such limitation when
the .dar file is located on the local file
system.
* Generated content object label(xpath,...) did
not update itself when the document was about
to be saved, checked for validity, etc.
* Changed the detect rule in the XHTML
configuration in order to allow adding
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" to the
html root element. Note that adding such
attribute does not make a document conforming
to the XHTML DTD namespace aware.
* Most .jar files generated when build the
distribution of XMLmind XML Editor (e.g.
xxe.jar, xfc_foprocessor.jar, etc) contained
two META-INF/ entries. This prevented
jarsigner, either used directly or through our
own deploywebstart tool, from doing its job.
Technical information:
----------------------
* ``Proprietary CSS extension'' marker: fill
allows to align generated content with
display: marker to the left (for content
generated at the beginning of an element) or
to the right (for content generated at the end
of an element).
* Added command viewHTML which allows to view an
external file using a web browser (not
necessarily an HTML file, any file accepted by
the browser). Example of use:
+------------------------------------------------+
<command name="docb.startHTMLViewer">
<macro>
<sequence>
<get context="$implicitElement/@url"
expression="resolve-uri(.)" />
<command name="viewHTML" parameter="%_" />
</sequence>
</macro>
</command>
+------------------------------------------------+
* Added the following new commands:
editAttributes
Displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the Attributes tool) which allows
to edit the attributes of selected
element.
checkValidity
Checks the validity of the document
and, if validity errors are found,
displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the Validity tool) listing them.
declareNamespace
Displays a modal dialog box (similar
to the dialog displayed by
Tools|Declare Namespace) which allows
to declare new namespaces and/or
change the prefixes of existing
namespaces.
showContentModel
Displays a window (similar to the
window displayed by Help|Show Content
Model) showing the content model of
selected element.
listBindings
Displays a dialog box (similar to the
dialog displayed by Help|Mouse and
Key Bindings) containing the mouse
and key bindings that can be used in
current document view.
These commands have been added mainly to make
it easier building simple XML editors using
XXE components (that is, not XXE itself).
* It is now possible to have several menus and
several tool bars which are specific to an XML
application (i.e. DocBook, XHTML, Slides,
etc). To do this, see how the menu and the
toolBar configuration elements have been
extended in XMLmind XML Editor - Configuration
and Deployment.
* The documentResources configuration element
has a new selector child element which allows
to specify document resources by using a
Java[tm] class implementing
com.xmlmind.xmledit.doc.XNodeSelector.
Previously, child element resource only
allowed to specify document resources by using
simple XPath expressions.
Possible incompatibilities:
---------------------------
* Windows only: removed
-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true, an old bug
workaround, from xxe.bat and xxe.jstart.
* DocumentHooks can no longer be declared in
customize.xxe because they are now always
specific to a given document type (e.g.
DocBook, XHTML, etc). And once again, the
Java[tm] API of
com.xmlmind.xmleditapp.dochook.DocumentHook
has slightly changed.
* The load configuration element has been
removed because it was useless since V2.10.
In order to force XXE to load some code, you
need to reference the corresponding jar in the
CLASSPATH or to copy the corresponding jar to
one of the directories scanned by XXE at
startup time (e.g. XXE_install_dir/addon/,
XXE_user_preferences_dir/addon/).
XMLmind XML Editor V3.0 can be downloaded from
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml
--------------------------------------------------