XMLmind XML Editor V2.8 can be downloaded from
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml
=======================
V2.8 (October 21, 2004)
XMLmind XML Editor now has an easy to use and yet
extremely powerful integrated spreadsheet engine.
No, it does not work by embedding an external
spreadsheet component in the document. The XML
document is the spreadsheet. Click anywhere in a
document and use a specialized formula editor to
insert a new formula.
Highlights:
* The formula language and the predefined
functions are very similar to those used by
other spreadsheet software. Example:
"sum is " & SUM(A1:A3).
* More than 80 predefined functions are
provided. If this is not enough, you can write
your own functions in Java[tm] or, more simply,
using the formula language. These user-defined
functions will be dynamically loaded by XXE
and they'll look and feel as if they were
stock functions.
* A formula can address table cells using the
usual A1 notation (example:
"table1"!$A$1:$C$3). If the formula is itself
inside a table cell, it can even use relative
cell references (example: A1:C3).
* A formula can access any part of the document
that contains it (or any part of an external
XML document) using XPath escapes. Example:
get the last 8 characters of the value of
attribute id of the element containing the
formula: right(`...@id`,8).
* A formula is represented by processing
instruction xxe-formula. Using such specific
processing instructions is allowed by the XML
standard. xxe-formulas are ignored by XML
software other than XXE.
* A formula computes a value. This value can be
used to add/replace the text node immediately
after the formula or this value can be used to
add/replace an attribute of the element
containing the formula.
* The spreadsheet engine is readily usable with
any document type without having to configure
anything.
* XMLmind XML Editor Standard Edition will not
save the xxe-formula processing instructions
contained in a document. Of course, this
restriction does not exist in Professional
Edition.
For more information, please read XMLmind XML
Editor - Using the Integrated Spreadsheet Engine.
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/docs/spreadsheet/index.html
Other enhancements: (see technical details
below)
-------------------------------------------
* It is now possible to specify the Look and
Feel of XMLmind XML Editor using the Options
dialog box, General tab.
The only Look and Feels tested, and therefore
officially supported, by XMLmind are the
cross-platform Look and Feel and the system
Look and Feel. Please do not report bugs
related to the other Look and Feels.
* Upgraded XMLmind FO Converter to version
2.0. XMLmind FO Converter is used to convert
XSL-FO to RTF and to WordprocessingML (for use
by Microsoft? Office Word 2003).
Technical details about the enhancements (for
local gurus):
---------------------------------------------
* It is now possible to force a user preference
using new command line options -putpref and
-delpref. Usage:
----------------------------------------------
xxe [-putpref key value]* [-delpref key]* \
URL_or_file ... URL_or_file
----------------------------------------------
Examples:
----------------------------------------------
# Set font size to 14pt and open mydoc.xml
$ xxe -putpref fontSize 14 mydoc.xml &
# Force the use of the Metal (cross-platform)
# look and feel
$ xxe -putpref lookAndFeelClassName \
javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel &
# Set font size to default value
$ xxe -delpref fontSize &
----------------------------------------------
In order to learn which key/value to use,
you'll first need modify the user preferences
using the Options dialog box and exit from XXE
to let it save these preferences to
XXE_user_preferences_dir/preferences.propertie
s. After that, you'll need to look at this
file and try to find the key/value pairs of
interest. (That is, we do not intend to
document these key/value pairs.)
* User Request: XML catalogs are now used to
solve the URIs referenced in
<?xml-stylesheet href="..."?>.
* CSS pseudo-class
:contains-processing-instruction(target) (a
proprietary extension) can be used to style
elements containing specific processing
instructions.
* CSS property show-row-column-labels: yes|no (a
proprietary extension) can be used to make a
table look like a spreadsheet.
* XMLmind XML Editor now has built-in CSS rules
mainly used to style comments and processing
instructions. In practice, this just means
that you have nothing special to do to style
comments, processing instructions and
spreadsheet formulas (processing instruction
xxe-formula).
* New configuration element spreadsheetFunctions
may be used to add user-defined spreadsheet
functions to XXE.
* New XPath extension functions: pow,
intersection, difference.
Bug fixes:
----------
* XXE had problems loading an auto-detected
document (for example, a DOCTYPE-less DocBook
chapter) having an XML declaration with no
specified encoding (e.g.
<?xml version="1.0"?>).
* With Java 1.5, on Windows, conversion from
DocBook to other formats created the following
hierarchy of directories:
"C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\hussein\
Local%20Settings\Temp" which caused the conversion
process to fail.
* Fixed the incremental relayout of tables when
some text was typed in a cell sharing a row
with another cell spanning several rows.
* A partial redraw of a table often caused some
of its grid lines to disappear.
* The search/replace tool was unable to find the
searched text if this text was at the very end
of the document. Example: if the document
ended by phrase "The End.", the search/replace
tool was able to find word "End". But if the
document ended by "The End" without a period,
the search/replace tool was not able to find
"End".
* Forgot to document the favorInteroperability
attribute of the saveOptions configuration
element.
Possible incompatibilities:
---------------------------
* Pasting system selection by clicking with the
middle button is now disabled by default. We
had reports about users inadvertently
polluting their documents this way (probably
after rotating the mouse wheel too quickly).
However, if you want this very useful
functionality back, please use the Options
dialog box, Edit tab and check "Clicking with
middle button pastes system selection".
* XMLmind XML Editor now has built-in CSS rules
mainly used to style comments and processing
instructions. May be this will have an impact
on your own CSS style sheets as built-in rules
are always implicitly loaded before the rules
found in a CSS file.
* V2.7 format plug-ins are incompatible with
V2.8 and vice-versa.
