DocFlex/XML (Full Edition), Version 1.9.0

Release Notes


Table Of Contents


About DocFlex/XML (Full Edition)

DocFlex/XML is a template-driven system for programming and execution of any kind of automatic documentation/report generators from any data stored in XML files. It also includes some large ready-to-use template applications and integrations aimed for particular practical tasks.

Actual doc/report generators are created in the form of special templates, which are designed using a graphic Template Designer basing on the datatype information obtained from DTD or XSD (W3C XML Schema) files that describe the particular XML-file data source. All formatting is specified in templates independently of any destination output formats. A template set (called "template application") is interpreted by the template interpreter / output generator, which makes the result XML doc/report generator work. The output format is selected only before generation and may be any of the currently supported by the DocFlex core. For further details, see Documentation | About DocFlex/XML.

"DocFlex/XML (Full Edition)" is the most complete edition of DocFlex/XML software, which includes all features available in this product line:

DocFlex/XML SDK

The main focus of this edition is to provide a System Development Kit (SDK) to design and modify templates (as well as to run template applications). This includes the following main components: Those components constitute the core functionality, which is covered by a single "DocFlex/XML SDK" license. Depending on that license, the SDK may work in one of three modes: limited, full, trial. For more details, please see Licensing / Processing Modes (below).

Template Applications

DocFlex/XML currently provides two ready-to-use template applications useful for real tasks:
  1. XMLDoc (“XML File Documenter”) will allow you to compile any number of generic XML files into a web-ready HTML or printable RTF documentation with the optional inclusion of a namespace binding report that shows which namespace prefixes are bound to which namespace URIs and where. For more details, see Documentation | XMLDoc.

  2. XSDDoc (“XML Schema Documentation Generator”) implements a very powerful XML Schema Documentation Generator able to produce both multi-framed Javadoc-like HTML and printable RTF documentation. For more details, see Documentation | XSDDoc.

    NOTE: This is a commercial template application that requires separate licensing. See also: Licensing of Templates | Commercial Template Applications and Multiple Licenses.

Integrations

Currently, the following integrations of DocFlex/XML with other software systems have been worked out:

System Integration
Apache Ant Allows you to run DocFlex/XML generator from your Ant build.

For more details, see Documentation | Integrations | Apache Ant and the example {docflex-xml}/integrations/ant/build.xml file.
Apache Maven Allows you to run DocFlex/XML generator from your Maven build.

For more details, see {docflex-xml}/integrations/maven/index.html, Documentation | Integrations | Apache Maven.
XMLSpy Allows you to insert automatically the graphics diagrams produced by Altova XMLSpy into the XML schema documentation generated by DocFlex/XML XSDDoc (with full support of diagram hyperlinks).

NOTE: This integration is not covered by the "DocFlex/XML SDK" license and requires separate licensing!

For more information, see: {docflex-xml}/integrations/XMLSpy/README.html, Documentation | Integrations | XMLSpy, Multiple Licenses.
Oxygen XML A similar integration (as with XMLSpy), but now the provider of diagrams is Oxygen XML Editor.

NOTE: This integration is not covered by the "DocFlex/XML SDK" license and requires separate licensing!

For more information, see: {docflex-xml}/integrations/OxygenXML/README.html, Documentation | Integrations | Oxygen XML, Multiple Licenses.

Package Contents

LICENSE.html DocFlex Software License
README.html this file
CHANGES.html change log of DocFlex/XML
doc/ DocFlex/XML & Technology Documentation – an HTML copy of all descriptions/documentation published on the product web-site (on the moment of the release). It may be useful when you cannot access the online pages or they changed too much since this release.
*.bat Files prepared for Windows Installation:
designer.bat
  • launches the Template Designer
generator.bat
  • starts only generator from command line
update_templates.bat
  • updates your templates according to new DocFlex/XML version or new license
linux/ Files prepared for Linux Installation:
linux/designer.sh
  • shell script file to launch the Template Designer
linux/generator.sh
  • shell script file to start DocFlex/XML generator
linux/update_templates.sh
  • shell script to updates your templates according to new DocFlex/XML version or new license
linux/docflex.config
  • DocFlex main configuration file prepared for Linux
lib/ Runtime Environment:
lib/docflex-xml.jar
  • DocFlex/XML Java library
lib/docflex.config
  • DocFlex main configuration file prepared for Windows Installation. This file contains locations of other configuration files and various important settings.
lib/xml-apis.jar
lib/xercesImpl.jar
lib/resolver.jar
lib/resources/ Runtime Environment Resources:
lib/resources/catalog.xml
  • Default XML catalog
lib/resources/http_www_w3_org/
config/ Configuration files (created and updated dynamically):
config/designer.config
  • The Template Designer configuration file
config/generator.config
  • The generator configuration file prepared to run a demo (normally, it is maintained automatically by the Generator GUI)
templates/ bundled template applications
templates/XMLDoc/ The "XML File Documentor" (XMLDoc) template set:
templates/XMLDoc/PlainDoc.tpl
  • The template to generate single-file documentation (in HTML or RTF format).
templates/XMLDoc/FramedDoc.tpl
  • The template to generate framed HTML documentation.
templates/XMLDoc/xmldoc.xmltype
  • The configuration file that defines the 'xmldoc' XML type, on which all XMLDoc templates are based.
templates/XSDDoc/ The "XML Schema Documentation Generator" (XSDDoc) template set. For more details, see: {docflex-xml}/templates/XSDDoc/README.html
samples/ Demo samples:
samples/sales/
  • "Sales Report" -- template sample
samples/personal/
  • "Alternative to XSLT" -- template sample
samples/HumanEvolution/
  • "XML Schema of Human Evolution" -- a demo XML schema that shows in every detail how to use XHTML and insert images in XML schema annotations. To see what a documentation it produces, just run this schema with either XSDDoc/FramedDoc.tpl (for framed HTML) or XSDDoc/PlainDoc.tpl (for RTF) template.
integrations/ The support files for integrations of DocFlex/XML with other software systems
integrations/ant/ Ant example files:
integrations/ant/build.xml
  • The Ant build file that demonstrates how to integrate DocFlex/XML generator with the Apache Ant (in particular, this file executes the XSDDoc demo)
integrations/ant/make.bat
  • Windows command file to run Ant
integrations/ant/make.sh
  • Linux shell script to run Ant
integrations/maven/ Maven plugin for DocFlex/XML. For more details, see: {docflex-xml}/integrations/maven/index.html
integrations/XMLSpy/ Contains files related to XMLSpy Integration. For more details, see: {docflex-xml}/integrations/XMLSpy/README.html
integrations/OxygenXML/ Contains files related to OxygenXML Integration. For more details, see: {docflex-xml}/integrations/OxygenXML/README.html

Technical Requirements

DocFlex/XML requires JavaTM 2 Runtime Environment (JDK or JRE) version 7.x, 6.x, 5.x or 1.4.x installed on your system. (Java 7 may be preferable as it is the fastest!)

You can freely download Java from the Java Technology web-site: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ (formerly http://java.sun.com).

DocFlex/XML is a pure Java application. The Template Designer GUI is implemented entirely using Swing. Therefore, everything is supposed to work on any operating system where Java2 Runtime Environment can be installed.

Specifically, the software includes both MS Windows BAT files and Linux shell script files to run DocFlex/XML immediately on those operating systems. See Windows Installation and Linux Installation respectively.

We have been also reported that DocFlex/XML worked successfully under Mac OS X.

To parse XML files, DTDs and XML Schemas, DocFlex/XML uses Apache Xerces2 Java Parser version 2.9.1. In the case of any questions concerning this library, please refer to the Apache Xerces home page: http://xerces.apache.org.

To generate XML schema documentation (for big and middle sized XML schemas) using XSDDoc template set, you may need a powerful enough computer (e.g. with Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor) and at least 512 MB RAM memory.

Licensing / Processing Modes

Depending on your DocFlex/XML SDK license, the Template Designer and Generator may work in three different modes: limited, full or trial.

Limited Mode

The Limited Mode is covered by the Limited Free License. It is activated by default when no other licenses have been found. This mode allows you:

Full Mode

The Full Mode is activated in the presence of a Commercial or Academic License for DocFlex/XML SDK. This mode allows you:

Trial Mode

The Trial Mode is activated in the presence of a Trial License for DocFlex/XML SDK. In this mode, the software will work the same as in the full mode except the following limitations:

Installation

Windows Installation

To install DocFlex/XML on Windows, please follow these steps:
  1. Unzip the downloaded archive.

  2. Edit *.bat files in DocFlex/XML root directory to specify the JAVA_HOME variable according to the location of Java 7, Java 6, Java 5 or Java 1.4.x installed on your system.

  3. If you want to run those files from a different location, set also the DFH variable to the absolute pathname of the DocFlex/XML installation directory (e.g. set DFH=C:\docflex-xml-1.9.0).

  4. Copy the DocFlex/XML license file 'docflex-xml.license', which you receive by e-mail, to lib directory. This file should be always near the docflex-xml.jar file!
Now, everything must be ready. You can start designer.bat to launch Template Designer or generator.bat to run the template applications or samples.

Linux Installation

To install DocFlex/XML on Linux, please follow these steps:
  1. Unzip the downloaded archive.

  2. Edit *.sh shell script files contained in linux subdirectory to specify the JAVA_HOME variable according to the location of Java 7, Java 6, Java 5 or Java 1.4.x installed on your system.

    For each shell script file, edit its "Permission" properties to allow it to be executed by Linux.

  3. Copy the DocFlex/XML license file 'docflex-xml.license', which you receive by e-mail, to lib directory. This file should be always near the docflex-xml.jar file!
Now, everything must be ready. Just run designer.sh or generator.sh !

Running XMLDoc

To generate XML File documentation in RTF output format, please do the following:
  1. Run generator.bat. You will see the generator dialog.
  2. In "Template" field, select XMLDoc.tpl template.
  3. In "XML File(s)" field, specify one or many XML files that you want to document.

    Each XML file can be specified either by local path name or by URL. In the case of a URL, the generator will try to download such a file directly from the Internet. When multiple XML files are specified, make sure that each pathname or URL is enclosed in double quotes.

  4. In "Output format" field, select RTF format.
  5. Click <Run> button to start generator.
See also: Documentation | XMLDoc

Running XSDDoc

For all details, please see: {docflex-xml}/templates/XSDDoc/README.html | Running XSDDoc, Documentation | XSDDoc

Running Demo Samples

All provided samples are fully described in the documentation (see Documentation | Samples). To run a sample, you just need to:
  1. Start template designer (run designer.bat)
  2. Load a sample template
  3. Invoke generator dialog
  4. Choose the appropriate XML file(s)
  5. Click <Run> button
Please note, some of the sample templates can process only corresponding XML files. This table shows which XML files should be used with which template:

Sample XML File Template
Sales Report samples/sales/sales.xml samples/sales/sales.tpl
Alternative to XSLT samples/personal/personal.xml samples/personal/personal.tpl
XML Schema of Human Evolution samples/HumanEvolution/HumanEvolution.xsd Run with both templates/XSDDoc/FramedDoc.tpl (HTML output) and templates/XSDDoc/PlainDoc.tpl (RTF output). This will look fun!

Getting Help

The most up-to-date information about DocFlex/XML can be found on the product home page: www.filigris.com | DocFlex/XML.

We are always happy to hear any questions, suggestions, comments, etc. about this software.
Please, e-mail us to: support@docflex.com or contact@filigris.com

Change Log

Please see: {docflex-xml}/CHANGES.html


Copyright© 2004-2013 Filigris Works, Leonid Rudy Softwareprodukte. All rights reserved.