 About DocFlex/XML
- Overview
- Editions
- License Bundles
- Future Development
1. Overview
DocFlex/XML is the most advanced application of DocFlex Technology
(developed on top of the experience accumulated from the previous two:
DocFlex/Javadoc and DocFlex/Together).
This tool allows you to program the automatic generation of professional quality reports
and documentation by the data obtained from any kind of XML files. The output documents can be
generated in RTF and HTML formats. The HTML can be both single-file and multi-framed documentation.
The TXT (plain text) output is supported as well, which enables you to use this tool also for various
XML file transformations.
Such a generation is programmed using templates, which function a lot the same
as the full-blown scripting-language programs (such as
XSLT scripts, for instance).
However, the advantage of the template approach offered by the
DocFlex Technology is that it requires very few coding of
anything manually and allows designing your templates in WYSIWYG form in the terms of things you
would expect to see in your output documents rather than on the level of abstract language operators.
(For more details, please see About DocFlex Technology | What are Templates?)
The templates are visually designed basing on the information obtained from
DTD or
XSD (W3C XML Schema)
files mostly by using mouse and specifying properties in Template Designer dialogs. The data type
information (i.e. XML elements and attributes) appears in various treeviews which are used
to program the data processing in the templates.
(See Creating a Sample Template
flash tutorial.)
The formatting of the generated documents is programmed by specifying formatting properties
of template components
(some of which can be changed simply by dragging mouse in the designer pane).
Many of such properties are graphically visualized by the
Template Designer.
The output generator can be both launched
from the command line and invoked directly
from the Template Designer's
main menu which allows you to immediately see the result produced by your templates
yet during designing them (no compilation or running any stand-alone interpreter are required).
Key Features
- Template-driven architecture
-
Actual documentation generators are created in the form of special
templates, which are designed visually
using a high quality graphic Template Designer,
and then interpreted by a special template interpretor / output
generator.
-
All formatting is specified in templates in some universal way independent of a particular destination output format
using properties of
template components.
During the generation, it is rendered with the suitable features available in the selected output format.
-
The elaborated support of
template parameters
(including multivalued list parameters).
The parameters are defined and
accessed within templates to adjust
dynamic properties
of template components.
Most of options previously used to control an ordinary documentation generator, now simply become template parameters!
-
The possibility to call templates from one another.
This feature (along with the template parameters) allows re-using the same templates
for different tasks as well as organizing template libraries.
-
Complex documentation generators are typically made of a number of templates and called template applications.
(As an example, see “XSDDoc” template set, which implements
a high quality XML schema documentation generator.)
- XML file data source model
-
Generation of reports/documentation by the data obtained from any number of XML files
(possibly with different structure).
-
The input XML files can be both specified initially as the
generator arguments
and also loaded dynamically by the templates according to the data being processed.
-
All open XML files are represented together in the form of a single tree structure (similar to XML
DOM). That virtual representation,
called “XML DSM” (or XML Data Source Model),
also consists of DSM elements and DSM attributes. Some of them mirror the real elements and attributes
found in the open XML files. Others, called
pseudo-elements,
represent all kinds of other (non-element/attribute) XML DOM nodes
(such as TEXT-nodes) as well as individual XML files as a whole.
-
The XML DSM is associated with a certain
XML Type,
which provides the data type information describing any possible input XML files processed
by the given template application. That information is obtained from
DTD or
XSD (W3C XML Schema) files,
which define the XML Type.
The designing and processing of all templates of that application is based on it.
-
Full support for XML namespaces.
-
Support of OASIS XML Catalogs v1.1.
This includes both a possibility to use XML catalogs when processing input XML files
(see
-xmlcatalog
generator option) and in definitions of XML Types based on multiple XML schemas (see
xsd.catalogs
config property).
- Data processing
-
Dynamic resolving of the exact types of all XML elements found in open XML files.
It means that given an input XML file fully complies with one of the
DTD/XSD
used to define the XML Type
(on which the templates are based), for each XML element contained in it, a corresponding closest
Element Type (linked to a DTD element declaration or XSD element component)
will be found and associated with it.
This allows filtering XML elements according to their types as well as knowing immediately
the data types of the element values and attributes so as to process them accordingly.
-
Sophisticated capabilities for data
querying and
sorting
based on a conceptual analogue of XPath
(called DocFlex Location Paths)
with some advanced features not found in XPath at all.
-
A possibility to filter and query XML elements by Element Types, which include not only those directly produced
from the element declarations found in DTD files
or element components (including local ones) found in
XSD files, but also
abstract
Element Types which, in the case of XSD, represent global complex and simple types
(from which some XSD element components are derived).
-
The ability to traverse XML documents with a network structure using
IDREF/IDREFS
attributes of XML elements.
-
With the use of element maps (which are specially adapted hash-maps), the same is possible
when XML elements reference each other by qualified names specified in
QName attributes,
which is typically the case (for instance in XSD or WSDL files).
- Creating hyperlinks
-
Generation of an extensive network of hyperlinks interconnecting the whole documentation.
-
The hyperlinks can be generated in all output formats that support them (this currently includes HTML and RTF).
-
The universal way of defining documentation cross-links based on the
link/target keys
specified in templates.
-
In RTF, the cross-links can be generated in the form of page number references,
which effectively makes them usable even in the printed documentation.
-
In HTML, the possibility of loading several frame windows from a single hyperlink at once.
- Universal support of various formatting techniques
- text formatting: fonts, colors, borders
- paragraph formatting: margins, pagination control, borders, colors
- border formatting: styles (solid, double, dashed, dotted), thickness, colors
- tables: arbitrary cell layouts, borders, nested tables
- lists: bulleted, numbered, delimited
- document fields (RTF): page number, number of pages, TOC, etc.
- page formatting: size, orientation, margins, headers/footers
- formatting styles
-
processing of XHTML markup: The XHTML tags can be recognized at specific locations of XML documents
(for instance, within
<xs:documentation> elements of XSD files).
This must be programmed entirely within a template,
which converts all XHTML tags to normal HTML tags (e.g. by removing 'xhtml' namespace prefix from the tag names).
Further, everything will be processed by the generator itself (see below). As an example, see also
XSDDoc | Documentation Features | Annotations | XHTML formatting.
-
rendering of embedded HTML, which means interpreting in non-HTML output formats (such as RTF)
the HTML tags embedded in text data (e.g. documentation comments). Almost all HTML tags practically
usable in documentation comments are supported. See
Formatting Features | Rendering of embedded HTML
for the list of all supported HTML tags.
- Inserting images
- statically specified in templates
-
dynamically, obtained directly from XML documents (base64- or hex-encoded) or
from arbitrary files, URLs or Java resources
-
dynamically, obtained by
<xhtml:img> tags found within special annotation elements
(e.g. see XSDDoc | FAQ | How to insert images?)
- supported image formats: GIF, PNG, JPG, WMF, EMF, BMP
- Output formats
-
HTML (both framed multi-file and single-file output)
-
RTF (version 1.6 - supported since Word 2000)
-
TXT (plain text)
- Generator GUI
-
Besides command line options,
the template interpretor/output generator supports an alternative user-friendly way
to control the template-based documentation generators interactively --
the high quality Generator GUI.
-
The generator GUI starts with the
Generator Dialog,
where you can specify all general settings (such as the main template, the input XML files,
the output format and the output directory), start the generation, track its progress and stop at any moment you need.
-
The grid-tree-based
Parameter Inspector
invoked from the Generator Dialog
for a selected template allows you to view the descriptions of all template parameters controlling
the template application (template-driven documentation generator) and
set their values according to the parameter data types.
-
The generator options specific for the selected output format can be set in the
corresponding
Format Option Inspector
(also invoked from the Generator Dialog).
-
Once the generation is finished (or cancelled), you can start it again
with different settings or a new main template without restarting the whole generator.
- Integrations
See also DocFlex Technology | Key Features.
Technical Requirements
DocFlex/XML requires
Java™ Version 6.x, 5.x or 1.4.x
installed on your system. (Java 6
may be preferable as it works substantially faster.)
Since DocFlex/XML is a pure Java application
(both the Template Designer and
Generator GUI
are based entirely on Swing),
it is supposed to work on any operating system where Java2 Runtime Environment can be installed.
Specifically, the DocFlex/XML software available for downloads
includes both MS Windows BAT files and Linux shell script files
to run DocFlex/XML immediately on those operating systems.
We have been also reported that DocFlex was successfully working under Mac OS X.
Additionally, a sample Ant buildfile and Maven 2 Plugin are provided that will allow you
to use DocFlex/XML with both Apache Ant and Maven 2.
For more details, please see
DocFlex/XML | Integrations.
To parse XML files, DTDs and XML Schemas, DocFlex/XML uses
Apache Xerces2 Java Parser version 2.9.1,
whose binaries are included in the DocFlex/XML archives.
In case of any questions concerning that library, please refer to the Apache Xerces home page:
http://xerces.apache.org.
| Note: |
Heavy template applications (like XSDDoc)
may require considerable computational resources. To run them, you may need a powerful enough computer
(e.g. with Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor) and at least 512 MB RAM memory.
|
2. Editions
Currently, DocFlex/XML comes in two editions:
- DocFlex/XML SDK - the System Development Kit to design and run template applications
- DocFlex/XML RE - the free Runtime Environment to run template applications
DocFlex/XML SDK
This edition represents a System Development Kit to design and run DocFlex/XML template applications.
This includes:
-
The graphic Template Designer,
which allows you to visually design your own sophisticated documentation or report generators
(by any data stored in XML files) implemented in the form of template applications
as well as to modify any existing ones.
-
The template interpreter / output generator,
using which you can execute any template application and generated the high quality output documentation
in framed multi-file HTML, single-file HTML and RTF output formats (as well as plain text files,
which you can use to transform your XML data into other representations).
Additionally, DocFlex/XML SDK includes some sample templates
and is bundled with two real template applications:
-
XMLDoc (“XML File Documentor”)
template application that will allow you to compile any number of generic XML files into a nice
looking web-ready HTML or printable RTF documentation with the optional inclusion of
the namespace binding report (that shows which namespace prefixes are bound to which
namespace URIs and where).
-
XSDDoc
(“XML Schema Documentation Generator”) template application,
which implements a professional quality W3C XML Schema Documentation Generator
able to produce both multi-framed Javadoc-like
HTML and printable
RTF documentation.
Since the version 1.8.0, DocFlex/XML SDK also includes
XMLSpy Integration,
which allows users to automatically insert graphic diagrams produced by
Altova XMLSpy®
into the output generated with DocFlex/XML templates (with full support of diagram hyperlinks).
Although, all Java classes implementing XMLSpy Integration are included in the same
docflex-xml.jar, the integration itself is not considered a part of the core functionality
and requires separate licensing
(see also Multiple Licenses).
The core functionality covered by a license for “DocFlex/XML SDK” includes only the
Template Designer
and the template interpreter / output generator.
That functionality may work in three modes:
limited, full and trial (which depend on your license).
The differences between those modes are shown in the following table:
DocFlex/XML RE
|
DocFlex/XML RE is introduced since the version 1.7.2
to replace the previous reduced edition called “DocFlex/XML (Kit)”.
In addition to the renaming, it is made freeware.
However, this concerns only the template interpreter / output generator itself,
not the commercial template applications bundled with it.
|
This is a reduced freeware edition that can be used as a Runtime Environment to run
DocFlex/XML templates.
DocFlex/XML RE includes the template interpreter / output generator,
which by itself will work without limitations. That means, it will generate any output in all formats with all features supported.
However, you can use it to interpret (execute) only two kinds of templates:
-
The templates developed by Filigris Works. Some of them, called
commercial template applications,
require separate licensing.
-
Custom templates, however, only those created or modified the last time with DocFlex/XML SDK
working under a Commercial License.
The Template Designer
is not included in DocFlex/XML RE and you won't be able to create or modify any templates using it.
DocFlex/XML RE is bundled with two template applications:
-
XMLDoc (“XML File Documentor”),
which allows you to convert any your generic XML files (that is without recognizing and documenting of any specific
XML-based vocabulary) into a framed or single-file HTML or printable RTF documentation with the optional inclusion
of the namespace binding report (that shows which namespace prefixes are bound to which
namespace URIs and where). You can use it for free!
-
XSDDoc
(“XML Schema Documentation Generator”) template application,
which implements a professional quality W3C XML Schema Documentation Generator
able to produce both multi-framed Javadoc-like
HTML and printable
RTF documentation.
Since the version 1.8.0, DocFlex/XML RE also includes
XMLSpy Integration,
which allows users to automatically insert graphic diagrams produced by
Altova XMLSpy®
into the output generated with DocFlex/XML templates (with full support of diagram hyperlinks).
Although, all Java classes implementing XMLSpy Integration are included in the same
docflex-xml-re.jar, the integration itself is not considered a part of the core functionality
and requires separate licensing
(see also Multiple Licenses).
DocFlex/XML RE is available for free downloads and you can
use it immediately without any special licenses.
However, the free license
covers only the core functionality, which is basically the template interpreter
/ output generator.
To use special features (like some integrations and
commercial template applications)
the appropriate licenses covering them will be needed.
The following table lists all features and functionality included/supported in DocFlex/XML RE
and how you can use them.
3. License Bundles
DocFlex/XML XSDDoc & XMLSpy Integration
This license pack will allow you both to generate fully featured XML schema documentation and automatically insert in it
the content model diagrams generated by Altova XMLSpy®.
In effect, that will let you use the unified
DocFlex/XML XSDDoc+XMLSpy
XML schema documentation generator. Two licenses cover this:
DocFlex/XSD II
This license pack will let you not only generate fully featured XML schema documentation with
XMLSpy diagrams included,
but also redesign that documentation so much you need (as well as create/modify any other documentation
generators based on DocFlex/XML templates).
It includes three licenses:
4. Future Development
General functionality
The following features are to be implemented gradually during 2009 (and later):
-
Template Language / Output Generators
A new template component will be added:
Include Text Control.
This will make possible to include dynamically into the generated documentation the content of external
plain-text or HTML files specified with local pathnames or URLs.
-
RTF Generator
Most of the pagination settings (e.g. paper size, orientation, etc.),
which currently can be assigned only in the templates, will be made possible
to specify directly in the
RTF Option Inspector
(or on the command line using the
-O option).
-
Internationalization
A possibility will be supported to specify all static text labels
that appear in the generated documentation not only directly in the templates (as it is now),
but also by references in a separate property file (which will be supplied together with the templates).
This will streamline the translation of all text labels into any non-English language
and make it easier to migrate to a new version of the given template set.
All our commercial template applications (e.g. XSDDoc and
future WSDLDoc) will be made to support it.
XSDDoc templates (XML Schema Documentation Generator)
Please, see:
DocFlex/XML | XSDDoc | Future Development
WSDLDoc templates (WSDL Documentation Generator)
We are working on such a documentation generator now.
It will be implemented as the “WSDLDoc” template set,
the same way as the current XSDDoc.
This will be the second
Commercial Template Application
of DocFlex/XML.
|
