David Cramer (Tech Pubs) wrote: > I've been keeping a list of things I notice. Many of them are small > configuration tweaks that I can do on my own, but they might as well make > their way into the distribution. Since you're putting together a user wish > list, I figured I'd send what I have now :) > > * Configuration enhancement: Add "DocBook -> Convert to HTMLHelp" (I know > you're already planning Eclipse). Convert to HTMLHelp could run hhc.exe > (assuming htmlhelp workshop is installed and in the PATH) and take them all > the way to a .chm just like a GUI HAT (Help Authoring Tool).
We are not "planning Eclipse". V2.5 will just include Norman Walsh's full XSL style sheet distribution, including all docs, eclipse, htmlhelp, etc. (V2.4 included a sized-down distribution.) Eclipse and HTMLHelp are very specialized formats. We try to keep XXE as small and as simple as possible (and we have hard times trying to do so), so please understand that we cannot add every possible functionality to it. Note that you can do what you want yourself, *without having to modify the bundled DocBook configuration*, just by extending it. See Power User's Guide (and in a few days, the FAQ of our new web site). > * Question: I can't seem to put text in some situations. I can't do this: > > <para>Foo <itemizedlist>....</itemizedlist> I can't put text here, but I > should be able to.</para> > > I have to do this: > > <para>Foo </para> <itemizedlist>....</itemizedlist> <para>I can't put text > here, but I should be able to.</para> > > Maybe I missed something in the help/docs? [1] Select the <itemizedlist> which is inside the <para>. [2] Click on Insert After [3] Click on the *Text button* below the Name: field. (Few people notice the existence of this button. May be we need to move it to the top of the form?) Or quicker: [1] Select the <itemizedlist> [2] Hit the Ins key of the keypad. > * Comment: Colspecs hard to add in docbook tables (I think I have to select > thead, then insert before). Anything you can do to make tables easier to deal > with would be good. Converting an informaltable to a table is hard. Probably > some macros around tables are in order. I'll have to think about what > specifically would be useful. "Having to select thead, then insert before the colspec" is the standard way of doing things using XXE. In order to make DocBook/CALS tables (slightly) easier to use: * The DocBook menu contains colspec/spanspec-aware table editing commands. * We have added a few informaltable and table templates to docbook.xxe. Converting an informaltable to a table means: [1] Insert a new table. [2] Select the tgroup of the informaltable. [3] Copy it to the clipboard. [4] Select the tgroup of the table. [5] Paste the content of the clipboard. [6] Delete the informaltable. If you need to do this from time to time, in our opinion, the above procedure is acceptable. Otherwise, you'll need to write a macro using V2.5 enhanced macro-commands. (V2.4 macro-commands are not powerful enough to do that.) > * Feature idea: Norm Walsh has a docbook diffing tool and a Java version > exists. It would be very cool if this were integrated into xmlmind: > http://www.nwalsh.com/java/diffmk/index.html We know this tool. See my answer to your first request feature. > * Question: When I open a xml document that contains Japanese (utf-8), the > characters are square boxes. This is not a high priority for me--the > translation house will use whatever tools they want on the xml, but I thought > I'd mention it. Maybe I have something configured wrong? I don't think this problem comes from XXE. May be from your OS. May be from Java. Do you have the needed fonts? That is, what do you see when you open the XML document using notepad? > * Someone asked about cvs integration on the list: I'd suggest using the > Escape+e keybinding (in the supplemental docbook material) to drop into emacs > and then use emacs' cvs integration. OK. > * Enhancement: It should be possible to 'copy' or 'cut' from node path bar > like you can from within the doc using the contextual menu choices. Good idea. > * Configuration enhancement: In DocBook, procedures and some other constructs > are also lists, so put them in the addListItem command in common.incl: > <command name="docb.addListItem"> > <macro> > <sequence> > <command name="selectNode" > parameter="ancestor[implicitElement] itemizedlist orderedlist > variablelist procedure simplelist segmentedlist > qandaset calloutlist" /> > <!-- > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --> > <command name="selectNode" parameter="child" /> > <command name="insertNode" parameter="sameElementAfter" /> > </sequence> > </macro> > </command> > > Also, bind it to a key by default since it's such a common thing: > > <binding> > <keyPressed code="ENTER" modifiers="alt ctrl"/> > <command name="docb.addListItem" /> > </binding> OK. > * Configuration enhancement: Make xmlmind take you back to your original spot > when you return from the external editor (i.e. back to where you were in > xmlmind when you left, not the beginning of the doc. Obviously where you were > in the external editor would be impossible). I realize that the ESCAPE+e > trick is part of the docbook extension tutorial thing. Yes. Esc-E is just a quick hack for people requesting to have a source view. > * Bug: DocBook segmentedlist/seg not formatted in editor. segmentedlist/seg cannot be formatted properly using CSS alone. Unlike for tables, we have not considered this element to be important enough to take the time to write a style extension. (XXE is not a DocBook editor therefore it is not unreasonable to take such decision.) Note that the fact that segmentedlists are not formatted on screen as described in "DocBook: The Definitive Guide" does not imply that it is hard to create and modify them using XXE. > * Bug: DocBook qandaset/answer is buggy in the editor. You can't enter text > in the 'answer' XXE is ``buggy'' because the DocBook DTD is ``buggy'': --- answer ::= (label?, (calloutlist|glosslist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|segmentedlist| simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|tip|warning| literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|screen|screenco| screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|classsynopsis| fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|destructorsynopsis| methodsynopsis|formalpara|para|simpara|address|blockquote| graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|mediaobjectco|informalequation| informalexample|informalfigure|informaltable|equation|example| figure|table|procedure|anchor|bridgehead|remark|highlights| indexterm)*, qandaentry*) --- means that an empty <answer> is valid. However, we agree that this is very suprising and we'll add an elementTemplate in docbook.xxe in order to automatically create an <answer> containing a <para>. > * Configuration enhancement: The button "Add orderedlist" should be a > dropdown that includes procedure, orderedlist, and calloutlist. Variablelist > button might as well be a dropdown with all other types of lists: simplelist, > segmentedlist. Buttons have been added only for commonly used elements. Once again, see my answer to your first request feature. Inserting procedure, calloutlist, etc, without the help of the tool bar is not *that horrible*: Here's what I do to insert a <procedure>: [1] Ctrl-J (shortcut for Insert After). [2] Type "proc" than space (to use auto-completion of element names). [3] Hit Enter to go back to the document view.
