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 0.4.3
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 1.2.3 or later).
54 The example PyQt applications have been tested with PyQt 3.15.
55
56 New in XSLTools 0.5.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.5)
57 --------------------------------------------------
58
59 * Added modular request handling methods to XSLFormsResource, altering some
60 of the examples to demonstrate the usage and overriding of these methods
61 in preference to overriding respond_to_form.
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
66 New in XSLTools 0.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.6)
67 --------------------------------------------------
68
69 * Renamed template:id to template:section in order to get around problems
70 and potential future problems with browsers (such as Konqueror 3.5.6)
71 which get confused loading documents with multiple id attributes, even if
72 only one is unprefixed. WARNING! This change is not backwards compatible.
73 * Added Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) package support.
74 * Tidied the documentation HTML.
75
76 New in XSLTools 0.4.6 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.5)
77 ----------------------------------------------------
78
79 * Improved the Login module, enabling the VerySimpleWithLogin example for
80 various frameworks.
81 * Relicensed under the LGPL version 3 or later.
82 * Upgraded to Sarissa 0.9.7.8 (compatible with LGPL/GPL version 3), removing
83 a test around DOMParser so that Konqueror 3.4.0 is still supported.
84
85 New in XSLTools 0.4.5 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.4)
86 ----------------------------------------------------
87
88 * Fixed the result of transformations in XSLOutput: proper document nodes
89 are now produced.
90 * Added an XSLForms.Resources.Login module which provides resources to
91 support login screens and redirects.
92 * Fixed newlines in the attributes created from fields in XSLForms: CR
93 characters are no longer included since this caused the doubling up of
94 newlines in Firefox.
95
96 New in XSLTools 0.4.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.3)
97 ----------------------------------------------------
98
99 * Fixed translation selection for the template:i18n annotation attribute,
100 not just for the template:i18n extension function - more apologies for
101 resulting output changes!
102 * Improved the template fixing stylesheet and added some documentation for
103 the script and the related expr-prefix attribute.
104 * Introduced WebStack 1.2.2 EncodingSelector and encoding changes.
105 * Added docstring and return value for the write_month_to_document function
106 in XSLTools.XMLCalendar.
107
108 New in XSLTools 0.4.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.2)
109 ----------------------------------------------------
110
111 * Fixed translation selection when an unsupported locale is specified,
112 choosing the first locale as the default (rather than exposing the values
113 themselves as translations). Note that this is an unfortunate and subtle
114 change which may affect application output - apologies are hereby offered!
115
116 New in XSLTools 0.4.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4.1)
117 ----------------------------------------------------
118
119 * Added a content type check in the XSLFormsResource class, permitting
120 non-form-based resources to access the raw request data, rather than have
121 the data processed unsuccessfully and consequently discarded.
122 * Added a script and a function to fix template namespaces after editing in
123 a careless editor.
124 * Changed libxml2mod and libxsltmod import details to try libxmlmods -
125 suggested by Lucian Wischik for libxml2dom.
126
127 New in XSLTools 0.4.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.4)
128 --------------------------------------------------
129
130 * Made translations specified using the template:i18n annotation take
131 priority over template:value annotations.
132 * Added expression-based template:i18n annotations, and provided fallback
133 output for such translations based on the value of the evaluated
134 expression.
135
136 New in XSLTools 0.4 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3.1)
137 --------------------------------------------------
138
139 * Changed the preparation of templates to produce rule-based output
140 stylesheets, thus permitting recursive templates. This requires an extra
141 expr-prefix annotation to be used in certain kinds of templates.
142 * Added a recursive template example application.
143 * Changed fragment production to use original template documents instead of
144 output stylesheets.
145 * Changed the in_page_resources attribute to provide the output identifier,
146 thus changing the prepare_fragment method in Web resources so that only
147 the fragment identifier needs to be supplied.
148 * Added the XSLForms.Resources.WebResources.prepare_resources method for the
149 preparation of initialiser and output stylesheets before an application is
150 run.
151 * Changed selectors to not automatically create elements in the form data
152 document unless requested to do so. Introduced a Form.get_selector
153 method in XSLForms.Fields.
154 * Permitted the creation of hierarchies of elements in
155 XSLForms.Utils.add_elements.
156 * Introduced dynamic parameter evaluation for multiple-choice fields in
157 order to support sources of multiple-choice values which reside in the
158 form data document itself.
159 * Added the FixNamespace.xsl stylesheet to correct documents saved by HTML
160 editors which strip namespace prefixes.
161 * Fixed filesystem encoding issues in the Candidate example; fixed language
162 preference access in the Configurator and VerySimple examples.
163 * Changed the BaseHTTPRequestHandler version of the Candidate example to
164 store data in a subdirectory of the current working directory, thus
165 allowing the demonstration application to work after package installation.
166
167 New in XSLTools 0.3.1 (Changes since XSLTools 0.3)
168 --------------------------------------------------
169
170 * Fixed copyright and licensing information.
171
172 New in XSLTools 0.3 (Changes since XSLTools 0.2)
173 ------------------------------------------------
174
175 * Introduced copying of multiple-choice value element contents so that
176 option element labels can differ from the underlying values.
177 * Added internationalisation support, providing the template:i18n annotation
178 and the template:i18n extension function.
179 * Updated the documentation to cover the above new features.
180 * Fixed non-GET/POST request method handling in WebResources.
181 * Added the xslform_preparemacro.py script.
182 * Added an experimental template:range extension function.
183
184 New in XSLTools 0.2 (Changes since XSLTools 0.1)
185 ------------------------------------------------
186
187 * Made a new XSLTools package and moved XSLOutput into it.
188 * Improved serialisation of transformation results so that output options
189 are observed (in some cases, at least).
190 * Fixed stylesheet and reference document paths so that libxslt should not
191 now become confused by ambiguous relative paths.
192 * Added expression parameters to XSLOutput.Processor so that in-document
193 data can be used to, for example, initialise multiple-choice field values.
194 * Added input/initialiser support so that input documents can be tidied or
195 initialised using information from the template.
196 * Added template:init for use with template:element in XSLForms to control
197 element initialisation where necessary.
198 * Added special high-level "macro" attributes (eg. template:attribute-field)
199 which should make templates easier to write and maintain.
200 * Added template:if to XSLForms, providing conditional output of annotated
201 elements.
202 * Added set_document to XSLForms.Fields.Form.
203 * Added prepare_parameters to the XSLFormsResource class in the
204 XSLForms.Resources.WebResources module.
205 * Added element-path, url-encode and choice XSLForms extension functions.
206 * Improved Unicode support in the XSLForms extension functions.
207 * Changed in-page requests to contain proper POST data.
208 * Fixed checkbox and radiobutton value detection in XSLForms.js.
209 * Updated the code to work with WebStack 1.0 changes and adopted the
210 new-style WebStack demonstration mechanism.
211 * Added XMLCalendar and XMLTable (to the XSLTools package).
212 * Added a dictionary (or word lookup) example application.
213 * Added a job candidate profile (or CV editor) example application.
214 * Added a template attribute reference and an XSLFormsResource guide to the
215 documentation.
216 * Added Debian package support (specifically Ubuntu package support).
217 * Added missing COPYING.txt file.
218 * Renamed the scripts to avoid naming issues in system-wide installations.
219 * Added a PyQt example based on the system configurator example, with the
220 form prepared in Qt Designer. This example runs in PyQt and in a Web
221 environment without any changes to the application code. In-page updates
222 are currently not implemented in the Web version, however.
223
224 Notes on In-Page Update Functionality
225 -------------------------------------
226
227 Special note #1: Konqueror seems in certain cases to remember replaced form
228 content (when replaceChild is used to replace regions of the page which
229 include form elements). This causes the browser to believe that more form
230 fields exist on the page than actually do so, and subsequent form submissions
231 thus include the values of such removed fields. A special hack is in place to
232 disable form fields by changing their names, thus causing Konqueror to not
233 associate such fields with the real, active fields; this hack does not seem to
234 cause problems for Mozilla. This needs some investigation to determine in
235 exactly which circumstances the problem arises.
236
237 Special note #2: Konqueror also seems to crash if asked to find elements using
238 an empty 'id' attribute string. This needs some investigation to see if it
239 really is the getElementById call that causes the crash.
240
241 Special note #3: Konqueror's XMLHttpRequest seems to append null characters to
242 the end of field values. Attempting to prune them before the request is sent
243 fails with a function like the following:
244
245 function fixValue(fieldValue) {
246 if (fieldValue.length == 0) {
247 return fieldValue;
248 } else if (fieldValue[fieldValue.length - 1] == '\0') {
249 return fieldValue.substr(0, fieldValue.length - 1);
250 } else {
251 return fieldValue;
252 }
253 }
254
255 This may be because it is the entire message that is terminated with the null
256 character, and that this happens only upon sending the message. Consequently,
257 some frameworks (notably mod_python) do not support in-page functionality when
258 used from Konqueror.
259
260 Various browsers (eg. Mozilla/Firefox, Konqueror) will not allow the
261 XMLHttpRequest in-page updates to function unless the URL used in the
262 requestUpdate JavaScript function is compatible with the URL at which the
263 browser finds the application. Currently, relative URLs are in use to avoid
264 this issue of compatibility, but should an absolute URL be deduced using the
265 WebStack API and then used, it may be possible that the values returned by
266 that API do not match the actual addresses entered into the address bar of the
267 browser.
268
269 To check the behaviour of the applications, it is possible to view the
270 document source of the pages served by applications and to verify that the
271 URLs mentioned in the JavaScript function calls (to 'requestUpdate') either be
272 a relative link or involve a URL similar to that which appears in the
273 browser's address bar. In some environments, the use of 'localhost' addresses
274 often confuses the browser and server; one workaround is to use real host
275 names or addresses instead of 'localhost'.
276
277 Choosing an element-path:
278
279 When specifying the "context" of the in-page update, one must imagine which
280 element the template fragment should operate within. If the template:id
281 attribute marks a particular section, then the element-path should be a path
282 to the applicable context element for that section in the complete template
283 document. Note that if a template:element attribute appears on the same
284 element as the template:id attribute then the element-path should refer to the
285 element specified in the template:element attribute.
286
287 Choosing where to put template:attribute, template:id and id:
288
289 When specifying the extent of a template fragment, one must be sure not to put
290 the template:id attribute on the same element as a template:attribute
291 annotation; otherwise, the generated code will be improperly extracted as a
292 fragment producing two versions of the element - one for when the specified
293 attribute is present, and one for when it is not present. Generally,
294 template:id and id can be placed on the same node, however.
295
296 Stable element ordering and element-path:
297
298 Within the element-path, the numbering of the elements will start at 1.
299 Therefore it is vital to choose a region of the form data structure with the
300 element-path which is isolated from surrounding elements whose positions would
301 otherwise be dependent on a stable ordering of elements, and whose processing
302 would be disrupted if some new elements suddenly appeared claiming the same
303 positions in the document. For example:
304
305 <item value=""> .../item$1/value
306 <type value=""/> .../item$1/type$1/value
307 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$2/value
308 </item>
309
310 In-page update...
311
312 <comment value=""/> .../item$1/comment$1/value
313
314 Notes on XSL
315 ------------
316
317 libxslt seems to be quite liberal on the definition of runtime parameters, in
318 that there is no apparent need to explicitly declare the corresponding global
319 variables in stylesheets. Whilst this is nice, we may eventually need to
320 detect such variables and add them in the preparation process.
321
322 Release Procedures
323 ------------------
324
325 Update the XSLTools/__init__.py and XSLForms/__init__.py __version__
326 attributes.
327 Change the version number and package filename/directory in the documentation.
328 Change code examples in the documentation if appropriate.
329 Update the release notes (see above).
330 Check the setup.py file and ensure that all package directories are mentioned.
331 Check the release information in the PKG-INFO file and in the package
332 changelog (and other files).
333 Tag, export.
334 Generate the example resources.
335 Generate the API documentation.
336 Remove generated .pyc files: find . -name "*.pyc" | xargs rm
337 Archive, upload.
338 Upload the introductory documentation.
339 Update PyPI, PythonInfo Wiki, Vaults of Parnassus entries.
340
341 Generating the Example Resources
342 --------------------------------
343
344 In order to prepare the example resources, the prepare_demo.py script must be
345 run as follows:
346
347 python tools/prepare_demo.py
348
349 This will ensure that all initialiser and output stylesheets are created and
350 are thus installed by packages.
351
352 Generating the API Documentation
353 --------------------------------
354
355 In order to prepare the API documentation, it is necessary to generate some
356 Web pages from the Python source code. For this, the epydoc application must
357 be available on your system. Then, inside the distribution directory, run the
358 apidocs.sh tool script as follows:
359
360 ./tools/apidocs.sh
361
362 Some warnings may be generated by the script, but the result should be a new
363 apidocs directory within the distribution directory.
364
365 Making Packages
366 ---------------
367
368 To make Debian-based packages:
369
370 1. Create new package directories under packages if necessary.
371 2. Make a symbolic link in the distribution's root directory to keep the
372 Debian tools happy. Try one of the following:
373
374 ln -s packages/ubuntu-hoary/python2.4-xsltools/debian/
375 ln -s packages/ubuntu-feisty/python-xsltools/debian/
376
377 3. Run the package builder:
378
379 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
380
381 4. Locate and tidy up the packages in the parent directory of the
382 distribution's root directory.