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| - | <p>Please read the <a href="index.html">User Interface Overview</a> if you have
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| - | not yet. </p>
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| - | <ul>
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| - | <li><a href="#Figuring">Figuring Out How to Make a Change</a>
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| - | <ul>
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| - | <li><a href="#overview">Overview</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#pointers">Pointers for deciding how to approach a user interface customization
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| - | task.</a> <ul>
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| - | <li><a href="#CollectionManager">How to tell if the change can be made in Collection
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| - | Manager</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#CSS">How to tell if the change can be made with Cascading Style Sheets
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| - | (CSS)</a> </li>
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| - |
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| - | <li><a href="#XSL">How to tell if the change can be made with XSL</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#XML">How to tell if a change can be made in an XML Template and/or Perl</a></li>
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| - | </ul>
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| - | </li>
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| - | </ul>
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| - | </li>
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| - | <li><a href="#Correct">Finding the Correct Files: More about Fallback
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| - | </a>
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| - |
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| - | <ul>
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| - | <li><a href="#XMLTemplate">XML Template</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#Chunks">XML Template Chunks</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#XSLStylesheet">XSL Stylesheet</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#Oxygen">Oxygen for Dissecting XML and XSL</a></li>
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| - | <li><a href="#LanguageMap">Language Map</a></li>
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| - |
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| - | </ul>
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| - | </li>
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| - | </ul>
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| - | <h2><a name="Figuring"></a>Figuring Out How to Make a Change </h2>
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| - | <h3><a name="Overview"></a>Overview</h3>
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| - | <p>Given the complexity of DLXS and the variety of options for making
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| - | interface customizations, it can be difficult to determine how to make a
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| - | change, let alone the the <em>best</em> way to make a change.</p>
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| - | <p>First of all, there are some <a href="../troubleshooting/tools.html">web
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| - | development tools</a> available that can greatly simplify
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| - | your effort. For now, get these three and keep the others in mind.</p>
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| - |
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li>Firefox web browser</li>
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| - | <li>Firebug extension for Firefox</li>
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| - | <li>Web Developer extension for Firefox</li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - | <p>Next, get a little more familiar with the potential places customizations
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| - | can be made. Listed below are the options, from simplest to most advanced.
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| - | It probably goes without saying that you want to choose a simple option
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| - | whenever possible. </p>
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| - | <table width="100%" border="1" >
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <th> </th>
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| - |
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| - | <th >What can you do? </th>
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| - | <th>What do you need to know? </th>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td><a href="http://www.dlxs.org/docs/13/collmeta/collmgr.html" target="_blank">Collection Manager</a> </td>
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| - | <td>Change the most common interface elements such as collection title and
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| - | field labels. Include or exclude certain functionality. Varies significantly
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| - | by Class. </td>
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| - |
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| - | <td>You need to know how to use your browser. There is contextual help in
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| - | Collection Manager for each field. </td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td>CSS</td>
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| - | <td>Change colors and font styles. Hide elements. Control positioning of
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| - | some elements in Image Class.</td>
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| - | <td>Requires knowledge of CSS and a basic understanding of Fallback.</td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - |
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td >Language Map </td>
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| - | <td >Change user interface text.</td>
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| - | <td >Requires basic knowledge of XSL, XML and Fallback. </td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td >XSL</td>
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| - |
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| - | <td >Alter the structure/layout of the HTML including the application of CSS
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| - | styles.</td>
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| - | <td >Requires knowledge of XSL, HTML, and CSS and a very good understanding
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| - | of Fallback. </td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td >Javascript</td>
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| - | <td >Control dynamic interactions that occur in the browser. </td>
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| - | <td >Requires knowledge of Javascript and HTML and a basic understanding of
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| - | Fallback.</td>
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| - |
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - | <td >XML Template </td>
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| - | <td >Include/exclude Processing Instructions to control the availability of
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| - | data generated by the CGI. </td>
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| - | <td >Requires very good knowledge of all aspects of the user interface,
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| - | Fallback, and the role of the CGI in DLXS. </td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | <tr>
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| - |
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| - | <td >Perl</td>
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| - | <td >Control the data generated by the CGI. Alter Processing Instructions,
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| - | or create new ones. </td>
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| - | <td >Requires very good knowledge of object oriented Perl, the architecture
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| - | of DLXS code, and all other aspects of the user interface. We recommend
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| - | consulting with DLXS support before making Perl code changes. </td>
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| - | </tr>
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| - | </table>
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| - | <p> </p>
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| - | <p>Customization may require changes in more than one of the above areas. For
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| - | example, you may need to change the XSL to add a class to an element so that
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| - | you can change it's appearance in the browser using CSS. </p>
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| - | <h3><a name="pointers"></a>Pointers for deciding how to approach a user interface
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| - | customization task. </h3>
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| - |
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| - | <h4><a name="CollectionManager"></a>How to tell if the change can be made in <a href="http://www.dlxs.org/docs/13/collmeta/collmgr.html" target="_blank">Collection Manager</a></h4>
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li> Study the Collection Manager fields for the Class and Group, specifically
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| - | looking for an option that would cause the desired change. Click the Collection
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| - | Manager field labels for contextual help. Many fields apply to all classes,
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| - | but each class has unique fields as well.</li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - | <h4><a name="CSS"></a>How to tell if the change can be made with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) </h4>
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li>First of all, you need to have a basic understanding of what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Css" target="_blank">CSS</a> is
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| - | good for and how it works. </li>
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| - |
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| - | <li>Use the <a href="../troubleshooting/tools.html">Firebug</a> extension to Firefox to <em>inspect</em> the structure
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| - | of the page including element class and id attributes. Firebug also
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| - | shows the styles that are currently affecting the element. In fact, you can
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| - | even experiment with style definitions in Firebug. This should give you
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| - | a very good idea of whether the change can be made with CSS, or not.</li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - | <h4><a name="XSL"></a>How to tell if the change can be made with XSL</h4>
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li>Add debug=xml to the URL to view the XML for the page. Take a close look
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| - | at the XML to see if the the information needed is present in the XML and
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| - | structured in a way amenable to use with XSL. If the right information is
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| - | in the XML, then XSL modifications will probably bring the desired change.</li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - |
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| - | <h4><a name="XML"></a>How to tell if a change can be made in an XML Template and/or Perl </h4>
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| - | <p>At this point, things get quite a bit more complicated. Often, changing
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| - | the XML also means changing the Perl CGI and changing the XSL as well. In
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| - | the best case, it is only a matter of shifting existing code around a little.
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| - | For instance, the PI you need may exist already and you just need to add
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| - | it to the XML template for the page you are working on. </p>
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| - | <p>It would be appropriate at this point to contact DLXS Support with a question
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| - | such as, "I'm thinking about doing X, and I'm wondering if it is reasonable
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| - | as well as what type of expertise would be needed to do the job."</p>
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| - | <p>However, if you are an experienced programmer, we encourage you to <a href="http://dev-linux.umdl.umich.edu/d/dlxs/training/workshop200707/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.html#misctech">use
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| - | the Perl debugger to step through the code</a> to see what you can figure
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| - | out on your own. If you think you see a solution, you might choose to contact
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| - | DLXS Support to say, "I'm thinking about doing X, and this is how I propose
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| - | to do it. What do you think?". It is not that you need our blessing, but
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| - | perhaps we can make a suggestion that would save you a lot of time, or difficulty. </p>
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| - | <p>Basically, at this level, you need to be a programmer comfortable with using
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| - | the Perl debugger to step through a large body of object oriented code.</p>
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| - | <p>In general, it is not a bad idea to contact DLXS Support for
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| - | guidance. Tell us what you are trying to do and a we'll be able to suggest
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| - | the most reasonable approach. If you are not a programmer, you may need to
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| - | find one. </p>
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| - |
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| - | <h2 class="mainpalette"><a name="Correct"></a>Finding the Correct Files: More about Fallback</h2>
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| - | <h3><a name="XMLTemplate"></a>XML Template </h3>
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| - | <p>It can be difficult to locate the files that are directly involved in constructing
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| - | an HTML page. Add <strong>debug=tpl</strong> to any DLXS URL for a report
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| - | on the Fallback file selection process. The first file attempted will generally
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| - | be the XML template file. In the example below, taken from the debug output, "HIT" tells
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| - | us that the search.xml template was found in the class (t/text for Text Class)
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| - | level web directory. </p>
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| - | <h4><font color="red">HIT</font>: standard template path: /n1/web/t/text/search.xml,
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| - | xcollmode=singlecoll, on disk</h4>
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| - | <h3><a name="Chunks"></a>XML Template Chunks </h3>
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| - |
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| - | <p>There is a special Processing Instruction called "CHUNK". The CHUNK PI is
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| - | for inserting a "chunk" of XML into the XML Template. Chunks are helpful where
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| - | the same XML needs to occur in more than one XML Template. The best example
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| - | is dlxsclassglobals.xml. This is an XML chunk that is used in just about every
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| - | XML Template. When the chunk file is modified, all of the templates that use
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| - | it automatically take advantage of the change, making maintenance easy. Keep
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| - | in mind that chunks can contain PIs, including CHUNK PIs. </p>
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| - | <p>Fallback applies to CHUNKS too. A collection level chunk, if it exists and
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| - | the situation is right, will be used instead of class or group level chunk.</p>
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| - | <p><DlxsGlobals><?CHUNK filename="dlxsclassglobals.xml"?></DlxsGlobals></p>
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| - | <h3><a name="XSLStylesheet"></a>XSL Stylesheet </h3>
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| - |
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| - | <p>You will likely need to know which XSL files are being used. DLXS has a special
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| - | way of linking XSL Stylesheets to XML files that allows for a lot of flexibility.
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| - | The ability to make very specific customizations at the collection and group
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| - | levels is extremely useful, but also introduces the potential for lots of XML
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| - | and XSL to be duplicated needlessly. For example, you might be tempted to begin
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| - | customizing a collection by first copying all of the class level web files
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| - | to the collection's web directory (a very bad idea by the way). The best approach
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| - | is to copy as little code as possible and rely on Fallback to draw together
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| - | the proper set of files for a given situation.</p>
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| - | <p>Support for this principle required development of a special method for specifying,
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| - | locating, and importing one or more XSL Stylesheets for XML transformation
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| - | to HTML. The <strong>Virtual XSL Stylesheet</strong> serves this purpose.</p>
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| - | <p>Each primary XML Template includes an <strong>XSL Fallback File
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| - | List</strong> where XSL filenames are specified in import order. Paths are
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| - | not necessary, because the Fallback mechanism will find the file at the collection,
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| - | group or class level depending on the situation and the presence of files. </p>
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| - | <blockquote>
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| - | <p><XslFallbackFileList><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>bookbagitemsstring.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - |
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| - | <Filename><strong>search.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>htmlhead.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>navheader.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>footer.import.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>searchforms.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - |
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| - | <Filename><strong>xsl2htmlutils.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>globalvariables.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | <Filename><strong>searchheader.xsl</strong></Filename><br>
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| - | </XslFallbackFileList> </p>
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| - | </blockquote>
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| - | <p>All Fallback is handled by the Perl CGI. To build the <a href="search_virtualstylesheet.xml">Virtual
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| - | XSL Stylesheet (example)</a>, the CGI parses the XSL Fallback File List, performs Fallback on
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| - | each file, and assembles a list of XSL import statements. </p>
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| - |
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| - | <p>Here you can see the import statements from the Virtual XSL Stylesheet the
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| - | CGI builds. In this case, all of the files are in the class level web directory.</p>
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| - | <blockquote>
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| - | <p><xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/bookbagitemsstring.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/search.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/htmlhead.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/navheader.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - |
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/footer.import.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/searchforms.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/lib/xsl2htmlutils.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/globalvariables.xsl</strong>"/><br>
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| - | <xsl:import href="<strong>/n1/web/t/text/searchheader.xsl</strong>"/></p>
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| - |
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| - | </blockquote>
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| - | <p>The order of the import statements is significant. The <strong>first</strong> import "wins" in
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| - | cases where an XSL template (don't confuse XSL templates with XML templates)
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| - | of the same name occurs in more than one file. This feature allows XSL template
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| - | overrides to occur in a logical fashion. <strong>This
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| - | is very important concept to understand. </strong>Imagine you want to customize
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| - | the search form for a single collection and that the change requires modification
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| - | to
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| - | <em>just one</em> of several XSL <em>templates</em> that exist in the Class level search.xsl
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| - | file. Here are the steps you should take.</p>
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| - |
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li>Create a collection specific web directory, if one does not already exist.</li>
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| - | <li>Create an XSL file called search.xsl in the collection specific web
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| - | directory and include in it just the template(s) requiring modification.
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| - | You probably want to copy the single template from the Class level XSL search.xsl
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| - | file. </li>
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| - | <li>Add an import statement to the collection level search.xsl file that imports
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| - | the Class level file.</li>
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| - | <li>Modify the collection level template to your liking.</li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - | <p>When the Virtual Stylesheet is assembled, Fallback will find the collection
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| - | level search.xsl file and import it. This will in-turn cause the Class level
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| - | search.xsl file to be imported too, <em>except</em> the modified collection level template
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| - | will be used since it was imported first. </p>
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| - |
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| - | <h3><a name="Oxygen"></a>Oxygen for Dissecting XML and XSL</h3>
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| - | <p><strong>Oxygen</strong> is an application for editing and debugging XML and XSL (see also <a href="../troubleshooting/tools.html">web
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| - | development tools</a>).
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| - | It also does XSL transformations so you clearly see the relationship among
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| - | the XML, XSL and the resulting HTML. Oxygen enables you
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| - | to step through the transform, but even better, you can click on an element
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| - | in the HTML output and it will show you the XML and XSL that generated it.
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| - | What a powerful timesaver!</p>
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| - | <p>To make the most effective use of Oxygen, you should use an XWindows server
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| - | to run it remotely on the DLXS server. This provides direct access to all
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| - | of the XML and XSL files. Adding <strong>debug=xsltwrite</strong> to a DLXS
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| - | URL will cause the CGI to write the Virtual XSL Stylesheet and the populated
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| - | XML files to disk in <strong>$DLXSROOT/web/cache</strong>. Open these files in Oxygen, and transform
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| - | the Virtual XSL Stylesheet to the XML. Oxygen will find and open the imported
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| - | XSL files allowing you to make edits and rerun the transform. </p>
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| - | <h3><a name="LanguageMap"></a>Language Map</h3>
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| - |
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| - | <p>All text that appears as part of the user interface is stored in an XML file
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| - | per Class called <strong>langmap.en.xml</strong>. Phrases are assigned keys, and the keys are
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| - | used in the XSL to retrieve phrases. </p>
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| - | <p>Customization of the Language Map requires finding the key and phrase that
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| - | needs to be changed. There are a couple of ways to go at this. You can open
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| - | the Language Map file and search for the phrase, or you can locate the associated
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| - | key in the XSL and then look for the key in Language Map. Once the key and
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| - | phrase have been identified, it is recommended that you create a <strong>langmapextra.en.xml</strong> file and make your changes there. </p>
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| - | <p>For example, if you need to change the word "login" to "sign in" for all Text
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| - | Class collections, do the following.</p>
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| - |
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| - | <ol>
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| - | <li>Open $DLXSROOT/web/t/text/langmap.en.xml and locate the term "login". There
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| - | may be several occurrences, but you confirm three are relevant by grepping
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| - | the XSL files for the keys. Here are the three. <br>
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| - | <br>
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| - | <span class="markupsnippet style1"><Item key="standardlogin.str"><strong>Login</strong>&#xa0;</Item><br>
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| - | <Item key="header.str.login"><strong>Login</strong> </Item><br>
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| - |
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| - | <Item key="results.str.9"><strong>Login</strong> for full access
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| - | to this item</Item> <br>
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| - | </span></li>
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| - | <li>Create a new file in the Text Class web directory called <strong>langmapextra.en.xml</strong> containing
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| - | the following text. The "Lookup id" value is arbitrary. "auth" is used here
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| - | just to be consistent with what appears in <strong>langmap.en.xml</strong>. <br>
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| - |
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| - | <br>
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| - | <span class="markupsnippet style1"><LookupTables><br>
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| - | <Lookup id="auth"> <br>
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| - | </span><span class="markupsnippet style1"><Item key="standardlogin.str"><strong>Sign
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| - | In</strong>&#xa0;</Item><br>
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| - |
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| - | <Item key="header.str.login"><strong>Sign In</strong> </Item><br>
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| - | <Item key="results.str.9"><strong>Sign In</strong> for full
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| - | access to this item</Item><br>
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| - | </Lookup><br>
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| - | </LookupTables>
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| - |
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| - | </span></li>
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| - | </ol>
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| - | <p>That's all it takes. The DlxsGlobals.xml chunk file already specifies that
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| - | <strong>langmapextra.en.xml</strong> be loaded if present. Item keys in it
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| - | trump items with the same keys in <strong>langmap.en.xml</strong>. To limit
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| - | the changes to a specific group or collection, place the <strong>langmapextra.en.xml</strong> file in the collection or group level web directory. </p>
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| - | <p>It is possible to use Language Maps to create a multi-lingual user
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| - | interface. </p>
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| - | <h3 align="left"> </h3>
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| - | </body>
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| - |
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| - | </html>
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