1 Introduction
2 ------------
3
4 XSLTools is a collection of modules and packages facilitating the development
5 of applications based on XML, XSL stylesheets and transformations, notably Web
6 applications involving complicated Web forms potentially consisting of
7 editable hierarchical structures and potentially involving "live" or "in-page"
8 dynamic updates to portions of those Web forms.
9
10 Quick Start
11 -----------
12
13 Try running the demo:
14
15 python tools/demo.py
16
17 An introductory guide to creating applications can be found in the docs
18 directory - see docs/index.html for the start page.
19
20 Contact, Copyright and Licence Information
21 ------------------------------------------
22
23 The current Web page for XSLTools at the time of release is:
24
25 http://www.boddie.org.uk/python/XSLTools.html
26
27 Copyright and licence information can be found in the docs directory - see
28 docs/COPYING.txt, docs/LICENCE.txt and docs/LICENCE-Sarissa.txt for more
29 information.
30
31 Dependencies
32 ------------
33
34 XSLTools has the following basic dependencies:
35
36 Packages Release Information
37 -------- -------------------
38
39 libxml2dom 0.4.3
40 libxml2 and libxslt Some combinations may not be reliable!
41 Tested with libxml2 2.6.17 and libxslt 1.1.12
42 Tested with libxml2 2.6.27 and libxslt 1.1.20
43 libxslt 1.1.17 should be avoided
44
45 The example Web applications require WebStack (release 1.2.3 or later).
46 The example PyQt applications have been tested with PyQt 3.15.
47
48 New in XSLTools 0.4.6 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.5)
49 ----------------------------------------------------
50
51 * Improved the Login module, enabling the VerySimpleWithLogin example for
52 various frameworks.
53 * Relicensed under the LGPL version 3 or later.
54 * Upgraded to Sarissa 0.9.7.8 (compatible with LGPL/GPL version 3), removing
55 a test around DOMParser so that Konqueror 3.4.0 is still supported.
56
57 New in XSLTools 0.4.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.4)
58 ----------------------------------------------------
59
60 * Fixed the result of transformations in XSLOutput: proper document nodes
61 are now produced.
62 * Added an XSLForms.Resources.Login module which provides resources to
63 support login screens and redirects.
64 * Fixed newlines in the attributes created from fields in XSLForms: CR
65 characters are no longer included since this caused the doubling up of
66 newlines in Firefox.
67
68 New in XSLTools 0.4.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.3)
69 ----------------------------------------------------
70
71 * Fixed translation selection for the template:i18n annotation attribute,
72 not just for the template:i18n extension function - more apologies for
73 resulting output changes!
74 * Improved the template fixing stylesheet and added some documentation for
75 the script and the related expr-prefix attribute.
76 * Introduced WebStack 1.2.2 EncodingSelector and encoding changes.
77 * Added docstring and return value for the write_month_to_document function
78 in XSLTools.XMLCalendar.
79
80 New in XSLTools 0.4.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.2)
81 ----------------------------------------------------
82
83 * Fixed translation selection when an unsupported locale is specified,
84 choosing the first locale as the default (rather than exposing the values
85 themselves as translations). Note that this is an unfortunate and subtle
86 change which may affect application output - apologies are hereby offered!
87
88 New in XSLTools 0.4.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.1)
89 ----------------------------------------------------
90
91 * Added a content type check in the XSLFormsResource class, permitting
92 non-form-based resources to access the raw request data, rather than have
93 the data processed unsuccessfully and consequently discarded.
94 * Added a script and a function to fix template namespaces after editing in
95 a careless editor.
96 * Changed libxml2mod and libxsltmod import details to try libxmlmods -
97 suggested by Lucian Wischik for libxml2dom.
98
99 New in XSLTools 0.4.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4)
100 --------------------------------------------------
101
102 * Made translations specified using the template:i18n annotation take
103 priority over template:value annotations.
104 * Added expression-based template:i18n annotations, and provided fallback
105 output for such translations based on the value of the evaluated
106 expression.
107
108 New in XSLTools 0.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3.1)
109 --------------------------------------------------
110
111 * Changed the preparation of templates to produce rule-based output
112 stylesheets, thus permitting recursive templates. This requires an extra
113 expr-prefix annotation to be used in certain kinds of templates.
114 * Added a recursive template example application.
115 * Changed fragment production to use original template documents instead of
116 output stylesheets.
117 * Changed the in_page_resources attribute to provide the output identifier,
118 thus changing the prepare_fragment method in Web resources so that only
119 the fragment identifier needs to be supplied.
120 * Added the XSLForms.Resources.WebResources.prepare_resources method for the
121 preparation of initialiser and output stylesheets before an application is
122 run.
123 * Changed selectors to not automatically create elements in the form data
124 document unless requested to do so. Introduced a Form.get_selector
125 method in XSLForms.Fields.
126 * Permitted the creation of hierarchies of elements in
127 XSLForms.Utils.add_elements.
128 * Introduced dynamic parameter evaluation for multiple-choice fields in
129 order to support sources of multiple-choice values which reside in the
130 form data document itself.
131 * Added the FixNamespace.xsl stylesheet to correct documents saved by HTML
132 editors which strip namespace prefixes.
133 * Fixed filesystem encoding issues in the Candidate example; fixed language
134 preference access in the Configurator and VerySimple examples.
135 * Changed the BaseHTTPRequestHandler version of the Candidate example to
136 store data in a subdirectory of the current working directory, thus
137 allowing the demonstration application to work after package installation.
138
139 New in XSLTools 0.3.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3)
140 --------------------------------------------------
141
142 * Fixed copyright and licensing information.
143
144 New in XSLTools 0.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.2)
145 ------------------------------------------------
146
147 * Introduced copying of multiple-choice value element contents so that
148 option element labels can differ from the underlying values.
149 * Added internationalisation support, providing the template:i18n annotation
150 and the template:i18n extension function.
151 * Updated the documentation to cover the above new features.
152 * Fixed non-GET/POST request method handling in WebResources.
153 * Added the xslform_preparemacro.py script.
154 * Added an experimental template:range extension function.
155
156 New in XSLTools 0.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.1)
157 ------------------------------------------------
158
159 * Made a new XSLTools package and moved XSLOutput into it.
160 * Improved serialisation of transformation results so that output options
161 are observed (in some cases, at least).
162 * Fixed stylesheet and reference document paths so that libxslt should not
163 now become confused by ambiguous relative paths.
164 * Added expression parameters to XSLOutput.Processor so that in-document
165 data can be used to, for example, initialise multiple-choice field values.
166 * Added input/initialiser support so that input documents can be tidied or
167 initialised using information from the template.
168 * Added template:init for use with template:element in XSLForms to control
169 element initialisation where necessary.
170 * Added special high-level "macro" attributes (eg. template:attribute-field)
171 which should make templates easier to write and maintain.
172 * Added template:if to XSLForms, providing conditional output of annotated
173 elements.
174 * Added set_document to XSLForms.Fields.Form.
175 * Added prepare_parameters to the XSLFormsResource class in the
176 XSLForms.Resources.WebResources module.
177 * Added element-path, url-encode and choice XSLForms extension functions.
178 * Improved Unicode support in the XSLForms extension functions.
179 * Changed in-page requests to contain proper POST data.
180 * Fixed checkbox and radiobutton value detection in XSLForms.js.
181 * Updated the code to work with WebStack 1.0 changes and adopted the
182 new-style WebStack demonstration mechanism.
183 * Added XMLCalendar and XMLTable (to the XSLTools package).
184 * Added a dictionary (or word lookup) example application.
185 * Added a job candidate profile (or CV editor) example application.
186 * Added a template attribute reference and an XSLFormsResource guide to the
187 documentation.
188 * Added Debian package support (specifically Ubuntu package support).
189 * Added missing COPYING.txt file.
190 * Renamed the scripts to avoid naming issues in system-wide installations.
191 * Added a PyQt example based on the system configurator example, with the
192 form prepared in Qt Designer. This example runs in PyQt and in a Web
193 environment without any changes to the application code. In-page updates
194 are currently not implemented in the Web version, however.
195
196 Notes on In-Page Update Functionality
197 -------------------------------------
198
199 Special note #1: Konqueror seems in certain cases to remember replaced form
200 content (when replaceChild is used to replace regions of the page which
201 include form elements). This causes the browser to believe that more form
202 fields exist on the page than actually do so, and subsequent form submissions
203 thus include the values of such removed fields. A special hack is in place to
204 disable form fields by changing their names, thus causing Konqueror to not
205 associate such fields with the real, active fields; this hack does not seem to
206 cause problems for Mozilla. This needs some investigation to determine in
207 exactly which circumstances the problem arises.
208
209 Special note #2: Konqueror also seems to crash if asked to find elements using
210 an empty 'id' attribute string. This needs some investigation to see if it
211 really is the getElementById call that causes the crash.
212
213 Special note #3: Konqueror's XMLHttpRequest seems to append null characters to
214 the end of field values. Attempting to prune them before the request is sent
215 fails with a function like the following:
216
217 function fixValue(fieldValue) {
218 if (fieldValue.length == 0) {
219 return fieldValue;
220 } else if (fieldValue[fieldValue.length - 1] == '\0') {
221 return fieldValue.substr(0, fieldValue.length - 1);
222 } else {
223 return fieldValue;
224 }
225 }
226
227 This may be because it is the entire message that is terminated with the null
228 character, and that this happens only upon sending the message. Consequently,
229 some frameworks (notably mod_python) do not support in-page functionality when
230 used from Konqueror.
231
232 Various browsers (eg. Mozilla/Firefox, Konqueror) will not allow the
233 XMLHttpRequest in-page updates to function unless the URL used in the
234 requestUpdate JavaScript function is compatible with the URL at which the
235 browser finds the application. Currently, relative URLs are in use to avoid
236 this issue of compatibility, but should an absolute URL be deduced using the
237 WebStack API and then used, it may be possible that the values returned by
238 that API do not match the actual addresses entered into the address bar of the
239 browser.
240
241 To check the behaviour of the applications, it is possible to view the
242 document source of the pages served by applications and to verify that the
243 URLs mentioned in the JavaScript function calls (to 'requestUpdate') either be
244 a relative link or involve a URL similar to that which appears in the
245 browser's address bar. In some environments, the use of 'localhost' addresses
246 often confuses the browser and server; one workaround is to use real host
247 names or addresses instead of 'localhost'.
248
249 Choosing an element-path:
250
251 When specifying the "context" of the in-page update, one must imagine which
252 element the template fragment should operate within. If the template:id
253 attribute marks a particular section, then the element-path should be a path
254 to the applicable context element for that section in the complete template
255 document. Note that if a template:element attribute appears on the same
256 element as the template:id attribute then the element-path should refer to the
257 element specified in the template:element attribute.
258
259 Choosing where to put template:attribute, template:id and id:
260
261 When specifying the extent of a template fragment, one must be sure not to put
262 the template:id attribute on the same element as a template:attribute
263 annotation; otherwise, the generated code will be improperly extracted as a
264 fragment producing two versions of the element - one for when the specified
265 attribute is present, and one for when it is not present. Generally,
266 template:id and id can be placed on the same node, however.
267
268 Stable element ordering and element-path:
269
270 Within the element-path, the numbering of the elements will start at 1.
271 Therefore it is vital to choose a region of the form data structure with the
272 element-path which is isolated from surrounding elements whose positions would
273 otherwise be dependent on a stable ordering of elements, and whose processing
274 would be disrupted if some new elements suddenly appeared claiming the same
275 positions in the document. For example:
276
277 <item value=""> .../item$1/value
278 <type value=""/> .../item$1/type$1/value
279 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$2/value
280 </item>
281
282 In-page update...
283
284 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$1/value
285
286 Notes on XSL
287 ------------
288
289 libxslt seems to be quite liberal on the definition of runtime parameters, in
290 that there is no apparent need to explicitly declare the corresponding global
291 variables in stylesheets. Whilst this is nice, we may eventually need to
292 detect such variables and add them in the preparation process.
293
294 Release Procedures
295 ------------------
296
297 Update the XSLTools/__init__.py and XSLForms/__init__.py __version__
298 attributes.
299 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
300 Change code examples in the documentation if appropriate.
301 Update the release notes (see above).
302 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
303 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file and in the package
304 changelog (and other files).
305 Tag, export.
306 Generate the example resources.
307 Generate the API documentation.
308 Remove generated .pyc files: rm `find . -name "*.pyc"`
309 Archive, upload.
310 Upload the introductory documentation.
311 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
312
313 Generating the Example Resources
314 --------------------------------
315
316 In order to prepare the example resources, the prepare_demo.py script must be
317 run as follows:
318
319 python tools/prepare_demo.py
320
321 This will ensure that all initialiser and output stylesheets are created and
322 are thus installed by packages.
323
324 Generating the API Documentation
325 --------------------------------
326
327 In order to prepare the API documentation, it is necessary to generate some
328 Web pages from the Python source code. For this, the epydoc application must
329 be available on your system. Then, inside the distribution directory, run the
330 apidocs.sh tool script as follows:
331
332 ./tools/apidocs.sh
333
334 Some warnings may be generated by the script, but the result should be a new
335 apidocs directory within the distribution directory.
336
337 Making Packages
338 ---------------
339
340 To make Debian-based packages:
341
342 1. Create new package directories under packages if necessary.
343 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
344 Debian tools happy:
345
346 ln -s packages/ubuntu-hoary/python2.4-xsltools/debian/
347
348 3. Run the package builder:
349
350 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
351
352 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
353 distribution's root directory.