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/lgpl-3.0.txt, docs/gpl-3.0.txt,
29 docs/LICENCE-Sarissa-lgpl.txt and docs/LICENCE-Sarissa-gpl.txt for more
30 information.
31
32 Dependencies
33 ------------
34
35 XSLTools has the following basic dependencies:
36
37 Packages Release Information
38 -------- -------------------
39
40 libxml2dom 0.4.3
41 libxml2 and libxslt Some combinations may not be reliable!
42 Tested with libxml2 2.6.17 and libxslt 1.1.12
43 Tested with libxml2 2.6.27 and libxslt 1.1.20
44 libxslt 1.1.17 should be avoided
45
46 The example Web applications require WebStack (release 1.2.3 or later).
47 The example PyQt applications have been tested with PyQt 3.15.
48
49 New in XSLTools 0.4.7 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.6)
50 ----------------------------------------------------
51
52 * Added Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) package support.
53
54 New in XSLTools 0.4.6 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.5)
55 ----------------------------------------------------
56
57 * Improved the Login module, enabling the VerySimpleWithLogin example for
58 various frameworks.
59 * Relicensed under the LGPL version 3 or later.
60 * Upgraded to Sarissa 0.9.7.8 (compatible with LGPL/GPL version 3), removing
61 a test around DOMParser so that Konqueror 3.4.0 is still supported.
62
63 New in XSLTools 0.4.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.4)
64 ----------------------------------------------------
65
66 * Fixed the result of transformations in XSLOutput: proper document nodes
67 are now produced.
68 * Added an XSLForms.Resources.Login module which provides resources to
69 support login screens and redirects.
70 * Fixed newlines in the attributes created from fields in XSLForms: CR
71 characters are no longer included since this caused the doubling up of
72 newlines in Firefox.
73
74 New in XSLTools 0.4.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.3)
75 ----------------------------------------------------
76
77 * Fixed translation selection for the template:i18n annotation attribute,
78 not just for the template:i18n extension function - more apologies for
79 resulting output changes!
80 * Improved the template fixing stylesheet and added some documentation for
81 the script and the related expr-prefix attribute.
82 * Introduced WebStack 1.2.2 EncodingSelector and encoding changes.
83 * Added docstring and return value for the write_month_to_document function
84 in XSLTools.XMLCalendar.
85
86 New in XSLTools 0.4.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.2)
87 ----------------------------------------------------
88
89 * Fixed translation selection when an unsupported locale is specified,
90 choosing the first locale as the default (rather than exposing the values
91 themselves as translations). Note that this is an unfortunate and subtle
92 change which may affect application output - apologies are hereby offered!
93
94 New in XSLTools 0.4.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.1)
95 ----------------------------------------------------
96
97 * Added a content type check in the XSLFormsResource class, permitting
98 non-form-based resources to access the raw request data, rather than have
99 the data processed unsuccessfully and consequently discarded.
100 * Added a script and a function to fix template namespaces after editing in
101 a careless editor.
102 * Changed libxml2mod and libxsltmod import details to try libxmlmods -
103 suggested by Lucian Wischik for libxml2dom.
104
105 New in XSLTools 0.4.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4)
106 --------------------------------------------------
107
108 * Made translations specified using the template:i18n annotation take
109 priority over template:value annotations.
110 * Added expression-based template:i18n annotations, and provided fallback
111 output for such translations based on the value of the evaluated
112 expression.
113
114 New in XSLTools 0.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3.1)
115 --------------------------------------------------
116
117 * Changed the preparation of templates to produce rule-based output
118 stylesheets, thus permitting recursive templates. This requires an extra
119 expr-prefix annotation to be used in certain kinds of templates.
120 * Added a recursive template example application.
121 * Changed fragment production to use original template documents instead of
122 output stylesheets.
123 * Changed the in_page_resources attribute to provide the output identifier,
124 thus changing the prepare_fragment method in Web resources so that only
125 the fragment identifier needs to be supplied.
126 * Added the XSLForms.Resources.WebResources.prepare_resources method for the
127 preparation of initialiser and output stylesheets before an application is
128 run.
129 * Changed selectors to not automatically create elements in the form data
130 document unless requested to do so. Introduced a Form.get_selector
131 method in XSLForms.Fields.
132 * Permitted the creation of hierarchies of elements in
133 XSLForms.Utils.add_elements.
134 * Introduced dynamic parameter evaluation for multiple-choice fields in
135 order to support sources of multiple-choice values which reside in the
136 form data document itself.
137 * Added the FixNamespace.xsl stylesheet to correct documents saved by HTML
138 editors which strip namespace prefixes.
139 * Fixed filesystem encoding issues in the Candidate example; fixed language
140 preference access in the Configurator and VerySimple examples.
141 * Changed the BaseHTTPRequestHandler version of the Candidate example to
142 store data in a subdirectory of the current working directory, thus
143 allowing the demonstration application to work after package installation.
144
145 New in XSLTools 0.3.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3)
146 --------------------------------------------------
147
148 * Fixed copyright and licensing information.
149
150 New in XSLTools 0.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.2)
151 ------------------------------------------------
152
153 * Introduced copying of multiple-choice value element contents so that
154 option element labels can differ from the underlying values.
155 * Added internationalisation support, providing the template:i18n annotation
156 and the template:i18n extension function.
157 * Updated the documentation to cover the above new features.
158 * Fixed non-GET/POST request method handling in WebResources.
159 * Added the xslform_preparemacro.py script.
160 * Added an experimental template:range extension function.
161
162 New in XSLTools 0.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.1)
163 ------------------------------------------------
164
165 * Made a new XSLTools package and moved XSLOutput into it.
166 * Improved serialisation of transformation results so that output options
167 are observed (in some cases, at least).
168 * Fixed stylesheet and reference document paths so that libxslt should not
169 now become confused by ambiguous relative paths.
170 * Added expression parameters to XSLOutput.Processor so that in-document
171 data can be used to, for example, initialise multiple-choice field values.
172 * Added input/initialiser support so that input documents can be tidied or
173 initialised using information from the template.
174 * Added template:init for use with template:element in XSLForms to control
175 element initialisation where necessary.
176 * Added special high-level "macro" attributes (eg. template:attribute-field)
177 which should make templates easier to write and maintain.
178 * Added template:if to XSLForms, providing conditional output of annotated
179 elements.
180 * Added set_document to XSLForms.Fields.Form.
181 * Added prepare_parameters to the XSLFormsResource class in the
182 XSLForms.Resources.WebResources module.
183 * Added element-path, url-encode and choice XSLForms extension functions.
184 * Improved Unicode support in the XSLForms extension functions.
185 * Changed in-page requests to contain proper POST data.
186 * Fixed checkbox and radiobutton value detection in XSLForms.js.
187 * Updated the code to work with WebStack 1.0 changes and adopted the
188 new-style WebStack demonstration mechanism.
189 * Added XMLCalendar and XMLTable (to the XSLTools package).
190 * Added a dictionary (or word lookup) example application.
191 * Added a job candidate profile (or CV editor) example application.
192 * Added a template attribute reference and an XSLFormsResource guide to the
193 documentation.
194 * Added Debian package support (specifically Ubuntu package support).
195 * Added missing COPYING.txt file.
196 * Renamed the scripts to avoid naming issues in system-wide installations.
197 * Added a PyQt example based on the system configurator example, with the
198 form prepared in Qt Designer. This example runs in PyQt and in a Web
199 environment without any changes to the application code. In-page updates
200 are currently not implemented in the Web version, however.
201
202 Notes on In-Page Update Functionality
203 -------------------------------------
204
205 Special note #1: Konqueror seems in certain cases to remember replaced form
206 content (when replaceChild is used to replace regions of the page which
207 include form elements). This causes the browser to believe that more form
208 fields exist on the page than actually do so, and subsequent form submissions
209 thus include the values of such removed fields. A special hack is in place to
210 disable form fields by changing their names, thus causing Konqueror to not
211 associate such fields with the real, active fields; this hack does not seem to
212 cause problems for Mozilla. This needs some investigation to determine in
213 exactly which circumstances the problem arises.
214
215 Special note #2: Konqueror also seems to crash if asked to find elements using
216 an empty 'id' attribute string. This needs some investigation to see if it
217 really is the getElementById call that causes the crash.
218
219 Special note #3: Konqueror's XMLHttpRequest seems to append null characters to
220 the end of field values. Attempting to prune them before the request is sent
221 fails with a function like the following:
222
223 function fixValue(fieldValue) {
224 if (fieldValue.length == 0) {
225 return fieldValue;
226 } else if (fieldValue[fieldValue.length - 1] == '\0') {
227 return fieldValue.substr(0, fieldValue.length - 1);
228 } else {
229 return fieldValue;
230 }
231 }
232
233 This may be because it is the entire message that is terminated with the null
234 character, and that this happens only upon sending the message. Consequently,
235 some frameworks (notably mod_python) do not support in-page functionality when
236 used from Konqueror.
237
238 Various browsers (eg. Mozilla/Firefox, Konqueror) will not allow the
239 XMLHttpRequest in-page updates to function unless the URL used in the
240 requestUpdate JavaScript function is compatible with the URL at which the
241 browser finds the application. Currently, relative URLs are in use to avoid
242 this issue of compatibility, but should an absolute URL be deduced using the
243 WebStack API and then used, it may be possible that the values returned by
244 that API do not match the actual addresses entered into the address bar of the
245 browser.
246
247 To check the behaviour of the applications, it is possible to view the
248 document source of the pages served by applications and to verify that the
249 URLs mentioned in the JavaScript function calls (to 'requestUpdate') either be
250 a relative link or involve a URL similar to that which appears in the
251 browser's address bar. In some environments, the use of 'localhost' addresses
252 often confuses the browser and server; one workaround is to use real host
253 names or addresses instead of 'localhost'.
254
255 Choosing an element-path:
256
257 When specifying the "context" of the in-page update, one must imagine which
258 element the template fragment should operate within. If the template:id
259 attribute marks a particular section, then the element-path should be a path
260 to the applicable context element for that section in the complete template
261 document. Note that if a template:element attribute appears on the same
262 element as the template:id attribute then the element-path should refer to the
263 element specified in the template:element attribute.
264
265 Choosing where to put template:attribute, template:id and id:
266
267 When specifying the extent of a template fragment, one must be sure not to put
268 the template:id attribute on the same element as a template:attribute
269 annotation; otherwise, the generated code will be improperly extracted as a
270 fragment producing two versions of the element - one for when the specified
271 attribute is present, and one for when it is not present. Generally,
272 template:id and id can be placed on the same node, however.
273
274 Stable element ordering and element-path:
275
276 Within the element-path, the numbering of the elements will start at 1.
277 Therefore it is vital to choose a region of the form data structure with the
278 element-path which is isolated from surrounding elements whose positions would
279 otherwise be dependent on a stable ordering of elements, and whose processing
280 would be disrupted if some new elements suddenly appeared claiming the same
281 positions in the document. For example:
282
283 <item value=""> .../item$1/value
284 <type value=""/> .../item$1/type$1/value
285 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$2/value
286 </item>
287
288 In-page update...
289
290 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$1/value
291
292 Notes on XSL
293 ------------
294
295 libxslt seems to be quite liberal on the definition of runtime parameters, in
296 that there is no apparent need to explicitly declare the corresponding global
297 variables in stylesheets. Whilst this is nice, we may eventually need to
298 detect such variables and add them in the preparation process.
299
300 Release Procedures
301 ------------------
302
303 Update the XSLTools/__init__.py and XSLForms/__init__.py __version__
304 attributes.
305 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
306 Change code examples in the documentation if appropriate.
307 Update the release notes (see above).
308 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
309 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file and in the package
310 changelog (and other files).
311 Tag, export.
312 Generate the example resources.
313 Generate the API documentation.
314 Remove generated .pyc files: rm `find . -name "*.pyc"`
315 Archive, upload.
316 Upload the introductory documentation.
317 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
318
319 Generating the Example Resources
320 --------------------------------
321
322 In order to prepare the example resources, the prepare_demo.py script must be
323 run as follows:
324
325 python tools/prepare_demo.py
326
327 This will ensure that all initialiser and output stylesheets are created and
328 are thus installed by packages.
329
330 Generating the API Documentation
331 --------------------------------
332
333 In order to prepare the API documentation, it is necessary to generate some
334 Web pages from the Python source code. For this, the epydoc application must
335 be available on your system. Then, inside the distribution directory, run the
336 apidocs.sh tool script as follows:
337
338 ./tools/apidocs.sh
339
340 Some warnings may be generated by the script, but the result should be a new
341 apidocs directory within the distribution directory.
342
343 Making Packages
344 ---------------
345
346 To make Debian-based packages:
347
348 1. Create new package directories under packages if necessary.
349 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
350 Debian tools happy:
351
352 ln -s packages/ubuntu-hoary/python2.4-xsltools/debian/
353
354 3. Run the package builder:
355
356 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
357
358 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
359 distribution's root directory.