[Xerte-dev] Re: Connectors

Thu Nov 15 16:38:47 GMT 2012

But will attach again here .... whoops

On 15 November 2012 16:28, Kemp Johnathan <johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com>wrote:

> Sorry for the delay in responding - had to pop out for a while.
>
> The 3 outstanding issues are
>
>
>    1. Whether to enable the pageList control to receive a pageID in the
>    xml data and convert it to a linkID. This is not essential. It will just
>    provide better backward compatibility with any projects using the current
>    Connector pages.
>    2. Decide on what navigation options are acceptable to you and to what
>    degree support for setting them is provided by the engine rather than with
>    extra code in the models. This is discussed in the navigation.pdf document
>    that I have posted previously but will attach again here. If you need any
>    clarification on any of it please let me know. Once I know what support is
>    available in the engine I can work from there.
>    3. We need to decide how best to handle the plainText connector given
>    that the Author in XOT cannot see the linkID value for a page. If it is
>    acceptable to you then one option is to allow the Author to add child page
>    elements in the same way I have implemented how you specify specific pages
>    for the Connector Menu in the example I posted earlier. Then the Author can
>    just put the number of the page in the hyperlink i.e. first child page = 1,
>    second child page = 2. If it would help I set this up for your appraisal.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Johnathan
>
>
> On 15 November 2012 13:41, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>wrote:
>
>> OK. So we can push on with making the linkID / pageList stuff work in
>> toolkits, that will naturally apply to the pageTemplates projects, and you
>> guys can then sort out the page wizards implementations.
>>
>>
>>
>> What do you need me to do?
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
>> *Sent:* 15 November 2012 12:00
>>
>> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
>> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Connectors
>>
>>
>>
>> I have just had confirmation from Tom that the use of one .rlm file and
>> two xwd files in the manner discussed earlier will not cause any problems
>> for the creation of templates.xwd files or translation issues.
>>
>>
>>
>> JK
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15 November 2012 11:58, Kemp Johnathan <johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> If Xerte and XOT can share the same .rlm file then this will give the
>> best integration between Xerte and pageTemplates and XOT and pageTemplates.
>> Support and development work on the rlm files can still carry on in Xerte
>> with any necessary changes to the data they consume being accommodated by
>> editing the respective two xwd files. The rlm file will know that in Xerte
>> Pages mode it is getting pageIDs and in pageTemplates / XOT it is getting
>> linkIDs.
>>
>>
>>
>> We need to finalise how the navigation options will work to be certain
>> that this will not preclude this option.
>>
>>
>>
>> JK
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15 November 2012 11:41, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> The crux of it seems to be then, how do we support connectors in page
>> wizards?
>>
>>
>>
>> Otherwise, the linkID / pageList controls make a big difference to the
>> usability of connectors in toolkits / page templates projects.
>>
>>
>>
>> So options;
>>
>> Support them through a different set of files that are only deployed in
>> page wizards in standalone Xerte
>>
>> Or drop them from page wizards / standalone xerte
>>
>>
>>
>> Is this the consensus we’re reaching?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
>> *Sent:* 15 November 2012 11:31
>>
>>
>> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
>>
>> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Connectors
>>
>>
>>
>> To try to narrow this down it seems to me we need to
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. Resolve the navigation option handling for the Connector Pages in XOT
>>
>> 2. See if it is still possible to use a single rlm file and two xwd files
>>
>> 3. If it is possible then we have the option to run with Xerte Pages
>> projects and XOT / Page Templates still using the same .rlm files.
>>
>> 4. If it is not possible to run with a single rlm file and separate xwd
>> files for Xerte and XOT Page Templates then
>>
>> either
>>
>> a) We separate XOT and Xerte and they go their separate ways with
>> completely separate sets of model files and xwd files but this could lead
>> to discrepancies between pageTemplates projects and XOT projects as
>> pageTemplates projects would be using the xerte rlm files.
>>
>> or
>>
>> b) We keep support for pages projects in Xerte but set the Connector
>> pages xwd files to be only available to XOT. This will remove Connector
>> pages from being available in Xerte and make them only available to XOT /
>> pageTemplates.
>>
>> or
>>
>> c) We scrap all support for pages projects in Xerte and take Xerte back
>> to where it was before page wizards or pages projects were developed. i.e
>> You can round trip XOT to pageTemplates projects but you cannot access
>> individual page wizards in Xerte.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>>
>>
>> Johnathan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15 November 2012 11:02, Kemp Johnathan <johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> As a way of putting off the day we need to make a decision I can offer
>> the following, but I don't know what impact any developments regarding the
>> navigation aspects will have on this because I don't know what how you want
>> to handle this yet.
>>
>>
>>
>> I can produce a set of files for each connector page as follows using the
>> connector menu page as an example below
>>
>>
>>
>> connectorMenu.rlm
>>
>> being a single rlm file that will work in XOT or Xerte
>>
>>
>>
>> connectorMenu.xwd
>>
>> being an xwd file that works in Xerte and is flagged for xerte only and
>> uses text fields and Page IDs instead of pageLists
>>
>>
>>
>> xot_connectorMenu.xwd
>>
>> being an xwd file that works in XOT using the pageList control and is
>> flagged to only be used in XOT
>>
>>
>>
>> At present the use of the pageList control will break the connections set
>> up in any legacy projects that are already created, unless it can be made
>> to look up the linkID if the xml data contains data that does not begin
>> with "PG".
>>
>>
>>
>> The way the menu connector handles the option to specify a list of pages
>> has changed so that the Author can select pages using the pageList control
>> (or enter pageIDs individually in Xerte) so that will break legacy projects
>> but it will present a consistent approach between the two.
>>
>>
>>
>> In principle what should happen is when you build the template.xwd file
>> the xot_connectorMenu.xwd file should get included and the
>> connectorMenu.xwd file should get ignored. But I need to check with Tom if
>> there are any implications with this.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have attached a pageTemplates project example containing the reworked
>> Menu Connector so you can see how it is panning out. I will need to edit
>> the code a little to make it agnostic about pageIDs or linkIDs but that
>> should be fairly simple.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have used the linkID to locate the page index so don't I can manage
>> with out a rootIcon.gotoPage(linkID) method. It is easier this way to work
>> with both pageIDs and linkIDs.
>>
>>
>>
>> This just leaves how to handle the plainText connector situation in which
>> the Author cannot see the linkID value.
>>
>>
>>
>> I had a thought about that. You could add a child element like I have in
>> the menu Connector and then put an index value in the hyperlink e.g. <a
>> href="asfunction:_level0.engine.fnTextCon,1" target="_blank"> would point
>> to the first child element, <a href="asfunction:_level0.engine.fnTextCon,2"
>> target="_blank"> would point to the second child element. The fnTextCon
>> function could then look up the linkID from the xml data.
>>
>>
>>
>> Then for all the connector pages we have the navigation options to
>> resolve.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>>
>>
>> Johnathan
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15 November 2012 10:12, Ron Mitchell <ronm at mitchellmedia.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> The only additional thing that springs to mind right now is whether there
>> can be a check whether the project is a pages/page wizard project and in
>> that case the pageList control isn't used and the old manually added pageID
>> is used instead. I guess Jonathan is best placed to know whether that would
>> work and what would be involved.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
>> *Sent:* 15 November 2012 09:12
>> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
>> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Connectors
>>
>>
>>
>> We need to figure out how we are going to deal with the connectors.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Summary*
>>
>> - We want to use the new pageList control in the wizard to allow users to
>> create and use linkIDs behind the scenes. Users will simply select the name
>> of the page they want to jump to from the pageList control. The pagelist
>> control writes the linkID of the selected page to the attribute’s value.
>>
>> - This means re-working the connector pages to use the linkID rather than
>> pageID (I don’t think this is hard / lengthy)
>>
>> - This brings a big improvement to the connectors in toolkits.
>>
>> [so far so good
>>
>>
>>
>> The same thing would also work with a page templates project in
>> standalone xerte. Project’s could still be round-tripped to toolkits and
>> back again.
>>
>> [so far so good still]
>>
>>
>>
>> *Problem*
>>
>> The problem is with the page wizards. When using the wizard there, there
>> is no way of getting a list of pages in the piece, or generating linkIDs
>> for them, so this approach won’t work. Now there are many problems, because
>> the page wizards share the code with the page templates models.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Considerations*
>>
>> Xerte standalone is pretty much at the end of its life.
>>
>> Hardly anyone uses page wizards in standalone xerte.
>>
>>
>>
>> Before we discuss options, is there anything else to add to this summary?
>> Please keep comments short and to the point so that we can get a clear
>> sight of the problem and the options we have available.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>> This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and
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>> not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in
>> any attachment.  Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this
>> email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham.
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>> This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an
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