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 Additional Software
33 -------------------
34
35 The XSLTools examples make use of sarissa.js from the Sarissa distribution,
36 release 0.9.8.1. Copies of this file are found in the Resources/scripts
37 directory within each example's package.
38
39 Dependencies
40 ------------
41
42 XSLTools has the following basic dependencies:
43
44 Packages Release Information
45 -------- -------------------
46
47 libxml2dom 0.5
48 libxml2 and libxslt Some combinations may not be reliable!
49 Tested with libxml2 2.6.17 and libxslt 1.1.12
50 Tested with libxml2 2.6.27 and libxslt 1.1.20
51 libxslt 1.1.17 should be avoided
52
53 The example Web applications require WebStack (release 1.3 or later).
54
55 New in XSLTools 0.6 (Changes since XSLTools 0.5)
56 ------------------------------------------------
57
58 * Added modular request handling methods to XSLFormsResource, altering some
59 of the examples to demonstrate the usage and overriding of these methods
60 in preference to overriding respond_to_form.
61 * Added methods to the Form class to support modular request handling.
62 * Added information about XSLT extension function usage to the advanced
63 template design document, linking to the housekeeping annotations section
64 of the template attribute reference guide.
65 * Observed changes in WebStack 1.3 and introduced default_charset usage in
66 the WebResources module.
67 * Added experimental OpenID support; improved the authentication resources
68 and mechanisms.
69 * Fixed the LoginResource to work correctly when detecting the protected
70 application's location.
71 * NOTE: Need to add persistence for OpenID associations.
72 * Added XInclude support in templates (requires libxml2dom 0.4.6 or later).
73 * Removed PyQt support since the advantages of designing user interfaces for
74 the Web using Qt Designer are questionable.
75 * Removed default encoding and path_encoding attributes from the
76 XSLFormsResource class, since the default response encoding should be used
77 instead or set using WebStack's EncodingSelector.
78 * Added a template:output annotation for the production of output content
79 where the annotations should not be considered for inclusion in a schema,
80 typically because the annotated content duplicates content elsewhere in a
81 template.
82 * Added a template:select annotation for the presentation of arbitrary
83 sections of a document within a template.
84 * Fixed handling of multipart form data, permitting file uploads for input
85 parameters which are outside the form document structure.
86 * Added special attributes indicating the presence of file uploads, using a
87 special file namespace in form documents.
88
89 New in XSLTools 0.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.6)
90 --------------------------------------------------
91
92 * Renamed template:id to template:section in order to get around problems
93 and potential future problems with browsers (such as Konqueror 3.5.6)
94 which get confused loading documents with multiple id attributes, even if
95 only one is unprefixed. WARNING! This change is not backwards compatible.
96 * Added Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) package support.
97 * Tidied the documentation HTML.
98
99 New in XSLTools 0.4.6 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.5)
100 ----------------------------------------------------
101
102 * Improved the Login module, enabling the VerySimpleWithLogin example for
103 various frameworks.
104 * Relicensed under the LGPL version 3 or later.
105 * Upgraded to Sarissa 0.9.7.8 (compatible with LGPL/GPL version 3), removing
106 a test around DOMParser so that Konqueror 3.4.0 is still supported.
107
108 New in XSLTools 0.4.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.4)
109 ----------------------------------------------------
110
111 * Fixed the result of transformations in XSLOutput: proper document nodes
112 are now produced.
113 * Added an XSLForms.Resources.Login module which provides resources to
114 support login screens and redirects.
115 * Fixed newlines in the attributes created from fields in XSLForms: CR
116 characters are no longer included since this caused the doubling up of
117 newlines in Firefox.
118
119 New in XSLTools 0.4.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.3)
120 ----------------------------------------------------
121
122 * Fixed translation selection for the template:i18n annotation attribute,
123 not just for the template:i18n extension function - more apologies for
124 resulting output changes!
125 * Improved the template fixing stylesheet and added some documentation for
126 the script and the related expr-prefix attribute.
127 * Introduced WebStack 1.2.2 EncodingSelector and encoding changes.
128 * Added docstring and return value for the write_month_to_document function
129 in XSLTools.XMLCalendar.
130
131 New in XSLTools 0.4.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.2)
132 ----------------------------------------------------
133
134 * Fixed translation selection when an unsupported locale is specified,
135 choosing the first locale as the default (rather than exposing the values
136 themselves as translations). Note that this is an unfortunate and subtle
137 change which may affect application output - apologies are hereby offered!
138
139 New in XSLTools 0.4.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.1)
140 ----------------------------------------------------
141
142 * Added a content type check in the XSLFormsResource class, permitting
143 non-form-based resources to access the raw request data, rather than have
144 the data processed unsuccessfully and consequently discarded.
145 * Added a script and a function to fix template namespaces after editing in
146 a careless editor.
147 * Changed libxml2mod and libxsltmod import details to try libxmlmods -
148 suggested by Lucian Wischik for libxml2dom.
149
150 New in XSLTools 0.4.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4)
151 --------------------------------------------------
152
153 * Made translations specified using the template:i18n annotation take
154 priority over template:value annotations.
155 * Added expression-based template:i18n annotations, and provided fallback
156 output for such translations based on the value of the evaluated
157 expression.
158
159 New in XSLTools 0.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3.1)
160 --------------------------------------------------
161
162 * Changed the preparation of templates to produce rule-based output
163 stylesheets, thus permitting recursive templates. This requires an extra
164 expr-prefix annotation to be used in certain kinds of templates.
165 * Added a recursive template example application.
166 * Changed fragment production to use original template documents instead of
167 output stylesheets.
168 * Changed the in_page_resources attribute to provide the output identifier,
169 thus changing the prepare_fragment method in Web resources so that only
170 the fragment identifier needs to be supplied.
171 * Added the XSLForms.Resources.WebResources.prepare_resources method for the
172 preparation of initialiser and output stylesheets before an application is
173 run.
174 * Changed selectors to not automatically create elements in the form data
175 document unless requested to do so. Introduced a Form.get_selector
176 method in XSLForms.Fields.
177 * Permitted the creation of hierarchies of elements in
178 XSLForms.Utils.add_elements.
179 * Introduced dynamic parameter evaluation for multiple-choice fields in
180 order to support sources of multiple-choice values which reside in the
181 form data document itself.
182 * Added the FixNamespace.xsl stylesheet to correct documents saved by HTML
183 editors which strip namespace prefixes.
184 * Fixed filesystem encoding issues in the Candidate example; fixed language
185 preference access in the Configurator and VerySimple examples.
186 * Changed the BaseHTTPRequestHandler version of the Candidate example to
187 store data in a subdirectory of the current working directory, thus
188 allowing the demonstration application to work after package installation.
189
190 New in XSLTools 0.3.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3)
191 --------------------------------------------------
192
193 * Fixed copyright and licensing information.
194
195 New in XSLTools 0.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.2)
196 ------------------------------------------------
197
198 * Introduced copying of multiple-choice value element contents so that
199 option element labels can differ from the underlying values.
200 * Added internationalisation support, providing the template:i18n annotation
201 and the template:i18n extension function.
202 * Updated the documentation to cover the above new features.
203 * Fixed non-GET/POST request method handling in WebResources.
204 * Added the xslform_preparemacro.py script.
205 * Added an experimental template:range extension function.
206
207 New in XSLTools 0.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.1)
208 ------------------------------------------------
209
210 * Made a new XSLTools package and moved XSLOutput into it.
211 * Improved serialisation of transformation results so that output options
212 are observed (in some cases, at least).
213 * Fixed stylesheet and reference document paths so that libxslt should not
214 now become confused by ambiguous relative paths.
215 * Added expression parameters to XSLOutput.Processor so that in-document
216 data can be used to, for example, initialise multiple-choice field values.
217 * Added input/initialiser support so that input documents can be tidied or
218 initialised using information from the template.
219 * Added template:init for use with template:element in XSLForms to control
220 element initialisation where necessary.
221 * Added special high-level "macro" attributes (eg. template:attribute-field)
222 which should make templates easier to write and maintain.
223 * Added template:if to XSLForms, providing conditional output of annotated
224 elements.
225 * Added set_document to XSLForms.Fields.Form.
226 * Added prepare_parameters to the XSLFormsResource class in the
227 XSLForms.Resources.WebResources module.
228 * Added element-path, url-encode and choice XSLForms extension functions.
229 * Improved Unicode support in the XSLForms extension functions.
230 * Changed in-page requests to contain proper POST data.
231 * Fixed checkbox and radiobutton value detection in XSLForms.js.
232 * Updated the code to work with WebStack 1.0 changes and adopted the
233 new-style WebStack demonstration mechanism.
234 * Added XMLCalendar and XMLTable (to the XSLTools package).
235 * Added a dictionary (or word lookup) example application.
236 * Added a job candidate profile (or CV editor) example application.
237 * Added a template attribute reference and an XSLFormsResource guide to the
238 documentation.
239 * Added Debian package support (specifically Ubuntu package support).
240 * Added missing COPYING.txt file.
241 * Renamed the scripts to avoid naming issues in system-wide installations.
242 * Added a PyQt example based on the system configurator example, with the
243 form prepared in Qt Designer. This example runs in PyQt and in a Web
244 environment without any changes to the application code. In-page updates
245 are currently not implemented in the Web version, however.
246
247 Notes on In-Page Update Functionality
248 -------------------------------------
249
250 Special note #1: Konqueror seems in certain cases to remember replaced form
251 content (when replaceChild is used to replace regions of the page which
252 include form elements). This causes the browser to believe that more form
253 fields exist on the page than actually do so, and subsequent form submissions
254 thus include the values of such removed fields. A special hack is in place to
255 disable form fields by changing their names, thus causing Konqueror to not
256 associate such fields with the real, active fields; this hack does not seem to
257 cause problems for Mozilla. This needs some investigation to determine in
258 exactly which circumstances the problem arises.
259
260 Special note #2: Konqueror also seems to crash if asked to find elements using
261 an empty 'id' attribute string. This needs some investigation to see if it
262 really is the getElementById call that causes the crash.
263
264 Special note #3: Konqueror's XMLHttpRequest seems to append null characters to
265 the end of field values. Attempting to prune them before the request is sent
266 fails with a function like the following:
267
268 function fixValue(fieldValue) {
269 if (fieldValue.length == 0) {
270 return fieldValue;
271 } else if (fieldValue[fieldValue.length - 1] == '\0') {
272 return fieldValue.substr(0, fieldValue.length - 1);
273 } else {
274 return fieldValue;
275 }
276 }
277
278 This may be because it is the entire message that is terminated with the null
279 character, and that this happens only upon sending the message. Consequently,
280 some frameworks (notably mod_python) do not support in-page functionality when
281 used from Konqueror.
282
283 Various browsers (eg. Mozilla/Firefox, Konqueror) will not allow the
284 XMLHttpRequest in-page updates to function unless the URL used in the
285 requestUpdate JavaScript function is compatible with the URL at which the
286 browser finds the application. Currently, relative URLs are in use to avoid
287 this issue of compatibility, but should an absolute URL be deduced using the
288 WebStack API and then used, it may be possible that the values returned by
289 that API do not match the actual addresses entered into the address bar of the
290 browser.
291
292 To check the behaviour of the applications, it is possible to view the
293 document source of the pages served by applications and to verify that the
294 URLs mentioned in the JavaScript function calls (to 'requestUpdate') either be
295 a relative link or involve a URL similar to that which appears in the
296 browser's address bar. In some environments, the use of 'localhost' addresses
297 often confuses the browser and server; one workaround is to use real host
298 names or addresses instead of 'localhost'.
299
300 Choosing an element-path:
301
302 When specifying the "context" of the in-page update, one must imagine which
303 element the template fragment should operate within. If the template:section
304 attribute marks a particular section, then the element-path should be a path
305 to the applicable context element for that section in the complete template
306 document. Note that if a template:element attribute appears on the same
307 element as the template:section attribute then the element-path should refer
308 to the element specified in the template:element attribute.
309
310 Choosing where to put template:attribute, template:section and id:
311
312 When specifying the extent of a template fragment, one must be sure not to put
313 the template:section attribute on the same element as a template:attribute
314 annotation; otherwise, the generated code will be improperly extracted as a
315 fragment producing two versions of the element - one for when the specified
316 attribute is present, and one for when it is not present. Generally,
317 template:section and id can be placed on the same node, however.
318
319 Stable element ordering and element-path:
320
321 Within the element-path, the numbering of the elements will start at 1.
322 Therefore it is vital to choose a region of the form data structure with the
323 element-path which is isolated from surrounding elements whose positions would
324 otherwise be dependent on a stable ordering of elements, and whose processing
325 would be disrupted if some new elements suddenly appeared claiming the same
326 positions in the document. For example:
327
328 <item value=""> .../item$1/value
329 <type value=""/> .../item$1/type$1/value
330 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$2/value
331 </item>
332
333 In-page update...
334
335 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$1/value
336
337 Notes on XSL
338 ------------
339
340 libxslt seems to be quite liberal on the definition of runtime parameters, in
341 that there is no apparent need to explicitly declare the corresponding global
342 variables in stylesheets. Whilst this is nice, we may eventually need to
343 detect such variables and add them in the preparation process.
344
345 Release Procedures
346 ------------------
347
348 Update the XSLTools/__init__.py and XSLForms/__init__.py __version__
349 attributes.
350 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
351 Change code examples in the documentation if appropriate.
352 Update the release notes (see above).
353 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
354 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file and in the package
355 changelog (and other files).
356 Tag, export.
357 Generate the example resources.
358 Generate the API documentation.
359 Remove generated .pyc files: find . -name "*.pyc" | xargs rm
360 Archive, upload.
361 Upload the introductory documentation.
362 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
363
364 Generating the Example Resources
365 --------------------------------
366
367 In order to prepare the example resources, the prepare_demo.py script must be
368 run as follows:
369
370 python tools/prepare_demo.py
371
372 This will ensure that all initialiser and output stylesheets are created and
373 are thus installed by packages.
374
375 Generating the API Documentation
376 --------------------------------
377
378 In order to prepare the API documentation, it is necessary to generate some
379 Web pages from the Python source code. For this, the epydoc application must
380 be available on your system. Then, inside the distribution directory, run the
381 apidocs.sh tool script as follows:
382
383 ./tools/apidocs.sh
384
385 Some warnings may be generated by the script, but the result should be a new
386 apidocs directory within the distribution directory.
387
388 Making Packages
389 ---------------
390
391 To make Debian-based packages:
392
393 1. Create new package directories under packages if necessary.
394 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
395 Debian tools happy. Try one of the following:
396
397 ln -s packages/ubuntu-hoary/python2.4-xsltools/debian/
398 ln -s packages/ubuntu-feisty/python-xsltools/debian/
399
400 3. Run the package builder:
401
402 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
403
404 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
405 distribution's root directory.