customizing xmetal page preview

© 2011 JustSystems Inc.© 2011 JustSystems Inc.

in 37 minutes

Episode 18

What WILL my output look like?

Customizing XMetaL’s Page Preview

Brought to you by XMetaL Technical Services

Tom Magliery, XML Technology Specialist

© 2011 JustSystems Inc.

Announcements

• XMetaL Author 6.0 SP1• TopLeaf plug-in


• Demo 0: baseline– Look at the default HTML preview

• Demo 1: low-hanging fruit– Replacing the default HTML transformation

• Demo 2: user control– Making a user macro to generate the preview

• Demo 3: PDF, too– Doing the above stuff with PDF

• Demo 4: HTML PDF– Changing the “default” mode for page preview

• Demo 5: non-XSLT– Using script instead of XSLT for the transformation

Agenda


• XMetaL automatically generates a preview

• It approximates thein-editor CSS styles

• The code for this is in $XMDIR\Author\Startup\multipleOutput.mcr

Demo 0: baseline


• On_Before_Document_Preview macro– Verifies and/or regenerates XSLT– Transform uses three XSLT files:

1. Auto-generated XSLT (based on CSS styles)

2. Your custom XSLT (if it exists)

3. A “master” file that imports these other two

– Runs XSLT and saves output to temp file– Sets ActiveDocument.BrowserURL property

• This tells XMetaL what page to send to the browser upon entering Page Preview

• The good news: the process for much of the above is encapsulated and accessible

How it works


• Add a custom style sheet• It’s as easy as 0-1-2:

0. Create an XSLT style sheet

1. Give it the correct filename

2. Put it in the correct place

• Note: Step 0 is outside the scope of this webinar!*

Demo 1: low-hanging fruitReplacing the default HTML transformation

* Many folks would also say Step 0 is not easy


• If your DTD or schema name is “foo” ...• ... then your style sheet must have this name:

foo_HTML_Custom.xsl

• Our sample DTD is called “simplepaper”, hence:

simplepaper_HTML_Custom.xsl

Step 1: What to name it


• If limited-user restrictions are enabled (as they are by default):

%APPDATA%\SoftQuad\XMetaL\6.0\Display\

• For example, right now mine is here:C:\Documents and Settings\tmagliery\Application Data\SoftQuad\XMetaL\6.0\Display\

• If limited-user restrictions are disabled:C:\Program Files\XMetaL 6.0\Author\Display\

• If you see these other two files here, remove them now (they will need to be re-auto-generated):

foo_HTML.xslfoo_HTML_Style.xsl

Step 2: Where to put it*

* In the folder where XMetaL is going to look for it, of course


• “Helper” scriptfunctions defined in multipleOutput.mcr

• Call the helper functions in user macros

• Add this macro to your document MCR file

Demo 2: user control Making a user macro to generate the preview

<MACRO name="Do my HTML preview" lang="JScript" hide="false"><![CDATA[ previewHTML();]]></MACRO>


• previewHTML()• previewPDF()• saveAsHTML()• saveAsPDF()• XMLtoHTMLSetup()• XMLtoPDFSetup()

Helper functions available


• Architecture is similar to HTML– On_Before_Document_Preview macro– Verify and regenerate XSLT– Run XSLT transform saving output to temp file– Set the Application.BrowserURL property

• Add another macro for previewing PDF

Demo 3: PDF, too Doing the above stuff with PDF

<MACRO name="Do my PDF preview" lang="JScript" hide="false"><![CDATA[ previewPDF();]]></MACRO>


• Custom style sheet file is:

simplepaper_Custom.xsl

• Same directory as the HTML style sheetsC:\Documents and Settings\tmagliery\

Application Data\SoftQuad\XMetaL\6.0\Display\

Custom XSLT for PDF


• XMetaL remembers a “preview mode” setting for each open document

• Global array (hash) aMOFormat defined in multipleOutput.mcr

• Make user macros that set array entry to “HTML” or “PDF” for current document

• Subsequently Page Preview will use that format

Demo 4: HTML PDFChanging the “default” mode for page preview

<MACRO name="_Set Preview Mode to PDF" lang="JScript" hide="false"><![CDATA[ aMOFormat[ActiveDocument.FullName + "|" + ActiveDocument.Title] = "PDF";]]></MACRO>


• The code samples in this webinar have been tested with XMetaL Author 6.0.1.030.

• Unfortunately, I know there were some changes to multipleOutput.mcr in this version of XMetaL, which means some of my sample code may not work with other versions.

• This concludes the “working with XSLT” portion of the webinar.

Special note


But I don’t wanna use XSLT!!


Demo 5: non-XSLTUsing script instead of XSLT for the transformation

• XSLT is not the only way to generate output from XML

• Make your own On_Before_Document_Preview in document-level MCR file– This macro will “win” over the one in multipleOutput.mcr

– Do whatever scripting you want to perform the transformation

• One possibility: – Invent a new “preview mode” such as “MyHTML”– Follow the general pattern used by the OBDP in multipleOutput.mcr


Adding a new “preview mode” to OBDP

//Pseudocode/algorithm from existing OBDP:If MOFormat is "HTML"

XSLT transform with HTML output Set the "BrowserURL" property

Else if MOFormat is "PDF"XSLT transform with PDF output Set the "BrowserURL" property

//new for this example:Else if MOFormat is "MyHTML"

Custom script to make HTML output Set the "BrowserURL" property


• Pick out some bits and pieces:

Logic for demo HTML output

var htmlStr = "<html><body>";// pick out and use the main title of the papervar ndlist = ActiveDocument.getNodesByXPath("Paper/Title");htmlStr += "<h1>" + ndlist.item(0).firstChild.nodeValue + "</h1>\n";// do some processing for each one of the sectionsvar sections = ActiveDocument.getNodesByXPath("Paper/Section");for (var i=0; i<sections.length; i++){

var sect = sections.item(i);// pick out and use the section titlevar secttitle = sect.getNodesByXPath("Title");htmlStr += "<h2>" + secttitle.item(0).firstChild.nodeValue + "</h2>\n";// do some processing for each of the paragraphs in this sectionvar paragraphs = sect.getNodesByXPath("Para");for (var j=0; j<paragraphs.length; j++){

var para_node = paragraphs.item(i);htmlStr += "<p>" + para_node.firstChild.nodeValue + "</p>\n";

}}htmlStr += "</body></html>";


• We have seen how to:– Customize the default page-preview XSLT– Make user macros to generate HTML and PDF

previews– Change and manage the page-preview output type– Use custom script instead of XSLT for the preview

transformation

• Whew!

Summary


• XMetaL Community Forums– http://forums.xmetal.com/

• JustSystems Partner Center– http://justpartnercenter.com/

• Ask us for help (partner tech support)– [email protected]

Resources


• Thank you for attending!

Q&A