Understanding
the XMetaL Workflow
Understanding
the XMetaL Workflow
Welcome to the
XMetaL online tutorials!
If you are a
Web developer already familiar with XML and with Microsoft's Visual Studio
.NET, this is the place to start to get acquainted with the XMetaL Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) architecture and workflow.
In this
introductory lesson, you'll learn all about the components of the XMetaL
solution and how they fit together to create a development environment in which
you can become immediately productive with XML.
This lesson
will take 15 minutes to complete.
The
XMetaL Solution
The XMetaL
product solution consists of four products:
XMetaL Developer: An XML solution
development application and scripting environment.
XMetaL Author: An XML file editor, content
creation environment, and data entry tool.
XMetaL - Central: A management system for
the storage and distribution of project files and objects.
XMetaL for ActiveX: An ActiveX control for
editing XML files.
We'll discuss
each of these components in turn over the following pages.
XMetaL
Developer
If you are an
XML developer using XMetaL products, you will work most frequently within
XMetaL Developer. Your tasks will typically include creating scripts that
support XML solutions, creating forms with the XMetaL Forms Toolkit, and
managing and updating project files.
XMetaL
Developer is a Visual Studio .NET component, running within the VS .NET shell,
and uses many of the VS .NET functions and interface elements you are already
familiar with. XMetaL supports XML Schema, COM, DOM, Java API, and standard
scripting languages.
The XMetaL
environment is fully integrated with content infrastructure, including leading
CMS integration modules and any ODBC data source.
As a
developer, you will use XMetaL to create "customizations". An XMetaL
customization is an instance of what Visual Studio .NET calls a "Solution".
Customizations are containers for projects, project files, and
project-independent files saved in the Solution Items folder within Visual
Studio .NET.
You can use
the VS .NET Solution Explorer to manage XMetaL projects and "objects". An
XMetaL object is what Visual Studio .NET calls a project "item". XMetaL objects
are project assets such as DTD files, CSS files, and macro files.
Remember: XMetaL Developer is an environment for
creating "customizations", which are containers for projects and their objects.
In later
lessons, we'll walk you through creating an XMetaL customization from scratch,
and modifying or updating existing customizations.
XMetaL
Author
XMetaL Author is a stand-alone content development application and XML editor
that looks and works much like a word processor.
But don't let
the simplicity fool you! XMetaL Author contains powerful built-in structuring
and validation features that allow content developers to concentrate on what
they're best at - writing content - and at the same time transparently create
valid XML documents, with no prior knowledge of XML. XMetaL Author also
incorporates the XMetaL writing tools, such as the thesaurus and spellchecker
supporting 32 languages.
Author
features transparent Unicode-conformant editing and display for all
left-to-right languages. Native Unicode support lets business users work with
multiple languages in a single document.
XMetaL Author
is highly customizable, and as an XMetaL developer, one of your tasks may be to
create Author templates and DTDs tailored to specific applications. Developers
can also take advantage of Unicode characters in the UI when localizing XMetaL
Author interfaces for a broad range of languages.
A
well-designed and carefully constructed XMetaL customization will greatly
improve the productivity of content developers and ensure valid XML output in
even the largest and most demanding implementations across multiple languages.
At the same time, it gives you, the XMetaL developer, central control over XML
tagging and formatting and the authoring environment.
XMetaL
for ActiveX
XMetaL for
ActiveX is a system-registered ActiveX control that permits online authoring
and editing of XML documents. It allows your business to provide access to XML
authoring tools
You can think
of XMetaL for ActiveX as a container for XML documents. It provides simple text
editing functionality - such as inserting, deleting, and cutting and pasting -
through a Web browser or any other ActiveX-compliant Windows application.
With some
customization, XMetaL for ActiveX can perform even more complex editing
operations, such as inserting and formatting elements. As a developer, you can
build user interface elements such as buttons, menus, and toolbars to connect
to the XMetaL API. Full support for WebDAV ensures that business users can
load, edit, delete, and create files safely in a multi-user environment.
XMetaL for
ActiveX must be embedded in an application, called a container application,
before use. XMetaL for ActiveX supports XML Schema, DOM, and standard scripting
languages.
XMetaL
- Central
XMetaL -
Central is a centralized system for managing XML customizations.
A
typical XMetaL implementation will have several or even hundreds of content
developers working remotely in XMetaL Author. The XML files they create are
stored in XMetaL - Central repositories on their local machines.
An XMetaL -
Central Agent application on each client computer communicates with the XMetaL
- Central server, and synchronizes the local client to the latest project files
and assets created by the development team.
XMetaL Central
allows the development team to collect XML files from distributed authors and
store and process them in a central location. It also allows the developers to
control scripts, DTDs, CSS files, and other XMetaL objects from a single
source, to create a unified content creation environment with a common look and
feel.
Administrators
and developers can work with XMetaL - Central through a web-based Console
accessible through an ordinary browser.
The XMetaL -
Central system brings together:
- A server
computer, on which the XMetaL - Central
Server and XMetaL - Central
Console software has been installed
- A
database, in which is stored project
files and assets, and
- Any number of
XMetaL - Central client computers, running XMetaL Author and the
XMetaL - Central Agent software.
The
XMetaL User Environment
There are
three types of users who work with XMetaL:
- Administrators, who install and maintain
the XMetaL - Central system and set up user accounts
- Developers, who create customizations and
supporting applications using XMetaL Developer and XMetaL for ActiveX, and
- Authors, who create XML content or data
files with XMetaL Author.
Users are
assigned roles and privileges by the Administrator, and can be organized into
groups by either Administrators or Developers.
Authors create
content or perform data entry. The XML files they create are stored and
processed through the XMetaL - Central object management system.
You, the
XMetaL developer, are at the heart of the operation. It's your responsibility
to create and maintain the structure and framework that supports the entire XML
implementation.
To achieve
best results and maximum productivity, we suggest you center your work within
the XMetaL Developer Integrated Development Environment (IDE). XMetaL offers an
integrated workspace with rich features and a fully customizable interface, and
the IDE is optimized for rapid integrated debugging.
This could
mean you may have to put aside some more familiar tools that by now have become
old friends. But give it a try - you might well make some new friends in the
process!
Continue with the next lesson: Working with XMetaL
Customizations...
Last modified: Thursday, May 20, 2004 12:29:51 PM